Atlanta, GA – Natural Resources Defense Council
My brother Jared and I were born and raised in Baton Rouge, LA. My mom was an accountant for Bank One, and my father was a delivery driver for UPS. Growing up, I attended Southern Lab, located on the campus of Southern University, a historically Black University, from Pre-Kindergarten to 12th grade. For college, I went Southern for my freshman year, but ended up transferring over to LSU where I earned my degree in Communications Studies.
My first experience with public transit was when I was maybe 4 or 5 years old. Our daycare toured the main bus terminal in Baton Rouge. I have a clear memory of how excited I was to sit in the driver’s seat at the station and wear the bus driver’s hat. Taking the bus downtown that day was an eye opening experience for me, because we lived in the outskirts of Baton Rouge where there was no bus service. Having no access to public transit growing up, we weren’t able to easily see our friends and family unless you owned a personal vehicle. Our area also didn’t have sidewalks, so even hopping on a bike to go see friends was tough.
When I transferred to LSU, that’s when I really stopped relying on a car to get around. I depended on the student bus and would bike and walk to get around town. It was nice to have access to public transit that easily got me to school and my job. I did have a car at the time, but it had mechanical issues. Being a student, I simply didn’t have the monetary means to fix my car and public transit fit into my personal budget well. After I graduated, I first moved to New Orleans and was also able to use their system of streetcars to get from where I lived to my job.
I ended up moving to Nashville where I first worked at a science museum and then got hired at a sustainability education non-profit. Nashville’s public transit system wasn’t the greatest for me. Work was about a ten to fifteen minute drive, but it took over an hour and thirty minutes to get there by bus. When I was living there, I was excited to vote on a referendum to build out a light rail system in the city, but it failed. Unfortunately, the Koch Brothers and the car dealership lobby spent millions to defeat the effort.
Even though my wife is from Nashville, and I enjoyed my time there, I wanted to relocate to a more diverse city with a larger Black population which also had a better public transit system. Atlanta fit the bill, so we ended up moving there in 2022.
My first job in Atlanta was as an electric transportation policy advocate. I got to work on cutting edge policies related to electric vehicle infrastructure in Georgia and North Carolina. While I was working there, I really started to develop a deeper appreciation for non-car centric policy. My interest in walking, biking, and public transit led me over to a job at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). I was so excited to have a job that could build my skills in a subject matter that I was passionate about. I started off at NRDC as the SE Mobility Choices Advocate, and was recently promoted to the role of Georgia Policy Advocate. In addition to working on public transit, I also get to work on public utility reform as well as building decarbonization.
My job takes me to the Georgia State Capitol quite a bit, and I frequently attend meetings at the public service commission office which is right across from the Capitol building. Where I live sits right on the 107 bus line for Marta. Getting to the state capitol from my house typically takes less than ten minutes and back.
I love MARTA, but we really need deeper investment from the state in it, especially to create increased frequency of service and faster headways. Making sure that MARTA is more supported would also lend itself to greater communication and partnerships between Atlanta and the surrounding counties, greater frequency, as well as more cohesive agency internally that’s able to deliver on capital projects. Rep. Hank Johnson’s bill would really allow the agency to strengthen its internal capacity. It could help to reduce turnover of staff, an over reliance on consultants, which would in turn bolster project management capacity and allow the agency to deliver on its promosies as well as expand service. I’m glad he introduced it so we can have a larger, national discussion about public transit.
I’ll say personally there is no better way to experience a city than taking a bus or train. It allows you to meet folks you wouldn’t meet in your personal life. Adequate transportation can be one of the most transformative things in a person’s life. We really need to support our public transit system so folks have more choices when it comes to how they move about in their daily lives.