Sunalmighty
Superstar
I'm reading about NC. What about other cities besides Charlotte such as Durham, Winston-Salem etc? Lot of black folk there or what?
Forbes: Atlanta is where Black Americans are doing the best economically
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Sunalmighty
Superstar
The reason I ask is because I was reading about those particular cities and the black folks there are complaining about nothing but racism this and that. I was speaking to my wife tonight about relocation. Houses in Winston Salem BRAND NEW are 119k. That's unbelievable.
Ya'll need to wake the fukk up 
Sunalmighty
Superstar
I'm looking at San Antonio. Gorgeous. I've been there before, excellent place to raise a family.
The Remarkable Turnaround of Atlanta Public Transit
MARTA CEO Keith Parker on the agency's hopeful future.
MARTA CEO Keith Parker speaks at an anniversary celebration in June 2014. (MARTA)
Atlanta's transit agency, MARTA, was on the brink of financial disaster when Keith Parker arrived as CEO in December of 2012. Ridership was down roughly 5 percent on the previous year. Annual losses ranged upwards of $33 million. An outside audit found the agency's business model to be "structurally unsustainable" and projected that without major changes it was on a path toward insolvency.
"The first thing we had to do was convince people the service was even going to be here in five years," says Parker. "There was a real sense that the agency may shutter its doors."
How MARTA's projected remaining reserve fund looked back in 2012. (KPMG / MARTA)
So Parker, who'd overseen transit agencies in San Antonio and Charlotte, drew up a rescue plan. MARTA would cut unfilled positions but retain existing staff and launch a transit-oriented development program. He brought more work in-house: the agency developed a real-time transit information system itself for $50,000, he says, while outside firms wanted more than $1 million. And he convinced Wall Street to upgrade the agency's credit rating.
Then he reinvested the savings. MARTA increased service and high-frequency hours, upgraded its bus fleet to natural gas, and—most importantly in Parker's eyes—kept fares flat. As of October 2014 ridership was up for the year. In November, Clayton County voters overwhelmingly approved a penny sales tax to join the MARTA network, the first expansion since the agency formed in 1971.
MARTA rolls out a new natural gas bus in October 2013. (MARTA MARKETING / Flickr)
Parker doesn't intend to rest. Earlier this month, at an annual "State of MARTA" address, he outlined a new vision delightfully acronymed SEAT—for service, economy, arts, and technology. Goals include a big plan for better bus service, continued study of potential system expansion (especially along the GA 400, I-20, and Clifton corridors), a push for public art around stations, and a move to go "all in on the smartphone" with WiFi access and mobile fare payment.
CityLab recently spoke with Parker at length about MARTA's incredible turnaround, its high hopes for the future, and the CEO's noted reputation as an actual rider. The discussion has been edited for space and clarity.
2014 was a really big year for MARTA.
Yes, we had a very good year. We have a balanced budget with a little money left over. We did add the first substantial amount of service in about seven years. We've given raises and or bonuses to all our employees now over the past year.
And very importantly, we've seen the perception of the system change. Where before it seemed that people couldn't wait to criticize the agency and really not have many positive things to say, it seems like we're now becoming one of the kids at the dance who can actually get on the dance floor.
three great projects in the planning stages ready to go. With funding we could finish up the environmental work and start the design and get them under construction in a relatively short amount of time.
They would have enormous positive impact. But I can't assume those projects are going to be built, because we don't have the funding to make that happen right now.
A rendering of transit-oriented development around the Avondale Station. (MARTA)
In the SEAT vision you outlined, part of the "service" plan is the challenge of making buses more attractive. Across the country you find transit agencies, and even the media, they really like to focus on rail. How do you shift that perspective and give buses more attention?
You're dead on. We see it in our customers. We had a survey done last year that indicating there was a significant gap between how people viewed riding the train and how they viewed riding the bus. Rather than just telling people, "no, you're wrong," we are blowing up our bus routes.
We have a study underway called the Comprehensive Operations Analysis—COA for short—that reexamines every single route in the service. The goal is to come up with a bus network that's faster, that requires fewer transfers, and that's more commonsense. So that people can get from Point A to Point B in a much more customer-friendly manner than now.
We intend to make riding the bus much more pleasant. We want folks to have the same regard for the bus system they do for the rail system.
This push MARTA has with transit-oriented development—that seems like a huge untapped opportunity for lots of transit agencies.
When I first came in I studied and did Google searches to see what people were seeing about the agency. The media, elected officials, everyday citizens. When I looked at a six-month period leading up to when I started in December 2012, there was hardly a single positive story that came out about MARTA.
I thought TOD was a way to begin changing the conversation. Rather than people shaking their heads saying "what has MARTA done now," they say, "wow, that's a good idea." When we now talk about MARTA, and we talk about it as a generator of business, a generator of new jobs, a generator of companies looking to relocate here, that's a great conversation to have.
I'm sure you're familiar with the reports that poor transit access is hurting social mobility in Atlanta. What role do you think a transit agency can play in addressing a problem this large?
It gets back again to infrastructure. Infrastructure isn't just about the roads and the bridges and even the transit routes themselves. It's about a pathway to get people mobility. Social and otherwise.
So the transit system becomes a very affordable, reliable way of improving the economy. We already have bad traffic in this region. If MARTA were to go away and just make the assumption that all those people can afford to drive themselves, everyone's quality of life in this region would go down. Everyone. All of us would be driving more, and stuck on highways. The air quality would certainly go down. And our ability to attractive any new companies and hold onto this creative class of students and young professionals would be severely challenged. So everyone benefits from vibrant mass transit.
so important for transit agency employees and officials to do that?
I had a meeting at lunch today with a reporter and a county commissioner. I used the service to get to those meetings. If the service isn't running properly that means I have to go in with a reporter and a new partner and tell them, "Hey, I'm late because of my service." It's very real to me.
Just as importantly, I can get some conversations going with people who give me ideas about how the service can be better. Sometimes it's pats on the back. Other times they'll point out that sign isn't working properly, you need to go get that fixed. All those things give me valuable feedback.
MARTA CEO Keith Parker on the agency's hopeful future.
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MARTA CEO Keith Parker speaks at an anniversary celebration in June 2014. (MARTA)
Atlanta's transit agency, MARTA, was on the brink of financial disaster when Keith Parker arrived as CEO in December of 2012. Ridership was down roughly 5 percent on the previous year. Annual losses ranged upwards of $33 million. An outside audit found the agency's business model to be "structurally unsustainable" and projected that without major changes it was on a path toward insolvency.
"The first thing we had to do was convince people the service was even going to be here in five years," says Parker. "There was a real sense that the agency may shutter its doors."
How MARTA's projected remaining reserve fund looked back in 2012. (KPMG / MARTA)
So Parker, who'd overseen transit agencies in San Antonio and Charlotte, drew up a rescue plan. MARTA would cut unfilled positions but retain existing staff and launch a transit-oriented development program. He brought more work in-house: the agency developed a real-time transit information system itself for $50,000, he says, while outside firms wanted more than $1 million. And he convinced Wall Street to upgrade the agency's credit rating.
Then he reinvested the savings. MARTA increased service and high-frequency hours, upgraded its bus fleet to natural gas, and—most importantly in Parker's eyes—kept fares flat. As of October 2014 ridership was up for the year. In November, Clayton County voters overwhelmingly approved a penny sales tax to join the MARTA network, the first expansion since the agency formed in 1971.
MARTA rolls out a new natural gas bus in October 2013. (MARTA MARKETING / Flickr)
Parker doesn't intend to rest. Earlier this month, at an annual "State of MARTA" address, he outlined a new vision delightfully acronymed SEAT—for service, economy, arts, and technology. Goals include a big plan for better bus service, continued study of potential system expansion (especially along the GA 400, I-20, and Clifton corridors), a push for public art around stations, and a move to go "all in on the smartphone" with WiFi access and mobile fare payment.
CityLab recently spoke with Parker at length about MARTA's incredible turnaround, its high hopes for the future, and the CEO's noted reputation as an actual rider. The discussion has been edited for space and clarity.
2014 was a really big year for MARTA.
Yes, we had a very good year. We have a balanced budget with a little money left over. We did add the first substantial amount of service in about seven years. We've given raises and or bonuses to all our employees now over the past year.
And very importantly, we've seen the perception of the system change. Where before it seemed that people couldn't wait to criticize the agency and really not have many positive things to say, it seems like we're now becoming one of the kids at the dance who can actually get on the dance floor.
three great projects in the planning stages ready to go. With funding we could finish up the environmental work and start the design and get them under construction in a relatively short amount of time.
They would have enormous positive impact. But I can't assume those projects are going to be built, because we don't have the funding to make that happen right now.
A rendering of transit-oriented development around the Avondale Station. (MARTA)
In the SEAT vision you outlined, part of the "service" plan is the challenge of making buses more attractive. Across the country you find transit agencies, and even the media, they really like to focus on rail. How do you shift that perspective and give buses more attention?
You're dead on. We see it in our customers. We had a survey done last year that indicating there was a significant gap between how people viewed riding the train and how they viewed riding the bus. Rather than just telling people, "no, you're wrong," we are blowing up our bus routes.
We have a study underway called the Comprehensive Operations Analysis—COA for short—that reexamines every single route in the service. The goal is to come up with a bus network that's faster, that requires fewer transfers, and that's more commonsense. So that people can get from Point A to Point B in a much more customer-friendly manner than now.
We intend to make riding the bus much more pleasant. We want folks to have the same regard for the bus system they do for the rail system.
This push MARTA has with transit-oriented development—that seems like a huge untapped opportunity for lots of transit agencies.
When I first came in I studied and did Google searches to see what people were seeing about the agency. The media, elected officials, everyday citizens. When I looked at a six-month period leading up to when I started in December 2012, there was hardly a single positive story that came out about MARTA.
I thought TOD was a way to begin changing the conversation. Rather than people shaking their heads saying "what has MARTA done now," they say, "wow, that's a good idea." When we now talk about MARTA, and we talk about it as a generator of business, a generator of new jobs, a generator of companies looking to relocate here, that's a great conversation to have.
I'm sure you're familiar with the reports that poor transit access is hurting social mobility in Atlanta. What role do you think a transit agency can play in addressing a problem this large?
It gets back again to infrastructure. Infrastructure isn't just about the roads and the bridges and even the transit routes themselves. It's about a pathway to get people mobility. Social and otherwise.
So the transit system becomes a very affordable, reliable way of improving the economy. We already have bad traffic in this region. If MARTA were to go away and just make the assumption that all those people can afford to drive themselves, everyone's quality of life in this region would go down. Everyone. All of us would be driving more, and stuck on highways. The air quality would certainly go down. And our ability to attractive any new companies and hold onto this creative class of students and young professionals would be severely challenged. So everyone benefits from vibrant mass transit.
so important for transit agency employees and officials to do that?
I had a meeting at lunch today with a reporter and a county commissioner. I used the service to get to those meetings. If the service isn't running properly that means I have to go in with a reporter and a new partner and tell them, "Hey, I'm late because of my service." It's very real to me.
Just as importantly, I can get some conversations going with people who give me ideas about how the service can be better. Sometimes it's pats on the back. Other times they'll point out that sign isn't working properly, you need to go get that fixed. All those things give me valuable feedback.
They're not doing shyt in atlanta. Barely getting middle management jobs and own nothing with few black businesses feeding large groups of black people
Soon as them cacs pull their base of operations from that city it's going back to the stone ages and you'll only be left with the bruhs skilled enough to keep work
Soon as them cacs pull their base of operations from that city it's going back to the stone ages and you'll only be left with the bruhs skilled enough to keep work
Sunalmighty
Superstar
Why did my aunt say the same thing. She said its not what it used to be
Because the elders are just watching history repeat itself over and over again.
Black people are not employing one another we are just a labor force for cac businesses and largely are not in charge of shyt.
Like GAWDSHow are overweight african american men treated there?
I rarely sleep alone
Maya Rudolph, Jaden Smith Join HBO Comedy Pilot ‘Brothers in Atlanta’
TV | By Travis Reilly on January 28, 2015 @ 9:53 amFollow @mmmtravis
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Diallo Riddle and Bashir Salahuddin will write, executive produce and star on the show, with Lorne Michaels producing
HBO has greenlit a new comedy pilot “Brothers in Atlanta,” which features Maya Rudolph and Jaden Smith, a spokeswoman for the network told TheWrap.
Diallo Riddle and Bashir Salahuddin, best known writing-performing on NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” will write, executive produce and star on the show. “Saturday Night Live” mainstay Lorne Michaels is also executive producing under his Broadway Video banner.
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Rudolph and Smith are said to be recurring guest stars, should the comedy make it to series. The story centers on best friends Langston (Riddle) and Moose (Salahuddin), two struggling entertainers living in Atlanta, where the pilot is set to shoot this spring.
Rudolph is set to play Moose’s boss Shirle, a past-her-prime musician. Smith plays Curtis, a rowdy, suspiciously solvent teenager and Langston’s neighbor.
Rudolph previously starred on and produced a pilot for NBC, “The Maya Rudolph Show,” which listed Riddle and Salahuddin as writers. The actress-comedian got her start on “Saturday Night Live” and starred in the raunchy blockbuster “Bridesmaids.” But more recently she appeared in Paul Thomas Anderson‘s “Inherent Vice” and voiced Cass on Disney’s “Big Hero 6.” She is currently in production on Jason Moore’s “Sisters.”
WME, 3 Arts Entertainment and Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum Matlof and Fishman represent Rudolph.
Also Read: Maya Rudolph, Kristen Bell Stage ‘Frozen’ Sequel on NBC Variety Show Premiere (Video)
Smith first appeared on screen alongside his father Will Smith in 2006’s “The Pursuit of Happyness,” teaming up again later to do “After Earth” in 2013. Jaden has also starred in “The Karate Kid” remake and “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” but this marks his first major television role in recent years.
Paradigm and Overboork Entertainment represent Smith.
Andrew Singer is also executive producing “Brothers in Atlanta.” Field Entertainment’s Jeff Field and Doug Griffin are producing with Anna Dokoza. Tim Story (“Think Like a Man Too”) will exec produce and direct the pilot.
Norfolk Southern expects more workers in Atlanta
4:52 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015 | Filed in: Business
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Norfolk Southern has about 2,800 management and operational employees in Atlanta, which will now be one of two company headquarters after Norfolk.
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Norfolk Southern, a national railroad company with a major presence in Atlanta, plans to move more employees to the city as it closes an office building in Roanoke, Va.
The company on Tuesday said about 500 people currently in marketing, accounting, information technology and other departments will either move to Atlanta or Norfolk, Va.
“We are still in the process of making that determination,” spokesman Robin Chapman said. The exact number moving to the company’s Midtown offices on Peachtree Street will depend on who is willing to relocate.
Norfolk Southern has about 2,800 management and operational employees in Atlanta, which will now be one of two company headquarters after Norfolk.
“Atlanta is a very big presence for us, “ said Chapman, who called the city the company’s operational headquarters, while Norfolk is the corporate headquarters.
After the relocations, about 1,200 workers will remain in Roanoke, which will be headquarters for the company’s Virginia Division.