The Atlanta BeltLine Vision: Delayed or Derailed?
ATLANTA’S ICONIC PROJECT NEEDS LEADERSHIP… NOW.
What if the Golden Gate Bridge, one of the most internationally recognizable symbols in the world, remained unfinished today? Suppose the architects, once deeply inspired, instead left behind painstaking blueprints of an enlightened vision - and a massive project that would never fulfill its true purpose. People would gather on each side of the unfinished bridge, looking at the people on the other side, mourning how an entire city lost its vision.
This is the state of our city, and of the Atlanta BeltLine.
Thanks to the construction of the concrete trail without the rail component, the BeltLine is now synonymous with displacement and gentrification. Skyrocketing land values are laying waste to the very neighborhoods the project is supposed to stitch back together. We now know what happens when you attempt transit-oriented development without the transit: every new development project is one more straw, piling up to break the camel’s back and doom the rail component forever. Twenty years of BeltLine, and zero miles of rail. How is that even possible?
The opportunity to correct this miscalculation is rapidly running out. Will Atlanta rise up to demand more from ourselves and our elected officials?
BeltLine Rail Now recently sent an email to every candidate* for Atlanta’s Mayoral and City Council races. This email contains a link to an online survey in which candidates can articulate how they intend to accelerate the completion of the rail component of the Atlanta BeltLine. In collaboration with our partners**, and in concert with a series of online candidate forums about housing and transit, we will publish the results and develop a scorecard so you know which candidates truly understand the vision of the BeltLine - and which are actively planning to fulfill it. The complete BeltLine vision, with the 22-mile light rail loop, is Atlanta’s bridge to the future, one of equity, affordability, sustainability, and mobility, where all are connected and no one is left on the other side of the bridge.
Where do your candidates stand on the issue of BeltLine rail? Contact them today and encourage them to complete BeltLine Rail Now’s Candidate Survey.
* We sent the survey invitation to more than 70 candidates. If you are a candidate for mayor or city council and did not receive the email invitation, please contact us at info@beltlinerailnow.org. We could not find email addresses for the candidates below. If any of these candidates would like to receive an email invitation, please contact us at the same email address.
Brandon Adkins (Mayor)
Rachele Fruit (Mayor)
Jonathan Geter (Mayor)
Roosevelt Searles (Mayor)
Walter Reeves (Mayor)
Richard Wright (Mayor)
Byron Amos (District 3)
Jamie Christy (District 7)
** Our awesome partners: