(APN) ATLANTA — While there is no end in sight to the Beltline-Atlanta Public Schools (APS) dispute, the Atlanta City Council has set aside four million dollars for a possible eventual settlement. The Council could have made an outright good faith payment, but decided to put it in a contingency fund, pending a settlement agreement. The problem is, […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — On Monday, March 16, 2015, the Supreme Court of Georgia issued their opinion, approving the construction of the new Atlanta Falcons Stadium, using a renewal from the City’s hotel/motel tax and related bond financing. The ruling affirms an order issued in May 2014 by Fulton Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville validating the bonds. The intervenors […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — Atlanta Attorney John Woodham was cleared of any wrongdoing by the Supreme Court of Georgia, in an opinion published on Monday February 16, 2015. At issue was whether Woodham violated the rules of the State Bar of Georgia when he offered to drop a bond validation lawsuit if the developers paid him a substantial fee. Woodham later […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — It is time for the City of Atlanta to end the theft from Atlanta Public Schools, to end the “negotiations”–there is nothing to negotiate, unless the subject is how much to steal from school children–and to pay the approximately fifteen million dollars or more, when interest is included, to APS immediately. Hypocrisy on Cheating Scandals […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — An effort to “request and encourage” the Mayor of Atlanta and Atlanta Public Schools (APS) former Interim Superintendent Errol Davis to reach an amicable settlement for the over 20 million dollars owed to APS generated by the Beltline Tax Allocation District (TAD) is moving forward, Atlanta Progressive News has learned. According to APS Board of […]
Read moreBy Meghan Simons, Special to The Atlanta Progressive News (APN) ATLANTA — Two recommendations–one for a suspension of three months and one for a suspension of six months–have been issued in the disciplinary proceedings against prominent Atlanta attorney John Woodham, for his improper actions while intervening in a bond case, as the case continues to near a resolution. […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kelly Amanda Lee, who was elected in a 2010 election covered closely by Atlanta Progressive News, has recused herself from a case involving her former campaign manager and a law firm whose address appears as the campaign address on Lee’s campaign disclosure reports. On March 06, 2013, Judge Lee recused herself […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — The Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation has let go of its Executive Director and other office staff and is no longer accepting new property tax appeals, Atlanta Progressive News has learned, as sources familiar with the matter say the Foundation is struggling with financial issues and that its future is quite uncertain at this point. “We hope to […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Two companion cases related to the Atlanta Beltline and Atlanta Perry-Bolton Tax Allocation Districts (TADs) are headed to the Supreme Court of Georgia, where the TADs and the Atlanta Beltline are no new topic, Atlanta Progressive News has learned. The first case, John Sherman and Christopher Eichler v. City of Atlanta et al., concerns the bond validation […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — CEO Brian Leary of Atlanta Beltline Inc. (ABI) was terminated at a Special Call Meeting of the Board of Directors on yesterday, August 17, 2012, after a week of daily articles in the Atlanta-Journal Constitution newspaper (AJC), revealing over a year’s worth of improper taxpayer dollar expenditures. After a City of Atlanta audit concerning Atlanta’s ten Tax […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Three different lawsuits, where John Woodham serves as legal counsel, are pending in the courts that challenge various aspects of the Beltline, the Beltline Tax Allocation District (TAD), and the Perry/Bolton TAD, Atlanta Progressive News has learned. One lawsuit–John S. Sherman, on his own behalf and on behalf of all those similarly situated, and Christopher D. Eichler, […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — A recent audit report reveals that the City of Atlanta has failed to exercise sufficient oversight over various Tax Allocation District (TAD) funds, meaning that taxpayer dollars from the City of Atlanta, Fulton County, and the Atlanta Independent School System have been diverted from the operating budgets of these entities, towards purposes for which they were never […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — The Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation is preparing to challenge the City of Atlanta’s bid selection process and the final bid selections–approved on Tuesday, January 03, 2011, by the City Council–in court, Atlanta Progressive News has learned. The Foundation seeks to overturn the bid selections on the basis that the City did not observe its own bidding […]
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