In a more prosperous yet deeply uneasy South Africa, the United States has a smaller footprint than it had in 1994, and other powers are ascendant.
Tag: politics
Atlanta’s lack of affordable housing prompts call to revive Housing Commission
In 1993, the need for affordable housing was so great that the Atlanta City Council created a Housing Commission to recommend solutions; the commission evaporated. Now, a pending proposal would revive the commission and charge it with meeting the challenges of this era.
Atlanta’s housing policies must be well-funded, comprehensive, inclusive
By Guest Columnist DAN IMMERGLUCK, a professor in the Urban Studies Institute at Georgia State University
In the book, City on the Verge, author Mark Pendergrast points out some of the challenges that the Atlanta BeltLine and the rest of Atlanta face in terms of housing affordability. He argues, for example, that the City should adopt mandatory inclusionary zoning, with a sliding scale to address the truly impoverished, as soon as possible in order to address the problem of declining affordability.
Most political candidates bypass Atlanta Streets Alive on Sunday
The crowd at this Sunday’s Atlanta Streets Alive won’t get to meet many political candidates. Just 21 of more than 100 candidates for Atlanta City Hall and Atlanta Board of Education have applied to participate, including just three of 13 mayoral candidates, according to the event’s website on Friday afternoon.
Trees Atlanta hosts tree protection event as city embarks on redo of tree ordinance
As Atlanta city officials look to revamp the city’s tree ordinance, Trees Atlanta is hosting more than 100 folks at a conference where they are slated to hear practical advice on how to become effective advocates for the city’s tree canopy.
Confederate monuments, white supremacy: Moral issues aired in Emory discussion
As a discussion of Confederate monuments drew to a close Sunday at Emory University, a moral aspect of the removal debate was voiced: “If we don’t deal with it, if we decide this isn’t worth our time to deal with it, we concede the field to white supremacists.”
Atlanta’s vision for development aligns with King’s notion of ‘beloved community’
The title says it all, and there’s no mistaking the intention to align Atlanta’s newly minted long-range development plan with the notions of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. – “The Atlanta City Design: Aspiring to the Beloved Community.”
Emory University’s first ‘Conversation with America’ digs deep on big issues
Emory University sparked just the sort of conversation it had hoped to initiate when Emory launched its Conversations with America project Tuesday evening in Pittsburgh. The event was covered by media including NBC, politico.com, and thehill.com.
ATL annexation of Emory et al.: City confronts DeKalb’s complaint
Atlanta on Tuesday laid a big piece of its foundation for the upcoming legal effort to provide a seamless annexation into the city of Emory University and neighboring institutions. The move appears designed to address provisions in a state annexation law regarding future development and density in annexation areas.
‘It’s a hard story to cover, because the weather’s so bad’
My first disaster had a lot in common with the current one. It was a hurricane named Agnes, a storm which weakened but wouldn’t go away.
PSC gives Plant Vogtle a vote of support as legal fees rise, creditors sue for payment
Georgia’s utility regulating agency voted Tuesday for an action intended as a show of support for the struggling Plant Vogtle. Meanwhile, in bankruptcy court, filings show lawyer fees are mounting and creditors are claiming they aren’t scheduled to paid for labor and supplies.
As Democrats seek a new way, the two Staceys become a friction point
The dustup over Stacey Evans’ speech at the Netroots Nation convention in Atlanta Saturday of liberal activists here was nothing approaching what was going on in Charlottesville. It was simply, with no need for exaggerated comparison, dumb.
The future of mobility being planned for SW Atlanta’s Campbellton Road
Atlanta’s first transportation corridor of the future is to be established in Southwest Atlanta along Campbellton Road by the city and MARTA. Naturally, a computer and the internet of things are at the heart of the effort.
Beyond statistics, the economy intersects with the state of our health
Why are we the only country in the world with an opioid crisis? If we need to create more high-wage jobs, why do so many high-wage positions go unfilled? Why don’t Americans move as much as they used to? There’s a connecting thread to this tumble of questions.
Trump’s infrastructure budget: MARTA concerned, road funding may escape woes
The headline on a new analysis of President Trump’s infrastructure agenda, issued by Moody’s Investors Service, seems to summarize the current state of affairs: “Trump’s executive order sheds little light on course of stimulus plan.”
‘Adoptive forfeitures,’ ‘equitable sharing,’ and seizing people’s stuff
Can an administration in which the president seldom sleeps have a sleeper issue? If so, this administration’s sleeper issue is civil asset forfeiture.
Demolition of Jordan Hall another sign of Atlanta’s dereliction of historic buildings
By Guest Columnist JAY SCOTT, a principal at Green Rock Partners, an Atlanta-based firm specializing in urban design, landscape architecture and planning
The Metro Atlanta YMCA is about to destroy a significant part of civil rights history in the African American Community, historic Jordan Hall. They are not doing it alone.
Their primary partners are the Woodruff Foundations and Invest Atlanta, who have given more than half of the $20 million necessary.
Amtrak opens doors to bows, arrows after lobbying effort that included Rep. Woodall
In one of those, “who’d have thought” political efforts, Amtrak’s recent decision to allow archery equipment is being partly attributed to U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall, a Republican who serves a district that stretches from Cumming to Loganville.
Transit politics: MARTA vows commitment to SW ATL; mayoral candidate retorts
Either MARTA intends to expand transit service in Southwest Atlanta, or MARTA and Atlanta are collaborating to bury Southwest Atlanta in favor of building a rail line to Emory University and its gridlocked Clifton Road corridor. At Atlanta City Hall on Wednesday, MARTA talked about its commitment to Southwest, and mayoral candidate Vincent Fort raised the Clifton corridor issue.
Proposal to use Atlanta’s surplus property for affordable housing hits snag at City Hall
The idea sounds simple enough – provide Atlanta’s surplus property for use as construction sites for housing that’s affordable for a schoolteacher. Pending legislation to do just that uncorked a wide-reaching debate Tuesday among members of the Atlanta City Council over the city’s past and present efforts to promote a range of housing prices in the city.
