Georgia Today: Atlanta city council approves budget; News for Atlanta renters; Fort Pulaski monument

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Wednesday, June 21. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode: The Atlanta City Council approves an historic budget for the new fiscal year; there's some good news for Atlanta renters; and the National Park Service is seeking help from the public to solve rising sea level issues for Savannah's Fort Pulaski National Monument. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Peter Biello: The Atlanta City Council unanimously approved Mayor Andre Dickens's budget last night for fiscal year 2024. The $790 million budget is the largest in the city's history. The budget includes $6.2 million for police and fire personnel, vehicles and equipment, more than $8 million to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and $10 million in capital improvements to the city facilities. When combined with the aviation and watershed budgets and other funds, the city will have a nearly $2.5 billion direct economic impact in the next fiscal year.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: The city of Atlanta has approved a referendum petition from opponents of Atlanta's proposed police training center, also known as "Cop City." Opponents had sued the city over what they said was a delay from the city clerk. The petition aims to put to voters the question of whether construction of the controversial police training center should proceed. Opponents now have 58 days to gather 75,000 signatures to get the question on the ballot.

Story 3:

Peter Biello: A new law going into effect on July 1 will prevent transgender miners from starting hormone therapy. Those who work with trans youth say they and their loved ones are getting anxious ahead of the deadline. Atlanta doctor Izzy Lowell says she's prioritizing appointments for new patients and will stay up until midnight on June 30 if needed to get people in.

Izzy Lowell: This is really a humanitarian and public health emergency. In Georgia, the law won't actually cut people off of hormones who are already on hormone therapy, but it will prevent access for people who desperately need it.

Peter Biello: The law's Republican backers say it will prevent minors from making irreversible medical decisions before they're mature enough to do so.

Story 4:

Peter Biello: Meanwhile, a federal judge has struck down Arkansas's first-in-the-nation ban on gender-affirming care for children, calling it unconstitutional. The Arkansas law would have prohibited doctors from providing gender-affirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers or surgery to anyone under 18. In his order, the judge ruled that the prohibition violated the due process and equal protection rights of transgender youth and families. He said the law also violated the First Amendment rights of medical providers.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: Rent prices appear to be cooling off in some parts of the country. GPB's Sarah Kallis has more on what prices look like in Atlanta.

Sarah Kallis: Atlanta rents fell 2% month over month from May to June and about 3% since this time last year, according to new data from Zillow. Emory University professor Dr. Rohan Ganduri says new construction may be causing the downturn.

Dr. Rohan Ganduri: Prices, in some ways, signal to developers that there is a lot of strong demand for housing which that supply of some of these apartments and housing seems to have increased, which has now put somewhat of a downward pressure on rents.

Sarah Kallis: Rents are still climbing in some U.S. cities, but the rates are much slower than last year. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis.

Story 6:

Peter Biello: And while rents have taken a recent dip, they are still high enough to make it hard for some residents to stay in their neighborhoods. GPB's Amanda Andrews reports on one group trying to make it easier.

Amanda Andrews: The People's Community Land Trust is the latest organization working to keep residents in their homes. The project is a collaboration between three economic and housing justice organizations. The trust's first accomplishment was to relocate a longtime community member who lost her home. Nikishka Iyengar helped develop the land trust. She says the key difference in this project is who it serves.

Nikishka Iyengar: We're focused on folks who are on the front lines of displacement and/or being evicted right now to have a permanent home base — versus sort of having an open market for buyers who may be interested in the land trust.

Amanda Andrews: The Land Trust has acquired one home in Atlanta's Peopletown neighborhood and another site where they will build permanent, affordable housing within the next two years. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews in Atlanta.

Story 7:

Peter Biello: State regulators are considering the first significant easing of a decade-old moratorium on new or expanded withdrawals from portions of Southwest Georgia's Flint River basin. The State Environmental Protection Division has proposed letting farmers tap into the Floridan Aquifer for the limited purpose of using irrigation to protect crops like the state's prized blueberries from bouts of frost. Frost protection permits are already issued elsewhere in Georgia. This proposal would open up the permit to farmers in Southwest Georgia, where agricultural leaders argue the ban on new permits has limited the industry's potential. A public meeting is planned for today in Albany for the EPD to solicit feedback on the frost protection permit plan.

Story 8:

Peter Biello: A renowned Titanic expert aboard the small submersible that went missing in the Atlantic Ocean has ties to metro Atlanta. The AJC reports that Paul-Henri Nargeolet is one of the five passengers inside the underwater vehicle. He's a former French Navy officer known as "Mr. Titanic," and he's the director of Underwater research for Experiential Media Group, which is based in Peachtree Corners. Officials have said the underwater submersible, called Titan, could run out of breathable air by approximately 6:00 tomorrow morning.

Story 9:

Peter Biello: The National Park Service is asking for public input on how to help Savannah's Fort Pulaski National Monument adjust to rising sea levels. GPB's Benjamin Payne reports.

Benjamin Payne: Fort Pulaski was pummeled by union artillery during the Civil War. Now, in the 21st century, the fort and adjoining park at the spot where the Savannah River meets the Atlantic Ocean face a new danger: sea level rise and storm surge brought on by global warming. And so the National Park Service is brainstorming ways to cope. Park ranger Joel Cadoff:

Joel Cadoff: We're not raising the fort. We can't take those 13 million bricks and put it higher. However, with the infrastructure that ultimately serves that we can do a better job.

Benjamin Payne: For instance, a Park Service draft plan calls for a new maintenance facility to be built on higher ground. The National Park Service is taking public comment on its website until July 12. The agency will also hold a public meeting on Thursday evening at Fort Pulaski National Monument. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne in Savannah.

Story 10:

Peter Biello: Officials at Augustus Paine College have announced a 10-year plan to transform the private historically Black liberal arts school. In recent years, the college has struggled with finances and enrollment — last year, enrolling just 241 students. The plan, announced yesterday, focuses on new donors and partnerships, including with Augusta National Golf Club and Bank of America.

Story 11:

Peter Biello: The Georgia Writers Association announced the winners of the 2023 Georgia Author of the Year Awards in a virtual ceremony last weekend. This year's awards had a record breaking 148 nominations for the 15 categories that range from memoir to children's literature. Winners include Monica Lee Weatherly, professor of English at Georgia State University for her poetry chapbook, It Felt Mississippi and Susan Carlisle for her romance novel, Racing To You. The posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award went to Valerie Boyd, biographer of Zora Neale Hurston. Boyd also won the Specialty Book Award as editor of Bigger Than Braver: Black Resilience and Reclamation in a Time of Pandemic. Boyd died last year at the age of 58 after a battle with cancer.

Story 12:

Peter Biello: In sports: in baseball. Spencer Strider struck out nine over six innings in his first start in Philadelphia since his postseason implosion last year, and the Braves beat the Phillies 4 to 2 last night. Strider didn't allow a walk, which is a rebound from his last two outings when he gave up a combined 13 runs. Austin Riley and Matt Olson homered. The two teams face off again tonight. Rookie pitcher A.J. Smith-Shawver will be on the mound for the Braves. Michael Harris II has been named MLB Player of the Week. Harris had three hits on June 12, four on the 14th and five on the 18th. He's also hit homers in each of those games. And this is his first player of the Year award.

And in basketball, the Atlanta Dream lost to the Dallas Wings, 85 to 73 yesterday. Cheyenne Parker and Rhyne Howard each put up 15 points in the effort. The Dream host the New York Liberty on Friday.

And that's it for today's edition of Georgia Today. If you want to learn more about any of these stories, visit gpb.org/news. If you haven't hit subscribe on this podcast yet, take a moment and do it now. That'll keep us current in your podcast feed. And if you've got feedback, we'd love to hear it. Email us at GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thank you again for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

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