Its pathetic that Atlanta can come up with $200 million for a new dome but can't even clean up the d

Yet the dynamics behind the two-and-a-half year effort to get all the necessary governmental affordable hotels downtown vancouver bc approvals for a new stadium involved a series of twist and turns, handshakes and broken promises, unusual alliances and political intrigue that set off waves in this year's city elections and next year's state elections.
So many issues about how the stadium will be designed to fit in with the surrounding neighborhoods and how the communities can benefit from this $1 billion investment will hinge on the ability of the various personalities and entities to work together for the greater good. (More next week.)
For more than two years, the Atlanta Falcons negotiated with the Georgia World Congress Center Authority on the nitty-gritty elements of a new stadium deal. All options were explored — renovating the Georgia Dome, building a new open air stadium and keeping the Georgia Dome (the two-stadium affordable hotels downtown vancouver bc solution) to the current affordable hotels downtown vancouver bc option of having one stadium with a retractable roof built adjacent to the GWCC campus.
There was a handshake deal between the Falcons, the NFL, the governor and the mayor that the state would take the lead to issue bonds for about a third of the cost. (The City of Atlanta's hotel-motel taxes already had been allocated to the project).
But state leaders got cold feet when polls showed a lack of support for tax dollars going to build a new football stadium. State leaders affordable hotels downtown vancouver bc were particularly nervous about taking a stand that could hurt their own re-election chances in 2014.
Mayor Reed, who is running for re-election this year, seemed nonplussed by the opposition to the stadium project. He was confident that his popularity was strong enough to withstand a hit, plus he knew he could get the votes on the Atlanta City Council.
And he knew that in the long run it would be far more important to his legacy to be a mayor who kept the Falcons in Atlanta through 2050 than be the mayor who lost the professional football team to the suburbs or to another city.
Before the details of a deal were made public, City Council President Ceasar Mitchell and Finance Committee affordable hotels downtown vancouver bc President Felicia Moore began holding work sessions to familiarize the Council and the public with the issues around the stadium.
In fact, when asked at the Invest Atlanta meeting about the lack of public input into the stadium decision, Reed mentioned the five City Council work sessions called by Mitchell and Moore. (He also mentioned an Invest Atlanta board meeting, a press conference and a GWCCA board meeting — all sparsely attended by the general public).
affordable hotels downtown vancouver bc Partly because affordable hotels downtown vancouver bc of Council's work in providing ideas on how the deal could benefit the City and giving the public a voice for its concerns, the stadium deal ended up being far better than it was originally.
The pivotal moment actually happened during the Council work session of March 14, hours after the official deal had been handed out to councilmembers. Members of the administration were not permitted to make a presentation to Council, affordable hotels downtown vancouver bc which infuriated the mayor.
As a result, the decision was made to call a floor vote on the stadium deal on Monday, March 18 without the deal going through the normal committee channels. It was the mayor's way of showing who had the most political juice.
It is not the first time the two have found themselves at opposite sides of an issue. Remember pension reform? Mayor Reed's plan had run into serious opposition from unions. Moore came up with an alternate plan. After much negotiation, there was a compromise between affordable hotels downtown vancouver bc both plans.
Now Mayor Reed often points to pension reform as major victory of his administration — saying pension reform passed with a unanimous vote from Council affordable hotels downtown vancouver bc and was supported by the unions. But that would not have happened without Moore.
Mayor Reed, who at his core is a political street fighter, has matured tremendously in his first three years in office by highlighting areas of consensus with state Republican leaders including Gov. Nathan Deal, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker David Ralston.
As he was doing his end zone victory dance, Reed said he knew the real test would depend on him being re-elected so that over the next five years he'll be able to fulfill the opportunities the stadium affordable hotels downtown vancouver bc project holds for Atlanta and the adjacent communities.
Sure wish I could just ask for money...I would pay down my student debt...all $29,000 of it after being a model product of public school education...attending Dekalb county public schools, getting a college degree at UGA and graduating with a 3.57 only to come to Atlanta and get offered $9.00 an hour no benefits.
I believe the mayor views the taxing/bonding authority affordable hotels downtown vancouver bc of our city as a means to an end under the guise that someone else (visitors) will pay the tax not Atlanta's citizens. I hope he realizes that this decision to enrich a few individuals with the proceeds of any tax (regardless of who pays it) while possibly legal is an abuse and certainly among the reasons many citizens view this administration as ethically challenged. Frankly, I am disappointed that Mr. Blank and the Falcons would even ask for the money.
The Mayor has pulled a fast one on the tax payers, designed to help line the pockets of his corporate buddies. And YES, he will get reelected in a landside... why? Because there will be no one of distinction affordable hotels downtown vancouver bc who will run against him, not because he is a good Mayor.
Its pathetic that Atlanta can come up with $200 million for a new dome but can't even clean up the drug dealers, prostitution, and other crime just 2 blocks away from City Hall. Where's your pride, ATL? Where's your sense of ownership?
The inference that the money comes from hotel motel tax and thus citizens shouldn't have a say is specious. AS citizens of Atlanta (me for over 35 years) that tax is something we all should share the benefits of, not just a select few and it definitely shouldn't be seen as a hundred (or 2 or 3) million dollar slush fund to use for a stadium most residents have already made clear we don't want or need.
I should also note that the current dome did nothing to improve the surrounding area, so I'm really not buying that pitch that this will somehow work where the Georgia Dome failed. The amount of money offered to help develop the surrounding area is a joke. There's not much that it'll end up buying.
The fact that they magically came up with this money for a stadium we don't even need while the rest of the metro Atlanta area struggles with funding cuts, such as with our school system and public servants, is flat out insulting. Its sending a message that sports are more important than our children's education and safety.
Yes, the money was set aside specifically for things affordable hotels downtown vancouver bc like the new stadium, but that doesn't change the fact that if they really affordable hotels downtown vancouver bc wanted affordable hotels downtown vancouver bc to save other areas of the city, they would have found a way just like they did.
Appropriate or not, I'm sure Mayor Reed got kickbacks over this deal. $200 mil is a lot of money, affordable hotels downtown vancouver bc and the city needs to come up with a lot more for infrastructure, maintenance, upgrades, repairs, landscaping, and so on.. especially since construction equipment & materials for the new stadium will be tax free, and most of the jobs its creating will be temp construction jobs, both in state and out of state, and much of that will still be foreign labor. The city could have gotten more out of this. We're not even collecting revenue off of the food, merchandise, and other things sold at the stadium. Atlanta can only collect taxes on those items.
Its a lot of money for a stadium that the Falcons will only play 8 games in each season, especially while the other dome isn't even paid for yet, and won't be until after the new dome is built. The Superdome was designed in the 1960's, and is still used for the Superbowl. Atlanta has the 2nd largest indoor dome in the United States, but that's certainly not good enough for the spoiled Falcons or Arthur Blank. $350 million was spent renovating it just a few years ago.
Fellow Atlantans, why is it that none of you realize that we are not paying for the stadium. It's hotels, motels, and car rentals inside the city! Not the suburbs. So if you don't rent rooms or cars inside the city of Atlanta, then you should just keep quiet and focus on your own little enclave.
Walker: How is that you don't realize that money is not infinite? We could do amazing things with that money, such as what Billy suggested, that could be used by the whole city for free! Or we could use it to fund schools, street repair, perhaps the court-mandated sewer and water fix (that we had to go and beg for another extension on)? Perhaps pay down the still-looming pension problems?
Instead, we're subsidizing what is essentially a game owned by billionaires, played by millionaires, that (when ticket prices are increased to pay for the Falcons portion of stadium funding) is increasingly only attended by the near-millionaires and up. Atlanta taxpayers are giving away tax money that we could be using to basically indirectly fund the salary of football players.
You say that's what the rule on the HMT says? Well then we should change affordable hotels downtown vancouver bc the freaking rule. Kasim should've been lobbying to change it, someone on the city council, anyone. The rule was put in place in 1989. You know how much more money that HMT brings in than in 1989? And it's only going to continue to go up, giving the Falcons more and more money that the city could be using towards valuable, needed projects.
The new stadium will benefit those with money to pay for the overpriced tickets; the NFL; the owners; and the ego of the politicians who are supposed to be serving the people of Atlanta but let id defeat reason. Completing the Beltline would offer ALL Atlantans a better, more inviting city, not just the few who want to spend a few weekends a year at a football game. The city would be more livable and show that we have vision, like Chicago with Millinneum affordable hotels downtown vancouver bc Park or New York's new High Line Park. Anyone who has been on the few