(APN) ATLANTA — The City Council of Atlanta appears likely to approve a funding measure to extend the life of People TV, an Atlanta public access channel, for one year. The Finance/Executive Committee unanimously approved the funding last week, at the November 30, 2011, meeting. The proposed ordinance would transfer 180,000 dollars from the non-departmental budget for public access […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Making good on a campaign promise to strengthen Georgia’s Sunshine Laws, including the Open Records Act and Open Meetings Act, Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens, a Republican, has proposed a series of significant changes to both laws. According to a review of the current version of the proposal, HB 397, which was marked up by the […]
Read more41 Days to Black for People TV; Council Slow to Act By Matthew Cardinale (APN) ATLANTA — People TV will end its programming on December 31, 2011, if the City Council and Mayor of Atlanta do not take action. As previously reported by Atlanta Progressive News, after the Georgia legislature passed franchising legislation that allowed AT&T to compete with […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Following two votes at the Full Council meeting on Monday, October 17, 2011, Atlanta Progressive News has revised its scorecard of Atlanta City Council Members, which now includes eighteen votes on legislation or other matters. APN first issued a scorecard in 2009, and has re-issued the scorecard with additional items twice previously. Of note in the […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — The City Council of Atlanta took an extraordinary vote Monday, October 17, 2011, on whether to grant an additional two minutes of public speaking time to NAME President, an advocate for People TV, the endangered public access station. Ms. President ran out of time while making her remarks at the Full Council meeting, where two minutes […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — The Supreme Court of Georgia heard oral arguments in Cardinale v. City of Atlanta, S11G1047, on Tuesday, October 04, 2011, at 240pm. Atlanta Progressive News’s Editor–the present writer–appeared to argue that the City of Atlanta, and agencies across the State of Georgia, are not permitted to take secret votes. Amber Robinson, a City Attorney, appeared on […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Attorney General Sam Olens and the Georgia First Amendment Foundation have filed amicus briefs in the case, S11G1047, currently before the Supreme Court of Georgia, and brought by the News Editor of Atlanta Progressive News–the present writer–against the City of Atlanta, regarding the City Council’s secret vote of February 2010. Oral arguments will be held in the […]
Read more(APN) The City Council of Atlanta has begun the process of redistricting the twelve Council Districts following the 2010 Census results. The Council held a public hearing to discuss redistricting on Wednesday, September 14, 2011. Atlanta Progressive News has learned that over the last ten years, significant growth has occurred in Midtown (Districts 2 and 6) and Buckhead (Districts […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Senior Assistant City Attorney Kristen Denius defended two closed-door meetings involving the Atlanta Police Department LGBT Advisory Board, Mayor Reed and his staff, and APD, in a memo prepared for Glen Paul Freedman, Chair of the Board, dated Monday, August 22, 2011. In this memo, Denius advised Freedman, in the opinion of the City of Atlanta […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — The City of Atlanta’s City Council Office called security on Atlanta Progressive News’s News Editor–the present writer–while the Monday, August 15, 2011, Full Council Meeting was going on, and only minutes before a court hearing in which APN defeated the City in court. Officer W. Williams (BADGE #2999) was clearly called as part of an effort […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — The City of Atlanta Law Department has requested that Atlanta Progressive News return four memoranda to their offices, after APN obtained the controversial memos and published their contents earlier this week. One memo, dated April 04, 2011, authored by Kristen Denius, Assistant City Attorney, and sent to all Council Members and Council staff, admits that Council Members […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — City attorneys for the City of Atlanta advised Council Members in a series of internal memos that the Council had violated the Georgia Open Meetings Act, and advised Council Members to change their practices, Atlanta Progressive News has learned. APN obtained four members prepared for Council Members by City attorneys from a source who was granted […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Senior Assistant Attorney General Stefan Ritter advised the City of Atlanta and Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter’s office that Attorney General Sam Olens’s Office believes the City Council violated the Georgia Open Meetings Act by holding closed-door Committee Briefings, at a status and scheduling conference held today,Monday, August 08, 2011, in Judge Baxter’s conference room. City […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — On Monday, August 08, 2011, there will be a hearing before Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter in the case concerning the City Council of Atlanta’s practice of holding seven closed-door Committee Briefings every two weeks and not allowing in the public. The hearing will begin at 10am, and at Fulton County Superior Court, Courtroom 4D, Justice Center Tower, […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — The City Council of Atlanta is considering a written reprimand for Municipal Clerk Rhonda Dauphin Johnson for misuse of City property; however, the reprimand inexplicably fails to address a number of findings involving Johnson, Atlanta Progressive News has learned. Because there were only eight Council Members at Monday’s Full Council meeting, on July 18, 2011, making […]
Read more