JOURNALISM
Transportation update: GRTA’s acting director, MARTA reorg on hold, Atlanta vacancy
- Some degree of clarity is emerging in metro Atlanta’s cauldron of transportation planners, managers, and planning. GRTA Executive Director Jannine Miller visited the Capitol Thursday to say her goodbyes to lawmakers and introduce them to Kirk Fjelstul, her deputy director who was named by GRTA’s board as acting director. Down Mitchell Street, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed remains without a transportation planning director as the city tries to figure out how to realigned Martin Luther King Jr. Drive around the future Falcons ...more
Atlanta’s latest plan for MLK Drive: Shift vehicles onto a two-lane residential street
- Atlanta now is proposing to reroute traffic west of the Falcons stadium from Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to a two-lane street that has curbside parking. The Parsons Brinckerfhoff engineering firm designed this solution to the closure of the MLK viaduct. The proposal would create a “seamless” MLK Drive corridor, Richard Mendoza, the city’s public works commissioner, said Wednesday during a work session convened by the Atlanta City Council’s Utilities Committee. MLK Drive once was a contiguous road that extended a dozen ...more
Falcons can cancel stadium deal Sept. 30 if Atlanta doesn’t provide $200 million, etc.
- Terms of the deal for the Falcons stadium underscore the risks inherent in a delay in Atlanta’s sale of the bonds to fund the stadium, even as the Atlanta City Council appears to be in no rush to abandon land the state seeks for the stadium. The Falcons can terminate the deal if Atlanta hasn’t sold bonds and deposited into the appropriate account at least $200 million by Sept. 30. The Falcons can back out if the former Herndon Homes public ...more
Symbols old and new capture angst emerging around Falcons stadium
- The Falcons stadium is the next “Peyton wall” of Atlanta, a lawyer said Monday, comparing the sports venue to an actual wall the city erected in 1962 to separate black and white neighborhoods. By another account, the stadium saga is Atlanta’s version of “Groundhog Day.” In the movie, actor Bill Murray relived the same depressing events day after day after day. Poor people are the protagonists in this comparison to real life. Symbolic language certainly was out in force Monday, following a ...more
Atlanta’s funding for Falcon stadium delayed at least seven weeks by judge
- A seven-week delay in Atlanta’s schedule sell bonds to help pay for construction of the Falcons stadium was the immediate result of a court hearing Monday morning. Bond validation petitions typically are open-and-shut matters. Lawyers for the government usually get a speedy ruling from a judge that allows the sale of bonds to proceed posthaste. In the case of Atlanta’s bonds for the stadium, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Granville set the next date for a bond validation hearing for April ...more
MARTA expansion along I-20 in DeKalb County a goal of proposed East Metro CID
- Civic leaders in south DeKalb County are trying – again – to improve the area, and this time their goals include the extension of MARTA bus and rail service along the I-20 corridor east to Mall at Stonecrest. One caveat that may distinguish this organizational effort from its two predecessor’s is this plain call to extend MARTA service. The I-20/east route is among those MARTA GM Keith Parker says are contenders – once construction money is available. Advocates say the CID would ...more
Georgia’s solar industry adds jobs as PSC calls for more solar energy production
- The installation of solar panels on the roof the Atlanta Community Food Bank represent the growth in jobs in the solar industry. File/Credit: David Pendered Georgia has climbed to 16th place in the nation in 2013 for the number of workers in the solar industry, according to a new report by The Solar Foundation. Georgia has added some 1,800 solar jobs since 2012, bringing the total number of jobs in the solar industry to about 2,600, the report found. “This report shows ...more
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- Pendered Consulting stands ready to help you influence decision-makers as you work to achieve your goals and objectives in Metro Atlanta and the State of Georgia. Now is an ideal time to complete your framework for the future and begin winning public support for your plans. Affordable capital is likely to remain available, given comments by Philadelphia Fed Bank President Patrick Harker and others that a rate rate hike could be more than a year away. We hope you will see the many ways ...more
Lawsuit contends stadium bonds unconstitutional, violate environmental policies
- John Woodham A court challenge has been filed against Atlanta’s plan to sell $278.3 million in bonds to help fund construction of the Falcons’ $1.2 billion stadium. The motion portrays a breakdown in legislative and administrative processes all the way from the state Capitol to the Georgia World Congress Center Authority and to Atlanta City Hall. The motion raises legal issues involving the constitutionality of the hotel motel tax; the demolition of two churches; failure to address state-mandated environmental concerns; and failure ...more
Mayor Reed’s legacy to be tested by challenge to city funding for Falcons stadium
- Many structures in English Avenue and Vine City have fire damage. The city's Falcons stadium deal could do more to help Vine City, English Avenue, and Castleberry Hill, say opponents of the deal. Credit: Donita Pendered Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed may be bucking the adage that history judges leaders for their performance in battles not of their choosing. One battle Reed did choose, and on which he will be judged, is to help the Falcons build a new stadium. The mayor ...more