Randolph W. Thrower Forum

Randolph W. Thrower, one of Atlanta’s most prominent tax attorneys and an acclaimed civic leader, founded one of the three civic organizations that eventually merged to form The Civic League for Regional Atlanta. During a long career, he worked tirelessly with numerous agencies to promote diversity and ethical practices in the legal profession. The Annual Randolph W. Thrower Forum was established to honor his legacy and to promote the kind of civic engagement Mr. Thrower exemplified.

This year, we are partnering with the Regional Business Coalition to present the Randolph W. Thrower Regional Leadership Day at the Capitol on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm. Regional Leadership Day brings leadership groups from the Atlanta region together to network, learn about regional issues and to discover the impact they can have on these issues by working with their peers across the region. This year, the focus of Regional Leadership Day is transportation.

Speakers at Regional Leadership Day will include Ray Christman, executive director of the Livable Communities Coalition, Ross King, deputy director of the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia, Dana Lemon, board member of the Georgia Department of Transportation and Terry Chastain, executive director of Get Georgia Moving.

Participants will begin their day at the Georgia World Congress Center. After opening remarks and an engaging discussion by the invited speakers, attendees will break into small discussion groups to consider alternative legislative remedies to the transportation issues facing the state. Through analysis and discussion, participants will come to a deeper understanding of issues related to the funding, vision, management, and oversight of transportation in Georgia. Through this simplified journey, a hypothetical fix will emerge through the will of the group.

Participants will then travel to the Gold Dome by MARTA, take their seats as “mock” representatives in the Georgia State House and then attempt to pass (or obstruct) a hypothetical effort to “Get Georgia Moving.” Will the initial bill pass, will an alternate bill emerge or will we come away empty handed?

We'll report on the event in the December issue of our e-magazine, Regionally Speaking.