Worse for wear city park needs more TLC
Being a Midtown resident, I have the luxury of using Piedmont Park daily. My observations are that Piedmont Park is being loved to death. Many festivals and concerts use the park, leaving it torn and tattered. The city cleans up trash after these festivals, but there are no provisions for the wear and tear. Daily foot traffic and many group sports events also result in the appearance of an overworked park. What are the solutions for preserving and maintaining the park on a regular basis? The Piedmont Park Conservancy, of which I am a member, can only do so much. Maybe it’s time for the city of Atlanta to step up and have more of a financial investment in our city park.
MARYBETH PALMER, ATLANTA
Trolleys on Beltline would be financial disaster
Atlanta is considering transportation plans and how to spend the new half-cent sales tax for transportation. Among proposals is light rail (trolleys) on the 22-mile Beltline.
Trolleys have to go both directions on the Beltline or you have someone making a 10-minute trip in one direction facing a two-hour return trip. From past experience of a 2.7-mile downtown trolley costing $100 million, the 44-mile trolley would cost more than $1.5 billion. The present trolley operation costs $5 million per year with 300,000 riders generating $300,000 revenue.
A recent AJC analysis of MARTA ridership showed ridership fell 4.7 percent from 2015 to 2016. For the first six months of 2017, ridership fell 2.1 percent from the first six months of 2016. It is an optimist expecting paying Beltline ridership exceeding $1 million a year. Operating expenses would exceed $20 million a year, with income of a few million dollars.
JAMES H. RUST, ATLANTA, POLICY ADVISOR, THE HEARTLAND INSTITUTE
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