Friends of Memorial Drive Greenway, the group of community advocates working to expand, improve, and activate the Memorial Drive Greenway iconic civic greenspace, have announced a capital campaign to raise $200,000 in support of the proposed 12-acre linear park, according to a press release. Once completed, the park will reconnect five Atlanta neighborhoods, including Downtown, Capitol Gateway, Grant Park, Old Fourth Ward and Cabbagetown, and cap the I-85/I-75 Connector.
The capital campaign will pay for near-term improvements on existing park land, programming to activate those spaces and land acquisition where necessary to build out the park. The kick-off event will be held 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12 at the next installment of the Movies on Memorial outdoor film series, located on the Memorial Drive Greenway at the corner of Memorial Drive and Grant Street.
The Friends of Memorial Drive Greenway is a fiscal partner of Park Pride, the Atlanta-based nonprofit that engages communities to activate the power of parks. The group worked through the Park Visioning Program to create a vision for the park in 2017.
The Memorial Drive Greenway has broad support from local business, nonprofit, government and community organizations, including Central Atlanta Progress, Invest Atlanta, Historic Oakland Cemetery, Urban Realty Partners, Braden Fellman, Adams Realty, Six Feet Under, the Grant Park Neighborhood Association, the Capitol Gateway community and many more.
The City of Atlanta Department of Parks and Recreation currently owns and manages nearly one-third of the land parcels within the proposed Greenway. Funds from the Eastside Tax Allocation District (TAD) are committed to acquire more park land, while the proposed interstate cap would require both state and federal support.
The capital campaign seeks support from both private and corporate donors to reach a goal of $200,000 by December 2018, the first in a series of milestones toward a total goal of $1 million by January 2021. All donations are tax deductible and can be made at bit.ly/MemorialDriveGreenway.
Information: www.facebook.com/FriendsofMDG.
About the Author
