There's a BeltLine Rail Opposition Meeting at 6 PM Tonight!
Photo by Google Maps, 2023.
At 6pm tonight, under the roof of the Historic Inman Park Trolley Barn, where rail transit in Atlanta began, a group of BeltLine rail opponents is holding a meeting to try to stop the Streetcar East Extension project. Contentiousness over the first leg of the city's transit project along the former rail corridor, Streetcar East, has now reached a fever pitch.
Better Atlanta Transit (BAT), an interest group formed by Inman Park resident and Denton's attorney Sharon Gay and others in late 2023. Such an irony that this historic and meticulously renovated structure is being used as a platform to advocate for dismantling one of More MARTA’s key transit programs, BeltLine rail.
Media received invites for what's billed as a public meeting, not the neighborhood community meeting originally advertised. In a meeting flyer, BAT said its goal is to bring together those concerned about Streetcar East to hear from experts regarding the project’s merits.
Yet the entire panel, according to the agenda, except for former Mayor Shirley Franklin, consists of BAT board members. About Franklin's participation in this event, Darrin Givens of Thread Atlanta posted on his ATL Urbanist account regarding the former Atlanta mayor who kickstarted the project 20 years ago:
"This would be salt on a wound considering Franklin had a chance to establish displacement-prevention and affordable housing as hallmarks of the BeltLine early on, but failed to do so." Givens continued.
“That failure seems to have played a part in saddling the Eastside corridor with a fairly solid block of wealth. Which has likely strengthened the voices who oppose rail -- and who don't want to rock the boat that has resulted in profitable developments and high property-resale values."
It's curious that neither of the chief project designers, MARTA, nor Atlanta BeltLine Inc., which owns the corridor, was invited to this event despite it being billed as public and informational. Nor is anyone from Atlanta DOT included in the panel of “experts.”
It feels to many like a one-sided meeting packaged as educational. But it is obviously geared towards those who might not know that the BeltLine is a designated transit corridor and that this project has been in the works for 20 years and was supported by 71% of Atlantans in a 2016 referendum. BAT also no doubt wishes to project momentum to the media.
There will undoubtedly be more BAT meetings and opinion pieces; they're a well-resourced and politically connected group. BAT has hired veteran public relations man and lobbyist Billy Linville, who's represented Delta, Black Rock, and Exxon among other corporate clients, as their lobbyist.
A question worth asking: Who gets to decide Atlanta's transit future? A group of wealthy, older Atlantans, some of whom would never set foot on transit? Or the city's younger cohort, folks who will need transit in the core of the City to access jobs, healthcare, and cultural events when the 22-mile rail loop is completed in a decade and a half?
"The [BeltLine] is for everybody," said 29-year-old Ian Burr of Old Fourth Ward who lives two blocks from the BeltLine. “The more that this network is expanded, the more useful it will be for everybody."
Who gets to decide? In the old, tired, and unfair “Atlanta Way” model, an amalgam of the city's business interests and the politically connected with access to power, get to make decisions for the rest of us. But it is fitting that the BeltLine light rail has been coined as the "people's project."
We know the people are coming to intown Atlanta; official population growth projections put the city of Atlanta’s population at more than double what it is now in 15 years; that’s 500,000 more residents, all needing mobility and access to every part of the city. There will be even more people in the metro area, with two million newcomers to the region. Common sense tells us that without the completion of More MARTA, that’s actually going to pose a huge problem for anyone and everyone trying to live their lives.
We must also advocate for the completion of other More MARTA projects, such as the planned Beltline rail Southwest Extension. The people of Atlanta deserve to get around our city more easily, and we deserve relief from crippling traffic and the resulting pollution.
Send an email right now to Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and let him know that you support the Streetcar East Extension and BeltLine rail to bring the promised equity and opportunity that all Atlantans deserve. We want the entirety of BeltLine rail to provide the connection we need to unite 45 Atlanta neighborhoods.
And you can show your support by getting your yard signs here. Let’s work to bring Atlantans together through BeltLine rail, starting with the Streetcar East Extension.
