ATLANTA (May 21, 2007) – The Atlanta CityPass® ticket booklet debuted in Atlanta last fall, the tenth of ten North American CityPass big-city programs, with an unprecedented line-up of the destination’s most visited attractions at half-price savings. Its first summer is jam-packed with cool cultural experiences and lush outdoor locations.

Designed to be the definitive collection of must-sees in Atlanta to save time and money, CityPass primes its tickets with insider tips, a map, transportation information, special values and the chance to avoid most ticket lines. Adult tickets, available online at www.atlanta.net/citypass or at any participating attraction, are $64 ($113.45 value); youths age 3-12, $45 (an $82.50 value.) Tickets are valid for nine days from first use.

Four core attraction tickets anchor the program, and this summer, there’s no better place to find what’s making news:
New World of Coca-Cola opens May 24, marking a leap bridging past and future for this iconic brand. Located at Pemberton Place, named for the inventor of Coca-Cola, in the heart of downtown Atlanta, the new attraction is twice as large as its previous incarnation, displaying more than 1,200 never-before-seen artifacts related to Coca-Cola. The bottling line producing 8-ounce commemorative Cokes is a highlight.

The High Museum of Art, the South’s premier art museum, scored a cultural coup in which Louvre masterpieces are exhibited outside its Paris galleries for the first time. Louvre Atlanta features paintings collected by kings; a second exhibit showcases furniture, tapestries, silver and other items used in royal households. Also on display are the remarkable 500-year old Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise, on loan from Florence, another first-time journey. In addition to its far-reaching permanent collection, the museum’s Southern Folk Art exhibit is both charming and definitive.

The Georgia Aquarium, also at Pemberton Place, boasts big numbers – eight million gallons of water, 120,000 different animals, 500 species – but the real show-stopper is being an inch of glass away from a sharp-toothed creature, or when descending a passageway below the ocean’s green waters.

Inside CNN Atlanta Studio Tour takes a visitor on a 55-minute behind-the-scenes guided tour for exclusive views of studios, newsgathering and broadcasting from the network that reinvented the way we view and dissect fast-breaking events.

Two option tickets invite visitors to customize their time with sightseeing they find most compelling in the time available, with indoor and outdoor aspects:

Select either the Fernbank Museum of Natural History or the Atlanta Botanical Garden. The Fernbank Museum is a jaw-dropping stop, from the permanent collection’s Gigantosaurus – with it’s knife-size slashing teeth, to this summer’s special exhibitions, Lizards and Snakes: Alive!, an intimate introduction to live slithery types such as boa constrictors, geckos, and chameleons, and Nature’s Jewels: Butterflies and Other Insects, a photographic study of spectacular close-up photographs.

The Atlanta Botanical Garden offers traditional garden beauty and Southern style, then tilts the imagination to a summer-long exhibition cheekily dubbed, Big Bugs & Killer Plants. The “Big Bugs” are huge sculptures rising out of the landscape, here a looming praying mantis, and over there a spider and web. “Killer Plants” are plants that eat bugs, drawing upon the world’s largest collection of carnivorous plants. Noteworthy for small fry and dreamy-eyed parents are classic children’s stories scheduled in the amphitheater. Nothing says summer morning like stumbling across Three Billy Goats Gruff.

The second option ticket is a choice of either Zoo Atlanta or the Atlanta History Center. There’s been a media spotlight on Zoo Atlanta since the birth of Mei Lan, the world’s newest panda bear. Viewing times are generally in the morning, though there’s no guarantee Ms. Mei will show, anticipation fires up the audience; 15-minute time slots are available upon admission. There are lots of other animals waiting to be discovered, especially the famous gorillas.

The Atlanta History Center is a magnet for thoughtful investigation – via its historic buildings, farms and grounds – of the events and people who created and shaped Georgia. The variety of its signature exhibitions offers insight into Georgians’ complexity and fascinating interests: Turning Point – The American Civil War; Metropolitan Frontiers, four eras of Atlanta history; and Centennial Olympic Games Museum, where visitors can test themselves against Olympian standards. Coming July 4: Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World, a once in a lifetime opportunity to see artifacts that have never traveled outside Philadelphia, such as Franklin’s printing press, 1790 anti-slavery petition and his draft copy of the Declaration of Independence.

About Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau: Established in 1913, ACVB is a private, nonprofit organization created exclusively to market metro Atlanta and Georgia as a premier convention, meeting and leisure destination in the regional, national and international marketplace and to favorably impact the Atlanta economy through conventions and tourism. www.atlanta.net

About CityPass: CityPass is available in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Southern California, combining Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Diego theme parks, and Toronto, Canada. Atlanta CityPass is the tenth Pass in 10 years. For more information, visit www.citypass.com or call toll free 888-330-5008.

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For more information, please contact ACVB Public Relations:

Lauren Jarrell Jessica Lumsden Suzanne Forte Tara Burnham
Director Specialist Specialist Assistant
404.521.6649 404.521.6645 404.521.6632 404.521.6398
ljarrell@atlanta.net jlumsden@atlanta.net sforte@atlanta.net tburnham@atlanta.net

The Sembler Co. plans two major regional power centers in metro Atlanta, including a massive project near Oglethorpe University.

The St. Petersburg, Fla.-based developer will build a mixed-use center on Peachtree Road near Cross Keys Drive. To be called Brookhaven Place, the $400 million project will have 1,200 residential units, in a mix of apartments, mid-rise condominiums and townhouses. In addition, it will have 600,000 square feet of retail space, 15 restaurants, and a five-story, 150,000-square-foot class A office tower, said Jeff Fuqua, Sembler’s president of development in Atlanta.

“This is the largest piece of land that existed on Peachtree [Road] since they built the [Phipps Plaza and Lenox Square] malls,” he said. “It’s a true, mixed-use project on this site.”

Brookhaven Place should be complete in 30 months, Fuqua said.

Sembler, which has also built Perimeter Place, Lindbergh Plaza, and Edgewood Retail District, wants to use many of the elements from each of those projects in Brookhaven, Fuqua said. “It will be twice the size of Lindbergh, but will have the feel of Perimeter.”

“This section of Peachtree is really great, but the commercial along that corridor is really ratty,” he said. “This is going to change the dynamics of that whole corridor. This is going to do what Edgewood and Lindbergh do, spur a lot of other quality investment in the corridor.”

From The Ashford Park Bulletin Written by Maggie Anderson

Hi neighbors! The official CRCT scores won’t be out until July, but I could not wait to give you the preview. The new Ashford Park Elementary scores are just short of amazing. Overall scores in 3rd through 5th* have gone from 74.3% in 2006 to 90% of students who met or
exceeded grade level in Reading/English Language Arts this year. In Math 77.2% of students at APS met or exceeded grade level last year — this year it was 90%. There is much more to this story than scores, though.

In just one year the new principal, Ms. Toni Fallon, and the community have accomplished a great improvement at our neighborhood school, with more promised. Here are some of the other accomplishments:

All teachers received 20 hours of training in working with high achievers.

APS has applied to be a DeKalb County School of Choice for Math, Science and High Achievers, which would bring dedicated math and science teachers as well as additional resources for high achievers. We will know more about that next school year.

Design for an Outdoor Classroom is complete and teachers are participating in a course this summer through Fernbank Science Center and University of Georgia in how to integrate curriculum into the outdoor garden being developed in the central courtyard of the school.

A state of the art 28 station computer lab is now up and running and delighting the students.

The principal has partnered with Oglethorpe University, and will have Oglethorpe interns to help implement Science Lab next year.

The Ashford Park Reading Bowl team won the DeKalb County regionals (beating Kittredge!) They were beat by Kittredge in the County-wide by 2 points!

Our team placed fourth county-wide in the Academic Bowl.

APS has added another teacher with a master’s degree to its faculty (for a total of 11), and there are two master’s candidates and a Ph.D. candidate on the faculty.

Many area businesses have supported APS this year, including donations of picnic tables to create a family picnic area under the pine trees for class and family events.

A local contractor donated paving of a new walkway to replace the muddy path from the teacher’s parking lot to the school.

After intense lobbying, the DeKalb re-districting plan included all of Brookhaven Fields neighborhood as well as all of the Drew Valley neighborhood in the Ashford Park district.

A lot has been accomplished in one year! But it is a crucial year. To be a great neighborhood school, Ashford Park Elementary needs the support of the neighbors in our community.

If you have children in K-5 and want to learn more about the school, please contact the principal, Ms. Toni Fallon at 678-676-6702.

*These are the grades measured for AYP or Annual Yearly Progress in federal no Child Left Behind laws.