On Aug. 24, SoDo founders David Cummings and Jon Birdsong sat in front of a ballroom packed with Atlanta’s most powerful people. They had a simple plea:
“I would love for Atlanta Rotary to make downtown one of their most important causes.”
Every Monday, the Atlanta chapter of Rotary International meets to hear from guest speakers about the region’s pressing issues. With over 500 members, the organization brings together business leaders to engage in “community service.”
Together, they throw financial and social weight behind causes like an end to human trafficking or boosting early education. The South Downtown founders want downtown Atlanta added to the mix.
According to founder David Cummings, Rotary support could help revive downtown and fix its “challenges.”
South Downtown, nicknamed SoDo, is one of many recent efforts to bring back the once-booming urban core. The redevelopment spans 10 city blocks and 58 buildings, with a mix of restaurants, park space, apartments, retail and office space.
It’s been called a “once in a city’s lifetime” project. But it sits alongside several other downtown revitalization projects: the Centennial Yards entertainment complex and Underground Atlanta’s nightlife hub, in particular.
But many people are still unfamiliar with SoDo. On a walking tour after the rotary meeting, SoDo CEO Jon Birdsong took a group of rotarians through the development. Several had no idea what it was, including a Metro Atlanta media leader and an employee at the state capitol building blocks away.
To boost awareness for the project, the SoDo team looked to the rotary club. But Cummings also decided to “hijack” his presentation on the project to talk about the so-called challenges in developing downtown.
“How do we bring it back to life, from a financial point of view?” he asked. “This is going to be difficult, so bear with me: restore basic order.”
Cummings said people avoid downtown Atlanta because of “uncomfortable situations,” like getting harassed or asked for money. He called out the lack of police and homeless people in the area.
“It’s 220 city blocks, hundreds of people living on the street, and a limited police and ambassador force,” Cummings said.
According to Cummings, there is an environment “of visible public disorder” on the city streets. He points to public camping on sidewalks and bike lanes, or the homeless people dropped off in downtown Atlanta from across the metro area.
He even claimed the outreach organizations are part of the issue. Organizations like Atlanta Mission and Safe House Outreach provide direct care to homeless people in Atlanta, but Cummings said they are “breaking the law every day.”
“They have to record the people they are servicing,” Cummings explained. The nonprofits are supposed to put the person in a “coordination of care” database. The SoDo founder said they are missing the step.
SaportaReport reached out to Atlanta Mission for comment and is awaiting a response.
It is the most straightforward SoDo leaders have been on their issues with downtown, and their ideal vision. But what’s the proposed solution? Cummings seemingly had two plans. The first, relocating some of downtown’s nonprofits.
“Our homeless challenge is in downtown, because that’s where the service is,” Cummings said.
Downtown Atlanta is also home to robust public transit and proximity to medical centers. But Cummings wants the organizations to relocate. He pointed to a piece of data from Downtown Atlanta, Inc. In 2025, the group reunified 301 homeless individuals with their families — only 8 percent were from Georgia.
The rest came from out of state. Cummings told the crowd homeless people are dropped off in downtown because of the resources nearby. He thinks Atlanta is a “super regional magnet.” And he wants that to change.
“The next time you’re about to make a donation to a shelter or outreach organization downtown, ask them when they’re going to relocate outside of downtown,” Cummings suggested.
He said other counties need to “share the regional responsibility of downtown.”
Locally, SoDo’s proposed solutions skew a bit more futuristic — robot security dogs, for one. One of the companies based inside SoDo’s offices is the local startup Undaunted. It’s a robotics security company that leases out “dogs” to fill security and policing gaps.
The website markets the dogs as a way to deter incidents “before a crime is even committed.” There are several dogs already leased out to Atlanta, but SoDo is a hub for the technology. The dogs are monitored and controlled by real people, not AI, though the operator is often internationally based.
Cummings says they are dramatically less expensive than police, “and they run 24/7 without complaining.”
In the SoDo vision, robot dogs can deter homeless people from public camping, or prevent evening break-ins. “We need robots, APD and MARTA to enforce the existing law,” Cummings said.
It’s no coincidence that Cummings said these desires in front of Atlanta bigwigs, including leaders from the Atlanta Police Foundation. He told the crowd to “build a committee” around the 220-block neighborhood cause.
“To wrap it all up, every world-class city has a world-class downtown,” Cummings said. “Atlanta’s downtown has structural issues that, until we fix them, we are never going to have a world-class downtown.”
