A.M. ATL: Hometown pride

Morning, y’all! Happy belated International Women’s Day (March 8) to all the fellow female spirits out there. I hope you had an unbothered weekend and no one said anything weirdly patronizing to you.

Let’s get to it.

HOMELESS ENCAMPMENT CLEARINGS CONTINUE BEFORE WORLD CUP

Homelessness initiatives often get criticism for treating the optics of the problem and not the source. On the other hand, encampments can become a public health issue.

Atlanta’s “Downtown Rising” initiative, started in 2024, has worked to secure housing for individuals experiencing homelessness before hundreds of thousands of soccer fans descend on the city this summer for World Cup matches.

• A new round of clearings is underway downtown. This weekend, police cleared an encampment under an I-85 overpass near Grady Memorial Hospital.
• Critics often question whether such encampment clearings are more about optics than safety. In this case, leaders said the encampment was a public health issue. The area was overflowing with trash and human waste.
• The city changed its clearance protocols after the death of Cornelius Taylor during an encampment clearing last year.
• Atlanta officials said the completion of a rapid housing project in the city increased maintenance in already-cleared areas, and compassionate patrols of encampments will help push the initiative forward.

🔎 READ MORE: An unhoused person talks about their experience

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GRADE SHAKE-UP COULD BE PART OF DEKALB SCHOOL PLAN

The DeKalb County School District is considering closing more than two dozen schools in the coming years to solve capacity problems. It’s a major undertaking that has divided parents and residents. Now, there’s a new wrinkle.

• As part of the possible reorganization, DeKalb schools could change which grades are housed with each other.
• That could include pre-K through eighth grade schools, pre-K through third, or sixth through 12th in an effort to better use its facilities.
• About 75% of U.S. schools use the three-tiered model of pre-K through fifth (elementary), sixth through eighth (middle), and ninth through 12th (high).

A new version of DeKalb’s redistricting plan is expected this month.

🔎 READ MORE: Are there pros and cons to different grade arrangements?

MABLETON MENTIONED!

Mableton: We're a city!

I will put aside my abiding distrust for all things AI for this story and this story only.

Google and the U.S. Council of Mayors recently compiled a “playbook” of cities that are effectively using artificial intelligence systems to govern better.

You know who’s in there as a prime example? Mableton, Georgia, baby. (Proud resident right here.)

• Mableton Mayor Michael Owens explained how he sees AI tech as an “equalizer” that can help city officials focus on the important things.
• The city has used AI to digitize city records as part of a less-paper initiative. Owens says AI also helped as Mableton scaled up its government resources.
• Early adoption of some of this tech means the city has been able to develop guidelines and boundaries around it, Owens says.

🔎 READ MORE: More from thoroughly modern Mableton

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

🫏 The sprint is on for qualifying candidates in Georgia’s top legislative contests. In addition to the U.S. Senate and Georgia gubernatorial races, which we talk about all the time, Democrats are feeling optimistic they can claim some state House and Senate seats with new challengers.

🏢 The Georgia Senate voted to put the brakes on tax breaks for data centers. They passed a bill that would repeal two sales tax exemptions through 2028 and 2031. The same bill also protects consumers from paying for infrastructure costs related to data centers.

💸 Georgia touts its title as the No. 1 state for business. Unfortunately, the state’s minimum wage doesn’t match the growth. It’s still $5.15 an hour, same as it’s been for decades.

THE GREENING IS UPON US

Gonna make our trusty Savannah bureau write a story about how they clean the fountain afterwards.

Savannah’s iconic Forsyth Park fountain turned green on Friday, as it does before St. Patrick’s Day every year.

• Savannah has long been a hub of Irish immigration in the South.
• The city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade dates back to 1824 and is considered the third-largest Irish heritage celebration in the country.
• About 17 pounds of dye are used to (safely) green-ify the fountain and its statue residents, who must be quite used to this by now.

☘️ READ MORE: How Savannah is prepping for St. Paddy’s

NEWS BITES

The Hawks have won six straight and are facing a winnable week

Yay!

The fans were on fire, but Atlanta United drops home opener

Boo!

Atlanta Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes opens Alpharetta academy

This is Silver Spring, Md., erasure. (Dawes was born there; my hometown.)

Trout lilies, with their charming little yellow blooms, are some of the earliest GA wildflowers to appear each year

[Whispers so winter can’t hear] Y’all, spring is so close!

ON THIS DATE

March 9, 1914

Atlanta suffragists to hold big rally … raising $25,000 fund for Wesley Memorial Hospital. Atlanta needs a great hospital. There are several here and some of them are fine. But none is great. None is the Johns Hopkins of the south. Why not make Wesley Memorial that? The foundation for a great hospital along broad lines that know no creed save charity has been laid. Let’s build on those foundations — for Atlanta of tomorrow. Let’s give, and give generously and soon.

Promises made, promises kept. Wesley Memorial Hospital eventually became Emory University Hospital.

ONE MORE THING

I’m still thinking about how Savannah cleans the fountain after St. Patrick’s Day. It’s stressing me out. The fountain was just restored last summer and is mostly made of iron with white gloss paint. Do they repaint it every year? How gentle is this dye? The Savannah bureau will get answers for us all.