Big Business, Narrow Mindedness
Bob Amick’s AJC Op-ed: A streetcar would be bad for business and bad for the Atlanta Beltline
Some big business owners on the Beltline want to claim public space as their own. BRN views the Beltline as for everyone.
Our initial take after reading Bob Amick’s AJC Beltline rail column was he thinks this project is the province of big business and established restaurateurs. But that’s not completely fair – we have no doubt Amick loves the Beltline. It’s refreshing that he’s upfront about how luck played a role in the success of one of the original Eastside Trail restaurants, Two Urban Licks, which benefited from its location right on the formerly abandoned rail corridor before the Beltline exploded. But there is some naked self-interest at play here. What Amick is not upfront about is how others have paid for the infrastructure responsible for the success.
To hear Amick tell it, the Eastside Trail is perfect as is and will somehow be damaged by the addition of light rail.
What the Beltline should be about is connecting Atlantans from all over the city and beyond to jobs, education, recreation, retail, healthcare, and entertainment. This makes it vital that a reliable transit link be in place to transport folks from all points of the city to the Eastside Trail, which is now one of Atlanta’s destination hot spots. The recreational trail will be complemented by light rail, not diminished.
The discussion shouldn’t be about a misperceived risk to the bottom line of a handful of Eastside restaurateurs. Rather, the decision to move ahead is the result of more than two decades of study, design and amendment of the City Charter, and the most extensive public engagement process in the City’s history. The projected 2025 construction start on the first segment of Beltline rail, Streetcar East on the Eastside Trail, should be about what’s best for all Atlantans.
And it should not be sidetracked by anyone who wants to claim a public space as his own. Having a Beltline restaurant or business is like owning beachfront property in other cities. And that location comes courtesy of all of our tax dollars intended for the good of all and not as a subsidy for a small elite.
Amick uses the term “magic” to describe the Beltline trail. Given the Atlanta Regional Commission’s projection of a two million-plus population increase in the metro over the next decade and 50% growth in Atlanta alone, there is an obvious need for transit in the core of the city to complement MARTA’s heavy rail system. We’re practically bursting at the seams.
The Beltline can be magic. All of it. Trail, rail, and parks. If we could just get out of our own way.
And remember who the Beltline is for – everyone.
