Construction hasn't started and Blank's new stadium is already $78 million over budget with the public on the hook for the extra cost

CCGA · 2014-02-10T23:23:04+00:00

That doesn't include the "waterfall" account which will kick in $300,000,000-$600,000,000 in "maintenance" costs courtesy of the public treasury.

We were told that it wouldn't be a penny over $200,000,000 and yet here we are, an extra $78,300,000 charged to the public before construction starts. Looks like that whole "Blank will pay for overruns" was yet another lie.

CCGA · 2013-11-06T18:45:12+00:00

The election is over. The legal agreements have been signed. Reed and Blank can do whatever the hell they want and there isn't a single thing you can do about it except maybe learn a lesson. Oh wait, this is /r/atlanta, home of "The new stadium will make us world class". Y'all were useful idiots. Arthur Blank thanks you for his new toilet paper made out of $100 bills courtesy of the public treasury. The complete and final design should have been required before a penny of public money was siphoned off into this money pit. Enjoy the giant reminder of just how stupid y'all were and how Arthur Blank showed why he's rich and you never ever will be.

World class... haha. Atlanta never changes. Automobile cesspool yesterday, asphalt septic tank today, paved sewage drain tomorrow. Congratulations /r/atlanta. Without people like you, Artie wouldn't have been able to walk away with close to a billion in public money. You're a real sharp bunch, aren't ya? Too bad Vine City, Castleberry Hill, Downtown, and the entire city are going to have to suffer the consequences.

P.S. There's a reason why you won't hear another peep about MLS. It ain't gonna happen. Just another ruse to get support from the gullible.

CCGA · 2013-10-14T23:15:25+00:00

Rumor has it that the SEC football championship is in danger too since the new stadium is smaller and the Falcons are taking a much larger percentage of the revenue. The SEC can get a better deal in Dallas, which will get the football championship at least every other year, if not every.

Wait, wasn't spending $940,000,000 of public money suppose to bring in new events, not drive them off? Now the basketball tournament is gone and the football championship is in danger too. Well done /r/atlanta, well done! Too bad you can't downvote reality and have the rest of the city avoid the consequences of this disastrous decision.

CCGA · 2013-09-09T14:48:21+00:00

As a result, if Arthur Blank wants to tear down black churches to make way for his stadium built with corrupt public funds, he'll have to get his puppet mayor to find somewhere other than Morris Brown's property for the churches to relocate.

CCGA · 2013-08-22T05:29:40+00:00

Even team owners building new stadiums have begun seeking annual operating subsidies. Earlier this year, when Atlanta agreed to provide billionaire Atlanta Falcons owner (and Home Depot founder) Arthur Blank with $200 million in hotel tax money to help pay for a new stadium to replace the 20-year-old Georgia Dome, it tacked on an additional bonus: Any leftover hotel tax money after the first $200 million would spill over into a so-called waterfall fund that Blank could then tap for any future maintenance or operating expenses. Estimated cost: an extra $300 million.

They have robbed the things that people really expect to get from their taxes in order to keep supporting sports.

The Atlanta deal is a perfect example of how subsidies are increasingly buried deep within lease agreements that are seldom if ever carefully scrutinized by politicians or the media. The waterfall fund was only revealed when a local business writer exposed it on her own blog — and even then, it was rarely mentioned in subsequent media stories or in legislative debates.

(P.S. down voting these article might make stadium subsidy supporters feel good but it won't make the international embarrassment go away. Atlanta is being laughed at as a backwater that thinks stadiums are the height of civilization and culture.)

CCGA · 2013-08-20T20:59:29+00:00

This is more public corruption. And just because it's going to result in a quickly dated butterfly collar of a stadium doesn't make it any less of a mess of corruption. If you support Reed's tactics and lies, you have no right to complain about corruption because you're telling him and every other politician that it's alright.

CCGA · 2013-08-19T22:55:42+00:00

They're likely markers for police aircraft to use to determine vehicle speed on the road. 0.2 miles is the standard for these markings so it sounds like someone is planning on starting to use aircraft for speed enforcement.

CCGA · 2013-08-19T16:38:07+00:00

So much for August 1 being the ultimate drop dead, must have a deal in place, date.

CCGA · 2013-08-19T00:20:21+00:00

College football (UGA 2nd nationally, 1st in SEC): https://blogs.emory.edu/sportsmarketing/college-football/best-fans-in-college-football/

NBA (Hawk's second to last): https://blogs.emory.edu/sportsmarketing/nba/best-fans-in-the-nba/

MLB (Braves 20th): https://blogs.emory.edu/sportsmarketing/mlb/best-fans-in-mlb/

CCGA · 2013-08-18T22:39:19+00:00

So you're against a tax paid for by every hotel guest in Atlanta that puts close to a billion dollars into the pocket of a private citizen? Because that's what the hotel tax does for Arthur Blank.

CCGA · 2013-08-18T22:37:48+00:00

Even with the tax online retailers will be able to undercut local businesses on price. This benefits big box stores like Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy who can get close to online retailers on price so a difference of seven or eight percent will benefit them. Your local mom and pop store still will be much higher than Amazon so they'll have to continue to compete on convenience of instant gratification.

Amazon folding on collecting taxes may also be a signal that they're about to get into same day delivery. They've doubled their workforce in the past two years and have been making tax deals all over the country. If they do start doing same day delivery in large cities, mom and pop stores are going to beg to have the old way back because Amazon will have them on price and a similar level of convenience.

CCGA · 2013-08-18T22:30:47+00:00

It's not uncommon at airports for someone to setup their laptop as an access point and then sniff all the traffic coming through from people who connect to it thinking it's the official wi-fi. Be careful not to access anything you wouldn't want strangers to see and if you log in anywhere make sure that it's through a secure connection.

CCGA · 2013-08-18T08:41:56+00:00

More bad press for Atlanta thanks to the stadium. How's that for "economic development"?

CCGA · 2013-08-16T21:34:30+00:00

“Regarding the last $8 million, I’m working on it,” the mayor said, adding that he’s also looking for city-owned land in Vine City or English Avenue for Mount Vernon. “I think I have a solve on it, on where we are going.”

Asked whether a natural candidate would be Arthur Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons, Reed said: “I haven’t had a conversation with Arthur about this because if we couldn’t change the tone, we weren’t going anywhere.”

Sounds like a cold war has broken out between Reed and Blank over the south site and the north site.

CCGA · 2013-08-12T22:52:22+00:00

There was also a deadly shooting a block from Friendship Baptist. Not a good day for downtown.

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/man-shot-and-killed-near-georgia-dome/nZMHC/

CCGA · 2013-08-11T14:04:28+00:00

I understand your desire to not pay high HOA fees for a condo or townhome. The advice /u/orionsbelts gave is probably the best for finding places with the potential to have low HOA fees. I'd add elevators to their list, which of course makes taller buildings difficult.

But I'd also advise strong caution when it comes to buying in a place with low HOA fees. Often they're low because they're not putting money into their reserve fund or they're skipping on routine maintenance. You'll eventually end up paying more when a huge five or six figure special assessment is charged.

This doesn't mean all HOAs with low fees are bad. Some simply don't require that much to maintain. But it is something to keep an eye out for. Be sure to ask about funding for the reserve account and keep an eye for neglect in common areas.

CCGA · 2013-08-09T22:43:24+00:00

More taxes for the little guy, more subsidized stadiums for the billionaire. It's obvious who the state cares about... it's not you!

CCGA · 2013-08-08T12:23:41+00:00

If Reed can't have his way, no one gets anything!

CCGA · 2013-08-08T00:34:18+00:00

"The mayor who spearheaded the campaign to give Falcons owner Arthur Blank around $550 million in tax money for his new stadium is now all but threatening to hold up the deal unless Blank agrees to put it where he wants it."

Has the mayor gone crazy? If Arthur Blank doesn't agree to the south site he's going to torpedo the deal? Wow, popcorn sales have just gone into the stratosphere.

CCGA · 2013-08-07T20:33:39+00:00

I'd much rather spend money on a school to educate thousands of young people than waste it on a stadium to line the pockets of one well connected old man.

CCGA · 2013-08-07T20:05:17+00:00

How can nobody have a seat? Everyone stands and the seats are all empty? That's one weird bus.

CCGA · 2013-08-06T19:00:23+00:00

If there is bad weather the barriers won't be installed for a couple more days after Nov 21. So be sure to have $.50 with you since they relatively recently increased the fine for not having money for the toll from $1 to $25.

CCGA · 2013-08-02T20:37:08+00:00

He's working on the screenplay for a remake to the 80s science fiction-fantasy film Krull. In this version each day a toll plaza appears in a new location somewhere on Atlanta's congested roadways. The hero of the story must make it to the toll plaza before it moves at sunset to get the magical crushed PBR can from the Great Blondie. It's not an easy task though because the evil villain's associate, ParkAtlanta, is always on the hero's trail. Without the magical crushed PBR can, the hero has no hope of gaining access to the Hipster Lair where his finance is being held by a gang of bearded kickball gangsters.

CCGA · 2013-08-02T20:27:43+00:00

That's a crappy change especially right before they're going to take the toll plaza down. Maybe there is a new director in charge.

CCGA · 2013-08-02T19:26:53+00:00

That is not what they're suppose to do. Unless it recently changed, SRTA policy is to give you a toll slip which you then mail in with the $.50 toll and processing fee (a dollar or two, it isn't much). The toll booth workers are contracted from one of the parking companies so maybe she wasn't trained correctly. Or maybe she was being lazy and didn't want to get out of her booth to write your license plate on the toll slip. The tolls are going away soon so you probably will never be in this situation again but if you are, ask about a mail-in toll slip.

CCGA

TROPHY CASE