The Georgia Water Coalition’s latest report on the state’s most polluted waters shifts the traditional focus of the Dirty Dozen from the most polluted places to the “politics, policies and issues” that most threaten Georgia’s water.
Last week’s election did more to reshape the political map of Georgia than any since 2002, when Sonny Perdue’s victory in the governor’s race triggered the shift to a Republican majority in the General Assembly. We can say that, even before the last details of the election have been ironed out.
The day after Election Day, an email arrived in my inbox. Entitled “Victory Breakfast,” it came from the Gwinnett Democrats. Things have changed, but not everything has changed.
By Guest Columnist MIKE DOBBINS, professor of the practice of planning at Georgia Tech’s College of Architecture and former Atlanta planning commissioner
With the Atlanta City Council’s action to approve the CIM deal to develop the Gulch in Downtown Atlanta, what should city officials and citizens be doing to follow up the many, many complicated steps, approvals, and financial transactions that will now persist over a 20-plus year timeframe?
As it happens, we have a precedent.
On this bubblicious morning in Georgia, as we wait for the polls to open again, we might want to brush up on the famous “three governors controversy,“ which the New Georgia Encyclopedia has described as “one of the more bizarre political spectacles in the annals of American politics.” We could be on the verge of something similar.
By Guest Columnist KAREN GRAINEY, assistant director of Center for a Sustainable Coast
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a monumental report on Oct. 8, warning that humanity has only 12 years to make the “rapid and far-reaching” reforms needed to prevent the worst effects of climate change. These reforms entail drastic reductions in the primary cause of global warming – greenhouse gas emissions.
MARTA is seeking a developer to build a mixed use project, complete with affordable housing, at its Kensington Station, which is located in eastern DeKalb County between Avondale Estates and I-285. One potential stumbling block is the existing zoning of the property.
What Ralph McGill so clearly described 60 years ago as “the crop of things sown” is coming in again right before a big election, so the human tendency is to focus on how the mayhem of the last week will affect the upcoming vote. That, sadly, is the least of it.
By Guest Columnist ROBERT ROSENBERGER, of Georgia Tech, who researches the relationship people develop with their everyday devices
The Georgia Hands-Free Act went into effect back in July, banning the use of handheld phones while driving. This is a major change for Georgia drivers, and it’s one we should support. … There are also reasons to be concerned that it does not go far enough, and to take matters into our own hands and refrain from engaging in additional phone-related behaviors that do not happen to be covered by the new law.
Candidates used to vote on Election Day in front of television camera crews. This year, both Stacey Abrams and Brian Kemp voted early and posted about it on social media. For some first time voters, voting early may be the only way of voting they’ll ever know.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to eliminate a reference to the number of committee meetings held, correct the name of the Democratic challenger in the 7th Congressional District, and add information about airport debt.//
One apparent casualty of the campaign for Georgia governor is the proposed state takeover of Atlanta’s airport. The deadline for recommendations is Dec. 1, when the relevant Senate study committee is to be abolished, leaving the committee less than a month after the Nov. 6 general election to produce its recommendations.
The storm couldn’t have been worse for Georgia’s cotton harvest, coming as it did and prompting this headline from newsweek.com — “Hurricane Michael destroys crop of ‘a lifetime’…’” More than the hurricane impacted Georgia’s cotton crop this year. Cotton’s story is replete with Washington politics, trade war with China, and freakish weather from spring through autumn.
t’s extremely rare for a politician to take a shot at a candidate in a race farther down the ballot, much less call on one to resign. But this is a year of lateral moves and unconventional parries.
The battle among the owners of Plant Vogtle over its continued construction has led to a lowering of the credit ratings of about $2.1 billion in bonds sold by Jacksonville, Fl. The concern is the city’s reliability to repay its debts, according to a rating action issued by Moody’s Investors Service.
By Guest Columnist DAN REUTER, a longtime advisor on urban planning and community development in metro Atlanta and the founder/CEO of Reuter Strategy
Momentum is building for the creation of a new Community Improvement District in the cities of Chamblee and Doraville. Led by local commercial property owners and encouraged by the leadership of the cities of Chamblee and Doraville, a CID will help the community to leverage the existing assets to provide greater access and amenities.
For starters, the monthly rent is to jump by nearly 50 percent at one proposed apartment complex that’s to replace a planned teardown of duplexes located north of Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery. This is just one of several developments that may give members of the Atlanta City Council an opportunity to ponder aloud the city’s state of affordable housing.
The analysis of how decorum has broken down in the U.S. Supreme Court nominating process usually begins with Robert Bork and moves through Clarence Thomas to the present, sorry state of events. A 1994 Alabama race run by Karl Rove deserves more attention, because the venom which has been injected into judicial politics starts at the state level.
Fulton County appears to be calling for another shakeup in the county’s lobbying team at the state Capitol and before Congress. The county is seeking a single firm to advocate the county’s position at both levels of government.
By Guest Columnist MELITA EASTERS, executive director and founding chair of Georgia’s WIN List
On Oct. 1, the 2018 mid-term election is just 37 days away. Nationally and in Georgia, women candidates have won primaries in record-setting numbers, cementing the prediction of 2018 as another “Year of the Woman.”
Atlanta’s Confederate Avenue is to be renamed United Avenue, ending years of debate over what – if anything – to do with a name that holds near mystical power. The former name may be memorialized with an historic marker – in keeping with a multi-national practice of augmenting, rather than removing, a controversial mark of history.
Dirty Dozen report focuses on ‘politics, policies, issues’ that pollute Georgia’s watersNovember 14, 2018 - 6:51 pm
Atlanta misses likely spike in housing costs as Amazon locates headquarters elsewhereNovember 13, 2018 - 11:37 am
Downtown Connector’s bridges evolving from spartan crossings to garden-like settingsNovember 12, 2018 - 4:59 pm
