The leadership of the Georgia House and Senate now exercise complete control of what gets a vote. Issues that may be popular with the voters often fail to even get a vote in committee, much less on the floor. If a bill gets to the floor for a vote, amendments are severely restricted, and there […]
Category: Guest Column
Guest Columns
Posted inGuest Column
Atlanta’s job opportunity, hiding in plain sight
Atlanta has a math problem. There’s a massive shortage of workers in the metro Atlanta area with the specific skills employers need. Despite the opportunity, there aren’t enough students pursuing skills-based careers to become electricians, respiratory therapists, bookkeepers, IT support specialists and more. These jobs are in-demand, pay above the median salary and don’t require a […]
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Georgia leaders plead for continued funding to provide meals for older adults
According to the latest report on the State of Senior Hunger from Feeding America, Georgia is ranked 9th in the number of food insecure seniors in the nation, meaning 1 in 12 seniors do not know how they will purchase their next balanced meal. In our Congress today, there are impending budget cuts to food […]
Posted inGuest Column
The geography of history — echoes beneath our feet
Atlanta cherishes its parks — and for good reason. They are a big part of what makes this city so livable and enjoyable. But have you ever wondered how those open spaces came to be? Dare we ask? Do we have the curiosity, courage and humanity to probe beneath the play spaces and dig deeper, […]
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Remembering Gerald L. (Jerry) Bartels
Former President & CEO of the Atlanta Metro Chamber of Commerce, Jerry Bartels, passed away at 91 years old on May 8, 2023, at Tranquility Hospice, in Marietta, Ga. It was a high honor for me to have been asked to give the Eulogy on his business career at a Celebration of Life held for […]
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Exemplifying America’s highest standards of command and compassion
This Memorial Day, it is appropriate to remember Lt. General Hal Moore and his wife Julie, for whom the Columbus, Ga., Army base was renamed earlier this month to honor their individual achievements and highlight the importance of families to military readiness. Documents supporting the name change to Fort Moore said the couple “exemplify America’s […]
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MARTA’s proposed budget keeps digging a hole into Atlanta’s expansion plans
There’s a $1 billion shortfall looming in the More MARTA Atlanta transit expansion program, and it’s not because of rising construction costs and galloping inflation. It’s mostly of MARTA’s own creation by what they are choosing to fund with these limited dollars. But there is time to correct this problem and change priorities and assure […]
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South Fork celebrates Bob Kerr at 90: a lifetime of advocacy, well lived
The gaze of the Marine platoon leader is calm and direct. It’s 1953, and the Korean War is raging halfway around the world. The 19-year-old Marine and his buddies at Parris Island, South Carolina, face an uncertain future. That young man was Bob Kerr, a founding director of the South ForkConservancy. Although he celebrated his […]
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Meet the Peachtree Creek Greenway
By Guest Columnist LAUREN KIEFER, Interim Executive Director of the Peachtree Creek Greenway, Inc. You have probably heard of the Atlanta Beltline and PATH400, but have you heard of the Peachtree Creek Greenway? The Peachtree Creek Greenway (“PCG” or “Greenway”) is a multi-use trail that will connect to PATH400 and the Atlanta Beltline and will […]
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A legacy of hope
By Guest Columnist MIKE MIES, executive director of St. Vincent de Paul Georgia “Hope” may be an overused word. And it can mean many things depending on the circumstances and the context. A good friend of mine used to describe corporate stock options as a “Certificate of Hope.” I love that metaphor. Having lived through […]
Posted inColumns, Guest Column
Prioritizing pedestrians on Peachtree
Editor’s note: This piece is in response to John Ruch’s column on the same topic. By Guest Columnist JOSH ROWAN, a friend of James Curtis and former ATLDOT commissioner. Imagine a senior living center, major hospital, and world-renowned neurorehabilitation center in proximity. What facility would you add to complete this campus? A walking trail? A […]
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A new vision for Atlanta
By Guest Columnist DR. LOUIS SULLIVAN, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and president emeritus of the Morehouse School of Medicine. If you have visited the Atlanta BeltLine, you have seen firsthand a wonderful example of the impact of creating and implementing a vision. What began as a senior design project by an […]
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Atlanta: Home of the ‘Brave’
By BOB DICKINSON, founder and president of Dickinson Partners Group and STEAM Sports Foundation. Last summer the film “Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting” won the top award at the Morehouse Human Rights Film Festival. The film also won a host of other accolades at festivals throughout the U.S. and Canada. It is […]
Posted inColumns, Guest Column
No mental health relief this year
By Guest Columnist SUSAN PERCY, an Atlanta journalist and former editor of Georgia Trend Magazine. I was already outraged by the Georgia Senate’s failure this past session to give a committee vote to the bipartisan mental health legislation, HB 520, that passed the House by a 163-3 margin. The measure was a follow-up to the […]
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Put the brakes on MARTA’s planned eastside streetcar extension
By Guest Columnist JAY MILLER, a semi-retired lawyer who lives in the Inman Park area. The Beltline is Atlanta’s jewel. It epitomizes how a human construct can complement nature and how people from all quarters can enjoy themselves side-by-side in harmony. If there is a better example of diversity anywhere, I have yet to find […]
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Neighbors of proposed self-storage facility in Virginia Highland request revisions to original design
By Guest Columnist BARRY BRANCH JR., a Cooledge Avenue resident of 25 years. In a little over a month, many current and former residents of Cooledge Avenue, a small, close-knit street with just over thirty homes located in Virginia Highland at the point where the neighborhood borders Midtown, The Beltline and Piedmont Park, will be […]
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Dr. King statue to be unveiled at upcoming ‘peace walk’
By Guest Columnist DEPRIEST WADDY, president and CEO of the Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia. Four years ago, artist Kathy Fincher was asked to create a monument of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “I researched every monument in the world and found that few portrayed his faith.” said Fincher. The subject of the commission was […]
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To recruit and retain Georgia workers, more investment in child care is crucial
By Guest Columnist ELLYN COCHRAN, president and chief executive officer of Quality Care for Children As workforce recruitment and retention remain a challenge in our post-pandemic reality, it is clear that ensuring access to quality, affordable child care can be a big part of the solution. The high price of child care has long been […]
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Greed ain’t good: An honest reckoning is long overdue
by Guest Columnist DAVID KYLER, co-founder and director of the Center for a Sustainable Coast. “The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms — […]
Posted inColumns, Guest Column
The Okefenokee experience: Written in the stars
By ALEX SCOTT, of the Okefenokee Protection Alliance. Tupper Lake, N.Y., is a small village that’s located within the boundaries of Adirondack Park. In 2020, the population was 3,282. The town was always a hardscrabble little place with a long history of losses. The lumber industry dwindled, fires decimated part of the town, and the […]
