The state Legislature closed its business this year without authorizing a BeltLine idea to raise some $100 million via a new tax on commercial and multifamily residential properties near the trail. But they did approve Atlanta votes on property taxes and extending a sewer sales tax.
Tag: Georgia
Posted inLatest News
Georgia House, Senate agree on metro transit overhaul
It took until very last hour of Thursday for final passage, but the Georgia House and Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill that they mean to be the first step toward a more seamless and robust transit network in metro Atlanta.
Posted inLatest News
Georgia House panel narrows immigration enforcement bill
A state House panel has approved a bill that supporters say is a fairly narrow proposal to help federal immigration agents eject bad guys from the country. But critics say the bill will have dire consequences.
Posted inLatest News
Bill to raise $100 million for BeltLine muddles through state Senate committee
“I can tell you, the money that has been spent on the Atlanta BeltLine needs help. It’s not going to get completed without this, I don’t see how it’s going to happen,” said state Rep. Chad Nimmer, R-Blackshear, asking a state Senate committee to approve his bill.
Posted inUncategorized
Georgia Could Become a Conservation Leader for the Rest of the Country
By Whit Fosburgh, CEO, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership Georgia is one of the most biologically diverse states in the nation, making it one of the best places in the country to hunt and fish. Hunters across Georgia – and the country – flock to the state because of its outstanding whitetail deer and quail hunting, […]
Posted inLatest News
More than one thousand people rally in Atlanta for tighter gun laws
The giant red cardboard letters spelling the word “moms” stood out in the gray Atlanta drizzle Wednesday, held up between the state Capitol and more than one thousand people rallying outside, demanding that the lawmakers inside tighten up gun laws.
Posted inLatest News
Atlanta lawmakers work on plan to phase in property assessment spikes
Atlanta state lawmakers are working on a bill to phase in property tax assessments slowly, help protect residents with a bigger homestead exemption, but also force the Fulton County tax assessor’s office to value properties correctly.
Posted inUncategorized
Imagining the Future of the Chattahoochee River
By Walt Ray, Chattahoochee Program Director, The Trust for Public Land in Georgia I grew up in northwestern Pennsylvania, where the Allegheny River serves as the backdrop for daily life. It is ever-present, ever-flowing. Everyone talks about the river. How high is the water level? What did you catch on your last fishing trip? How […]
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Can’t get a Georgia public record? Blame fees, laws, rulings, lack of knowledge.
There are a lot of reasons why critics say there’s a heavy curtain that stands between between Georgians and some public business.
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Lawmakers finishing details on possible 13-county metro transit proposal
By early next month, Georgia lawmakers will publish a plan to deepen cooperation among and increase spending on metro Atlanta’s public transit agencies. They’ve got a big job, looking for a way to unify a region and minimize difficulties in an always-expensive, now fragmented, and sometimes contentious area of public policy.
Posted inMetro Business, Thought Leader
Georgia’s talent production edge over the Bay Area
By Tom Cunningham, chief economist, Metro Atlanta Chamber When visiting emerging tech companies as a part of the Metro Atlanta Chamber’s Backed By ATL initiative, one entrepreneur noted that he preferred locating in Atlanta over Silicon Valley because new tech leadership talent, while difficult to find anywhere, was easier to find here than there. If […]
Posted inUncategorized
Nero Fiddled While Rome Burns: 2018 Edition
By John Berry, Chief Executive Officer, Society of St. Vincent de Paul Georgia I think most, if not all of us have heard the expression ‘Nero fiddled while Rome burned’. It is ‘urban legend’ from 64AD (or maybe ‘fake news’?) because in reality it didn’t happen. Yes there was a big fire in Rome, but Nero […]
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Bill for state takeover of Atlanta airport sparks opposition, even before it’s filed
As early as next week, the state Senate will see a proposal to put the state in charge of the Atlanta-run Hartsfield-Jackson airport. Even before it’s been filed, it’s sparked opposition from Atlanta lawmakers.
Posted inLatest News
Atlanta leaders work on legislative agenda: thinking affordability, assessments and airport
Atlanta’s elected officials under the Gold Dome and at City Hall are working against a tight state deadline to figure out if they want to lobby for new laws or flexibility to set policy on affordability, renters’ rights, tax assessments and more. On Friday, new Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and near a dozen of Atlanta’s […]
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New collaborative directs funding to fight HIV/AIDS in the South
By Dan Williams, program officer, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta Friday, December 1, marked the 29th anniversary of World AIDS Day, a day we pause to lend support to people living with HIV and to remember those who have died from AIDS. Over 29 years we have seen great progress in the fight against HIV, […]
Posted inLatest News
State auditors ding controls on agriculture tax break
A tax break that’s meant to boost the agriculture business in Georgia is still liable to abuse by folks who aren’t earning all that much money at farming, or stores that want to move merchandise that has nothing to do with producing food, fiber or timber.
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Democrats elbowing for place on Georgia gubernatorial ballot
By Maggie Lee The 2018 race for the Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nomination got a bit more heated Monday night at the Carter Center. That’s when former colleagues Stacey Abrams and Stacey Evans sat down for a conversation together as rival candidates for the top political job in Georgia. Abrams and Evans clashed early about education. […]
Posted inColumns
GeorgiaForward is changing the game by finding consensus statewide
People from across the state pondered Georgia’s future looking for ways to improve prosperity for everyone.
The two-day 2017 GeorgiaForward forum, held at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, asked all the big questions.
Posted inATL Business Chronicle
Business leaders go all out to help win Amazon’s HQ2
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Sept. 22, 2017
Metro Atlanta leaders, working in concert with state of Georgia, are pulling out all stops to lure Amazon’s HQ2 to the region.
The prospect of winning Amazon’s second headquarters with the potential of 50,000 new jobs has captured the attention of all the major players in the state and the region.
“Amazon is the Olympic moment for economic development in metro Atlanta,” one business leader said of the possibility. Another called it the equivalent of a “corporate Super Bowl.”
Posted inLatest News
Georgia Attorney General: Immigration is an issue for Congress
As some states threaten the federal government with legal action over the immigration status of people brought to the U.S. as children, Georgia’s top official lawyer says that immigration is an issue for the U.S. Congress to settle.
