Morning, y’all! I’ve said it before, but I am continually blown away by our A.M. ATL family. There are so many fascinating people in our ranks: pilots, professors, civil servants, journalists, musicians, mechanics, world travelers, comedians (even if not professionally), people with alarmingly niche areas of expertise … y’all are the best.
Let’s get to it.
CUSTOMERS AREN’T WILD ABOUT OUR AIRPORT
Do people love Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport? Not really.
The latest JD Power North America Airport Satisfaction Study is in (we know you’ve been waiting for it), and Atlanta’s airport is at the bottom of the pack.
- Hartsfield-Jackson ranked 15th among 20 “mega airports,” or those with at least 33 million passengers a year.
- Some factors in scoring: ease of travel through airport; level of trust with airport; terminal facilities; airport staff; departure/to airport experience; food, beverage and retail; and arrival/from airport experience.
- Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport scored the highest.
- All of the highest-ranked airports recently completed, or have nearly completed, multibillion-dollar improvement projects. That’s actually a good sign for our future since ATL is in the middle of its own long-term renovations.
💡 Thought experiment: Think about what makes you, a customer, satisfied with an airport. (It has to be something the airport can somewhat control. Being in a place you hate doesn’t count.) I’ll put the study’s top factors for customer satisfaction in One More Thing, and we’ll see if we’re all on the same page.
🔎 READ MORE: The result is actually an improvement for ATL
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GA IS SEARCHING FOR A NEW VOTING SYSTEM FOR 2028
Georgia lawmakers want to overhaul the state’s voting system in time for the 2028 presidential election. That feels like it’s a century away, but alas, this major change to our voting process would have to be complete in less than two years.
It’s an extremely tight timeline with several moving parts.
- New politics: The process could be influenced by the results of November’s midterms.
- Concordance: State GOP leaders have tied the call for a new voting system to debunked claims of widespread election fraud in the 2020 presidential election, but they’re not the only ones who want a refresh. Before anything is purchased, lawmakers have to actually agree on a course of action and pass legislation.
- Cost: Georgia’s current voting equipment was purchased for $107 million in 2019. Like everything else, it will likely be more expensive now.
- General rigmarole: Once lawmakers figure out what they want, they have to agree on a vendor, have the systems delivered, certified, tested and deployed, then train election workers on it.
🔎 READ MORE: Why different leaders across the state want new voting equipment
DEKALB HAS NEW OPTIONS FOR OVERCROWDED SCHOOLS
The DeKalb County School District released new “concepts” for how it might deal with overcrowded schools in the northern part of the county.
“Concepts.” What a deliciously enigmatic word.
- The new concepts combine rezoning for attendance in some areas, shuffling grade configurations, creating dual campuses or streamlining “feeder” schools from elementary to middle schools and so on.
- The options are the latest result of the Student Assignment Project, DeKalb’s effort to deal with overcrowded and underused schools.
- Area families have been very vocal about the plans, weighing in by the hundreds via public meetings, an online survey and interest in a Community Advisory Team.
- School board leaders say they’ll continue to hear from parents as they refine ideas.
🔎 READ MORE: DeKalb families, this one’s for you
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
🎓 The University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents announced a sole finalist for the next university system chancellor. Thomas A. Fanning is the retired CEO of the Atlanta-based utility giant Southern Company. If he gets the job, he’ll replace former Georgia governor Sonny Perdue.
🫏 U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff has transferred more than $3.6 million in fundraising into the Democratic Party of Georgia’s coordinated campaign over the last two years, an investment that boosts state Democrats up and down the ballot.
NEWS BITES
Mercedes-Benz will offer even more fancy food options for Falcons games this year
If you’re gonna watch the football equivalent of an urgent care discharge room, you might as well do it with a giant glazed pork chop in your hand.
NASA spacecraft discovers huge new crater on the moon
A little retinol will sort that right out.
T. rex had a body temperature similar to our own, study finds
What oddly intimate information!
Bingo and Tickle Me Elmo nominated for Toy Hall of Fame. Will Care Bears also make it this year?
They’ve had a heck of a season, but if the Bears can’t get past Polly Pocket for the division title, they’re gonna run into a brick wall when Elmo comes to town.
ON THIS DATE
Sept. 17, 1975
MARTA says U.S. obstructing system. MARTA officials Wednesday bitterly accused the U.S. Department of Labor of needlessly obstructing construction of Atlanta’s rail rapid transit system. … MARTA’s reaction was sounded by General Manager Alan Kiepper after a further setback in a wage dispute that began last May. … “I for one think it is a damned shame that a federal agency can completely stall a project such as MARTA, particularly after the appeals process has been followed as provided by law.”
The piece of legislation at the core of this deep cut in MARTA’s history was the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, which established wage scales and protections for workers involved in public projects.
ONE MORE THING
OK, what would rank an airport high on your “customer satisfaction” scale?
The study lists three major ones:
- effective signage and clear way-finding systems
- airport frontage and terminal design that reflect the city’s character
- food and beverage options
Mine would be “safe places to rest or stretch out.” London’s Heathrow Airport has cozy but well-trafficked little nooks along their moving walkways.
As for details that reflect the city’s character, I get a perverse glow of home-feeling every time Atlanta TSA agents at luggage screening bully people to near tears when they don’t put their electronics in a separate bin.
GET YOUR LAPTOP OUT. YOU GOT A LAPTOP? IN YOUR BAG? NO? DON’T LIE TO ME. GET IT OUT. NOW GET A BIN! PUT IT IN THE BIN. KEEP IT MOVING! ARE YOU STUPID?! IS THIS YOUR FIRST DAY ALIVE? YOU KNOW WHAT, GO HOME. THIS IS ATLANTA. WE GOT THINGS TO DO.
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.
Until next time.