A.M. ATL: Meet in the middle

Morning, y’all! We’ll begin the weekend (which, as we all know, starts on Friday morning) with some words of wisdom from the inimitable gospel duo Mary Mary: “If you wanna get what you never got, gotta do something that you’ve never done.”

Let’s get to it.

MARTA MEETS THE CITY IN THE MIDDLE ... KINDA

The spending dispute between MARTA and the city of Atlanta has been a thorny issue for years. (Arvin Temkar/AJC 2025)

After years of they said/they said, MARTA has agreed to resolve a longstanding dispute with the city of Atlanta to the tune of $52 million.

What the disagreement was about

• Auditors for the city of Atlanta said the transit agency overcharged for enhanced bus service and owed the city $70 million from a fund to pay for new MARTA projects.
• MARTA officials and the agency’s auditor said it only owed $865,000. That’s ... a significant difference!
• The discrepancy led to all sorts of drama, including a whistleblower lawsuit from a fired MARTA deputy general manager and accusations from MARTA about Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens.

Where the money came from

• The money came from the More MARTA operating expense fund — revenue from a half-penny sales tax voters approved in 2016 to pay for transit expansion projects.
• Ten years later, that fund has not delivered on a single completed capital project.
• MARTA has already paid back $19 million included in the settlement. Once it’s all in the kitty, the full $52 million will be used to fund projects like light rail on the Atlanta Beltline and new train stations.

Nearly everyone involved, including many current and former MARTA officials, say they’re grateful the issue was put to rest and ready for a fresh start.

🔎 READ MORE: It’s a complicated one, but this article breaks it down easily

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ATLANTA SCHOOL BOARD CONTROLS THE FATE OF MAYOR’S SIGNATURE PROJECT

(Photo Illustration: Philip Robibero/AJC; Source: Getty)

Since you probably don’t keep a list of city project names in the front of your mental filing cabinet, let’s reintroduce you to the Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative.

What is it? The Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative is Dickens’ signature legislation that aims to tackle Atlanta’s massive wealth divide.

How would it do that? The program invests money in Atlanta’s historically underserved neighborhoods to build affordable housing, parks and accessible grocery stores. There’s also hope it could fund a new hospital on the city’s medically underserved Southside.

Where does the money come from? The money comes from tax allocation districts, or TADs. Tax allocation districts are designated areas where a certain amount of property tax revenue growth is diverted away from governments and used to fund specific improvements within that district.

The concept depends on a lot of high-stakes assumptions about future growth in a specific area, which is one reason critics see it as risky.

Dickens’ TADs plan is also unpopular with many local leaders who say TADs take away money from other initiatives.

That’s where the Atlanta School Board comes in.

• Dickens wants to extend six of Atlanta’s eight TADs for the next 30 years.
• The City Council signed off on the measure in June, with the requirement that at least one other local governing body sign off, too.
• The Fulton County Commission voted against it, saying it has other projects to focus on, like the building of a new jail. That leaves the Atlanta Board of Education as the final decider.
• So far, the board says it’s still deliberating.
• Here’s the thing: Dickens’ TADs could deprive the school district of $2 billion to $4 billion in tax revenue over the next three decades, according to the district’s estimates.

It isn’t clear when the vote will happen, and there’s a lot of risk and reward to consider before it does.

🔎 READ MORE: All the cool kids are learning more about TADs and the Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

🏗️ Walmart will build a massive $1.3 billion, 1.5 million-square-foot shipping center in Carnesville, a tiny town of less than 900 people near the South Carolina border. The development will bring 1,000 jobs to the area, which means, on workdays, the population of Carnesville will literally double.

🛍️ Primark, in Georgia? The fast-fashion giant famous across the pond will open its first Georgia store next month as it continues to spread across the U.S. The new location will debut Sept. 8 at Sugarloaf Mills in Lawrenceville.

📚 Gubernatorial candidates Bottoms and Jackson may not agree on much, but they have at least one priority in common: improving education in Georgia. Their plans, as told to the AJC, balance different priorities of funding, literacy, conditions for teachers and more. This is a great read that digs into their platforms.

THE LIFE OF A DOG PHOTOG

Diego Rodriguez's work uniform as a photographer consists of knee pads, a camera and a lanyard strung with animal call whistles. (Abbey Cutrer for the AJC)

And now, our reward for becoming fully conversant in tax allocation districts and transit authority audits: dogs!

Around the Atlanta area, local photographers and social media influencers are using their skills to help get shelter dogs adopted.

Here are some lessons they share:

• Social media can be a vital tool for rural shelters that don’t see much foot traffic.
• High-quality photos and fun videos allow people to see personalities of dogs and cats that may not shine through during a regular shelter visit.
• There are nonprofits, like RescueMeATL, that connect shelters to photographers and content creators to help drum up adoption excitement.
• These creators are aware of a fine line in this kind of work: They don’t want to guilt people into taking pets that may not be wanted. They just want to give animals a better chance at finding a home.

🐾 READ MORE: A photographer and a content creator talk about their missions

NEWS BITES

The Atlanta Dream have great chemistry. Now, it’s leading them to the playoffs

Anyone who’s seen a Dream game in person can attest: the team chemistry is palpable, and so fun to watch. Only a few more regular season games!

Walter Wick’s famous ‘I SPY’ photos are on exhibit at the High Museum of Art

What a fun way to get kids to contemplate art.

What if Barney went psycho? ‘Buddy’ is brainchild of Atlanta filmmaker

Bold of you to assume Barney isn’t already unhinged. Have you seen his veneers?