Guest Columns

Guest Columns

The ‘farm-to-table’ movement — more fundamental than a fashion trend

Date: March 31st, 2013, 7:45 pm

By Guest Columnist MERIDITH FORD, editorial director of the Reynolds Group in Atlanta

A recent meal in Providence, R.I., sent my brain on a trip. The journey? Trying to define, once and for all, what the term “farm to table” actually means. I’m not sure, after so many years of overuse, it means anything anymore.

The meal was at a much-talked about restaurant, the Dorrance, where the chef, Ben Sukle, mines the mastery of this lauded movement with the precision of a dental hygienist.
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A love-hate relationship with the recession teaches life-long lessons

Date: March 24th, 2013, 7:15 pm

By Guest Columnist HEATHER ALHADEFF, president of Center Forward, a woman-owned land-use and transportation consulting business

My incessantly analytical brain is ruled by logic. So, to me it just made sense — evolve or die on the proverbial vine. It did take me a while, however, to realize I was hating the very thing I should love.

This incredibly distressing recession required me to question all assumptions. In so doing, it prompted me to launch my own business, doing the work I love while creating more time for friends and family.
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Economic and social returns of higher education justify new approaches

Date: March 17th, 2013, 6:33 pm

By Guest Columnist MIKE GERBER, founder and president of Cross Channel Initiatives

If this were the game show Jeopardy, the answer would be: “two and a half times.”

The question: “How much more in state taxpayer money does Georgia spend annually to keep someone incarcerated than it does to send a student to a public four-year university?”

That’s right. In fiscal year 2011, the average taxpayer-funded cost per inmate in a state prison was $16,250. That compared to $6,300 in state funding per full-time equivalent student at a University System of Georgia institution.
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Replacing the notion of ‘off-shoring’ and ‘on-shoring’ with ‘right-shoring’

Date: March 10th, 2013, 11:25 pm

By Guest Columnist JEFF SWEENEY, co-founder and executive vice president of East-West Manufacturing, an Atlanta-based domestic offshore manufacturing company

Is offshoring inherently bad? Do manufacturing jobs “belong” onshore? Both questions are based on an erroneous assumption that trade creates winners and losers.

A job producing something in China does not mean one fewer job here in the United States. It is not a zero sum game. My experience has shown that a properly executed strategy can and should create winners on both sides.

It’s long past the time to instead ask “where is the best place to manufacture?” I have been working in international trade for two decades and help American and Georgia-based companies source components and products from a variety of nations, including China, Vietnam and India.
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Georgia’s green building lead at risk as state sides with forestry industry

Date: March 3rd, 2013, 3:11 pm

By Guest Columnist DAVID FREEDMAN, executive director of the U.S. Green Building Council, Georgia Chapter

Can the forestry industry and the green building industry co-exist in Georgia?

Most Georgians would think the answer to this question is, “yes.”

Both industries support protecting natural resources, clean water and clean air; preserving green space; utilizing local building materials and creating jobs.
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Time for Georgia to recommit to water conservation and regional plans

Date: February 24th, 2013, 1:55 pm

By Guest Columnist LAUREN JOY, an associate attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center

In 2011, many Atlantans were relieved by the court determination that water supply was an authorized purpose of Lake Lanier. Despite this “win” for Atlanta in the Tri-State Water Wars, we must continue to treat water supply as an ongoing and important issue for Atlanta and the state.

The “Water Wars” are far from over, and the best step we can take to secure and sustain our state’s water supplies is to improve our statewide water planning efforts.
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Atlanta prepares for its future as it builds its first modern streetcar

Date: February 17th, 2013, 10:55 pm

By Guest Columnist LEON EPLAN, former commissioner of the City of Atlanta’s Department of Planning and Development

As work progresses on the Atlanta Streetcar, the city has aken a giant step towards confronting its current and future traffic problems.

Construction on the entire 2.6-mile loop will continue until the day the line is open for public travel, now scheduled for spring, 2014. By then, planning for additional lines will have already begun.
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Georgia’s Gov. Nathan Deal being left behind as other Republican governors endorse Medicaid expansion

Date: February 10th, 2013, 4:40 pm

By Guest Columnist TIMOTHY SWEENEY, director of health policy at the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute

A rule of thumb holds that when something happens three times in short order, it’s a trend. So it’s fair to say that the melting resistance to Medicaid expansion among Republican governors just changed from anecdotal to a full-blown trend.

Last week, two more Republican governors came out in support for taking advantage of new federal funding to ensure health coverage for more of their state’s residents.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder bring to six the number of GOP governors who have announced they will move forward to expand Medicaid through the national health care law known as the Affordable Care Act.
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Atlanta BeltLine a path for private entities to partner for public good

Date: February 3rd, 2013, 4:54 pm

By Guest Columnist VALARIE WILSON, executive director of the BeltLine Partnership, a private, non-profit organization dedicated to fostering support for Atlanta’s BeltLine

Standing on the playground at Historic Fourth Ward Park on a weekend afternoon, surrounded by young families, you look down into the park, past the amphitheater toward the water and see others walking their dogs and generally moving at the sort of leisurely pace inspired by such havens within a city.

You’re in the shadow of hundreds of new apartment and condominiums built in the midst of the worst economy in a generation, filled with residents who want to live in proximity to the park and the Atlanta BeltLine Eastside Trail on the horizon.
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Hartsfield-Jackson provides runway for metro Atlanta’s growth

Date: January 27th, 2013, 9:47 pm

By Guest Columnist DARAKA E. SATCHER, partner and chief oprating officer at the Pendleton Group consulting firm

A few times a week, I have the privilege of working from a location where I have a great view of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on a clear day. I can see the whole expanse of it and – if I give myself enough time to pay attention for a moment – observe a few planes land or take off.

In other words, it is the ebb and flow of airport functions that can be seen at a number of places throughout the world. I’ve seen enough of that to not be too fascinated by it, but I often have a different reaction watching these run-of-the-mill activities occur at Hartsfield-Jackson. Because every now and then, I recognize that I’m actually watching the primary engine behind the phenomenon of world-shrinking.
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