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Falcons stadium: Residents question $15 million city had earmarked before deal reached among city, state, team

by David Pendered

The $15 million offered by Atlanta to fix up neighborhoods around the planned Falcons stadium is the subject of an emerging controversy.

The money had already been earmarked for the neighborhoods before the stadium deal was announced in March, according to an Invest Atlanta official. A planning firm had already been hired to recommend how the money be spent.

In that case, the sum shouldn’t be counted toward efforts to help mitigate stadium-related issues such as traffic and storm water runoff, according to neighborhood leaders who serve on the committee that’s guiding the stadium-related community benefits deal.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Clues of interest rate on Falcons stadium bonds may come from another Atlanta bond sale Tuesday

by David Pendered

Atlanta is scheduled to sell more than $550 million in revenue bonds Tuesday in order to refinance existing water and sewer bonds, according to bondbuyer.com.

The refund itself appears unexceptional, though the sale may have prompted credit rating agencies to review – and improve the rating on – Atlanta’s $3.1 billion in outstanding wastewater system revenue bonds.

However, the sale planned for Tuesday does offer a window into the current state of municipal debt at a time Atlanta prepares to sell $200 million in bonds for a new Falcons stadium. Atlanta will be selling into a volatile market in which buyers demand increasingly high interest rates for bonds maturing in more than 10 years, according to an Aug. 8 report by Morgan Stanley Wealth Management:

Posted inDavid Pendered

Atlanta’s $200 million for Falcons stadium now bottled up in committee

by David Pendered

Atlanta City Council President Ceasar Mitchell applied the brakes Wednesday to efforts to hurry the city into providing $200 million in construction financing for the new Falcons stadium.

Mitchell’s action seems to bolster Atlanta’s bargaining position in the negotiations to have the stadium built on the south site – the location preferred by the city. The Falcons organization said July 30 it is focusing on the north site because the south site was not on track by Aug. 1 to be acquired from two churches.

Mitchell’s action makes it unlikely that Atlanta will be in a position to provide any of the $200 million anytime soon, and certainly not during the November timeframe that seemed possible just last month. It’s not clear when the Falcons need the money from Atlanta to continue with design and development.

Posted inDavid Pendered

With stadium deal approved, GWCC seeks new lobbyist for state, local affairs – especially Atlanta City Hall

by David Pendered

Now that Atlanta has approved public funding for the Falcons stadium, the Georgia World Congress Center is hiring a new lobbyist at a salary that could exceed $100,000 a year.

The GWCC was sidelined during the final financial negotiations for public funding for the $1 billion stadium. Gov. Nathan Deal decided against asking the Legislature to get involved in the tax issue and asked Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed to broker a deal with the Falcons.

Frank Poe, the GWCC’s executive director, told ESPN.com on the day the preliminary deal was announced, March 7, that he was not aware of the financial agreement until, “the last 24 hours.”

Posted inDavid Pendered

A relation between stadium deal and stalled MARTA bill? Who’s to say

by David Pendered

There may be no relation whatsoever, but the plan to build a new Falcons stadium is moving forward and the proposed legislation to restructure MARTA and privatize some of its operations appears to be fading for the 2013 session.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration delivered a final deal within two months after receiving a troubled proposal from Gov. Nathan Deal. Reed’s team provided the $200 million in construction financing, plus somewhere around $100 million in public/private funds to fix up the area around the future stadium.

Rep. Mike Jacobs (R-Brookhaven) indicated Tuesday that he’s done about all he can to sweeten his team’s proposal to reorganize MARTA. Jacobs has offered to eliminate the privatization provision in House Bill 264 and to resolve in MARTA’s favor all but one concern MARTA has raised. Still, the bill is stalled in the Senate.

Posted inLatest News

Atlanta City Council passes stadium deal; two approvals down, one to go

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By Maria Saporta and Dave Williams

Despite pleas from constituents to slow down the train, the Atlanta City Council voted Monday evening 11 to 4 to approve a funding plan for a new $1 billion football stadium in downtown Atlanta.

The City Council vote, which did not go through the normal multi-week committee process, was pushed through on a super fast track on Monday after a six-hour meeting of the whole council.

That approval followed Friday’s unanimous vote by the Georgia World Congress Center Authority that endorsed the new retractable roof stadium for the Atlanta Falcons. Only one more governmental body is needed to approve the deal — the board of Invest Atlanta.

Posted inMaria's Metro

Revive communities by designing new Falcons stadium on a human scale

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Part Two: A new football stadium and the surrounding communities

If the first time you don’t succeed, try again.

When the Georgia Dome was developed 23 years ago, setting aside $10 million for the adjacent community — including an $8 million housing trust fund — was seen as a way to address the area’s multiple problems.

But two decades later, the situation has only gotten worse. Population has declined from about 9,000 to 3,000. Nearby blocks that used to be filled with homes are now boarded up or vacant lots, some victims of flooding that could have been caused by run-offs from downtown developments including the convention center and the Georgia Dome.

Posted inMaria's Metro

To the rescue — City of Atlanta carries the ball for new Falcons stadium

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Part One: The politics of the new Atlanta Falcons stadium deal

Once again, the City of Atlanta is leading the way.

The tentative agreement reached between the City of Atlanta and the Atlanta Falcons holds great significance — far beyond the building of a new home for one of the state’s top professional sports teams.

The agreement is yet one more example that without Atlanta’s leadership, Georgia would have been stuck in reverse.

There are too many examples to name.

But here are a few. Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, arguably the most important economic engine for the whole state, was and is a creature of the City of Atlanta.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Atlanta’s new workforce law among possible community agreements to be addressed by city, Falcons

by David Pendered

A central question facing the Atlanta City Council is how to harness the city’s influence in the proposed deal to help pay for the planned Falcons stadium.

Just this month, the city enacted a new law that seems to require the stadium’s builders to hire a certain proportion of disadvantaged and underemployed residents. Falcons President Rich McKay said the team is committed to such social objectives – and that they will be addressed.

In addition, some on the council want the new stadium to address blight in nearby neighborhoods, specifically along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. However, Councilmember Michael Julian Bond noted that the project can’t be a panacea for, “every social ill under the sun.”

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Atlanta City Council set to grill stadium advocates on why city should help finance it by extending hotel tax

by David Pendered

Advocates of a new football stadium are to get a chance Wednesday to try to convince members of the Atlanta City Council that the city should help build a new facility.

The work session, set for 11:30 a.m., will be the first real opportunity for councilmembers to engage the advocates. Councilmembers already have raised questions about how neighborhoods around the stadium could benefit from its construction and operation.

Without the council’s support, Atlanta’s development authority likely won’t be able to borrow enough money to help build the stadium. No funding source other than the city’s hotel/motel tax has been publicly identified to fill the gap between what the NFL and Falcons are willing to pay, and the actual cost of construction.

Posted inLatest News

Kasim Reed: Building new stadium is right decision at right time for Atlanta

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By Maria Saporta

At his fourth annual State of the City Business Breakfast, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said building a new $1 billion stadium for the Atlanta Falcons is today’s defining decision for the city.

Reed introduced his challenge to city leaders by providing a list of defining decisions for Atlanta over the decades.

Mayor William Hartsfield made the right decision at the right time when he gave a favorable lease to Delta Air Lines.

Posted inMaria's Metro

City of Atlanta in pivotal position to benefit from new Falcons stadium deal

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

The City of Atlanta has now become the center of gravity for a new deal on a proposed stadium for the Atlanta Falcons.

The city government was put in that position because state elected officials chose to bypass voting to raise the bonding capacity of the Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCCA) because they were concerned about a possible political backlash.

Consider this statement Gov. Nathan Deal shared with me on Jan. 25: “I have tried my best to relieve the members of the General Assembly from difficult decisions that they have to make that have political consequences.”

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Common Cause opposes public funding for new Falcons stadium

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By Maria Saporta

Common Cause Georgia will do all it can to prevent any public funds from being used to build a new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons.

Willam Perry, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, said at the Sustainable Atlanta Roundtable meeting Friday morning that his organization was going to try to get a bill introduced to stop the hotel-motel tax from being used to finance the proposed $1 billion stadium.

In the 2010 session, the General Assembly authorized that the hotel-motel tax collected in the City of Atlanta’s and in unincorporated Fulton County could be extended to build a new stadium as long as it was built on property owned by the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC).

Posted inLatest News

Gov. Nathan Deal: Would be nice if legislature didn’t have to vote on Falcons stadium-GWCCA bonds

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By Maria Saporta

Gov. Nathan Deal confirmed Friday morning that the Atlanta Falcons and the state are exploring options that would not require approval from the state legislature.

But Deal said it is too early to know whether that would be possible.

“We are sort of in a waiting period right now,” Deal said after a press conference announcing a major expansion of AirWatch’s operations in the Atlanta region.

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New stadium deal in the works — bonding capacity could shift from state to the City of Atlanta

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta

A revised deal for a new stadium currently is being negotiated whereby the Georgia Legislature would not have to vote on increasing the bonding capacity of Georgia World Congress Center to $300 million.

Currently negotiations are underway at the Governor’s mansion between Gov. Nathan Deal, the Atlanta Falcons and the City of Atlanta where the bonding capacity would shift from the state to the city.

No matter which governmental entity would end up issuing the bonds for the $1 billion project, the deal would not change substantially. The $300 million bond package would continue to be backed by the existing hotel-motel taxes that are collected in the City of Atlanta. The Falcons and the National Football League would cover two-thirds of the stadium’s cost.

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Atlanta Falcons have helped revive community spirit — win or lose

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By Maria Saporta

The energy — and the tension — in the Georgia Dome on Sunday captures a feeling that has been lost in recent years — a feeling of being in the game.

The last five years have been tough for Atlanta, a city used to being an economic star in the country. The Great Recession hit Atlanta harder than most other cities because it targeted the real estate and banking — two industries that had helped build Atlanta.

And yet, during Sunday’s game between the Atlanta Falcons and the San Francisco 49ers, the city’s troubles are put aside as people rallied behind a team that is only one win away from the Super Bowl.

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Gov. Nathan Deal said Atlanta Falcons’ success helps stadium’s chances

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By Maria Saporta

Gov. Nathan Deal said the Atlanta Falcons’ win on Sunday might help the team win support at the Georgia General Assembly.

“Anytime people good about something, it is good,” said Deal, adding that a win Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers would be even more significant. “I certainly think winning the game will be positive.”

That said, the governor said it is highly unlikely he will be able to attend Sunday’s game. A brother-in-law passed away this past weekend, and the memorial service will be this Sunday out of town. And Deal is on the program.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Builders of Falcons stadium may have to hire low-income city residents

by David Pendered

With debate looming over construction funding for a Falcons stadium, another issue is taking shape – this one over who will get hired for construction jobs.

The Atlanta City Council is considering legislation to require eligible construction contracts funded by the city to employ a certain proportion of unemployed and under-employed residents of Atlanta. The proposal requires the workers to be either skilled, or in an approved training program.

The legislation does not specify whether its scope would reach to include the hotel/motel tax, which is set by the city council. The tax is now planned to help pay for construction of the new stadium that is to have a retractable roof.

Posted inMoments, Moments Season 1

Arthur Blank’s 1978 firing led to Home Depot, Falcons re-birth and countless benefits for Atlanta

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By Chris Schroder

The story of the phoenix – the mythical bird that rose from the ashes with renewed youth to live through another cycle – is often interwoven with the history of Atlanta. Yet no phoenix-like business story has so benefited our region as that Moment in 1978 when Arthur Blank and Bernie Marcus were fired.

“We were running the most successful home improvement company in the country at that time,” Arthur told us while filming our accompanying Moments video. “So when we got fired during what was supposed to be a five-year budget meeting, we were both shocked.”

Posted inMoments, Moments Season 1

Doug Hertz’ Moment was realizing so many nonprofit groups were counting on his idea

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By Chris Schroder

Doug Hertz wears a lot of hats these days, but a couple of weeks ago he was worried he wasn’t wearing the right shirt. Not that there’s anything wrong with wearing a Falcons shirt – after all, he’s an owner now.

But on this day, he was supposed to be talking about Camp Twin Lakes, which he founded 20 years ago after he spotted and then solved a common issue among nonprofit groups serving children with various kinds of illnesses. These camps all needed a home – and the ability to provide custom medical services.

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