Yet another report on the high cost of housing in metro Atlanta, this one released Wednesday, shows that a person earning minimum wage would have to work 87 hours a week to afford the rent on a one bedroom apartment.
Tag: Development
Posted inColumns
Atlanta’s proposed transportation taxes: Views from local, national observers
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed embraces a proposed $2.5 billion transit sales tax before his administration has time to complete a pending update of the city’s comprehensive transportation plan. Two distinct observers – one local, one national – say the process raises some troubling issues.
Posted inColumns
Excitement draining for reservoir boondoggles
By Guest Columnist CHRIS MANGANIELLO, policy director of the Georgia River Network
Georgians agree we need a healthy and dependable supply of drinking water. We need enough water flowing in our rivers for economic and environmental reasons.
A recent turning point indicates that one pathway is no longer as appealing as it once was.
Posted inLatest News
GSU gets good credit report as closing nears on Turner Field
Georgia State University has received good news about its credit rating as the university comes closer to needing about $100 million to pay for its share of buying and redeveloping Turner Field and its environs.
Posted inColumns
Too much blight, too little low-cost housing: New research could inform debate
Atlanta has too many blighted neighborhoods and too little affordable housing. Now, a raft of research has been released to inform policy makers who want to address the challenges.
Posted inLatest News
Sustainable inventions provide glimpse into a future where energy is less impactful
A panel that reduces energy consumption in commercial buildings by behaving like fish gills was one of four inventions presented at the recent Energy Summit hosted by the Atlanta Better Buildings Challenge.
Posted inColumns
GDOT’s comprehensive study of Northside Drive already rousing concerns
Northside Drive from I-75 to I-20 is the subject of a comprehensive state study into ways to reshape it to meet travel needs of the next two decades – plans that once suggested redoing the interchange at I-20 and still have MARTA buses serving the corridor.
Posted inLatest News
Atlanta sets stage to extend streetcar by 2.5 miles, to BeltLine’s Westside Trail
Atlanta is moving forward with a $1 million environmental analysis of a proposed route of the Atlanta Streetcar that would run 2.5 miles from Centennial Olympic Park west to the Atlanta BeltLine’s Westside Trail.
Posted inLatest News
Savannah port benefits from good access, capacity, proximity to Atlanta: CBRE
A new report by CBRE, the real estate company, sheds light on the reason the Savannah port is growing its cargo business so quickly. It’s because the port has the capacity to handle a lot of freight, which makes it a good choice for shippers looking for a port on the east coast.
Posted inDavid Pendered, Latest News, Main Slider
Atlanta City Council closes loophole that benefited developers of luxury apartments
The Atlanta City Council voted Monday to close a loophole that enabled apartment developers to use government subsidies to build luxury apartments in Atlanta without reserving any units for lower income residents, in violation of the city’s practice.
Posted inColumns
Atlanta buys parkland in Buckhead that is to enhance PATH400
The acquisition doesn’t sound like much, but it’s significant. Atlanta is buying land for two parks in Buckhead that together would cover just a fifth of the site of the Georgia governor’s mansion.
Posted inLatest News
Atlanta council to vote on proposal targeting financing of apartments to boost affordable housing
Atlanta is poised to start down a path that will lead to a requirement for all homes built in the city with subsidies from local governments provide more homes for people with low to moderate incomes.
Posted inColumns
Density bonuses essential for MARTA’s expansion to ease traffic congestion
By Guest Columnist WILL ADAMS, an Atlanta-based researcher, analyst and frequent speaker in the energy utilities industry
Many MARTA rail expansion advocates I speak with are surprised to learn the transit system’s ridership figures have been down each year since 2009, with 2014 as one of the lowest on record.
Posted inLatest News
Georgia Tech, Portman unveil plans for ‘Coda’ technology complex
Georgia Tech invited business and civic leaders Wednesday afternoon to visit the site where the future High Performance Computing Center was given its code name – Coda.
Posted inLatest News
Midtown Alliance releases draft results of mobility survey
The look on the face of a pedestrian in Midtown late Tuesday afternoon speaks directly to Finding No. 3 of the new survey of transportation priorities conducted by Midtown Atlanta.
Posted inColumns
City of Atlanta has opportunity to invest in sidewalks and bicycle paths
It’s a given. The City of Atlanta will go to voters in November to propose an additional half-penny in taxes over the next 40 years for MARTA. That tax alone initially is expected to generate more than $50 million a year.
But the City of Atlanta also has the option to ask voters whether they want to approve another half penny for five years for general transportation projects.
Posted inColumns
Creating new cities causes social and economic fallout
By Guest Columnist JOHN MATTHEWS, a retired city planner who specialized in urban growth policy and a retired instructor at both Georgia State’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies and at Georgia Tech
Metropolitan Atlanta is seeing the creation of an increasing number of local governments; there are many new cities and more are sure to come. There is additional movement to allow creation of new small school districts tied to the new cities.
Posted inColumns
Execution of power: Even governor’s ally couldn’t alter outcome of Palmetto Pipeline
In the end, not even lobbyists who work with a firm led by the vice chairman of Gov. Nathan Deal’s transition team in 2010 were able to defend the Palmetto Pipeline. The pipeline company has suspended the project, and won’t say if it’s dead or merely delayed.
Posted inColumns
Transit Planning 101 for the City of Atlanta: It’s not too late
By Guest Columnist MIKE DOBBINS, professor of the practice of planning at Georgia Tech’s College of Architecture and a former commissioner of planning and community development for the City of Atlanta
Transit is a good. In an ideal world it gets people where they want to go, cleanly, efficiently, and affordably. Transit fills a need. Twenty percent of Atlanta’s citizens are living at or below the poverty line; additionally, a growing percentage of the population doesn’t drive. This might be because they’re too old, too young, or because they simply don’t want to.
Posted inWABE
Commentary: Rescuing Grady Hospital a life-saving choice
Ten years ago, Atlanta’s Grady Hospital was facing insolvency. A group of business and civic leaders stepped in, raising hundreds of millions of dollars, to transform the aging hospital into providing best-in-class healthcare for the uninsured and underinsured.
