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Commentary / Cityhood is leading to regional collaboration Across metro Atlanta, citters Initiative grant from ARC ies are making notable proglast year to collaboratively enress. vision the future of the Buford Sandy Springs is transHighway corridor that runs forming a dated shopping through their cities. center into a vital civic and The six cities in north Fulcultural center. Chamblee ton are now finalizing their is reinventing its historsecond North Fulton Compreic downtown as a vibrant, hensive Transportation Plan. walkable place. Dunwoody With planning assistance from is improving pedestrian and Sam Shenbaga ARC, the cities are developing a bicycle access to shopping Manager of the Atlan- strategy that will help improve and MARTA. ta Regional Commis- mobility options for residents sion’s Community De- of each jurisdiction, realizing These ambitious efforts velopment Group. that what’s good for one city is are to be applauded, as they promise to improve quality of ultimately good for all of them. life for so many people. Those same north Fulton cities also But cities are also realizing that there’s share ambulance and dispatch serviconly so much they can do alone. Many es, allowing them to save money while key issues, from traffic congestion to ecomaintaining efficient response times. nomic revitalization, cross political lines And recently, city leaders from across and require a collaborative approach. the top end of I-285 met to discuss possiIndeed, a growing number of cities ble transit options in that congested corare joining forces to tackle problems and ridor and other ways of improving momake significant improvements. bility across their city boundaries. It’s A notable example is the Peachtree likely they will meet again to dig even Gateway Partnership, which includes deeper into this critical issue. the cities of Brookhaven, Chamblee, Collaborative efforts are also taking Doraville and Dunwoody. place elsewhere in the Atlanta region. The group, which formed a few years Consider the Aerotropolis Atlanta Alago with help from the Atlanta Regionliance, which launched a few years ago al Commission, is working to build a cowhen local governments, businesses and ordinated trail network and coordinate civic leaders near Hartsfield-Jackson Aton a range of issues, from transportalanta International Airport came togethtion planning to branding and marketer with the goal of making the area a beting. There’s enormous potential, and the ter place for businesses and residents. group is just getting started. The alliance worked with ARC to deMeanwhile, the cities of Doraville and velop a long-range vision for the area Chamblee were awarded a Livable Cencalled the Aerotropolis Atlanta Blue-
print. The group is now working on a range of projects, such as connecting employers to qualified workers and creating a trail network that may eventually link to the Atlanta BeltLine. Other notable programs include Learn4Life, a nonprofit collaborative focused on improving educational outcomes in metro Atlanta, and ARCHI, a collaborative that is working to make the region’s residents and communities healthier. Meanwhile, the region’s transportation agencies — ARC, Georgia DOT, MARTA, and GRTA/SRTA — are working closely with each other and local governments to provide us all with increased mobility options. To reflect the momentum around collective action, ARC chose “The Power of Collaboration” as the theme of this year’s State of the Region Breakfast, held last month. Our executive director, Doug Hooker, told the 1,400 people in attendance that the most pressing issues facing our region are simply too big, and too complex, for any one organization or political jurisdiction to address alone. After all, challenges like traffic, health, and education don’t stop at a city or county boundary. At ARC, we firmly believe that a community that works together is the best way to ensure a stronger, more resilient future for all of us. We encourage individuals and groups to come together around regional issues and start working toward solutions. Sometimes, all it takes is a conversation to move an entire region forward.
Guest Column / A high-profile media clash inspires a student journalist In my semester as one of two managing editors of the Tufts Daily, there’s one constant: everything is always an emergency. Often, I say that sarcastically, but Nov. 21 gave those words new meaning as our small paper stared down a potential lawsuit from former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci. The battle reinforced the importance of journalism to me, both as a student and in a larger world.
correcting problems our copy editors uncover and doing a final check of our paper before it’s sent to our printer. I get out of the office at 12:28 — a full 32 minutes ahead of our deadline. The day isn’t over, though; I still need to finish an essay my professor had been kind enough to extend past its original Friday deadline. I Eddie Samuels plummet into bed around 4 Brookhaven resident, one of two managing ed- a.m.
itors at the Tufts Daily newspaper at Tufts University in Medford, Mass. He is a 2014 graduate of The Weber School in Sandy Springs.
Monday, Nov. 20: I get into the Daily’s office — three small rooms in a basement in a long-forgotten Tufts building — around 6 p.m. Five nights a week, I and dozens of other students work until the early morning to put together a paper to be distributed to the school community the next day. In my role as managing editor, most of my night is spent fact-checking,
Tuesday, Nov. 21: I wake up at 10 a.m. and check my phone. Nothing of particular note. We received a new op-ed from a contributor who had previously written a pair of pieces supporting a petition calling for Scaramucci’s removal from the board of advisors at the university’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. At noon, I make my typical run to pick
up a copy of our paper. I go to grab a bite to eat, mindlessly refreshing Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and emails. 12:08: I feel my phone vibrate on the table and reach to check it out. A new email: I’m sure it’s just another random emailing, informing us of some story that’s not a story. The subject line: “Demand to Immediately Retract Defamatory Public Statements and to Cease and Desist from Ongoing Defamation.” This was definitely not a typical email. Our opinion pieces had bothered a certain high-powered alum who spent 10 days in that White House job, before a profanity-ridden rant got him the boot. A brief series of texts back and forth to my fellow managing board members, and I was off to my 1:30 class. My phone never stops vibrating in my pocket and I step out to “go to the bathroom” and see 200plus missed messages. At 2:45, I get out of class, and at this point we’re in a weird holding position. Tufts is the smallest school with a daily BH