(APN) ATLANTA — In a December 15, 2011, ruling, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Cynthia Wright put the City of Atlanta on notice that there are problems with the City’s procurement code which make it impossible for bidders who lose contracts at the airport, or anywhere else, to appeal in a timely fashion. Travelex Currency Services, a UK-based company which […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — At the Wednesday, December 14, 2011, meeting of the Transportation Committee of the City Council of Atlanta, Councilwoman Felicia Moore (District 9) took issue with yet even more secretive information related to the new concessions contracts for the Atlanta Hartsfield- Jackson International Airport: this time related to the scores assigned to each bidder by the City […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — A number of high-profile campaign contributors to Mayor Kasim Reed have received airport contracts, raising concerns about possible pay-to-play, even while Reed’s Administration guards all aspects of the bidding process with great secrecy. At stake is who will benefit from tens of millions of dollars in revenue from one of the nation’s busiest airports. Over 250,000 […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Two years into the four-year Council term which began in 2010 and will end in 2013, Council President Ceasar Mitchell has announced a few significant changes to the membership and leadership of Atlanta’s seven Council committees. By contrast, last year at this time, Mitchell only made slight changes to the Committee’s memberships; none to their chairmanships. […]
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 — 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) ATLANTA — US District Judge Thomas Thrash ruled against the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless in a Motion for Summary Judgement in its claims against the City of Atlanta, and ruled in favor of the City in its counterclaim for unpaid water bills, according to a copy of Thrash’s ruling, dated Friday, September 21, 2011, posted on […]
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 — 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 — Today the City Council of Atlanta is likely to consider the nomination of Jo Ann Macrina as Commissioner of the Department of Watershed Management. After being nominated by Mayor Kasim Reed in April 2011, she is already serving as Interim Commissioner. She previously worked as Deputy Director of the Watershed Protection Division for DeKalb County’s Department […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — The City of Atlanta and seven Council Members have responded to a lawsuit filed by the News Editor of Atlanta Progressive News–the present writer–challenging their practice of holding seven closed-door Committee Briefings every two weeks. The City’s Answer was filed in Fulton County Superior Court on June 17, 2011, and APN’s News Editor received a copy Tuesday, […]
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