Ray Atkinson lives car-free in Oregon City, which is a suburb of Portland. He is the Transportation Systems Analyst at Clackamas Community College. He was born and raised in the Charlotte region. He has a BS degree in Geography from UNC Charlotte and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from Portland State University. He studied transportation planning and engineering abroad in Denmark and the Netherlands. He has a personal blog at rayatkinsonplans.wordpress.com.