Re: “The Beltline is increasingly popular, and Atlanta must help it evolve,” by Mary Pat Matheson, Michael Halicki, Greg Levine and George Dusenbury, May 15.
Several park and green space leaders submitted an opinion piece to the AJC advocating for a second trail on the Beltline because the northeast section gets crowded.
This is incredibly misguided.
The current iteration of the Atlanta Beltline is popular because of the City of Atlanta’s lack of investment in appropriate public infrastructure elsewhere.
People flock to the Beltline path because our sidewalks and streets are in horrible shape and are often dangerous — leaving pedestrians, cyclists and scooterists to take their lives in their hands daily, hoping not to be hit by an aggressive driver.
Atlantans now have increased access to more public and park space along the Beltline because of the transportation right of way that has existed there for decades — a railroad. To imply that the “emerald necklace” was the key piece that kicked off the plan is disingenuous. The Beltline was never meant to be a glorified sidewalk, and it’s disappointing to see leaders try to push this message.
Siloed thinking by leaders is disappointing
Credit: ThreadATL
Credit: ThreadATL
These are the same leaders buying into the story that the push for Southside rail investment now is an appropriate diversion from the Eastside rail project. But Atlanta Beltline Inc. has admitted there is no money for planning the Southside, meaning it will be a multiyear effort to get funding to develop the plans and then create designs. The Eastside has the plans and the designs and the crowds that need to be alleviated by alternative mobility.
By pushing this message of Southside first and only, city leaders are intentionally embracing the delay of meaningful transit development on the Beltline for so long that it fades from the public’s mind.
The result will be a fancy sidewalk disconnected from the city streets and surrounded by parking garages.
It’s disappointing to see green space leaders so siloed in their thinking and advocating solely for parks when it is the combination of many elements that make a city great.
Great parks don’t exist without appropriate access to them. Transit doesn’t work well without being surrounded by spaces people want to be. A diversity of businesses (both larger corporate and small independent) requires a mix of housing for employees and customers. All of these things are intertwined.
ATL must invest more for pedestrians, cyclists and scooter riders
The Beltline is not separate from the City of Atlanta. It has always been an opportunity to bring crucial city design elements together connected by a transit corridor for all four quadrants — a chance to design the city the way it should have been done.
The authors of this guest opinion column should be advocating for better streets and sidewalks for pedestrians, cyclists, and scooterists citywide — not adding more asphalt to an already popular corridor.
And they should be advocating for rail that helps more people move around the city easier, particularly those who don’t have the option of cycling or walking long distances.
There are no “changing circumstances” as the opinion piece alludes, and that’s the problem — our city continues to be woefully behind in transit investments while other similar cities like Austin and Charlotte keep beating us.
What needs to change is putting our already collected tax dollars to work toward the projects voters approved.
Lauren Welsh is co-founder of ThreadATL, a nonprofit devoted to building a better city, as well as a longtime community advocate in Candler Park.
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