By Guest Columnist CHRIS WOMACK, executive vice president and president of external affairs for Southern Company
Without federal tax policy that fueled sorely needed capital investment in her long-neglected community, Gloria Kitchens might not be where she is today – studying at Tufts University after graduating Drew Charter Senior Academy in 2017.
By Guest Columnist FRED O. SMITH JR., a founding member of BeltLine Rail Now
Trust is a strange thing. It is easy to lose. And once lost, it is difficult to regain. When it comes to transit in this city, an imminent decision by the Atlanta Regional Commission and MARTA officials will help determine whether they retain the citizens’ trust, or squander it. If it is squandered, this could negatively impact transportation in this city for generations. The draft of the 2020 Atlanta Region’s Plan Regional Transportation Plan is in its final public comment phase at the Atlanta Regional Commission, and it will not be revised again for another four years.
Guest Columnist NANCY K. DAVES, retired international specialist, NOAA Fisheries
Every Winter, many North Atlantic right whales make their way home to the ocean off Georgia’s coast to calve, seeking safe and warmer waters to have their babies before the long voyage home to the New England and Canadian waters in the Spring. North Florida and Georgia coastal communities play an important role in the stewardship of one of the largest whales roaming the seas. However, these whales face much danger in their corridor of migration and the time has come to pass federal legislation calling on the federal government to help conserve right whales.
Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz has shown a lot of interest lately in politicking across state lines. Earlier this year the Fort Walton Beach Republican toyed briefly with the idea of hopping over the state line and running for the U.S. Senate in Alabama. Last week, Gaetz took to Twitter, along with Donald Trump Jr. and others, to advise Gov. Brian Kemp on who he should pick to fill U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson’s seat.
By Guest Columnist JEREMY DEVRAY-BENICHOU, vice president of customer success at UrbanLeap
UrbanLeap is a small company that is among those contributing to a big change in the way cities, nonprofits, and organizations – including MARTA – evaluate new ideas before putting them into place.
Since officially becoming a city in Georgia, Marthasville had experienced its share of challenges. Growth was slow, real estate sales were sluggish but there were promising signs. A new arrival in 1845 turned out to be just the push the town needed. The spark that ignited a city is the subject of this week’s Stories […]
By Guest Columnist HOWARD S. WERTHEIMER, executive vice president and chief operating officer at the Piedmont Park Conservancy.
A number of years ago, when I was leading the Office of Capital Planning and Space Management at Georgia Tech, at a time when the City of Atlanta was deep into the throngs about building a new streetcar system, many people questioned the merits of making such a significant financial investment into a transit modality with limited flexibility. … It was more than obvious to many thought leaders that we should not invest in 19th century technologies….
No one seems to talk about stalactites in the Florida caverns, or the bass and ducks in and around Lake Seminole. Oysters, farmers and metro Atlanta get all the attention in the ongoing water litigation between Georgia and Florida. Last week’s hearing was no different.
Fulton County looks likely to ask the state to give it the right to dig into the records of companies appeal commercial property tax assessments.
By Guest Columnist GIL FRANK, co-founder and executive director of Historic Westside Gardens
In the affordable housing crisis that brews in Atlanta, lower-income people and marginalized populations suffer most.
Historic Westside Gardens focuses on food justice, primarily on the Westside, where it is essential to note at the outset that around 70 percent of residents are lower-income renters. … Historic Westside Gardens chose to focus on the lack of food access, the “food desert” problem, while recognizing that people do not live their life in a silo. HWG is aware that, for residents, food access is not, today, their priority. Housing is their priority. How to link these two rights?
There are those who preserve Georgia’s past in photo archives before it falls to decay or development. Then there’s Madison-Morgan Conservancy, which aims to protect the past by giving it an economic foundation for the present and future.
By King Williams The TransFormation Alliance (TFA) is a diverse collaboration of 30 plus partners – ranging from nonprofits, government agencies, business partners and MARTA. They work in advancing equitable transit-oriented development as a pathway to opportunity for every resident in Metro Atlanta, especially in minority communities. Odetta MacLeish-White is their managing director. King Williams: […]
Last week, about the same time three of his Georgia Republican colleagues were ordering pizza from the secure room where the impeachment inquiry was supposed to be going on, U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk was spending a little time with Mark Zuckerberg. The Facebook CEO is a lot like Donald Trump, the Georgia congressman said.
You might be familiar with the term “Y’allywood.” It is a nickname that many have recently applied to Atlanta. For those not into, as The Dude would say, the whole brevity thing, perhaps you’re familiar with “Hollywood of the South.” Either way, both of those names will just have to be added to the lengthy […]
Here we go again.
The Georgia Department of Transportation on Oct. 22 hosted a public presentation to present three possible corridors for high-speed rail service between Atlanta and Charlotte.
Bong Joon-ho’s superb new film “Parasite” is full of crazy rich Asians. Crazy poor ones, too.
In fact, it’s difficult to say who the true parasites are here: the wealthy but vacuous Park family or the conniving but under-motivated Kims.
Atlanta as a school system looks pretty good on a new state report card — it made gains since the last report, while the state overall declined. But as anybody will tell you, that single city score hides gaps among schools.
By Guest Columnists STEVE GOTTLIEB and BILL BOLLING, executive director, board member (respectively) of Atlanta Legal Aid
Children in foster care throughout Georgia – and those of us fighting on their behalf to improve their lives – have received some good news about an important program.
As chair of the Judicial Council Budget Committee, Georgia Supreme Court Justice Michael Boggs made the case to the state Senate Appropriations Committee to recommend $375,000 in additional funding to expand Kinship Care, a program created by Atlanta Legal Aid, to the rest of the state.
Last month marked the 113th anniversary of the 1906 Atlanta Race Riot. The three-day massacre occurred from Sept. 22-24, and once the flames were extinguished, Atlanta was forever changed.
