As we approach the Nov. 3 General Election, Georgia’s reputation is at stake.
Already, Georgia was hit with a ton of negative national headlines during the June 9th primary elections as voters faced a number of obstacles and delay in trying to cast their ballots.
A proposed rock quarry along the Chattahoochee River in Carroll County has run into the teeth of a fast-moving grassroots opposition that has gained the support of county governments in Carroll and Coweta counties.
Gwinnett County voters are to face two sales tax proposals on the Nov. 3 ballot. One would extend the 1 percent sales tax for education to 2027. One would establish a 1 percent sales tax to expand transit to extend for 30 years – and possibly extend heavy rail from MARTA’s Doraville Station to Gwinnett Place Mall.
Georgia has exorcised some of its Confederate ghosts in recent years, although many still haunt the state’s public spaces, casting shadows in communities that have largely matured since the horrors of the Civil War.
Weeks after downtown’s focal green space shuttered amid the pressures a pandemic that’s throttled businesses near and far, activists and neighbors are lobbying to see the barriers removed and Centennial Olympic Park reopened to the public.
The Census is a matter of social justice and Black communities will suffer if the historic undercount of Blacks continues in the 2020 Census, according to comments during a virtual town hall Tuesday that featured Georgians Stacy Abrams and U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson.
In a year filled with election mishaps, snafus and controversies, is there anything to compare with the Rube Goldberg process by which voters are being asked to choose John Lewis’ successor in the Georgia 5th District?
Political consultant James Carville is issuing a challenge to Georgia’s corporate community: Make sure Georgia holds fair elections on Nov. 3.
When President Donald Trump dispatched an arguably racist series of tweets that he seemed to think summed up a recent change to national public housing rules, industry leaders and constituents alike let out a collective groan.
By all accounts, the Texas State Republican Convention earlier this month was a red-hot mess. As such it was an ominous warning to both parties as they prepare for their pandemic national conventions.
John Lewis was so widely regarded as a saint during his life that it might seem a sacrilege to remember him as a politician now that he’s gone. But not to do so would miss something about this great man. He was a saint by calling, but he was a politician when he had to be, and a good one, too.
Trump, COVID-19 and conservative credentials got the most attention.
The five-member utility regulation board doesn’t reflect Georgia’s diversity.
By Guest Columnist BRANDON SUTTON, a member of the Hulsey Yard Study Committee
2020 will no doubt be remembered as a time of unprecedented disruption to the lives and businesses of countless people throughout the country, including right here in Atlanta. In a macro sense, the world has changed dramatically. In a micro sense, the lives and daily choices of people everywhere are in a state of suspended animation.
Soon after Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced felony murder charges would be brought against former Atlanta Police officer Garrett Rolfe, the man who shot and killed 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks outside an intown Wendy’s restaurant, most of the mobile troops on the city’s police force didn’t show up for their shifts.
The 2.0 version of the Atlanta Way won’t retool the city into Wakanda. The efforts emerging from Atlanta City Hall do represent the start of a response to calls for justice issued by protestors following the death of George Floyd. The operative words in that last sentence are: Start of a response.
On June 1, I penned an essay outlining my perspective on the first night of recent Black Lives Matter protests in Atlanta. Titled Atlanta missed the mark during the protests, but police and demonstrators can learn from the turmoil, the column appealed for unity between law enforcement and the people demanding accountability and justice for cops.
The good news last week was that in spite of an election system that failed them miserably, with a pandemic lurking and unrest in the streets, large numbers of Georgians came out to vote. Equipped sometimes with lawn chairs and umbrellas, they were determined, no matter the inconvenience, to make their voices heard. The bad news is they may have to make the same effort and more this fall.
Atlanta City Councilmember Amir Farokhi’s experiment with participatory budgeting garnered almost 3,500 online votes. That means nearly 3,500 individuals responded to an offer to play a direct role in deciding how to spend $1 million in public funds for transportation.
Where we go from here remains uncertain, but there’s something comforting and promising about the prospect of an APD officer ditching their riot shield and gas mask and tear gas grenades to wield instead a picket sign emblazoned with “Black Lives Matter.” Until then, though, the morbid song of squad car sirens and clicking handcuffs shall ring too loud.
