Author Archives: boulevardcid

By Steve Visser

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution – October 4, 2012

The MARTA board of directors picked a rising transit “star” with a reputation for working with Republicans as the general manager Thursday to revamp the troubled transit authority.

Board Chairman Fred Daniels said the board would be negotiating a contract with Keith Parker, who is currently the chief of VIA Metropolitan Transit in San Antonio.

Daniels noted that Parker was coming from a politically conservative area. He hoped that would serve Parker well in negotiations with Georgia’s GOP-dominated Legislature, which provides no funding for MARTA, if the Legislature “gives him a chance.”

“He has worked well with both the business community and the political community,” Daniels said. “He has a track record in San Antonio of working with both Republicans and Democrats. Same thing in Charlotte.”

Almost immediately after news of Parker’s selection broke in Atlanta, the San Antonio Express-News reported on its website that Parker plans to meet with the VIA Board of Trustees at a special meeting next week, according to an email sent to the board.

Parker proved to be a transit star early on, being hired at age 32 to head the Vancouver, Wash., transit system, but he has never run a system as large and complex as MARTA, the ninth-largest public transportation system in America.

He will likely get a big bump in compensation from the $310,000 he made this year in San Antonio. Current General Manager Beverly Scott’s total compensation is more than $370,000 a year. Daniels said Parker’s compensation was still under negotiation. Scott is to remain general manager until the end of the year, then she is going to head the Boston transit system.

The 46-year-old Parker gets high marks for his diplomatic tact, but he hasn’t before headed a transit system with the challenges of MARTA. He will now have to take on an organization with monumental challenges — financially, structurally and politically — and which faces questions from suspicious politicians, patrons and the public about its spending. That wasn’t the case in San Antonio or in Charlotte, where he worked previously.

In Charlotte, he was first the chief operating officer, overseeing the bus system, while the region was installing its light-rail system.

By the time of the 2007 political battle over cost overruns — the system’s first rail line cost $236 million more than initially projected — Parker was ensconced as Charlotte’s assistant city manager. Anger over the cost fueled a voter referendum to revoke the half-cent sales tax that funded the light rail and prompted the transit chief’s resignation.

Parker was hired to head the Charlotte Area Transit System a month after the referendum failed in November 2007. He was charged with rebuilding the trust with the public and finishing the light-rail plan.

City Council members and area leaders, who had felt blindsided by the cost overruns, welcomed his leadership.

“His style is communicate, communicate, communicate,” Councilman Anthony Foxx told the Charlotte Observer when Parker was hired. “He is the kind of guy who will sit down with you and listen 75 percent of the time and talk 25 percent of the time. I think people trust him.”

But the economic downturn slowed the light-rail and commuter rail expansion, and Parker put both on hold. Within two years, he had jumped to VIA Metropolitan Transit in San Antonio, where he got a big bump in salary and ambitious board chairman Henry Munoz wanted to bring streetcars to the Bexar County despite a 2000 voter referendum nixing plans for light rail.

Then-Cornelius, N.C., Mayor Jeff Tarte, who had worked with Parker on regional transit planning, said that Parker was an ace in political skills, technical knowledge and character.

Now he is exiting San Antonio, which has no rail system, just as another political battle is brewing over the funding of the streetcar system, scheduled to open in 2016. Opponents question Parker’s securing permission to shift $10 million of funding for a compressed natural gas facility to streetcar cost and Bexar County’s using $92 million in sales tax for the system.

The MARTA situation in Atlanta is also a hostile environment, which took another twist this week when the state attorney general’s office said it would investigate whether the MARTA board violated the state Open Meetings Act when it conducted its general-manager search. That investigation is unlikely to impact Parker’s hiring.

But the complaint, filed by state Rep. Mike Jacobs, R-Atlanta, is another instance of state lawmakers challenging MARTA on how it operates. Jacobs, who chairs the committee that oversees MARTA, was last year viewed as a potential MARTA ally in a Legislature where it has few.

Riders are smarting over two fare increases in recent years, and this summer, voters rejected a regional 1-cent sales tax that would have provided $600 million to MARTA for maintenance and upgrades. MARTA executives have said the agency is draining its financial reserves to avoid service cuts now, but by 2016, it will need more money.

A new management audit done on behalf of the board describes an institution that could benefit strongly by privatizing many functions and renegotiating labor contracts to rein in benefit costs.

Auditors also concluded high absenteeism among MARTA’s 4,500 employees cost about $11 million a year. Union officials blame the absenteeism on bad management, saying managers often don’t approve requested — and needed — time off.

Parker beat out finalist Steve Bland, the transit chief in Pittsburgh. Both were among seven candidates interviewed by the board search committee from a short list compiled by the executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles.

September 7, 2012

By Matthew Cardinale – Atlanta Progressive News

(APN) ATLANTA — At the Full Council Meeting of the City Council of Atlanta on Tuesday, August 04, 2012, the Council approved legislation allowing Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration to move forward on negotiating a controversial sole source contract with a company called Fogfuels, Inc., to convert cooking grease into fuel for the City.
The  proposal, introduced by Councilman Lamar Willis (Post 3-at-large) and  others on behalf of the Department of Watershed Management, would  provide for a contract between the City of Atlanta and Fogfuels, and  would not solicit requests from proposals from any other companies.

APN  first reported on the proposed sole source contract after it was first  brought up at the Committee Briefing of the Finance/Executive Cmte of  the City Council of Atlanta.  The proposal later passed the  Finance/Executive Cmte, with only Chairwoman Felicia Moore (District 9)  and Councilman Kwanza Hall (District 2) voting no.

Voting  in favor of the sole source contract negotiations at Full Council were Carla Smith  (District 1), Ivory Young (District 3), Cleta Winslow (District 4),  Howard Shook (District 7), Keisha Lance Bottoms (District 11), Joyce  Sheperd (District 12), Aaron Watson (Post 2-at-large), and Willis.

Voting against were Hall, Natalyn Archibong (District 5), Yolanda Adrean (District 8), and Moore.

“There are other companies that provide this type of service,” Moore said.

“Different companies may employ different techniques… but they still have a technology to do that,” Moore said. “My only fear is that… with this particular legislation that the conversation would just be about their particiular solution and not the whole body of solutions that may be out there,” Adrean said.
“I  also… don’t think this is a sole source.  I think we need to take  some very deliberate time.  There are many groups that have come to me  over the years and offered these types of solutions,” Hall said.

Fulton County Commissioner Emma Darnell (District 5) raised concerns about the proposed contract, in an August 30 email to constituents, citing environmental justice concerns.  “Environmental Justice Alert: Utoy Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (Near Bakers Ferry Road),” the email stated.  “There was no discussion of the impact on the people who live in the surrounding communities.

The  2012 Greenlaw report on demographics and pollution in Metropolitan  Atlanta states that the area between Cascade Road and Bakers Ferry Road  along the Fulton Industrial Boulevard Corridor already contains 55  pollution points.  That’s more than any other block in Metropolitan Atlanta. This report ranks the 1.5 mile stretch of Fulton Industrial Boulevard, which includes the  Utoy plant, as the number one hotspot in Atlanta,” Patricia Floyd,  President of Boulder Park Area Neighborhood Association, said during  public comment.  “I am requesting that you deny that proposal,” Floyd said.

“I  would implore you please to go back and look at the video, the taped  meeting of the Finance Cmte, and be guided by the comments of the Chair,  Councilwoman Felicia Moore.  She is so wise and she is so on top of  this issue.  I will not try to repeat her comments, I just you to please  go back and look at it.  I don’t think members of Council as a body  know anything about this proposal.  This is a slick presentation,”  Vangie Watkins said.

“I  don’t how the Council could consider obligating half of Utoy Creek  Plants to a private, deep-pocket, private-profit industry that has no  experience with this process, and then in the future, if there’s an  issue with needed improvements at Utoy, do we have the land on that site  to be able to expand to bring Utoy up to state-of-the-art treatment as  our water system?” Watkins said. “It’s  being proposed as a biodiesel processing plant.  The man has fourteen million  dollars.  He can take his fourteen million dollars and buy a city block  somewhere and build his plant and he can contract with whomever at his  own expense.  Don’t give it to him,” Watkins said.

“In  a rush to associate progress and green industries… it seems like  we’re running over… the fact that the health disparities in Southwest  Atlanta have not been considered,” citizen activist Ron Shakir of  Southwest Atlanta said.  “The  fact that we have citizens who have stated, that I have talked to…  that they have been in this business and they have taken proposals to  the City of Atlanta to do this same type of work.  Work that Mr. Willis  addressed as though they’re the only people that can do this,” Shakir  said.
“I  think… To give a no-bid contract and give him sole status, it will be  an action that this Council should not move on… It’s not transparent  enough, the fact that the health issues have not been presented to this  community.  The fact that we’re going down a contract that’s going to be  fifteen years long,” Shakir said.

“Let’s  start off fresh with green and do right, and make sure that we’re not  pushing, and treating other vendors unfairly by making this an open bid  if there’s gonna be one,” Shakir said.

Meanwhile,  Atlanta Progressive News has spoken with a small business owner who is  considering litigation against the City because he said his company  approached the City of Atlanta with a similar proposal to provide a  similar service for the City of Atlanta, and that the City told him that  they would have to put it out to bid.

“We  gave our information to one of her [Watershed Commissioner Jo Ann  Macrina's] subordinates,” the source, who was granted anonymity because  of possible upcoming litigation, said.  “Two and a half years ago was the first time.  We met with them a year ago.  We met with them again five months ago,” he said.  “They overlooked us and we didn’t hear anything else about it until this bomb blew up,” he said.
“We  tried to get sole source in several counties because of our technology.   They all said the same thing – we need to put out a request for  proposals – why do you need to worry if you’re the only one who can do  it?” the source said.
“Lamar  Willis pushed it as if he was the Vice President of sales of the  company.  Why on Earth would a Council Member get involved and try to  sell a technical process for a company?” the source said.

“Where is the dire need for them to push this through so quickly?” he said.
“There are other companies out there with different technology that produce a different result, but they didn’t know because they didn’t go search,” he said.

The  source also suspects that the City of Atlanta may have essentially  stolen the information that his company provided to the City, and gave  it to Fogfuels, because information contained in the Fogfuels proposal  is unique information that he believes only his company had.
“We know they gave our information to this company,” he said.
Fogfuels was incorporated in January 2011, according to the Georgia  Secretary of State’s website.  Paul Marshall serves as CEO and  Secretary; Kevin Olson serves as CFO.

The  legislation that passed Tuesday included two amendments: one that states  that the location of the plant was “as yet to be determined” and  another to clarify that it is authorizing the Mayor to negotiate a contract with Fogfuels, not to execute one.

Fulton County’s Fire Rescue Department invites the public to attend a Grand Opening Celebration and Dedication Ceremony for the new Fire Station 11 (4760 Fulton Industrial Boulevard, Atlanta, GA 30336). The event will be held on Wednesday, October 10, 2012 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.  The event will include a ceremonial ribbon cutting as well as tours of the new facility.

“We are excited to celebrate the completion of this project and to present it to the community as proof positive of our ongoing effort to provide the best Fire Services possible, “says Fulton County Fire Chief Larry Few.

The new station was built on the same site as the old Fire Station 11. The $2.6 million facility was financed through low-interest American Recovery and Reinvestment Act bonds which will be repaid through the South Fulton Tax District Fund.

For more information on the Fulton County Fire Rescue Department, log on to www.fultoncountyga.gov.

By Matt Waldman (AB ‘96)

Located just off the Fulton Industrial Boulevard exit ramp in southwest Atlanta is a scene that threatens to force motorists right back onto the interstate. The landscape is grim: abandoned fast food joints, gaudy strip clubs, and two shuttered motels that deliver street drugs and prostitution with the efficiency of a McDonald’s drive-thru.

Terry MBA real estate students Clayton Edwards and Clayton Mozingo agree that this corridor between I-20 and the Charlie Brown Airport is not for the faint of heart. But, believe it or not, they envision it as a potential industrial epicenter for Atlanta and perhaps for the entire southeast.

Edwards, Mozingo, and teammates Chris Heins, Jared Londry, and Fair Tomlinson used that urban renewal vision to create a proposal for the 20^th School Challenge Real Estate Case Competition in Atlanta on April 11. The team developed a feasible, market-oriented, redevelopment plan for the 300-acre commercial site on Fulton Industrial Boulevard—and they did such a good job that they beat out MBA teams from Georgia Tech, Georgia State, and Emory to earn $1,000 in prize money and the Case Competition’s esteemed Silver Shovel trophy.

The Georgia Chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP) sponsors the competition and each team had six weeks to prepare a redevelopment plan for the project site. What separated Terry’s plan from the competition is the fact it addressed a vital community issue that the other plans did not—crime. The team’s three-pronged approach began with the recommendation that this ugly and dangerous industrial corridor be included in an already-existing Community Improvement District (CID) in order to help alleviate its crime and image problems.

“Community support is your biggest ally to fight crime, and phase one of our plan addresses how to do it,” says Edwards, who explains that an existing CID, located just south of the area in question, is already generating a significant reduction in crime. “So our first recommendation is to expedite incorporation into the CID, which will improve public safety as well as the visual image of the area with new landscaping and trash pick up.”

The second component of the MBA team’s plan involved replacing the vacant motel property with a 24-hour fueling station that will improve first impressions for any motorists exiting I-20 onto Fulton Industrial Boulevard. Edwards and Mozingo note that incorporation into the CID and establishment of a viable business off the exit ramp represents a good beginning—but the root problem lies with the current ownership structure of the properties where most of the crime takes place.

“We need to consolidate ownership of the properties,” says Edwards, who explains that there’s a lot of owner segmentation that makes it difficult for the community to present a united front to address the crime in the area.

Mozingo cites statistics for the last five years, which show that the two motels account for approximately 700 of the 3,700 arrests in this crime-infested area, which is the closest point of land outside the city of Atlanta. “So anyone arrested in Atlanta without a home address is dropped there by police,” says Mozingo. “Many of them figure out a way to live in the abandoned hotel. So approximately 27 percent of the crime is coming from 0.7 percent of the landmass in the area. That was eye-opening.”

Some of the buildings with the highest criminal activity are, in fact, for sale. But who would want to buy them given the current situation? The MBA team’s presentation took that into account and make recommendations as to how to assemble these land parcels to encourage new owners to get involved in their plans for redevelopment.

Mozingo says the Terry team’s goal for the area is not to try to remake it into a shiny retail hub because, unlike other teams in the competition, he and his cohorts didn’t consider that approach to be realistic.

“We realized from talking with people that certain things just don’t make sense for that area,“ says Mozingo. “The judges asked other teams if they realized that people have been trying to do that same thing at this site for the past 50 years—and nothing has worked.”

The final phase of the team’s plan involved courting investors to assemble two large parcels with the goal of providing locations that might support future investments. The team suggested possibilities that included a distribution facility, an e-tailer, and even a technical college that would provide trained workers for new employers who move to the area.

“If the right investments go in, it becomes a primetime area for distribution and light production with a nice highway exit,” says Spencer Coan (MBA ’10) of Ackerman & Co., who, with fellow alumnus Jay O’Meara (BBA ’97, MBA ’00), volunteered to coach the team. “I think everyone knows that about this area, but the key was being realistic. I think the other programs had good plans and did a lot of research, but they were overzealous. One team suggested a $65 million data center to be placed there in the next five years — and that place hasn’t seen $65 million in investment in the past 20 years combined.”

Coan and O’Meara were wise choices to serve as coaches, having participated in the NAIOP-sponsored competition when they were Full-Time MBA students themselves. To hear them tell it, the Terry team’s efforts to truly understand the area was the difference in the competition.

“Our students did a good job of getting boots on the ground and speaking with the people in the Fulton Industrial district, with potential business representatives, and with the industrial brokers that Jay and I sent them to see,” says Coan.

“We tried to do it over the phone, but there were things going on in Atlanta that we needed to be on the ground to participate in,” says Edwards, who knew the area and, with help of Mozingo, developed the team’s grassroots approach. “We went down there, took pictures of the area, met with the Community Improvement District (CID) and with whatever people we needed to.”

According to Edwards and Mozingo, winning the Silver Shovel trophy was a total team effort. Heins conducted the financial and demographic analysis and development pro forma. He also worked with Tomlinson, who was instrumental in executing the 50-page document that accounted for 60 percent of the competition scoring criteria. Londry worked on the aesthetic presentation of both the report and the final visual presentation.

According to O’Meara, who spoke with the judges afterwards, the combined effort generated an engaging and detailed presentation that illustrated not only the team’s depth of research but also its realistic understanding of what will and won’t work in that area.

“Win or lose, this was one of the most important and relevant experiences these real estate majors will have during their years at Terry,” says O’Meara, a senior vice president at CBRE who met his senior partner through the NAIOP School Challenge. “It helps them get a picture of how the real estate business works and provides something they can use as a springboard to keep those business contacts alive for many years to come.”

Mission Gateway developer looking for $30 million in public financing through new Community Improvement District -

by Dan Bloom

The developer of the Mission Gateway project is asking that the city contribute $30 million in public funding toward completion of the approximately $160 million project. If the city agrees to the request, it is anticipated bonds would be financed by increased property and sales tax revenues generated by the mixed use retail and residential development at the site.

The city has set public hearings for 7 p.m. Oct. 17 on the tax increment financing redevelopment plan and the creation of a Community Improvement District.

The city’s independent financial advisor told the council that the $30 million in public money would be paired with $128 million in private funds raised by the developer. If the city approves the TIF funding mechanisms, the bonds that the city would issue would be paid off by capturing additional property tax revenue — the difference based on the site’s assessed value in 2005 and its projected assessed value after it is built out — and a current one percent city sales tax on transactions at the retail establishments. If it approves the CID, those bonds could be paid by an additional one percent sales tax levied on all of the transactions except those at Walmart, which would not be part of the CID.

The developer’s proposal suggests sufficient revenue is projected from the revenue sources to pay principal and interest on the bonds issued by the city. The city’s consultants are conducting an independent analysis of the financing options and cash flow predictions.

The city council two weeks ago was advised by its bond counsel to expect that some public financing would be required to complete a project of this size and the financial advisor Wednesday said even with public funding the project is not a “financial slam dunk” for the developer. The development at Roe Avenue and Shawnee Mission Parkway is planned for 430,000 square feet of retail space, which includes a 150,000 square foot Walmart as the anchor tenant. A Sprouts Farmers Market grocery also has signed on as a tenant and the proposal says a health club and multiple restaurants are planned along with other junior anchors. The residential component calls for 300 market rate apartments to occupy 310,000 square feet.

The suggested financing plan would also see revenues from the TIF and CID pay back $12 million in city investments in storm water improvements at the site, $6 million upfront and $6 million over time. The city council must decide first if it approves of the TIF and CID proposals; second, the amount of public participation on funding; and third, the appropriate mix of bond types.

Federal Transportation Law MAP-21 Seeks to Expedite Environmental Reviews

by - K&L Gates LLP

Fulton Industrial Boulevard gets CID
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Dave Williams, Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Business owners along Fulton Industrial Boulevard have become the latest to organize a self-taxing community improvement district to finance public safety and transportation infrastructure improvements.

The Fulton County Commission signed off on a plan to create the new CID after property owners representing at least 75 percent of the property value within the proposed district agreed to the idea.

The CID’s boundaries are Great Southwest Parkway, Westgate Parkway, Westlake Parkway and Fulton County’s border with Cobb County.

Once the largest warehousing and distribution corridor east of the Mississippi River, Fulton Industrial Boulevard has been plagued for several decades by blighted properties and crime.
The county adopted a redevelopment plan for the corridor last year. The CID is in the southern end of the corridor.

The state has declared the northern end of Fulton Industrial an Industrial Opportunity Zone, which allows businesses to receive tax credits for each job they create.

The county also recently opened a satellite government services center on Fulton Industrial Boulevard.

Other Fulton CIDs are located in the Perimeter Mall area, in Alpharetta near the North Point Mall and in Midtown and downtown Atlanta.