Newspaper Page Text
ON THE
AGENDA
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MEETINGS
The Atlanta City Council meets Feb. 5
and Feb. 19 at 1 p.m. at City Flail, 55 Trinity
Ave. For agendas and more information,
visit citycouncil.atlantaga.gov.
NPU-E, which covers Midtown, Ansley
Park, Home Park and Loring Heights,
meets the first Tuesday of each month at
6:30 p.m. at Peachtree Christian Church,
1580 Peachtree St.
The Decatur City Commission meets
in open session on the first and third
Mondays of each month at City Hall, 509
North McDonough Street, at 7:30 p.m.
Midtown Alliance will hold its annual
meeting on Feb. 13,7 a.m. at the Fox
Theatre with keynote by transportation
expert Janette Sadik-Khan. Tickets are
available now at midtownatl.com.
NEWS
Isnm
marta
MARTA has applied for
a federal transportation
grant to fund a 9.4-mile
bus rapid transit line
connecting the Arts
Center station to Summerhill, which is
part of the massive redevelopment of
the Turner Field area. The bus would use
a dedicated lane, have 30 stops and a
one-way travel times of 16 minutes. The
estimated cost: $48.6 million.
The City of Atlanta has reached an
agreement with the Atlanta Public
Schools to transfer deeds for 50
properties to the school system. APS
plans to sell the properties for potential
mixed-use developments.
Atlanta Public Schools will make up
instructional time lost during recent
winter weather closures by adding 30
minutes to the end of the day from Jan.
29 through March 30.
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms'
administration has proposed legislation
to eliminate cash bonds to secure
release from the City of Atlanta Detention
Center.
Toronto —
Columbus —
Indianapolis —
Chicago —
Denver —
Nashville —
Los Angeles —
Dallas —
Austin -i
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Boston
New York City
Newark
Pittsburgh
Philadelphia
Montgomery County
Washington D.C.
Raleigh
Northern Virginia
Atlanta
Miami
amazon
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Amazon Primed
Atlanta makes Top 20 finalist list for HQ2
By Collin Kelley
Atlanta tops the finalist list — at least alphabetically — for Amazon’s second
headquarters campus. The online retail giant has released a list of 20 cities
competing for what has been dubbed HQ2.
Along with Atlanta, this list includes Austin, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Miami,
Montgomery County in Maryland, Nashville, Newark, New York City, Northern Virginia, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Toronto and
Washington D.C.
If HQ2 were to choose metro Atlanta or Georgia, it could mean a staggering $5 billion investment and 50,000 jobs. The state and city
have also offered up more than $ 1 billion in incentives and infrastructure improvements to sweeten the deal.
The Georgia Department of Economic Development has offered up a list of potential building sites for the 8 million square foot
Amazon campus, with an area in Downtown near Philips Arena and Mercedes-Benz Stadium known as The Gulch being a top contender.
The Gulch, a below street level dead zone of parking lots, has been speculated to be the prime spot after the Atlanta Business Chronicle
reported on an Oct. 30 filing with the city to develop the property. The undisclosed party filed a plan to develop 9.3 million square feet of
office space, 1 million square feet of retail space, a 1,500-room hotel and 2,100 apartments at The Gulch.
A statement from Amazon said the company had received bids from 238 cities and regions across North America.
“Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough — all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity,” Holly Sullivan of Amazon
Public Policy said in a media statement. “Through this process we learned about many new communities across North America that we will
consider as locations for future infrastructure investment and job creation.”
Amazon is expected to announce its choice for HQ2 by the end of the year, Id
New mayor, city council sworn in at ceremony
New Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance
Bottoms (bottom photo), Atlanta City
Council President Felicia Moore (top
photo) and the members of the Atlanta
City Council were sworn in during a
ceremony at Morehouse College on
Jan. 2. New and returning members of
the council posed at City Hall following
the swearing-in (left photo) including
Carla Smith, Marci Collier Overstreet,
Natalyn Archibong, Cleta Winslow,
Felicia Moore, Amir Farokhi, Michael
Julian Bond, Matt Westmoreland,
Andrea Boone, Joyce Sheperd, Ivory
Lee Young Jr., Andre Dickens, Jennifer
Ide, J.P. Matzigkeit, Howard Shook and
Dustin Hillis.
8 February 2018 | [d
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