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The voices of 10,000
BeltLine Rail Now co-chair Matthew Rao (center) and volunteers Beth Smith (left) and Robyn Turner show off the 10,000-signature petition they delivered to City Hall on February 4.
February 4 marked Transit Equity Day — the birthday of Rosa Parks, whose refusal to give up her seat on a segregated bus sparked the Civil Rights Movement. And it was on Transit Equity Day that BeltLine Rail Now volunteers delivered a petition with 10,000 of your signatures to the office of Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, calling on the city of Atlanta and MARTA to start laying tracks for BeltLine rail on an aggressive timeline.
Under the current timeline, the first planned segment, a 2-mile link from the end of the existing Atlanta Streetcar to Ponce City Market, won’t open until 2027. Most of the 45 neighborhoods around the BeltLine won’t be connected by reliable rail transit until the late 2040s or later. And the neighborhoods that will be last to be served are the ones where people depend the most on transit.
Along with that petition, BeltLine Rail Now delivered a document that highlights how the BeltLine can improve transit equity and affordability in neighborhoods where home prices and rents are on the rise, threatening to displace longtime residents. You can read it here.