(APN) ATLANTA — A small time developer has attempted to destroy a community garden that plays an important role in Atlanta’s radical LGBTQI community. On Saturday, October 17, 2015, Ehsan Razavi, owner of RZI Properties, bulldozed most of the garden at Open Space Church, also known as the Homostead, while police stood by and refused to intervene. “Years […]
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With additional reporting by Matthew Charles Cardinale. Photograph (screenshot) courtesy of Joyce Dorsey. (APN) ATLANTA — Community leader Mattie Jackson, 93, will not be forced out of her home. Mayor Kasim Reed made that promise to Jackson and her supporters in a meeting earlier today, on October 08, 2015. In September 2015, Atlanta Progressive News broke the story […]
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Editorial by Anna Simonton, Staff Writer and News Analyst; and Matthew Charles Cardinale, News Editor. (APN) ATLANTA — The Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority (AFCRA) has officially invited developers to bid on Turner Field, despite the fact that the public input process regarding community benefits has just gotten started – a move that amounts to a stab in the […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — After years of inaction because solar panels were deemed unfeasible, the City of Atlanta appears on the verge of possibly implementing a new solar power plan. Former State Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Atlanta), director of Atlanta’s Office of Sustainability, told Atlanta Progressive News that she’s working with various departments to finalize a plan to install solar […]
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With additional reporting by Matthew Charles Cardinale. (APN) ATLANTA — A decision of the Supreme Court of the U.S. handed down this summer, 2015, could affect affordable housing policies and practices in Georgia. On September 02, 2015, the Atlanta Regional Housing Forum held a panel discussion on the landmark case, Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — William Perry, the government watchdog who recently left Common Cause Georgia, where he had served as Executive Director, is officially launching his own organization. Two, in fact. First, Georgia Ethics Watchdogs is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that will focus on filing ethics complaints against public officials who violate the law. “It’s really difficult to be […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — On August 28, 2014 Georgia Stand Up hosted an education town hall attended by some members of the Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education, including Leslie Grant (District 1), Byron Amos (District 2), Matt Westmoreland (District 3), and Chairman Courtney English (Seat 7-at-large). The public pressed Board Members to take a clear stance on Gov. Nathan […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — Detainees at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia were apparently met with retaliation for protesting inhumane conditions this week. “We are deeply concerned for people currently detained at Stewart. As communication in and out of the facility has been limited, it has been difficult to monitor the situation,” Silky Shah, co-director of the Detention Watch Network, […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — One of Atlanta’s most revered community leaders–Mattie Jackson, 93–is in danger of losing her home to eminent domain as the City moves forward with plans to bulldoze two city blocks in Summerhill-Peoplestown in order to install stormwater detention ponds. The stretches of Ormond Street and Atlanta Ave. in question were part of the Summerhill neighborhood until […]
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(APN) NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA — Ten years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Louisiana, organizers from Atlanta traveled there to participate in a week of action, from August 23 to 30, 2015, under the banner of Gulf South Rising. Atlanta Progressive News traveled to New Orleans to observe first-hand. Gulf South Rising is an initiative launched earlier this year […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — City of Atlanta police and firefighters packed the public comment section of the Atlanta City Council’s Full Council Meeting on Monday, August 17, 2015. They were there to demand a pay increase that was denied them when 3,000 city workers received a 3.5 percent raise in July 2015. Mayor Kasim Reed justified excluding sworn personnel from […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — On August 11, 2015 Common Cause announced the resignation of its Georgia chapter director, William Perry. Perry helmed the state chapter for over four years, serving as a vigilant government watchdog on issues of ethics, transparency, public spending, and money-in-politics. His efforts were directed large at the City of Atlanta and the State of Georgia. […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — The Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless is once again under attack by the City of Atlanta. On Tuesday, August 11, 2015, Mayor Kasim Reed announced his intentions to take over the shelter, known colloquially at “Peachtree-Pine,” through eminent domain. The Mayor said he would demolish the building and construct a new shelter to house […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — Republicans no longer have a supermajority in Georgia’s State House of Representatives. On Tuesday, August 11, 2015, Democratic candidate Taylor Bennett–an attorney and former football player–won a runoff election for House District 80, defeating J. Max Davis, a Republican. The district includes parts of Sandy Springs in Fulton County and Brookhaven in DeKalb County. […]
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Photograph courtesy of Joyce Dorsey. (APN) ATLANTA — August 06, 2015 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the day the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law by U.S. President Lyndon Johnson. However, as Atlanta advocates gathered at Wheat Street Baptist Church to commemorate, it was not solely a celebratory occasion, given that the Supreme Court of […]
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