Mayor Kasim Reed and the National Black MBA Association Invite Conference Attendees To “POWER UP Your Profitability” In The New World Economy

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Kasim Reed for Mayor

33rd Annual Conference and Exposition will be in Atlanta, Georgia

ATLANTA – Mayor Kasim Reed and the National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA®) today announced the organization’s 33rd Annual Conference & Exposition will be held Tuesday, October 4 through Saturday, October 8 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. The nation’s largest African American business and professional conference and exposition will draw an audience of more than 12,000 executives, entrepreneurs, students, and more than 350 corporations and public sector organizations looking to hire MBA graduates, seasoned professionals, and interns for available positions across the country.

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Mayor Kasim Reed, the White House Business Council and the White House Office of Public Engagement to Host Urban Entrepreneurship Forum

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Kasim Reed for Mayor

Summit in Atlanta on Friday, July 29, 2011 to focus on job creation and access to capital for local entrepreneurs

ATLANTA — Mayor Kasim Reed, in partnership with the White House Business Council and the White House Office of Public Engagement, will host an Urban Entrepreneurship Forum on Friday, July 29, 2011 in the City of Atlanta to focus on ways to support job growth and foster economic success for local entrepreneurs.

“There is nothing more important than creating jobs and putting Americans back to work right now,” said Mayor Reed. “I am pleased to partner with President Barack Obama and his Administration to develop innovative ways to move capital off the sidelines and create more employment opportunities in the City of Atlanta. Supporting urban, small, minority, women and socio-economic disadvantaged entrepreneurs is a critical part of that process.”

In May, Mayor Reed partnered with Marie Johns, Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration, to host a roundtable discussion which focused on a variety of issues that impact Atlanta’s female small business owners. A cross-section of women business owners from a variety of sectors including banking, broadcasting and public affairs joined Mayor Reed and Deputy Administrator Johns to discuss the importance of small businesses to the economy and both federal and local initiatives to help women who are committed to business enterprise.

President Obama has laid out a vision to win the future by out-innovating, out-educating and out-building the rest of the world – a plan critical for America’s cities. Earlier this year, President Obama formed the White House Business Council, which strives to execute his plan to promote growth through investments in American business to equip workers with the skills they need to succeed, encourage the private sector to hire and invest in American competitiveness, and attract top jobs and businesses in the United States.

Because entrepreneurship plays a central role in creating jobs and economic opportunity, the Administration is committed to creating public-private and nonprofit partnerships to support current entrepreneurs and spark a new generation of urban business owners. At the local level, the City of Atlanta, via its agent the Atlanta Development Authority, offers several programs designed to boost economic empowerment among urban entrepreneurs, including Opportunity Zones, small business loans and access to federal New Markets Tax Credits. In addition, the City of Atlanta’s research colleges, universities and business incubators provide start-ups with access to affordable space and resources that enable them to accelerate technologies and bring them to market faster.

To focus on these types of initiatives to boost job growth in cities such as Atlanta, the White House Business Council and the White House Office of Public Engagement and the Domestic Policy Council are partnering with mayors to strengthen urban entrepreneurship. The first Urban Entrepreneurship Summit was held at Rutgers Business School in Newark, NJ in June with Mayor Cory Booker as the host. A second summit will be hosted by Mayor Mitch Landrieu in New Orleans in mid-July.

More details about the City of Atlanta’s Urban Entrepreneurship Forum will be released at a later time. Due to limited space, these events are invitation-only. However, there will be an online component for the public to view each forum online.

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Mayor Reed’s Leadership Praised In ‘The Economist’

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Kasim Reed for Mayor

It’s easy to govern when the economy is strong. When the economy begins to struggle –that’s when real leaders step to the plate. As Washington struggles over the nation’s economy, Atlanta is busy getting its own house in order, and that has not escaped the attention of journals like The Economist.

Atlanta’s problem is severe, but hardly unusual. New York’s unfunded pension liability tops $120 billion. Chicago’s is nearly $45 billion. Baltimore’s is $3.7 billion; if its pension plan returns 8% a year it will be insolvent by 2022. But Atlanta got a deal done; elsewhere unions and cities are still battling. Mr Reed advises other mayors to “spend whatever political capital is necessary to pass the reform” and “to have a very high pain threshold. This process was nasty, negative, laborious and vitriolic. If you don’t have the stomach for it you need to develop one.”

 

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Kasim Reed Profiled In ‘Roll Call’

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Kasim Reed for Mayor

Mayor Reed continues to attract national attention to Atlanta’s successes, most recently in a glowing profile by Capitol Hill’s Roll Call newspaper.

The 42-year-old mayor of Atlanta has been pegged as a rising Democratic star and even wins plaudits from Republicans for his pro-business bona fides.

His early successes as mayor have landed him on “Meet the Press” twice this year and were the subject of a glowing Thomas Friedman column in the New York Times in December.

Reed’s national profile is set to grow in the coming months as the public face of Democrats in the Peach State — where all of the statewide officials are Republicans and where President Barack Obama’s campaign expects to compete in 2012.

Recent victories in the city’s landmark agreement on sweeping pension reform and the FY2012 budget approval demonstrate that Mayor Reed is setting the standard for responsible and effective leadership. It seems that the rest of the nation is taking notice.

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Statement from Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed on the State of Georgia’s CRCT Test Scores Investigation

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Kasim Reed for Mayor

“Today is a dark day for the Atlanta Public School system. The State of Georgia’s investigation into allegations of widespread cheating on the CRCT test confirms our worst fears.  There is no doubt that systemic cheating occurred on a widespread basis in the school system.

Further, there is no question that a complete failure of leadership in the Atlanta Public School system hurt thousands of children who were promoted to the next grade without meeting basic academic standards.

I am grateful to former Governor Sonny Perdue and Governor Nathan Deal for their leadership on this issue and for bringing the grave problems facing the Atlanta Public School system to light. The investigators followed the facts, regardless of where they led. I would also like to commend Atlanta’s press corps, especially The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, for its service to the public by providing comprehensive, investigative reporting on the test score discrepancies.

I am confident that Interim Superintendent Errol Davis, former Chancellor of the University System of Georgia, and Board of Education Chairwoman Brenda Muhammad and Vice-Chairman Reuben McDaniel will take decisive action and lead the system in a manner that resolves the problems uncovered in the investigation and work to ensure that this never happens again.

The Atlanta Public School system can and will recover from this painful chapter in its history.  The system has the support of teachers and educators who are principled and committed to serving the city’s students. The system has the support of thousands of parents who are deeply invested in what happens in the classroom and the academic achievement of their children.  And Superintendent Davis, Chairwoman Muhammad and Vice-Chairman McDaniel have my full support and that of the entire City of Atlanta as they begin to move the school district forward.”

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City of Atlanta selected as Early Partner for President Obama’s Better Buildings Challenge

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Kasim Reed for Mayor

CEOs, university presidents and state and local leaders rally to create American jobs through building energy efficiency

ATLANTA – Mayor Kasim Reed announced today that Atlanta is one of three cities selected to be an early partner in President Obama’s Better Buildings Challenge. Reed administration officials were hosted by former President Bill Clinton and U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu in Chicago last week at the Clinton Global Initiative. As part of the Better Buildings Challenge, Atlanta aims to reduce energy consumption in the city’s downtown district by 20 percent over the next decade.

“The City of Atlanta has united with our business and nonprofit community partners to implement a comprehensive energy upgrade for downtown’s municipal and commercial buildings to meet the goal of improving energy performance by 20 percent,” said Mayor Reed. “More than two million square feet of buildings will be improved as a part of this effort. In addition to becoming more sustainable with this energy upgrade, we will also be saving the taxpayers money in energy costs.”

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Reed Administration’s FY 2012 Budget Approved 13-1 by the Atlanta City Council

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Kasim Reed for Mayor

$547 Million Spending Plan Includes Funding for 100 New Officers and Boosts City’s Reserves to More Than $70 Million

ATLANTA – The Atlanta City Council Thursday voted 13-1 in favor of a $547 million spending plan that includes the legislative priorities of Mayor Kasim Reed, and at the same time places the city’s finances on solid fiscal footing.

The Atlanta City Council’s pension reform vote on Wednesday captured more than $22 million for the upcoming fiscal year, avoiding the need for personnel reductions and service cuts.

In addition, for the second year in a row, preliminary numbers indicate the City of Atlanta finished the previous fiscal year under budget, despite being in the midst of the toughest economic environment since the Great Depression.

“The FY2012 budget includes vital investments for public safety, funding for critical city services and more than $20 million in savings for the city’s reserves,” said Mayor Reed. “I am pleased that because of prudent fiscal management, the taxpayers of Atlanta will not see a property tax increase.”

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Mayor Kasim Reed and the Atlanta City Council Unanimously Reach Landmark Agreement on Sweeping Pension Reform

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Kasim Reed for Mayor

Mayor Kasim Reed’s push for major reforms to the City of Atlanta’s pension plan is approved 15-0 by the Atlanta City Council; City’s future pension liability and risk will be reduced

ATLANTA - Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Council President Ceasar Mitchell on Wednesday applauded the Atlanta City Council on its 15-0 vote in favor of reforming the city’s retirement plan. The legislation avoids the need for personnel reductions and service cuts, and puts the city on a path toward greater fiscal stability in the upcoming fiscal year and beyond.

The comprehensive pension reform plan creates $22 million in savings the first year, reduces the city’s exposure to market risk and allows the city to pay off a $1.5 billion unfunded pension liability. The measure saves the city more than $270 million over the next 10 years, and more than $500 million over 30 years.

Today’s vote reflects one of the most sweeping overhauls of public-employee retirement benefits attempted by a large U.S. city in recent years, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“One year ago, the City of Atlanta’s pension plan could fairly be compared to a sub-prime loan in which the city was investing $110 million per year without one penny of that amount going to pay down its $1.5 billion unfunded pension liability,” said Mayor Reed. “Today, because of the courage of the Atlanta City Council and the women and men who work for the City of Atlanta, we have faced this problem head-on, and through shared responsibility, we have taken a critical groundbreaking step toward resolving it.”

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New School Board Chair Brenda Muhammad: Another Step in the Right Direction Under Mayor Reed

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Kasim Reed for Mayor

In a 7-1 vote on Wednesday, the Atlanta school board took a positive step towards winning back accreditation, electing Brenda Muhammad its new chairwoman.

“This is a move in the right direction, for the right reasons, for the right people — the students of Atlanta Public Schools,” Muhammad said.

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Mayor Kasim Reed and Council President Ceasar Mitchell Applaud the Atlanta City Council for Moving Forward with Unanimous Vote on Pension Plan Reform

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Kasim Reed for Mayor

Mayor Kasim Reed’s push for major reforms to the City of Atlanta’s pension plan advances in a 14-0 vote by the Atlanta City Council; employee lay-offs and reductions in city services likely to be avoided through $25 million in annual savings; city’s future pension liability and risk would be reduced

ATLANTA — Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Council President Ceasar Mitchell on Thursday applauded the Atlanta City Council for taking a major step toward approving pension plan reform. If approved by the Atlanta City Council next week, the legislation would avoid the need for personnel reductions and service cuts, and put the city on a path toward greater fiscal stability in FY2012 and beyond.

The Council voted 14-0 in favor of an amendment to the proposal recently put forth by Finance Executive Committee Chairwoman Yolanda Adrean and sponsored by Councilmembers H. Lamar Willis, Aaron Watson, Keisha Lance Bottoms, Alex Wan, Howard Shook and Ivory Lee Young. The amendment contains some features of the proposals developed by the Reed Administration and Councilmembers Adrean and Felicia Moore, with input from other council members. Continue reading →

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