Dan Sweat & Turner Broadcasting Downtown Community Leadership Award Winners Selected

February 24,2011

Central Atlanta Progress Meeting also to Feature Georgia Governor Nathan Deal and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed

George Goodwin and Bill & Peg Balzer will be honored with the Dan Sweat Award and Turner Downtown Community Leadership Award, respectively at the Annual Meeting of Central Atlanta Progress (CAP) and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District (ADID), on Tuesday, March 15th at 8 a.m. (registration, light breakfast and networking will begin at 7:00 a.m.) The recently installed Georgia Governor Nathan Deal and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed will be among the speakers at the event. Pemberton Place®, adjacent to the World of Coca-Cola®, in Downtown Atlanta will serve as this year’s venue. The event theme is: “Celebrating 70 Years of Progress and Our Vision for the Future.”

George Goodwin, widely regarded as the dean of the Atlanta public relations industry and a former Executive Director of Central Atlanta Improvement Association (now CAP) from 1952-1954, will be honored at the meeting as this year’s Dan Sweat Award winner. Sweat was a former CAP president who led the organization and Downtown Atlanta through very tumultuous times in the business and political environment of the city’s growth.

Bill and Peg Balzer, Downtown residents and longtime advocates, have been selected as this year’s Turner Broadcasting Downtown Community Leadership Award winners. “The Turner” recognizes those in the community who as individual private citizens, step forward and do good work on Downtown Atlanta’s behalf. Both were instrumental in securing and financing the renovated space for Theatrical Outfit, Atlanta’s third oldest professional theater company. They have also played an active role fundraising for Georgia State University and are involved with the revitalization of Woodruff Park. 

“We are honored to have two of our most influential political leaders on the agenda, along with such deserving award winners,” said AJ Robinson, president of Central Atlanta Progress. “It is only fitting as we look back on CAP’s 70-year history to have a lineup with the caliber of these special guests.”
 
Tickets for this year’s meeting are available at www.atlantadowntown.com. They are $75 for CAP members and $85 for non-members. Discounted parking adjacent to the meeting will be $6.

Sponsors for the meeting include Gold Level: AirTran Airways, Atlanta Business Chronicle, The Coca-Cola Company, DLA Piper, and Troutman Sanders; Silver Level: Cousins Properties, Fulton County Development Authority, Georgia Power, Grady Health System, Kaiser Permanente, Portman Holdings, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. and Turner Enterprises; Bronze Level: A. Brown-Olmstead Associates, AmericaMart, Barry Real Estate & the W Atlanta Downtown, The Integral Group, King & Spalding, Perfect Image, Post Properties, Resource Real Estate Marketing, The Schapiro Group, Silverman Construction Program Management, and Stites & Harbison PLLC.

About Central Atlanta Progress, Inc. (CAP) and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District (ADID):
Central Atlanta Progress, Inc. (CAP) is a Downtown business association with 211 members. Its mission is to build a 21st century Downtown as the heart of the Atlanta Region – a vibrant community with strong leadership and sustainable infrastructure that is safe, livable, diverse, economically viable, accessible, clean, hospitable and entertaining. It is governed by a 60 plus-member Board of Directors, including an Executive Committee that oversees the monthly operational decisions on behalf of the Board. The Atlanta Downtown Improvement District (ADID) is a 510(c)(3) non-profit organization created by CAP to make Downtown safer, cleaner and more hospitable. www.atlantadowntown.com