Latest news with #Atlantans
Axios
6 days ago
- General
- Axios
We asked, you answered: When did you become an Atlantan?
What makes someone declare they're a true Atlantan? Sometimes it's a neighborhood block party or an appreciation of our lush tree canopy. Moments that just hit right ⚾️ "I became an Atlantan when the Braves won the World World Series in 2021," Jeremy M. "I had lived here for the better part of 15 years, met my wife here and had four children in the city. But it took a Braves World Series to call this great city home!" 🚴 Trish A., an avid cyclist who's biked more than 135,000 hilly miles over the past 30 years and says she has the thighs to prove it, walked out of an East Atlanta bar in 2000. "Two guys in an older giant sedan maybe from the late 80s?) roll by and say 'Girlfriend, you got some big ole thighs on you!'" "As a cyclist all I could do was smile and say 'Thanks!' That's when I knew I was an Atlantan." 🥹 Bruce T.'s Atlanta roots go back three generations but he always felt the city was too provincial. He truly fell in love with the city on the first day back from study abroad while driving to Buckhead lunch and back. "I pulled into a gas station parking lot, put my head down on the steering wheel and cried, half in joy over being back, half in frustration that I knew I would stay," he said. "Like it or not, I was home. I'm 62 years old, and I've watched my city grow up around me and I've grown to love it." Nature and neighborhoods 🫢 "I experienced all four seasons for the first time in my 60 years," said Diana W., a recent arrival from Southern California. "It was amazing to watch the trees change, the weather shift and the smells take over. I was able to change my wardrobe accordingly. That is when I said out loud 'This is home.'" 🌇 Four years ago, Wayne H. and his partner "became Atlantans" when they finally realized, after more than 30 years here, "that we keep coming back." "Both of us are northeastern natives (too cold), lived part time in both South Florida (too hot, crazy politics), and the North Carolina mountains (too rural). We keep coming back to Midtown Atlanta — our city has everything we love!" 📍 After stints in Raleigh and Nashville, Weston B. returned to Atlanta in 2019 and moved into a Virginia-Highland rental with his wife within walking distance to the Beltline and Piedmont Park. "When Covid hit we couldn't have been in a better position. We now own a home in the Decatur area, but we're never leaving Atlanta." 🏇 A Kentucky Derby party in Cabbagetown lured Kate S. back after graduate school. "Friends closed off several streets in Cabbagetown by shoving old couches in the way of car traffic. "At some point, as we held our own costumed, wheeled race around the streets, culminating in a spontaneous dance party, this place became home. I moved back in 2009 and it's been home ever since."
Axios
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Atlanta parks leap up U.S. rankings
Atlanta's increased investment in parks and programs that opened up community access to school playgrounds helped the city leapfrog in national green-space rankings. Driving the news: That's according to the 2025 ParkScore index, an annual ranking from the Trust for Public Land (TPL), a pro-park nonprofit. The report ranks the 100 most populous U.S. cities' park systems relative to one another based on five categories: acreage, access, amenities, investment and equity. Why it matters: City parks serve as community meeting spots and civic spaces, offer room for exercise and fresh air, and can draw in new residents — but they require investment, attention and protection. What they found: Atlanta earned a total of 67.3 points, putting the city at 21st place, between Boise and San Diego. That's four spots higher than the 2024 list and worlds away from the 49th ranking in 2021. In the weeds: Credit goes to the continued construction of the Atlanta Beltline and the partnership between the city, Atlanta Public Schools, Park Pride and TPL to allow communities to use school playgrounds when classes are not in session. By the numbers: According to the index, 82% of Atlantans now live within a 10-minute walk of a park. The city spends roughly $272 per person on parks, compared with TPL's national average of $133. Only seven cities matched Atlanta's investment, and all are in the top 10. Yes, but: Atlanta's relatively low park acreage hurt the city's total point count. In addition to city green space expansion efforts, nonprofits like The Conservation Fund are buying and banking land for future parks and preserves. The intrigue: Parks may be the one issue on which people of all political stripes can agree. According to TPL's National polling, roughly 80% of both Trump and Harris voters say they have a "home base" park where they feel comfortable. Yes, and: Parks can also spark residents to become civically engaged and take ownership of their community parks' futures. Vine City residents created Friends of Cook Park to play a role in the development of the green space, which TPL helped create. Zoom out: Washington, D.C., is once again home to the country's best city park system, according to the rankings. Irvine, California, is in second, while Minneapolis ranks third. St. Paul, Minnesota, sits in fifth — meaning the Twin Cities remain a solid option for park lovers. Stunning stats: Among the cities analyzed, $12.2 billion was invested in park and recreation systems in 2024, while 76% of residents now live within a 10-minute walk of a park. Those are both records since TPL started tracking such figures in 2007 and 2012, respectively. What's next: Some of the money cities are spending on public parks lately is tied to pandemic-era federal infrastructure funding, which won't last forever.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Atlanta's Police Budget Could Increase by $54.6 Million
The Atlanta Police Department plans to spend $54.6 million more than they did last year, a 15% jump. The increase is part of the $3 billion total operating budget that Mayor Andre Dickens is asking the City Council to approve, a move that would raise the city's general fund budget by 14% to $975.4 million. The City Council will vote on the budget in early June for it to take effect on July 1. In total, the proposed police operating budget of $361 million would make it the second-most expensive city department behind the Department of Aviation, which operates Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Critics have accused the city of continually inflating APD's budget even as crime rates have continued to drop. The city is currently facing a $20 million deficit for the current fiscal year. 'Despite spending more money on policing than the majority of other cities in this country, Atlantans continue to suffer under the weight of racialized poverty and state violence,' said Tiffany Williams Roberts, public policy director for the Southern Center for Human Rights. 'Atlanta needs decarceration, housing, food security, and education, but spending for those items pales in comparison to spending on a police force that has recently forced the city to enter into a record settlement for abuse.' During the APD budget hearing, Chief Darin Schierbaum told the City Council that the budget increases were needed to facilitate the department's growth and pay for a temporary increase in overtime. 'We're going to have to be a world-safe city,' said Schierbaum, referring to his department's preparations for the 2026 World Cup. 'We don't know who's coming here to cheer on their team but we're literally going to have the globe back in Atlanta, so this budget will allow us to be one safe city for the world.' The bulk of the APD's budget increase would pay for the three areas where costs, APD projects, will increase the most – personnel, purchased and contracted services, and supplies. The council is expected to vote on the budget ordinance at its June 2 meeting. The mayor is scheduled to approve or veto the ordinance by June 11. No public comment is allowed during budget sessions, but the City Council will hold public budget hearings on May 21. From 6 to 6:15 p.m. there will be time for the public to speak on the tax millage rate, and from 6:15 to 7 p.m. there will be an interactive community budget session. Members of the public can also submit questions in advance up until May 20. Written questions and 15-second video submissions can be sent to budgettalk@ Other comments and questions can be left as a voicemail message at (404) 330-6043. Personnel costs – including salaries for sworn and civilian employees, overtime, pension, health benefits and workers' compensation – will increase the most. In the proposed 2026 budget, APD's personnel costs will go up $44 million. The additional money for personnel would primarily fund the hiring of more sworn officers. The department is expected to add a net of 17 full-time employees, growing to 2,826 full-time staff members. The second-largest increase in the budget is for purchased and contracted services, which would increase by $12.5 million to $35.2 million. These services include body cameras, cloud storage, and other services purchased from Axon, a weapons and technology company for law enforcement and military. This also includes the radio system for officers to communicate and the more than 20,000 public and private cameras that the department co-manages with the Atlanta Police Foundation. Supplies will receive the third-largest budget increase, nearly doubling last year's price tag to land at $8.8 million. This money will be used to purchase uniforms, tactical gear and ammunition for the officers and the Public Safety Training Center. Another big ticket item in APD's budget is fueling and preventative maintenance on police vehicles like squad cars, armored vehicles and helicopters. In 2026, the expense will increase $1.8 million, but it will be the third-largest item in the entire APD budget, costing almost $12 million. The post Atlanta's Police Budget Could Increase by $54.6 Million appeared first on Capital B News - Atlanta.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Thousands of young Atlantans getting ready to spend summer break making a difference
Kids across the country are getting ready for summer break, but thousands of young Atlantans are using it as a learning opportunity. The City of Atlanta's fourth-annual Youth Employment Program kicked off on Tuesday. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said more than 5,000 people between the ages of 14 and 24 have already signed up for the program. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Students Kate Wasick and Christian Rooks have been working on robotics with the nonprofit Chess and Community. 'They taught us chess and robotics, and we made presentations to NASA," Wasick said. 'We're looked at to just sit around the house and play video games and watch TV," Rooks said. 'They encourage us to get out the house and do something meaningful today.' Rooks calls the opportunity transforming. He wants to go to college for engineering or architecture or serve in the military. TRENDING STORIES: 3 dead, 2 injured in tractor-trailer crash that left I-75 shut down for hours Atlanta police ID person of interest in shooting death of father of 4 Marjorie Taylor Greene weighs in on college student facing deportation after wrongful traffic stop There are more than 140 registered employers so far. But the mayor says they need more businesses and nonprofits to partner with the program. 'If you are a small business or non-profit, church, start-up, join me and the rest of the city in this group project,' Dickens said. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
E-scooter, e-bike ridership continues to grow in Atlanta, new data shows
New data from electric scooter company Lime shows that for Atlantans, use of the vehicles continues to grow. In March, Channel 2 Action News reported that Lime had seen a more than 60% increase in ridership since 2024. The latest data, from April, shows that trend hasn't hit the brakes yet and this time, it's even broken a ridership record. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The e-scooter and e-vehicle company reported there were 183,162 trips taken by Lime riders in March. Then, riders took 210,657 trips in April, a 14% increase in just a month. TRENDING STORIES: Judge rules man accused of murdering 77-year-old woman in Buckhead fit to stand trial Alleged impaired driver ignores flood warnings, runs off road into ditch in southeast GA Georgia AG announces Brookhaven woman convicted in $305K Medicaid fraud scheme Since January, the company reported more than 600,000 trips have been taken by Lime riders in Atlanta. Those trips are split between e-scooters with 527,303 trips taken, and 67,124 on e-bikes, according to Lime. 'Micromobility is becoming a core part of how Atlanta moves,' Carol Antúnez, Senior Manager of Government Relations at Lime, said in a statement. 'We're seeing strong, sustained momentum across the board, and we're proud to partner with the City of Atlanta to expand access to safe and sustainable transportation. We're deeply grateful to our partners at the city and the community for their collaboration in building a more accessible, equitable, and vibrant city. We're excited to keep this momentum going, together.' Year over year, e-bike usage has gone up 105%, the company said. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
