Morning, y’all! Feliz Cinco de Mayo. Remember, it’s not Mexican Independence Day. Cinco de Mayo marks the Mexican army’s victory over France at the 1862 Battle of Puebla and is now typically a celebration of Mexican-American culture. OK, now the party can begin.
Let’s get to it.
WHAT, EXACTLY, IS AFFORDABLE?
Discussion question: Is $1,600 a month an appropriate rate for “affordable housing” in Atlanta?
- The issue is being batted around City Hall regarding Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’ plan to build more affordable housing in the city.
- The city is looking at different calculations to determine who qualifies for affordable housing and how much it would be.
- Eloisa Klementich, president and CEO of Invest Atlanta, Atlanta’s economic development authority, said someone making 80% of the area median income, or about $64,000 annually, would qualify for $1,600 in rent.
- Klementich described such earners as “your first-time teachers, that could be your minimum wage workers, that could be someone who works at a Starbucks Coffee.”
Councilmember Kelsea Bond says the calculations are unrealistic and don’t accurately reflect how much Atlanta’s working class can afford.
“What I’m concerned about is that we’re using words like affordable and saying we’re building a lot of affordable housing, and really we’re just subsidizing market rate housing,” she said.
🔎 READ MORE: How those calculations figure into city plans
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(ALLEGED) AI MISADVENTURES, PART 548
DeKalb County recently published a satellite map showing the locations of alleged arson fires in the area. The problem? The map was inaccurate and had several hallmarks that it had been created, at least in part, by artificial intelligence.
- Roads and landmarks were not in their correct places, and a label that was supposed to say “N. Indian Creek Dr.” appeared with garbled, nonsensical characters.
- Two experts told the AJC they couldn’t confirm the map was AI-generated, but it had clear signs of AI.
- One of them asked Microsoft Copilot, a generative AI chatbot, to make a map showing the fires. It generated a similar-looking map with similar mistakes.
Why does it matter?
Arun Rai, a Georgia State University professor on the state’s AI advisory council, explained the big picture:
“Regardless of how we got here, I would say that the same thing failed: We did not have verification before public dissemination, whether it was a generative tool or a human error. If it enters an official channel without controls or verification, then we risk public trust in important government communication being eroded, and that’s hard to fix.”
🔎 READ MORE: Other alleged AI flubs that left agencies in awkward positions
TAX BREAKS FOR ME, TAX BREAKS FOR THEE
On the surface, the math isn’t hard.
💸 Money out: Georgia’s top lawmakers have been all-in on reducing or eliminating the state’s individual income tax, and the state has issued four tax refunds to citizens over the last five years. (A new $500 one could be coming your way. Here are the details.) That’s a lot of money from Georgia’s coffers, even with the state’s huge surplus.
💰 Money in: This year, Republican leaders pledged to eliminate billions of dollars of special interest tax breaks they dubbed “corporate welfare” to help pay for these ambitious tax plans.
So far, everything should check out. Except, those tax breaks for things like data centers and other industry interests are still in place — with more on the way.
- Instead, lawmakers approved more than $3 in new tax breaks for every $1 in tax breaks they voted to eliminate in the most recent legislative session, an AJC analysis found.
- These include hundreds of millions of dollars to benefit the timber and forestry industries, private school scholarship programs and other interests.
- Lawmakers also didn’t curb massive tax breaks for unpopular data centers. Those breaks will cost the state an estimated $2.5 billion this year.
That leaves the question: Where is the money going to come from to even the scales?
🔎 READ MORE: Legislators say they’ve made progress on the issue regardless
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
🗳️ Many Georgia voters still don’t know who they’ll vote for in this year’s governor’s race. That’s the AJC’s conclusion after looking at several top political polls.
💵 Wells Fargo gave $2.25 million to the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta and another $550,000 to Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development arm. The donations will support affordable housing strategies and small businesses in the city.
A WEIRD TIME FOR GOLF IN GEORGIA
It’s the end of an era. Bridgestone Golf will shutter its Covington golf ball plant, which has produced premium golf balls for the brand for more than three decades.
- Bridgestone says it’s part of larger supply chain issues. It’ll move production to Japan, where the company already has a presence.
- In fact, 95% of golf products sold in the U.S. are made overseas, Bridgestone Golf President Dan Murphy told Golf Digest.
⛳ READ MORE: Luckily, the company will still have a presence in Georgia
Meanwhile, a sale ...
About an hour north of Atlanta, the exclusive Hawks Ridge Golf Club was just purchased by Escalante Golf, an owner and operator of golf properties across 17 states.
- Golf has seen a surge of interest since the pandemic, and demand for the sport actually outpaces the supply of courses.
- Enter big golf companies, which snap up courses to increase revenue and court investor interest. Arcis Golf, one of the largest owners and operators of golf facilities in the U.S., acquired three Atlanta-area clubs last year.
- Time will tell whether such sales improve the experience for golfers or just for those ever-important investors.
NEWS BITES
Dolly Parton cancels Las Vegas residency due to health issues
She says everything she has is “treatable,” but we’re still gonna worry!
The Hawks have some tough roster decisions to make after ignominious playoff exit
I would not want to be in the room during those conversations.
Roomba pioneer showcases an AI-powered plush pet robot
Oh no, it’s cute! Must stay strong. We cannot let the robots win.
Swap your trinkets at one of these cute lil’ Atlanta trinket trade boxes
The human urge to acquire little doodads remains undefeated.
ON THIS DATE
May 5, 1979
Mixed reviews greet Atlanta skyline crown
“It’s humorless.”
“It’s graceless.”
“It’s big, bold, gutsy stuff. I like it.”
“It’s Americanism.”
“They want to say ‘permanence.’”
“It’s going to be a helluva good addition to the skyline.”
The appraisals from Atlanta architects come from professional interest. For almost all the rest of Atlanta area residents, however, the object of this attention will never have direct impact on their lives.
To clarify, they’re talking about this bad boy all the way to the right:
The Georgia-Pacific Building was completed in 1982 and had its share of aesthetic detractors.
ONE MORE THING
I love architect-on-architect violence via criticism. What do you mean the building is “humorless”? It’s not wrong, per se, just a beautifully specific burn.
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.
Until next time.
About the Author
AJ Willingham is an National Emmy, NABJ and Webby award-winning journalist who loves talking culture, religion, sports, social justice, infrastructure and the arts. She lives in beautiful Smyrna-Mableton and went to Syracuse University.
