By Guest Columnist SALLY FLOCKS, founder, president and CEO of PEDS
When I founded PEDS 20 years ago, people who walk were not on Atlanta’s radar screen. Not so anymore. Walkable communities are now a top priority for both the region and state.
Indeed, walking trails are popping up across the state, and the region’s walkable urban spaces are attracting a growing share of new office space and retail.
By Guest Columnist J. RONALD TERWILLIGER, chairman emeritus of Trammell Crow Residential Co. and founding chairman of J. Ronald Terwilliger Foundation for Housing America’s Families
America is in the midst of a housing crisis that deeply affects millions of families and jeopardizes our nation’s future prosperity.
By Guest Columnist CHRIS MANGANIELLO, policy director of the Georgia River Network
Georgians agree we need a healthy and dependable supply of drinking water. We need enough water flowing in our rivers for economic and environmental reasons.
A recent turning point indicates that one pathway is no longer as appealing as it once was.
By Guest Columnist MIKE DOBBINS, professor of the practice of planning at Georgia Tech’s College of Architecture and a former commissioner of planning and community development for the City of Atlanta
Against the backdrop of an antagonistic and often toxic campaign season, two opportunities are emerging that could begin to lift Atlanta out of its wealth gap, the city’s own divisive and persistent stain.
By Guest Columnist JEREMY C. GARLINGTON, an executive leadership consultant who is based in Atlanta
It’s a rant heard again and again in this year’s presidential campaign: Why are the candidates so shrill, saying bad things while acting like they’re at each other’s throats? What’s happened to civility in the public square – is it gone forever?
By Guest Columnists MAYA DILLARD SMITH, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, and BRINKLEY SERKEDAKIS, executive director Common Cause Georgia
Just days ago, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision in Evenwel v. Abbott that broke a recent wave of dangerously restrictive approaches by the high court that have been slowly chipping away key elements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
By Guest Columnist WILL ADAMS, an Atlanta-based researcher, analyst and frequent speaker in the energy utilities industry
Many MARTA rail expansion advocates I speak with are surprised to learn the transit system’s ridership figures have been down each year since 2009, with 2014 as one of the lowest on record.
By Guest Columnist DINK NESMITH, a Jesup native who is president and co-owner of Athens-based Community Newspapers, Inc., publishers of newspapers in Georgia, Florida and North Carolina
How far back can you remember?
Our three children, Alan, Emily and Eric, joke that I can remember the day I was born in 1948. Actually, I can’t. I tease them that I do recall the ride home from Ritch-Leaphart Hospital in Jesup, 40 miles from the Atlantic Ocean.
By Guest Columnist JOHN MATTHEWS, a retired city planner who specialized in urban growth policy and a retired instructor at both Georgia State’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies and at Georgia Tech
Metropolitan Atlanta is seeing the creation of an increasing number of local governments; there are many new cities and more are sure to come. There is additional movement to allow creation of new small school districts tied to the new cities.
By Guest Columnist MIKE DOBBINS, professor of the practice of planning at Georgia Tech’s College of Architecture and a former commissioner of planning and community development for the City of Atlanta
Transit is a good. In an ideal world it gets people where they want to go, cleanly, efficiently, and affordably. Transit fills a need. Twenty percent of Atlanta’s citizens are living at or below the poverty line; additionally, a growing percentage of the population doesn’t drive. This might be because they’re too old, too young, or because they simply don’t want to.
By Guest Columnist JASON S. DOZIER, an Atlanta native and resident of the Mechanicsville neighborhood
Fifty years ago, Atlanta’s late Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. famously quipped, “We built a stadium on ground we didn’t own with money we didn’t have for a team we hadn’t signed.”
By Guest Columnist JOHN S. WILSON, president of Morehouse College
A March 15, 2016 article in SaportaReport about the Morehouse College National Alumni Association presidential elections contained inaccuracies and misinformation about Morehouse College.
We appreciate SaportaReport for making corrections to that story, and we acknowledge that even the best institutions can be hurt by misinformation and disinformation.
By Guest Columnist JOHN MATTHEWS, a commercial real estate investor and an MBA graduate of Goizueta Business School
A debate seems to still be occurring in Georgia and our legislature about transit versus roads for the Atlanta region. Still? It is time for the debate to stop, and it is time to begin implementing solutions. Because the logic of transit is not a subject of debate.
By Guest Columnist HATTIE DORSEY, a concerned citizen who is a former president of Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership
A policy for affordable housing has been a long time arriving.
Soon the Atlanta City Council will deliberate a proposed policy on inclusionary housing to be submitted by Councilmember Andre Dickens, chair of the City’s Community Development Committee.
By Guest Columnist CAROLYN BOURDEAUX, director of the Center for State and Local Finance at Georgia State University
As a city of Atlanta taxpayer, I have a “love-worry” relationship with tax allocation districts (TADs): I love some of the projects that Atlanta has used TADs to finance, but I worry about whether we are keeping a close eye on the cumulative impact of this and other economic development finance tools.
By Guest Columnist BRIAN TOLLESON, a Georgia native who is the founder and owner of BARK BARK, a branded entertainment firm headquartered in Atlanta with offices in New York and Los Angeles
I’m a proud Georgian and a third generation entrepreneur here.
By Guest Columnist CHRIS MANGANIELLO, policy director for Georgia River Network
More than 150 conservation advocates from the mountains to the coast are making sure their voices are heard at the Capitol – urging legislators to cast votes for clean water. In the wake of the Flint, Mich. drinking water crisis, nothing could be more important than securing clean water for all Georgians.
By Guest Columnist TAIFA BUTLER, executive director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute
People pushing proposals to bring casinos or horse tracks to Georgia are hitching their chances to the gold-plated brand that is the state’s HOPE Scholarship. Not a bad play.
By Guest Columnist DANA RICKMAN, policy and research director for the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education
On Dec. 10, 2015, President Barak Obama signed into law the “Every Student Succeeds Act” (ESSA).
This law reauthorizes the “Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965,” which has been more recently known as “No Child Left Behind.” This important legislation has provided Georgia an opportunity to set its own direction and determine the best way to support schools and districts.
By Guest Columnist KEVIN R. MCGEE, a motivational speaker, business coach and blogger
As 2016 begins, many people make resolutions about the coming year. My family is no different. Our resolution is pretty simple. It’s to show more compassion for others and to find and fulfill our purpose.
Last year, on April 22, we found out that my daughter, Kayla, had a rare form of kidney cancer and would have to undergo two major surgeries to remove tumors from her body. She would also have to undergo a week of radiation therapy and eight months of chemotherapy.
