BeltLine Rail Rally
Meet us on the steps of City Hall RAIN OR SHINE to show your support for BeltLine Rail!
City Hall at 68 Mitchell St SW, 30303
Friday, 3/22 from 12:00 PM - 12:45 PM
Please join BeltLine Rail Now tomorrow as we gather in front of City Hall for a rally! Come to show Mayor Dickens you support BeltLine rail. We plan to urge him to continue his support of it AND in fact to accelerate its implementation. We plan to tell the Mayor we want more of Andre Dickens the Transit Mayor and we want BeltLine rail under construction in his first term. Say NO! To the Steal and YES! to BeltLine rail!
Why are we rallying now? On Monday, March 25th, Mayor Dickens will make his annual State of the City address as he enters his third year in office. We will hear about his accomplishments and his plans for the second half of his first term. Meanwhile, Atlanta just became the nation’s 6th largest metro area, surpassing Washington, DC and Philadelphia. Mayor Dickens ran for office in 2017 and made it into a runoff by a thin margin of 612 votes. His desire to become Atlanta’s first “transit mayor” excited voters and brought out support from both new voters and normally uninspired folks. A large part of that excitement was due to his embracing BeltLine rail for a future that includes sustainable access to employment centers, education, and healthcare. We need BeltLine rail now but especially in the future as the city adds 250,000-275,000 new residents by 2050, more than a 50% increase.
In his inaugural address, Mayor Dickens made it clear that he would prioritize BeltLine rail. He fulfilled his campaign promise to appoint three new members to the MARTA board. Now he has led us to the next step: the first segment of BeltLine rail has entered final design with a top international design and engineering firm, HDR!
You might think this would be a cause for celebration and would lead to the opportunity to move forward on the development of other BeltLine rail projects. But if you have been following this space, you know that there is a well-financed, high-powered, lobbyist-driven effort led by the well-connected to try to stop this forward momentum. In fact the goal of the anti-rail effort is to remove the streetcar light rail project altogether from the BeltLine plan, a plan that has included streetcar rail transit since the BeltLine became an official city project in 2005. It’s time to call that effort out for what it is, an attempted theft of the future 71% of Atlanta voters endorsed when they voted for the More MARTA program in 2016.
The future we demand includes building a different kind of city, a place where increased growth and development don’t lead to gridlock and where everyone is included when Atlanta gains access to BeltLine rail. And not in 25 or 30 years, but now!
Show your support by sending an email to the Mayor with I ♥️ BeltLine rail in the subject line. Or call his office at 404-546-1464 today or Friday with the same message. And if you can, please consider ordering some yard signs to remind everyone that BeltLine rail will connect 45 neighborhoods and give everyone a way to get around as the city grows tremendously in the next 25 years.
This event is Rain or Shine!!! Bring umbrellas in case of rain. If you have any questions, please email info@beltlinerailnow.org or message us here. Please RSVP on our Facebook Event page to give us a headcount, and we hope to see you there!!
