Category: Guest Column

By Guest Columnist MATTHEW RAO, chair of BeltLine Rail Now. I voted for More MARTA, not less MARTA. And like me, so many of you did too. More MARTA, the 40-year program funded by a half-penny tax to fund transit in the City of Atlanta, passed in 2016 with 71 percent of the vote. And […]

By Derek Prall Hi everyone! My name is Derek Prall. You might not recognize the name as it doesn’t appear on many bylines here, but I’ve been working in the background of SR for a few years now. Simply put, I’m the guy that makes sure our copy is error-free and everything runs on schedule. […]

By Guest Columnist MELITA EASTERS, executive director and founding chair of Georgia WIN List, the state’s leading PAC for electing pro-choice Democratic women. Georgia voters who care about reproductive freedom have the opportunity to do more than wave protest signs by actively supporting candidates for the United States Senate, governor, attorney general and the Georgia […]

By Guest Columnist SHANE JACKSON, president of Jackson Healthcare and co-founder of goBeyondProfit. At the height of the pandemic, we witnessed heroic effort and excruciating fatigue across the medical industry from doctors and nurses who provided bedside care as well as those who support them. We hoped that once the pandemic receded, we would collectively […]

by Guest Columnist BO HIERS, history enthusiast, fourth-generation Atlantan, and super-proud grandfather of his beloved grandson, Fletcher. To prepare ourselves for yet another 4th of July celebration in our fine city, let’s take a stroll down memory lane and hit up the Way Back Machine for insights into how we celebrated our patriotic holiday in […]

by Guest Columnist NELL BENN, CEO of Agape Atlanta. It’s been 25 years since Agape Atlanta Youth & Family Center first opened its doors. A program that began as an outreach ministry of Trinity Presbyterian Church is now a five-day-a-week, wrap-around program. Agape’s programming is uniquely embedded in the Atlanta Public School System and serves […]

By JOSEPH BANKOFF, former chair of the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech and former senior partner at King & Spalding. If every politician is “heartbroken” over the repeated loss of young lives from gun violence why do we remain paralyzed to seek common-sense solutions? Why do we fail to find ways […]

By Guest Columnist MARGARET SPALDING, founding member of the South River Forest Coalition and executive director of the South River Watershed Alliance. “Prison Farming” is a product of the Jim Crow era that endures to this day. A formalized system of free labor and servitude, the Atlanta Prison Farm was defined by racist, inhumane practices, […]

By Guest Columnist JOHN LANIER, executive director of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation and long-time Krikwood resident. For my whole life, I’ve said that I’m from Atlanta. For the first 25 years of it though, that wasn’t quite true. I’m a product of the Atlanta suburbs, which means that Atlanta was a place that I […]

By Guest Columnist JUNIOR HAREWOOD, CEO of UnitedHealthcare GA& AL Employer & Individual. Mental health statistics in recent years are as staggering as they are varied. For example, nearly 20 percent of adults are experiencing a mental illness. That’s almost 50 million Americans. Given that one-third of our lives are spent at work, it comes […]

By Guest Columnist AMELIA AIDMAN, emeritus faculty of Emory University’s Department of Film and Media and member of the Intown Atlanta Chapter of the Georgia Native Plant Society. Something beautiful is happening in Atlanta. Atlantans are increasingly embracing a new vision of gardening that encourages nurturing plants native to the local environment. Ideas are spreading […]

By Guest Columnist ROJIAR ALDASHI, CEO of Better Tomorrow Solar. Making a difference for a better tomorrow often involves trying something new. For my family, that meant adopting solar long before it became popular to do so. For our region, that means considering alternative sources of energy today. Right now, there is a huge demand […]

By Guest Columnist LILY PONTIZ, an environmental engineer and member of the Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. Since joining the Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee (CSAC) for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, I have observed the developers from DaVinci Development Collaborative, along with the Atlanta Police Foundation, mislead the […]

By Guest Columnist ANDRE DICKENS, 61st mayor of Atlanta It is no secret that the mantra that guides my decisions in public office is that I draw circles rather than lines delineating borders between neighborhoods, people, services and places. My circles are diverse and inclusive and overlap to reflect everyone who lives in our great […]

By Guest Columnist MATTHEW TERRELL, communications director for Dad’s Garage Theatre and a working artist in several mediums Learning improv can make you a better person.  At Dad’s Garage Theatre, we’ve learned that improv makes people happier, more engaged with the world around them, accepting of change, and more resilient when they fail. The reality of improv […]