Building a bridge across I-285 for baseball fans is harder than it looks. Earlier this month, the AJC reported that the state DOT had balked at underwriting the effort.
Over the weekend,
that local opposition is raising its head as well, specifically among those who want to protect the Galleria entertainment area:
[An] Authority member suggested that instead of building the bridge, the Braves might do better to enhance the parking options on the 9.5-acre tract they purchased in December from Genuine Parts less than a half-mile from SunTrust Park's home plate as the crow flies. That property already features a 300-space deck.
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The Republican rumor mill kicked into overdrive on Sunday evening with a Facebook post that claimed discrete inquiries were being made about succession protocol in case the chairman of the state GOP should resign.
A spokesman for the party, which in fact has been under financial stress, quickly denied the underlying premise. “John Padgett has no intention of resigning as chairman of the Georgia Republican party,” Ryan Mahoney said.
A major fundraiser intended to set the party's books aright, featuring pollster Frank Luntz, is scheduled for Oct. 5.
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And no, we can't let the morning go by without a dose of The Donald:
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A Coca-Cola exhibit at the High Museum of Art is leaving a bad taste in some mouths.
It started in July when the Los Angeles Times panned the Atlanta museum for hosting a show that celebrates "The Coca-Cola Bottle: An American Icon at 100" as part of a story about museums being "relentlessly commercialized."
Veteran Atlanta arts critic Catherine Fox was unsparing in her piece at Atlarts.org about the show, which takes up the lobby and the second floor of a wing at the museum. "A show that has all the rigor of a birthday present to a generous sponsor is an unseemly use of real estate," she wrote. There's more:
You might argue that compromises are inevitable when government funding is abysmal and there are a lot of hungry mouths to feed. You might argue that mutually beneficial patron/museum relationships are nothing new. Having directed a nonprofit, I know about needs and temptations; far be it from me to be self-righteous about others' lapses.
Still, a museum that does enough of these chummy shows (and this isn't the first) ultimately undermines its credibility. It would have been less cynical to have put up a label saying "Here is a bunch of art with Coke bottles in it" than to wrap it in disingenuous curatorial premises.
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Georgia budget writers could have a $100 million hole on their hands next year as Congress considers changes to the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Michell Eloy of WABE explains:
To meet the MOE obligation, the state doesn't have to spend its own money. It can give nonprofits some TANF dollars, and in return it can count some of their spending as state spending.
Georgia heavily relies on this legal funding option. The $99 million from third party dollars the state used last year to meet its funding obligation accounts for about 57 percent of its total MOE.
That loophole, Eloy reports, is about to end.
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Metro Atlanta has a new organization that is advocating for a comprehensive transit system, just in time for a fresh debate over the future of MARTA. Advance Atlanta is led by members of the Atlanta Regional Commission's Millennial Advisory Panel, and it will be rolled out at Monday night mixer.
Keep in mind that next year could be a pivotal moment in Georgia for the debate over transit. MARTA aims to build support for an $8 billion expansion of commuter rail that would transform the region, and its boosters will be looking for all the help they can get to sway wary policymakers.
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If you missed Sunday's paper, have a look at our AJC colleague Scott Trubey's story from scenic Prince George's County, Md., where the recent political fight on casino gambling could be a coming attraction for Georgia:
That lobbying and advertising largess flowed despite uncertainty MGM would even win the coveted sixth casino license. MGM ultimately beat out two other firms for the rights to develop a facility at National Harbor, an existing Atlantic Station-style mini-city with condos, apartments, retail and a vast convention center perhaps best known as the home to the National Spelling Bee. ...
In 2007, Maryland budget analysts predicted five casinos would be operating 15,000 slot machines by the end of fiscal year 2013, pumping $660 million into education, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Instead, the casinos in Maryland were slow to open, with fewer than 7,000 slot machines operating by June 2013 in four casinos.
As a result, the Sun reported, the state took in less than half the projected amount in fiscal 2013: just $284 million.
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The Economist took on state Sen. Josh McKoon and the "religious liberty" battle in a piece that posted over the weekend. A taste:
[T]he really problematic rupture that the dispute highlights—at least so far as Mr McKoon is concerned—is not between the gay lobby and religious conservatives, but between religious conservatives and big business. In response to his bill, many of Georgia’s largest companies, including Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola, along with the state’s Chamber of Commerce, have pointedly spoken up for diversity and decried discrimination. “To the extent their concern is genuine,” Mr McKoon says, “I think it is misplaced.” But mainly he reckons their interventions are PR stunts. At a recent political meeting he denounced the “far-left cultural norms” that executives were trying to impose.
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