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MARTA audit finds commitment to safety
The Georgia Department of Transportation 2022 triennial safety audit of MARTA “finds a strong commitment to safety and no major safety gaps or concerns,” according to a news release.
The audit examined MARTA’s heavy and light rail departments including operations and maintenance, training and communications, and equipment, structures, and signals.
As required by the Federal Transit Administration, MARTA maintains and regularly updates an agency safety plan and that plan, along with authority safety procedures and practices are audited every three years through GDOT’s State Safety Oversight program. This year’s findings show a significant improvement in safety practices in all areas, with only 20 deficiencies and 16 areas of concern identified, compared to close to 100 such findings during the previous audit in 2019. A deficiency is defined as an item that doesn’t meet the established safety criteria; an area of concern partially meets those criteria. MARTA will review the audit findings this month and generate a corrective action plan for each item needing attention.
Despite a strong showing in favor of the change, Juneteenth and Veterans Day will not be added to the Sandy Springs Holiday Calendar in 2023.
Adoption of the 2023 city calendar was originally proposed on November 15, but the matter was deferred after significant public comment in favor of the addition of Juneteenth and Veterans Day. Mayor and council revisited the discussion at the December 6 meeting.
Human Resources Director Jennifer Emery presented two options for the 2023 Holiday Calendar. The first being to add one floating holiday in recognition of Juneteenth and Veterans Day. The floating holiday must be taken within the calendar year. The second option was to make no changes and keep the calendar as it. Mayor Rusty Paul and city council members chose to keep the originally proposed 10 holidays and the floating holiday option. Many residents, once again, spoke in favor of the Juneteenth addition. Councilperson Melody Kelley spoke to the importance of adding Juneteenth, presenting both a factual and personal perspective. According to Kelley, 73% of Georgia cities have adopted Juneteenth and 87% have adopted Veterans Day as a city holiday. The cities include Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, Macon-Bibb, Savannah, Athens, South Fulton, Sandy Springs, Roswell, Johns Creek, Warner Robins, Albany, Alpharetta, Marietta and Stonecrest.
Kelley also shared memories of her grandfather, who helped raise her, correlating personal memories with the importance of Juneteenth.
Michael Pauken has been named Interim Executive Director of the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center at City Springs and will join the team this month.
Pauken has served as General Manager/Executive Director of the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, Illinois, since 2002. The North Shore Center is a 65,000 square foot, two theater complex containing a total of 1,185 seats. The Center has two resident theater companies and partners with several other organizations. More than 400 events and performances are held at the Center in a typical year.
During his time at the Center, Pauken brought programming in-house and presented more than 475 international touring and Chicago-based artists including Al Jarreau, Art Garfunkel, Boz Scaggs, Clint Black, Ed Asner, Graham Nash, Herb Alpert and Lani Hall, and the Indigo Girls, to name only a few.
A number of Pace Academy and Lovett players were among those selected to the All-Region 5AAAA football team.
Leading the way among the local contingent was Pace Academy junior wide receiver Terrence Kiel II, who was named a co-offensive player of the year, along with Hampton senior quarterback Conner Tolley.
Four Pace players were selected to the First Team Offense — senior offensive lineman and South Carolina commitment Trovon Baugh, senior quarterback Conner Phelan, senior wide receiver Kendall Evans and sophomore wide receiver Cooper Williams.
Lovett junior defensive lineman Christian Bell, senior defensive lineman Noah Claxton, senior linebacker Hayden Bernard, junior linebacker Michael Dollar and senior defensive back Anderson Beavor were named to the First Team defense. Pace junior defensive lineman Hevin Brown-Shuler and senior defensive back Davis Rice were also named to the Second Team defense. Lovett sophomore kicker/punter Conner Deviney was a First Team special teams selection.
The Second Team offense included a couple of Lovett players — sophomore running back Kalil Townes and junior wide receiver Luke Wallace — along with Pace Academy senior offensive lineman Kylen Shields.
Pace senior linebacker Frank Caldwell III and Lovett sophomore Talen Frett were named to the Second Team defense, while Pace senior kicker/punter Andrew Swann was a Second Team special teams selection. For a full list of players, please go to the Northside Neighbor website.
More than 200 students at Sandy Springs Charter Middle School see the world through new lenses thanks to Sandy Springs Rotary Club and Vision to Learn.
The Sandy Springs Rotary Club partnered with Los Angeles-based nonprofit Vision to Learn to provide prescription lenses to nearly 1/3 of students at the middle school during the first phase of distribution. In total, Sandy Springs Rotary Club has purchased more than 800 pairs of glasses for Sandy Springs students.
Club members and volunteers spent the mornings of December 7 and 8 handing out glasses to students at Sandy Springs Charter Middle School. Students were briefed on how to take care of their glasses and when to wear them. Vision to Learn was founded in 2012 by Austin Beutner in Northridge, California. He saw the need once he found out that so many students in the Los Angeles area were struggling in school, partly due to not being able to see the board or read clearly.
The idea was to bring a vision clinic to the kids (at schools or Boys and Girls Clubs) to access whether they needed glasses and then to provide the proper glasses for them to be able to see and do better in school.
As of 2022, Vision to Learn has visited 5000 schools and Boys and Girls Clubs and has provided 350,000 children with glasses. They currently have 50 mobile clinics and over 200 employees working for them.
A large contingent of football players from Marist, North Atlanta, Riverwood and St. Pius X have been honored for their accomplishments on the gridiron in the 2022 season with their selection to the All-Region 4AAAAAA team.
North Atlanta won two of the three top awards, with senior quarterback Trey Lennon selected as offensive player of the year and Jamie Aull as coach of the year. St. Pius X senior defensive back Jack Tchienchou was named defensive player of the year.
Marist had four players named on offense — junior running back Joseph Pizzo and senior offensive linemen Peyton Lamb, Kevin McDonald and Drew Prieto. Riverwood had three players on offense — senior tight end Levi Linowes, senior running back Walter Evans and sophomore offensive lineman Sean Poret.
North Atlanta featured two offensive players — senior wide receiver Jamie O’Kelley and senior offensive lineman Tyree Myles — while St. Pius offensive lineman Jack Woods was the only other local player named to the team on offense.
Marist had three of its players selected on defense — junior defensive lineman Luke Harpring, junior defensive back Casey Comerford and senior linebacker Colin Hare, while North Atlanta also featured three defensive players — sophomore defensive lineman Chase Linton, junior defensive back Xaden Benson and junior linebacker Connor Hughes. For a full list of players, please go to the Northside Neighbor website.
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By BG Podcast NetworkThe Georgia Department of Transportation 2022 triennial safety audit of MARTA “finds a strong commitment to safety and no major safety gaps or concerns,” according to a news release.
The audit examined MARTA’s heavy and light rail departments including operations and maintenance, training and communications, and equipment, structures, and signals.
As required by the Federal Transit Administration, MARTA maintains and regularly updates an agency safety plan and that plan, along with authority safety procedures and practices are audited every three years through GDOT’s State Safety Oversight program. This year’s findings show a significant improvement in safety practices in all areas, with only 20 deficiencies and 16 areas of concern identified, compared to close to 100 such findings during the previous audit in 2019. A deficiency is defined as an item that doesn’t meet the established safety criteria; an area of concern partially meets those criteria. MARTA will review the audit findings this month and generate a corrective action plan for each item needing attention.
Despite a strong showing in favor of the change, Juneteenth and Veterans Day will not be added to the Sandy Springs Holiday Calendar in 2023.
Adoption of the 2023 city calendar was originally proposed on November 15, but the matter was deferred after significant public comment in favor of the addition of Juneteenth and Veterans Day. Mayor and council revisited the discussion at the December 6 meeting.
Human Resources Director Jennifer Emery presented two options for the 2023 Holiday Calendar. The first being to add one floating holiday in recognition of Juneteenth and Veterans Day. The floating holiday must be taken within the calendar year. The second option was to make no changes and keep the calendar as it. Mayor Rusty Paul and city council members chose to keep the originally proposed 10 holidays and the floating holiday option. Many residents, once again, spoke in favor of the Juneteenth addition. Councilperson Melody Kelley spoke to the importance of adding Juneteenth, presenting both a factual and personal perspective. According to Kelley, 73% of Georgia cities have adopted Juneteenth and 87% have adopted Veterans Day as a city holiday. The cities include Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, Macon-Bibb, Savannah, Athens, South Fulton, Sandy Springs, Roswell, Johns Creek, Warner Robins, Albany, Alpharetta, Marietta and Stonecrest.
Kelley also shared memories of her grandfather, who helped raise her, correlating personal memories with the importance of Juneteenth.
Michael Pauken has been named Interim Executive Director of the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center at City Springs and will join the team this month.
Pauken has served as General Manager/Executive Director of the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, Illinois, since 2002. The North Shore Center is a 65,000 square foot, two theater complex containing a total of 1,185 seats. The Center has two resident theater companies and partners with several other organizations. More than 400 events and performances are held at the Center in a typical year.
During his time at the Center, Pauken brought programming in-house and presented more than 475 international touring and Chicago-based artists including Al Jarreau, Art Garfunkel, Boz Scaggs, Clint Black, Ed Asner, Graham Nash, Herb Alpert and Lani Hall, and the Indigo Girls, to name only a few.
A number of Pace Academy and Lovett players were among those selected to the All-Region 5AAAA football team.
Leading the way among the local contingent was Pace Academy junior wide receiver Terrence Kiel II, who was named a co-offensive player of the year, along with Hampton senior quarterback Conner Tolley.
Four Pace players were selected to the First Team Offense — senior offensive lineman and South Carolina commitment Trovon Baugh, senior quarterback Conner Phelan, senior wide receiver Kendall Evans and sophomore wide receiver Cooper Williams.
Lovett junior defensive lineman Christian Bell, senior defensive lineman Noah Claxton, senior linebacker Hayden Bernard, junior linebacker Michael Dollar and senior defensive back Anderson Beavor were named to the First Team defense. Pace junior defensive lineman Hevin Brown-Shuler and senior defensive back Davis Rice were also named to the Second Team defense. Lovett sophomore kicker/punter Conner Deviney was a First Team special teams selection.
The Second Team offense included a couple of Lovett players — sophomore running back Kalil Townes and junior wide receiver Luke Wallace — along with Pace Academy senior offensive lineman Kylen Shields.
Pace senior linebacker Frank Caldwell III and Lovett sophomore Talen Frett were named to the Second Team defense, while Pace senior kicker/punter Andrew Swann was a Second Team special teams selection. For a full list of players, please go to the Northside Neighbor website.
More than 200 students at Sandy Springs Charter Middle School see the world through new lenses thanks to Sandy Springs Rotary Club and Vision to Learn.
The Sandy Springs Rotary Club partnered with Los Angeles-based nonprofit Vision to Learn to provide prescription lenses to nearly 1/3 of students at the middle school during the first phase of distribution. In total, Sandy Springs Rotary Club has purchased more than 800 pairs of glasses for Sandy Springs students.
Club members and volunteers spent the mornings of December 7 and 8 handing out glasses to students at Sandy Springs Charter Middle School. Students were briefed on how to take care of their glasses and when to wear them. Vision to Learn was founded in 2012 by Austin Beutner in Northridge, California. He saw the need once he found out that so many students in the Los Angeles area were struggling in school, partly due to not being able to see the board or read clearly.
The idea was to bring a vision clinic to the kids (at schools or Boys and Girls Clubs) to access whether they needed glasses and then to provide the proper glasses for them to be able to see and do better in school.
As of 2022, Vision to Learn has visited 5000 schools and Boys and Girls Clubs and has provided 350,000 children with glasses. They currently have 50 mobile clinics and over 200 employees working for them.
A large contingent of football players from Marist, North Atlanta, Riverwood and St. Pius X have been honored for their accomplishments on the gridiron in the 2022 season with their selection to the All-Region 4AAAAAA team.
North Atlanta won two of the three top awards, with senior quarterback Trey Lennon selected as offensive player of the year and Jamie Aull as coach of the year. St. Pius X senior defensive back Jack Tchienchou was named defensive player of the year.
Marist had four players named on offense — junior running back Joseph Pizzo and senior offensive linemen Peyton Lamb, Kevin McDonald and Drew Prieto. Riverwood had three players on offense — senior tight end Levi Linowes, senior running back Walter Evans and sophomore offensive lineman Sean Poret.
North Atlanta featured two offensive players — senior wide receiver Jamie O’Kelley and senior offensive lineman Tyree Myles — while St. Pius offensive lineman Jack Woods was the only other local player named to the team on offense.
Marist had three of its players selected on defense — junior defensive lineman Luke Harpring, junior defensive back Casey Comerford and senior linebacker Colin Hare, while North Atlanta also featured three defensive players — sophomore defensive lineman Chase Linton, junior defensive back Xaden Benson and junior linebacker Connor Hughes. For a full list of players, please go to the Northside Neighbor website.