On Jan. 9, Atlanta Parks Commissioner Diane Harnell Cohen announced that large festivals would be banned from Piedmont Park until further notice, due to drought conditions. It was raining the day of the announcement, which followed four months of city deliberations behind closed doors without input from any other stakeholder. Even the Piedmont Park Conservancy distanced itself from this decision in a public forum held after the announcement.

As chairs of the boards of the Atlanta Pride Festival, Peachtree Road Race and Dogwood Festival, we were obviously concerned about the impact this would have on our planned 2008 events. Was this closing truly necessary to protect the park? Festival permit holders are liable for all damages that occur during their event, which can easily exceed $10,000. Every broken limb, crushed shrub and worn turf patch is repaired at the expense of the organizers.

So suggesting that our festivals inflict long-term damage to the park is debatable at best. Piedmont Park uses the same hybrid Bermuda grass as Centennial Olympic Park, yet that park's programming has continued this year under the same drought conditions, with more than twice as many events as Piedmont Park.

However, placing good citizenship and the protection of Piedmont Park ahead of our organizations, we accepted a one-year hiatus with little objection.

We immediately began retooling our efforts to present Atlanta's most prominent events with full recognition that we faced many logistical challenges.

Even with our best efforts, many people found the temporary new locations to be less accessible to neighborhoods, less inviting to visitors and incapable of projecting the spirit of celebration and community that our festivals have come to represent.

From the very beginning, Piedmont Park was established for large public events. The land was acquired 120 years ago as a fairground to host the International Cotton States Exposition of 1895.

And two years ago, the city aggressively pressed for an 800-car parking deck in the park to accommodate its growing number of visitors. So why now turn away the four major events that continue to attract the largest part of those visitors?

We have still not received specific conditions under which Class A festival permits can be issued again. After repeated requests, city officials remain elusive about the future, giving the appearance that their intention is to ban festivals permanently. We feel their silence risks breaching the trust of the entire community.

Atlanta citizens deserve to celebrate their festivals in Piedmont Park. The organizations that financially support these events should have access to the only viable place in the city that can accommodate them.

The move from the park proved to be a significant financial hardship for each festival due to higher costs and lost revenues. Without a stable site for these events, they will likely face extinction in a very short period.

No substitute location can ever bring the charm and sense of tradition that we feel while experiencing a festival in Atlanta's favorite gathering place. It's time to allow Atlanta's signature festivals back home.

Therefore, we call for the following:

• For readers to express their concern about this issue directly to Commissioner Cohen (dhcohen@atlantaga.gov), Council President Lisa Borders (lmborders@atlantaga.gov) and the City Council Community Development Committee (jmaddox, khall, cmitchell, mnorwood, jmsheperd, hlwillis & ilyoung @atlantaga.gov);

•For the City Council to immediately direct the Department of Parks and Recreation to lift the restrictions imposed for the 2008 festival season and readmit Class A festivals in city parks in 2009;

•And for a collaborative effort among the city, Piedmont Park, neighborhoods and Class A festivals to adopt definitive guidelines setting forth how our parks will be managed during various environmental conditions, based on industry-prescribed landscaping standards.

We call on the Atlanta City Council to immediately work with the entire community to ensure that Piedmont Park is once again open to the city's beloved festivals.

• Deirdre Heffernan is chair of the Atlanta Pride Committee; Bruce L. Whitmer is chair of the Atlanta Track Club; Charles H. Green is chair of the Atlanta Dogwood Festival.