Canadian CEO has Big Praise, Challenge for Atlanta

Atlanta just might be on the right track when a visiting CEO from Canada — a land rife with unimpressionable Uncle Sam detractors — says the city is knocking on the door of world-class greatness. In an AJC op-ed this past weekend, Atlanta Regional Commission executive director Doug Hooker urges the same sort of collaboration that landed the 1996 Olympics and the world's busiest airport as the city moves forward in this time of post-recession prosperity. But the kicker comes when Hooker relays the impressions of Sevaun Palvetzian, CEO of CivicAction, a city-boosting nonprofit based in Toronto. Palvetzian recently toured Atlanta museums, dined at Ponce City Market and strolled the Beltline — and came away, as Hooker puts it, "mightily impressed." Quoth the Canadian: "The ingredients you have here are world-class, and in many ways second to none … Now you just need to bring them all together." Amen.