Only 7 Miles of Atlanta's Planned 22-Mile Reworking of
Abandoned Rail Lines Have Opened Amid Funding, Legal Woes By KARISHMA
MEHROTRA, Updated July 31, 2014 5:19 p.m. E
ATLANTA— Nancy Bruno lives amid some of the worst urban
sprawl and traffic congestion in the nation. Yet for the past two years, the 60
year-old has rarely gotten in her car. She says she walks instead to the
market, the nail salon and the movie theater. "I love it, love it, love
it," said Ms. Bruno, who works at a nonprofit foundation.
Ms. Bruno lives and works three blocks from the Atlanta
BeltLine, a project to convert a ring of abandoned railroad tracks around the
center of the city and related arteries into one continuous 22-mile trail with
11 miles of related arteries. Thousands of Atlantans flock every day to the 7
miles already completed to walk, bike or jog.
Expected to cost $4.8 billion, it is one of the biggest
projects of its kind under way in the U.S., and is intended to connect 45
neighborhoods, from rich to poor, with trails, a network of parks and a
light-rail system by 2030. "This is America's largest social
experiment," said Paul Morris, chief executive of Atlanta BeltLine Inc.,
the nonprofit leading the development.
Similar projects have launched in cities across the country.
New York's High Line, first partially opened in 2009, has converted a one-mile
elevated track in Manhattan into a popular walking park. Chicago hopes to
convert an unused raised railroad into trails and parks in the next several
years.
But with most of Atlanta's planned loop still occupied by
junk yards and forest, some of the initial optimism is fading. The BeltLine has
yet to secure all the funding or land it needs, and it has been slowed by
rising costs and legal challenges.
"I'm not sure they're entirely honest about some of the
challenges," said Joseph Hacker, a professor of public management and
policy at Georgia State University who has criticized some of the project
implementers' spending priorities.
The project, which grew out of a 1999 thesis by Ryan Gravel,
an urban designer who was then a graduate student at Georgia Tech, was approved
by the Atlanta city council in 2005. Funding was to come from the federal
government, the county, the state, the city and private donors. The idea was to
"connect rich and poor, black and white, young and old," said Cathy
Woolard, a former city councilwoman who pushed for the BeltLine.
The first finished section, completed in 2012, was a success,
spurring $775 million of investment in businesses and residences near the trail
within five years.
Skip Engelbrecht said business has tripled at his furniture
store, Paris on Ponce, since he opened up a backdoor entrance from the BeltLine
2½ years ago. "The best thing about it is it's obviously very
lucrative," he said. "But when they say 'Oh, it'll bring communities
together,' they're not lying. It's really doing that." He cited large
festivals and community gatherings that have taken place on the Eastside trail.
Atlanta BeltLine still needs to secure sources for $891
million, or a fifth of its budget. And it has yet to purchase all the land
needed for the trail and rail system. And it was slowed by a lawsuit over the
constitutionality of using school property-tax revenues—a battle it finally won
in 2008.
Under an agreement between the city, the county and the
public-school system, the BeltLine receives a portion of those parties'
property-tax revenues. In return, the school system and county are supposed to
receive periodic fixed payments from the increased tax revenues that
development around the BeltLine is expected to generate.
But one of those payments to the Atlanta Public Schools was
paid almost a year past its deadline in January 2013. Now the school system is
battling the city over a $6.75 million payment that was due at the beginning of
this year.
Atlanta BeltLine said the property taxes aren't producing
the projected amount because of the recent recession, which slowed construction
and depressed property values. Making the payment could jeopardize the future
of the project, the city and Atlanta BeltLine said, and the city is negotiating
with the school system about the agreement.
Some say the project needs to better align its priorities.
Professor Hacker said the city should focus on finishing land acquisition for
the walking trail before taking on the transit portion, scheduled to begin
construction in 2018. "I don't see how [the transit] is going to work or
how to find funding for it," he said.
Atlanta BeltLine said funding has been a consistent obstacle
but it is confident it can pull together the funds for the transit portion,
which it said is essential to the project's success.
Other skeptics are more concerned by gentrification, an
issue that has also fueled criticism of New York City's Highline. The BeltLine
plans to have 5,600 units of affordable housing, but some worry that may not be
enough, or that housing costs will be too high for current residents to remain.
Mr. Morris said BeltLine plans to combat those concerns by
pushing for a large supply of varied housing around the trail.
Joseph Fike, a 28-year-old logistics expert, once thought
the idea of the BeltLine was far-fetched. Now he calls himself an enthusiast,
walking part of the trail a couple of times each week. "I don't think
we'll be seen as the poster child of sprawl," he said. "We'll be seen
as a really good example of how to turn a sprawling city into a walkable
city."
Source: http://online.wsj.com/articles/atlantas-popular-beltline-trail-still-has-miles-to-go-1406837184
Comments
Does the City of Atlanta have a better use for $4.3
billion ? It would mill and resurface 43,000
lane-miles of road; that’s 21,500 centerline miles of 2 lane roads.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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