Fresh Loaf

It’s a case of damned if you do and damned if you don’t — but especially damned if you do-over.

Today, the Council is scheduled to approve the city’s single largest contract — an action some Atlanta officials fear will only result in protracted legal wrangling.

The management contract for Hartsfield-Jackson Airport’s 30,000 parking spaces is the Big Kahuna of city contracts, generating more than $100 million in annual revenue, of which the private contractor can expect to pocket about $22 million.

For the last few generations, that contractor was Pennsylvania-based Parking Co. of America — one of the most conspicuous holdovers from the not-altogther-bygone era of City Hall history in which favored companies saw their contracts quietly renewed year after year without a formal bidding process.

Earlier this year, the city decided to hold competitive bids for the parking contract. But, apparently the airport staff was a little rusty on bid evaluation and it screwed up the process before a winner was announced. So the contract was re-bid.

This time, the announced winner was Chicago-based Standard Parking Co. According to the Atlanta Bidness Chronicle, two of the losing bidders — Nashville-based Central Parking Systems and ATL Airpark, a consortium of local companies led by Lanier Parking — have already filed official protests against the result.

Hartsfield GM Ben DeCosta maintains that the second bid process was air-tight and and will withstand legal challenges. Maybe he’s right, but some in City Hall are already bracing for the costly lawsuits. At this point, there’s little the Council can do but approve the contract and deal with the fallout.

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Hiding out in the woods?

UPDATE: File under “duh.” Sanford initially said he flew to Buenos Aires because he wanted “to do something exotic.” Now we know he wanted to do someone exotic. Yes — surprise! — he’s admitted he went to meet up with his mistress.

As former CL intern Casey McIntyre observes on his Facebook page: “In defense of Sanford’s staffers, ‘Hiking the Appalachian Trail’ does sound a lot like ‘Hunting for Argentinian Tail.’ Perhaps they just misheard him.”

Up until now, Sanford was best known for trying unsuccessfully to deny his state $700 million in Obama-bucks. Now we know the guy has nothing against a little stimulus.

Yesterday, this blog reported that South Carolina officials said the state’s missing governor had decided to go “hiking along the Appalachian Trail” for five days without telling anyone.

Well, it turns out that was a bit of a fib.

Not only does it now appear that Gov. Mark Sanford had left his state, but he’d left the Northern Hemisphere entirely — and, as the old joke goes, he had to change planes in Atlanta. The AWOL Republican was spotted this morning at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport by reporters for The State, S.C.’s largest newspaper, getting off of a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

According to their story:

Sanford said he decided at the last minute to go to the South American country to recharge after a difficult legislative session in which he battled with lawmakers over how to spend federal stimulus money.

And, just to reassure the wife, who also had no clue as to his whereabouts:

Sanford said he was alone on the trip. He declined to give any additional details about what he did other than to say he drove along the coastline.

Yeah, I’m sure that’s exactly what he did. It’s incredible how relaxing a few days of, um, coastline-driving can be.

(more…)

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The Financial Times ranks the 20 most popular airline routes in the world.

Hong Kong to/from Taipei is the most popular with 2,138,484 passengers annually.

18th on the list is Atlanta to/from New York with 935,265 passengers annually.

(H/T: TreeHugger – the FT list was published in January, but TreeHugger drew my attention to it today as part of its series on ‘greener’ flying.)

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I realize people don’t come to this blog for travel tips, but in case any of our mobile readers missed it, new U.S. border control rules took effect yesterday.

When returning from trips to Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean, U.S. citizens must now show proof of citizenship to get back in.

And, no, having a gun but no health insurance is not legal proof of U.S. citizenship.

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To slow the spread of deadly swine flu, several airports in Asia and Oceania have begun funneling passengers through thermal scanners to determine if they have a fever.

As of this morning, international passengers arriving at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport are not being subjected to any sort of automated scans to detect possible illness.

Tim Sushil of the Atlanta office of U.S. Customs and Border Protection says customs agents who interview incoming passengers are trained to spot obvious signs of illness.

“We rely on the judgement of [Customs and Border Protection] officers,” he says. Only when a passenger is showing visible signs of illness, he says, will a customs officer notify Centers For Disease Control personnel at the airport.

Just curious, why can’t we have both machines and judgement?

If it was possible to determine if someone has a fever by simply looking at them, doctors and nurses wouldn’t carry thermometers.

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Amount of carbon dioxide, in metric tons, Atlanta’s city government emits every year: 540,000

Amount of carbon dioxide, in metric tons, the city will emit in 2012 if it meets its carbon-reducing goal: 502,200

Percentage of the city’s carbon footprint that comes from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport: 28

Number of energy-efficient light bulbs that will be distributed to West End homeowners as part of a pilot program: 26,041

Amount, in dollars, the bulbs will save homeowners in energy costs: 2.3 million

Atlanta’s rank, nationwide, among cities with the highest number of energy-efficient buildings: 3

Percentage of Emory University’s transit system powered by recycled cafeteria cooking oil: 50

Atlanta’s rank, out of 50 cities, in terms of air quality: 42

Atlanta’s rank, out of 50 cities, in terms of metro street congestion: 45

Source: Sustainable Atlanta inaugural report, SustainLane

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