(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 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 — 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 moreAPN Issues 2011 Atlanta Council Member Scorecards By Matthew Cardinale (APN) ATLANTA — Following several important, split votes by the City Council of Atlanta in late 2010 and so far in 2011, Atlanta Progressive News has issued a revised Atlanta Council Member Scorecard for 2011. The Scorecard took into account a total of sixteen votes and other actions by […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — When the City of Atlanta passed a compromise pension reform proposal it was hailed as a shining new example of the City Council coming together in a unanimous vote. But the unanimous vote covers up a non-unanimous count of a vote that never occurred: the nine Council Members who were in favor of the pension reform […]
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, […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Sparks were flying today, Wednesday, June 15, 2011, at the Atlanta Housing Authority Board of Commissioners meeting, as the Board voted to slash the fiscal year 2012 budget item for the Alisias PR firm from 750,000 dollars to 84,000 dollars, or 7,000 dollars per month. The Board of Commissioners under the Mayor Shirley Franklin administration, including current […]
Read moreAtlanta Branch of the NAACP Supports City Workers in Their Appeal to be Heard on the City’s Pension Plan Dispute City employee rally on Wednesday, June 15th at noon. #### (Sponsored blog post) Atlanta, GA (June 13, 2011). The Atlanta Branch of the NAACP will sponsor a rally in support of city workers and their appeal to be heard relative to […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Council President Ceasar Mitchell and Council Members Felicia Moore (District 9) and Michael Julian Bond (Post 1-at-large) criticized Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed in scathing comments during the Full Council Meeting of the City Council of Atlanta on Monday June 06, 2011. Mitchell, Moore, and Bond were responding to the ongoing scare tactics by Mayor Reed related […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — At the Saturday, May 21, 2011, meeting of the Atlanta Planning and Advisory Board (APAB), the citizens’ advisory group to the City of Atlanta, APAB voted to request information related to one of the City Council of Atlanta’s seven regularly scheduled closed-door Committee Briefings, Atlanta Progressive News has learned. APAB President Cathy Richards and senior advocate Ben […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — The City Council of Atlanta holds seven private, closed-door Committee briefings every two weeks, and has consistently told members of the public they cannot come in. Under the current Georgia Open Meetings Act they are allowed to do so if they do not have a quorum of the committee at the briefing. However, as previously reported by […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Atlanta City Councilwoman Felicia Moore (District 9), Chairwoman of the Committee on Council (COC), defended the practice of closed-door, private committee briefings, during the March 07, 2011, Cmte meeting, in response to an inquiry from Atlanta Progressive News. Moore argued that with Council Members making occasional references publicly at Cmte meetings to what was discussed in […]
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