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Posted inDavid Pendered

Cousins Properties bullish on job growth in Atlanta area as it expands in Texas; Billy Payne to leave board

by David Pendered

Metro Atlanta has regained all the office jobs it lost during the great recession and job growth is expected to exceed the national average, Cousins Properties, Inc. states in its annual financial report to the federal SEC.

In other Cousins news, Billy Payne – credited with helping to bring the 1996 Olympic Games to Atlanta – is to leave the Cousins board of directors after its annual board meeting May 6. Payne, 66, was elected to the Cousins board in 2006 and remains chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club.

Posted inDavid Pendered

New airport business alliance similar to successful economic development program in Gwinnett County

by David Pendered

The newly formed Atlanta Aerotropolis Alliance bears a striking resemblance to Partnership Gwinnett, a public-private initiative that has created a strong record of economic development in Gwinnett County.

Each entity was formed to attract jobs and investments to their respective areas. One distinguishing point is that the aerotropolis alliance was convened by the Atlanta Regional Commission, whereas Partnership Gwinnett is based at the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce.

Posted inDavid Pendered

GSU report blunt on economy: “Odds are against 2014 being breakout year”

by David Pendered

Everyone is looking for a breakout year for the economy. So much so that Georgia State University went ahead and said it probably won’t be so.

“Forecaster says odds are against 2014 being a breakout year for the economy,” is the headline that GSU put on its statement about the latest economic forecast by Rajeev Dhawan, of the school’s Economic Forecasting Center.

On Friday, the U.S. Commerce Department revised downward its estimate of quarterly growth at the end of 2013. The growth rate was dropped by 25 percent from initial estimates, from 3.2 percent growth to 2.4 percent.

Posted inColumns, Michelle Hiskey & Ben Smith

Atlanta Diaper Bank a fresh resource for a hidden need

by Ben Smith

Behind Atlanta’s hunger, poverty and homelessness are parents who are trying to stretch every resource—even dirty diapers. To cut the cost of this basic need, their babies wear soiled diapers for longer periods than they should, and sometimes parents try to wash or reuse disposable ones, putting the kids at risk for staph infections.

Founded by Adrienne Hopkins of Kennesaw, the Diaper Bank of Greater Atlanta is winding up its annual “Twelve Days of Diapers” drive that began Dec. 1. The Diaper Bank is a nonprofit that helps cover the bottoms of babies and toddlers as well as adults who require disposable undergarments but cannot afford them. Its current goal is collecting 100,000 diapers and adult incontinence products before Thursday.

Posted inDavid Pendered

New report on Atlanta’s housing stock matches Richard Florida’s findings on location of class, wealth

by David Pendered

A new report by Atlanta on the city's housing stock confirms a view of the city documented in March by urban demographer Richard Florida  – Atlanta is split in half, with strong neighborhoods to the north and vulnerable ones to the south of a dividing line that passes near the Georgia Tech campus.

One interesting finding in the city’s report is that Buckhead isn’t listed as an exceptional investment area. Instead, that designation is reserved for an area that stretches south from I-85 through Morningside and Poncy-Highland toward Druid Hills. The Buckhead area is ranked as strong or trending.

Atlanta says this report on the city’s housing is the first-of-its-kind study of 285 neighborhoods. It’s intended to enable policymakers to promote equitable residential development throughout the city. The city has scheduled two community meetings to discuss the study’s results – on Monday and Thursday evenings.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Fulton County, its cities face fiscal cliff of their own creation; Thursday deadline set by state attorney general

by David Pendered

Fulton County and all the cities in it could fall off their own fiscal cliff on Thursday. Atlanta could lose tax revenues that pay for 19 percent of its current year budget.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed told the Atlanta City Council in a special session Wednesday evening that the future is uncertain for a major source of sales tax revenues shared by Fulton County and all its cities. Unless Atlanta signs an existing distribution agreement for the 1 percent local option sales tax, Fulton may not be able to continue to levy the tax, Reed said.

The urgency is arising because Atlanta’s lawyers evidently were unprepared for a ruling last week from the Georgia Supreme Court. In a case out of Turner County, in south Georgia, justices tossed out an arbitration process concerning LOST distribution formulas that Atlanta intended to use to seek a bigger bite of LOST revenues.

Posted inDavid Pendered

New study of Georgia’s school funding questions state’s ability to provide skilled workforce to business

by David Pendered

A new report on state funding for K-12 education raises some challenging questions about Georgia’s ability to provide a skilled workforce to businesses – especially in areas beyond metro Atlanta.

School districts are coping with funding cuts through measures including trimming days from the school year and assigning more students to each teacher, according to the report from the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. School budgets are squeezed by shrinking state support and by the declining local tax base caused by the recession, the report states.

Even as school districts are strapped, the Georgia Department of Economic Development is touting Georgia’s workforce development policies including its support for charter schools, pre-K programs, HOPE scholarships, and strong public technical schools and universities. Georgia has adopted common core standards in math and language arts, and allocates extra funding to districts that provide gifted programs, according to DEcD’s webpage.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Georgia taxes: New report contends “Fair Tax” would hurt hurt – not help – families, businesses, economy

by David Pendered

A report released today on Georgia’s tax structure fuels a debate over proposed tax reform that advocates are increasingly pushing for the 2014 session of the state Legislature.

The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute issued a tax analysis that contends the proposed “Fair Tax” reform would raise taxes on and hurt Georgia’s “families, businesses, communities and the economy.”

The report follows a promise made last month by an advocacy group that said it would help convince Georgia voters to approve a fair tax. The campaign would be similar to the one it waged in favor of 2012 charter school amendment, according to Americans for Prosperity.

Posted inMaria's Metro

Poverty in metro Atlanta’s suburbs growing faster than in the city

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

Metro Atlanta’s profile is changing with a dramatic growth of poverty in the suburbs.

Several recent studies point to reality challenging the perception that the poor are concentrated in the central city while the middle-income and higher-income populations are living in the suburbs.

“In Atlanta, since 2000, the number of poor people living in suburbs grew by 53 percent,” said Elizabeth Kneebone, a fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, who was in Atlanta presenting her findings. By comparison, the number of poor people living in the City of Atlanta grew by 24 percent.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Atlanta’s role in stadium bond deal may involve Downtown Development Authority, a wing of Invest Atlanta

by David Pendered

The city of Atlanta has at least four entities that could sell bonds to help finance construction of a new Atlanta Falcon’s stadium. The Atlanta Downtown Development Authority stands out as a likely candidate.

The DDA is beholden only to Atlanta City Hall – Mayor Kasim Reed chairs the DDA’s board, and he supports the new stadium; City Hall appoints or confirms the board members. State law sets no limit on the amount of bonds any DDA can issue.

The next Atlanta DDA board meeting is set for Feb. 21, if the board keeps to its routine schedule. Should the DDA be the chosen vehicle, this date would allow Atlanta to keep its proposed end of the project moving apace – which is in keeping with Gov. Nathan Deal’s approach to this year’s legislative session.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Governor reduces bond package; Metro Atlanta avoids slowdown

by David Pendered

The depth of the recession in Georgia is evident in the dwindling amount of money the state plans to borrow to improve its infrastructure.

The bond sum proposed in 2007 was $914 million. The current bond proposal is almost 22 percent lower, at just over $713 million, in the budget recommendation for 2014 presented by Gov. Nathan Deal. Metro Atlanta’s slice of the pie increased by 16 percent in snapshots of the years 2007 and 2014.

The comparison of two budget years hardly represents a comprehensive analysis of state investment. It does provide a glimpse of the state’s investment dashboard and outlook during the lingering downturn that officially started in late 2007.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Xpress bus service funded in Gov. Deal’s proposed FY 2014 budget

by David Pendered

The Xpress bus service operated by GRTA will continue to operate through at least June 2014 if the Legislature leaves intact the operating funds recommended by Gov. Nathan Deal in his budget proposal for FY 2014.

Deal also made history by including Xpress funding in the state’s annual budget, rather than its supplemental budget. That’s significant because eliminating money from programs that are included in the annual budget has, historically, been much more difficult than eliminating funding that was provided in the amended budget, or supplemental budget, the Legislature adopts in the middle of a fiscal year.

Deal provided $8.1 million for Xpress operations in the budget he unveiled Thursday. The money would offset the loss of local and federal funds, according to the line item in the governor’s budget.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Invest Atlanta to use view from 29th floor offices to spur job creation

by David Pendered

Atlanta’s development authority, Invest Atlanta, is open for business in new office space that offers a panoramic view of the city and region.

Invest Atlanta now fills the 29th floor of the Georgia-Pacific Center. The modern architecture is a far cry from the exposed brick-and-beam look of the old space, so popular among start-ups at the end of the 20th century.

The new space is all about gleaming fixtures and views that intend to convey a confident message about Atlanta’s future. The look speaks to the agency’s renewed focus on creating jobs, as opposed to incentivizing development.

Posted inMetro Business, Thought Leader

Atlanta a global hub for technology innovation

by SaportaReport

By Larry Williams Vice President, Technology Industry Development, Metro Atlanta Chamber A recently released report on the state of Georgia’s technology industry has aimed a spotlight on some of the most exciting and encouraging news for the future of the economy, not just in Georgia and Atlanta, but in the United States and even globally. […]

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