Place matters. So says Raj Chetty, the economic mobility guru of Harvard University. Chetty’s Opportunity Insights just released a comprehensive study on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HOPE VI program — a model that was first designed and developed in Atlanta by Egbert Perry, the chairman and founder of the Integral Group, […]
Tag: Mayor Kasim Reed
Posted inColumns
Give Mayor Andre Dickens freedom to name his team to Atlanta Housing’s board
It’s time to get out of the lawsuit business. So proclaimed several board members of the Atlanta Housing authority at a specially-called (virtual) meeting on Feb. 16 when the board approved a settlement agreement with the Integral Group and its development partners over 88 acres of land next to four mixed-income projects.
Posted inColumns
Atlanta Committee for Progress reflecting on its role under new mayor
The Atlanta Committee for Progress – the high-powered blue-ribbon group that advises the mayor of Atlanta – is at a crossroads.
Posted inColumns
Fort Mac’s inside deal with T.D. Jakes’ firm bypasses the community
Here we go again. The board of the Fort McPherson Local Redevelopment Authority is entering into exclusive negotiations with Bishop T.D. Jakes’s Dallas-based real estate firm to sell much of its remaining 132 acres.
Posted inColumns
Fort Mac developments in doubt due to messy backroom deals
A real life tug-of-war is playing out at the Fort McPherson Local Redevelopment Authority.
At stake is the future development of 144 acres of the 480-acre property that once was the Fort McPherson army base in southwest Atlanta.
Posted inColumns
An open letter to Mayor-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms
Dear Mayor-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms,
Congratulations on being elected Atlanta’s 60th mayor!
I begin this letter with an outstretched hand to let you know I want you to be a successful mayor.
My hope is you will appreciate the role of the press – to question, to inform, to probe, to be skeptical, and yes, to be critical when necessary.
This hope is not limited to me. Ideally you will embrace people who think differently than you do, that you will treat the press and fellow public servants with respect, and that you will seek mutually-beneficial solutions while governing our city.
Posted inLatest News
Mayor rejects claims by rec authority executive director over firing, ‘political slush fund’
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration said Monday evening it’s a “complete fabrication” by the head of an influential city-backed sports authority that he sought to oust her. For her part, the executive director says she was fired for refusing to run a “political slush fund.” The point/counter-point was delivered on the eve of the mayoral run-off election.
Posted inLatest News
Rec authority executive director says she’s ousted for refusing to run ‘political slush fund’
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is shoving out the head of the authority that’s negotiating to keep the Atlanta Hawks in the city because she refused to run it as a “political slush fund,” the departing executive director, Terry Wand, said in a statement Monday.
Posted inLatest News
MARTA Chair Robbie Ashe: Search for MARTA CEO will be ‘a fair fight’
As the American Public Transportation Association is holding its Expo in Atlanta this week, there is much chatter among professionals about who might become the next CEO of MARTA.
But Robbie Ashe, chairman of the MARTA board, did dispel one rumor – that a possible candidate could be Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, whose two terms as mayor will end in January.
Posted inColumns
Mayor Kasim Reed may award key employment contracts before leaving office
With less than six months remaining before he leaves office, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is working on all cylinders trying to accomplish as much as he can in the precious time he has left.
But all this activity has a downside.
The next mayor of Atlanta could inherit a City Hall where major policy moves, government contracts and personnel decisions will have been decided before he or she takes office.
Posted inColumns
Mayor Reed and key city council folks are at odds over closing Eastside TAD
Invest Atlanta provided financing to a record number of developments at its board meeting July 21 – projects that will add a total of 493 units of affordable and workforce housing – a top priority of Mayor Kasim Reed.
But a reason there was such a rush of projects was due to the possible closing of the Eastside TAD (Tax Allocation District). And Mayor Kasim Reed supports closing the TAD.
Posted inColumns
Recent firings by Mayor Reed a contrast to Atlanta City Hall under Maynard Jackson
After the news broke of the Friday firings of two key officials from Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration, once again I was struck by how much City Hall has changed over the years.
On May 20, Reed parted ways with Miguel Southwell, aviation general manager who was in charge of Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport; and Jo Ann Macrina, commissioner of the Department of Watershed Management.
Posted inLatest News
An emotional Mayor Kasim Reed signs lease to keep Delta here for 20 years
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed was overcome with emotion during the public signing of the city’s 20-year lease agreement with Delta Air Lines – a lease that also includes a 10-year optional extension.
The mayor’s voice quivered as he fought back tears talking about one of his closest confidants and friends in Atlanta’s business community – Delta CEO Richard Anderson.
Posted inLatest News
Mayor Kasim Reed talks about being a family man and his post mayoral plans
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, speaking to the Kiwanis Club of Atlanta Tuesday, got personal –talking about how becoming a family man had changed him.
In a moment of candor, the mayor admitted that at home he does not call the shots. For example, he said he wanted his daughter, Maria, to become a student in Atlanta’s public schools. But his wife was a student at the Pace Academy and went to the Suzuki school, a Montessori pre-school. So his daughter is going to the Suzuki School.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed: MARTA bill may not be dead
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, speaking to a gathering of civic leaders Monday morning, gave a glimmer of hope that the MARTA referendum may not be dead after all.
At a conference about the “opportunity gap,” Reed said that if there were a transportation referendum without MARTA, “just count me out.”
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Mayor Reed: City ‘very close’ to 20-year Delta deal; thanks CEO Richard Anderson for commitment to Atlanta
The city is “very close to finalizing an agreement” with Delta Air Lines on a new 20-year lease at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed told people attending the Atlanta Press Club’s Newsmaker Luncheon on Thursday.
Posted inATL Business Chronicle
Mayor Reed to work to keep city ‘equitable’ in 2016
By Maria Saporta and Amy Wenk
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on February 5, 2016
Building an equitable Atlanta will be a central theme of Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration in 2016.
Reed disclosed his commitment to making “sure Atlanta is a place for all us,” during an editorial board meeting with Atlanta Business Chronicle on Feb. 2.
“It’s not going to be just a traditional race conversation,” Reed said. “It’s going to be about the future conversation. How do millennials afford to live in the city of Atlanta? How does anybody afford to live in the city of Atlanta? How do you learn from London, New York, San Francisco … that are dealing with real issues around equity?”
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed agrees to transfer 10 property deeds to APS
Given the new spirit of cooperation between the City of Atlanta and the Atlanta Public Schools, Mayor Kasim Reed said he is willing to transfer 10 property deeds to the school system.
Reed, speaking at the State of the City business breakfast Thursday morning at the Georgia World Congress Center, said he would ask the Atlanta City Council to transfer those deeds “right away.”
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Mayor Kasim Reed seeks to remove mystery on Bobby Jones land swap deal
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed called the possibility of the State of Georgia getting ownership of the Bobby Jones Golf Course in Buckhead as the “biggest false crisis that I’ve seen.”
In an editorial board meeting with the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Tuesday morning, Reed said he wanted to remove the mystery around the possible land swap between a state-owned parking facility at Underground Atlanta and the city-owned Bobby Jones course. The swap has been tied to the closing of the sale of Underground to WRS Realty.
Posted inDavid Pendered, Latest News, Main Slider
Mayor Reed’s trade missions fueled Brazilian firm’s decision to open an HQ in Atlanta
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s work during two trade missions, one to Brazil and one to Mexico, helped convince Brazil’s largest credit card processor to select Atlanta for the corporate headquarters of a financial services division.
