Atlanta city councilmembers are citing Atlanta’s Olympic Games in their emerging effort to ensure that city residents are hired for at least 30 percent of jobs, and that other community benefits be provided, if city voters in November approve two referenda totaling $2.8 billion for transportation projects.
Tag: politics
Posted inColumns
Thursday night update: A clear, and liberal, speech
For the historic moment in which she became the first woman to accept the nomination of a major party, Hillary Clinton opted for elegant simplicity, and history will probably approve her choice. Clinton must have been the first nominee of her party to give her acceptance speech clad entirely in white. Her speech was clear, direct, and never on the defensive.
Posted inTom Baxter
Wednesday night update: “The things that last”
This was the night designed by the Democrats to make the case that Donald Trump is just a little too screwy to trust with the keys to the nation’s nuclear arsenal, and what better setup could there have been than Trump suggesting Russian intelligence might help bring Hillary Clinton’s missing emails to the surface?
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Tuesday night update: This time, Bill was no Michelle Obama
The former president’s speech Tuesday night, capping off an evening marked by the nomination of his wife as the first woman presidential candidate of a major American political party, was long — long — on details about his wife’s accomplishments, but never seemed to reach the high notes the First Lady hit so effortlessly on the convention’s first night.
Posted inTom Baxter
COZY BEAR and FANCY BEAR crash the Democrats’ party
What a movie this campaign will make, if they are still able to make movies by the time it’s over.
COZY BEAR and FANCY BEAR are a pair of Russian hacker groups, well known in intelligence circles but not to the general public until the recent hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computer system. They are widely thought to be the source of the 20,000 emails which Wikileaks released last Friday, just ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
Posted inTom Baxter
Thursday night update: A message aimed at an impatient America
Have I got a deal for you, the nominee said, in so many words. What was remarkable about Donald Trump’s much-awaited nomination acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention Thursday night wasn’t how many promises he made — most nomination speeches are chock full of those. Instead it was the blinding speed with which he promised to carry them out.
Posted inLatest News
Central Library to be saved; $50 million renovation would allow floors to be leased
Central Library in Downtown Atlanta will not be demolished, per a vote Wednesday by Fulton County’s Board of Commissioners. The board is slated to decide in August on the extent of a proposed renovation that could cost up to $50 million.
Posted inColumns
Convention update: For Ted Cruz, what might have been… or might be
For a few minutes Wednesday night, a sort of time warp opened in Quicken Loans Arena, and we got a glimpse of how things might have been if Donald Trump had not won the Republican presidential nomination. In some ways it was not so different than how things were.
Posted inColumns
Central Library’s modern design intended to tell the world: ‘Atlanta has arrived’
The architectural style of Atlanta’s Central Library isn’t to everyone’s taste. However, the possibility of losing another signature building appears to be galvanizing support to preserve it as a library or other public use.
Posted inLatest News
Atlanta audit of $250 million bond program finds weak contracts, no improper deals
Atlanta’s $250 million construction program to improve the city’s roads, bridges and facilities is being conducted with business contracts that expose the city to “unnecessary risk,” according to an audit that’s to be presented Monday to the Atlanta City Council.
Posted inLatest News
Atlanta City Council poised to ask for Central Library to be renovated, not razed or abandoned
The Atlanta City Council is poised to formally ask the Fulton County Board of Commissioners to renovate and reprogram Central Library and, if that doesn’t happen, that the building designed by world-renowned architect Marcel Breuer be redeveloped into a catalytic space.
Posted inLatest News
Gov. Deal’s two nominees to lead EPD approved by DNR board
The board that oversees the Georgia Department of Natural Resources formally approved on Wednesday Gov. Nathan Deal’s two nominees to lead the state Environmental Protection Division.
Deal announced May 23 that Richard Dunn would direct the EPD. Lauren Curry was named to serve as EPD’s deputy director.
Posted inLatest News
Atlanta’s (nominated) watershed commissioner helps celebrate progress at Bellwood Quarry
Kishia L. Powell doesn’t officially have the job as Atlanta’s watershed commissioner, but she’s hit the ground running and on Wednesday is to join Mayor Kasim Reed in celebrating a milestone in developing a reservoir at the old Bellwood Quarry.
Posted inColumns
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s legacy could top $4.7 billion in public assets, infrastructure
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s legacy in restructuring public assets could well turn on whether voters back his plan for Atlanta to finance MARTA’s expansion inside the city limits.
Posted inColumns
Promises to keep
By Guest Columnist MICHAEL RICH, associate professor of political science and director of Emory University’s Office of University-Community Partnerships
Atlanta has again taken center stage in the nation’s urban revitalization efforts through its recent selection by the Obama administration as one of nine new Promise Zone communities. Will Atlanta’s public, private, civic and community leaders seize this opportunity to improve the quality of life in some of the city’s most distressed neighborhoods, or will this initiative end with a string of broken promises as was the case with so many previous efforts?
Posted inLatest News
Atlanta City Council to vote Monday on calling Nov. 8 vote on raising MARTA tax
The Atlanta City Council is slated to vote Monday on a proposal to call a referendum on a 0.5 percent sales tax hike to expand transit in the city, plus an additional measure that sets guidelines for spending the money.
Posted inLatest News
Control of Atlanta’s streetcars emerges in talks of $2.5 billion in transit funding
The issue of who should control the Atlanta Streetcar – Atlanta or MARTA – emerged as a flash point Wednesday between some Atlanta city councilmembers and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration during a talk about the future of the streetcar amid a $2.5 billion proposal to expand transit in the city.
Posted inLatest News
Atlanta weighs guidelines for proposed transportation taxes, deadline on Atlanta Streetcar
Atlanta’s project list for the possible 1 percent hike in the city’s sales tax, to expand transit and transportation, may be devised and implemented under guidelines the Atlanta City Council’s Transportation Committee is slated to discuss Wednesday.
Posted inColumns
Fate of Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System as much a topic as fate of Central Library
The fate of the Central Library in Downtown Atlanta will be the red herring at a meeting Tuesday. The real issue that’s not on the agenda is much more significant – the long-term viability of the Atlanta-Fulton Pubic Library System.
Posted inLatest News
Underground Atlanta sale enabled by golf course swap; continues sale of city assets
The Atlanta City Council voted Monday for a plan that enables the sale of Underground Atlanta to a developer. The plan calls for the city to deed over to the state of Georgia the Bobby Jones Golf Course.
