By Mike Dobbins Dec. 1 – Below I outline how transit agencies might use funds from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) to address the equity purpose of the act in concert with meeting the affordable housing crisis. Lower income people, often lacking cars yet more bound to their work locations, suffer greater […]
Short Takes
Buckhead cityhood: Poison pill in $409 million bond packageBy David Pendered Nov. 27 – The Buckhead cityhood movement is challenged by a poison pill provision Atlanta included in a $409 million bond offerings that closed Nov. 3. Terms of the bonds state that if Buckhead leaves the city, its property taxpayers would have less than two years to pay off Buckhead’s projected share of […]
Environment
UN: ‘Climate battle will be won, lost in cities’By David Pendered Nov. 23 – COP27 marks the start of a role for cities to fight climate change. The mayor of Des Moines, Iowa is at the center of the effort. The initiative – SURGe, Sustainable Urban Resilience for the Next Generation – was unveiled in advance of the climate talks that concluded this […]
Affordable Housing
Infrastructure funds to support affordable housingBy Mike Dobbins Nov. 13 – The lack of affordable shelter is a growing national crisis. The City of Atlanta, thankfully, rejected a misguided effort in October 2021 fall to upzone single family neighborhoods, a strategy that has proven to fail affordability aspirations in other cities. Here’s what we’re exploring instead: Identify sources of massive public […]
Women Sailors
‘I forgot who I am’ – Skipper Mélodie SchafferBy David Pendered Oct. 22 – The only female skipper racing the Globe40 said farewell to family, career and life on land three years ago and returned to her first love – sailing. Mélodie Schaffer broke the news to her family after competing about three years ago in the Caribbean 600, a race around 11 […]
Affordable Housing
Affordable housing part of ‘God’s plan’By David Pendered Oct. 16 – Safe, affordable housing is part of God’s plan for an orderly and civil society, according to the chair of a state House committee seeking solutions to Georgia’s housing shortage. State Rep. Dale Washburn (R-Macon) placed the housing issue in an ecclesiastical framework in his opening and closing remarks during […]
Environment
Monarchs migrate across metro AtlantaBy David Pendered Oct. 15 – Monarch butterflies are fluttering across metro Atlanta and Georgia as the peak autumn migration season comes to a close for these threatened pollinators. Metro Atlanta has been home to the most sightings reported by citizen scientists in Georgia through Oct. 17, according to the map maintained by the nation’s […]
Affordable Housing
Environment
MARTA, sustainability and COP27 climate summitBy David Pendered Oct. 9 – When global leaders meet in Egypt to discuss the status of the Paris Climate Accord, metro Atlanta’s contribution to meeting certain goals will be noted as MARTA’s efforts on sustainability and affordable housing. These topics are at the heart of discussions planned at the two-week climate summit known as […]
Environment
Okefenokee: Just say ‘No mine’By David Pendered Sept. 15 – The Georgia Water Coalition is trying to insert the proposed mine near the Okefenokee Swamp into the November gubernatorial campaign via a letter-writing campaign based on a survey released Thursday that shows a solid majority of Georgians oppose the mine. The coalition has launched an online campaign targeting the gubernatorial candidates, […]
Short Takes
The Queen’s sheepBy David Pendered Sept. 10 – Jill Taylor loved the monarchy and Queen Elizabeth II. Jill must have loved me, too. Or she’d have brained me for speaking ill of the Queen’s sheep. Jill and her husband, Doug Taylor, lived in the West Midlands of England. They were proud of their hometown and its melodic […]
