Gaggles
of special interest cronies control government, Their priorities do not reflect
the real needs of the majority of residents. They operate like a cabal and
support each other’s excesses.
Atlanta
Metro has aging water and sewer pipes and can’t seem to establish road and
highway systems that work. These are the real needs and should be reflected in
local government budgets, but they are not. The projects they select mainly
benefit the investors and developers and often fail to be economically
sustainable.
Instead
of attending to real priorities, cities and counties spend hundreds of millions
of dollars on projects that are not critical priorities. They routinely use
road, highway, water and sewage funds on recreation, parks, transit and
“economic development”. See AJC article
below:
Atlanta
moves forward with $100 million Piedmont Park expansion, By Stephen Deere and Becca J. G. Godwin, 5/25/18, The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A
$100 million plan to expand Atlanta’s Piedmont Park is moving forward despite concerns
over the source of funding and some misgivings about the project being
prioritized over other infrastructure needs.
On
Friday, the city of Atlanta closed on its portion of the plan, the $20.3 million
purchase of 2.94 acres of land at
the intersection of Piedmont Avenue and Monroe Drive as part of the project.
Former
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed announced the expansion on his last working day in office
on December 29, saying the project would “lift the curtain” on the park and the
Atlanta Botanical Garden, and had the support of incoming Mayor Keisha Lance
Bottoms.
At
185 acres, Atlanta’s premier urban park is dwarfed in size by other inner-city
parks. Chicago’s Lincoln Park, for example, is more than 1,200 acres. The
additional green space that the city purchased won’t add much to Piedmont’s
overall size, but removing the buildings that buffer the park’s northern edge
will provide another entry point to the city’s small but cherished outdoor
space.
The council voted 13-1
on Monday in favor of an ordinance authorizing the initial purchase of land for
the expansion. Councilwoman Natalyn Archibong provided the lone dissenting
vote.
“If
we had a two-part question, do you support the concept and the expansion of
Piedmont at Piedmont and Monroe, I would say absolutely yes,” Archibong said.
“I’m uncomfortable with the funding sources.”
About
half of the city’s $20.3 million comes from a special purpose transportation sales tax. The Beltline Inc. is providing
$5 million. Another $5.5 million will come from the park’s department.
The
property is currently operated as a retail development with commercial leases
that generate income. The city will collect the rents to offset the land
purchase until the leases expire. Then it will be developed into “pedestrian
trails and trail connections and green-way access to the BeltLine,” according
to the ordinance the council passed Monday.
The Beltline consists of re-purposed vacated
railroad corridors that encircle the city and when completed will connect 45
in-town neighborhoods via a 22-mile main path and 11 additional miles of spur
trails.
The
ordinance does not say how much time is left on the leases, but overall the
expansion has a long way to go.
The
city expects that the remaining $80 million will come from the philanthropic
community. Carol Tomé, chair of the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s board of
directors and chief financial officer of Home Depot, is leading that effort.
The
city also hopes to alleviate the concerns of residents in nearby communities
who have lit up neighborhood forums with questions about the expansion.
Coarlee Kight, who
lives a couple hundred feet away from the park’s eastern side, called the
expansion “a real travesty of priorities” and said she was concerned that some
funding comes from the special transportation sales tax. “We have terrible
traffic issues and that money really should be used to solve traffic problems,”
Kight said.
The
special transportation sales tax, known by the acronym T-SPLOST, was originally
billed as a funding source for multiuse trails that connect to the Beltline,
among other things.
Initial
renderings for the expansion depict modern buildings, what appears to be an
outdoor theater with tiered grass seating and winding sidewalks that traverse a
creek.
Kay
Stephenson, also a nearby resident, was troubled by how the deal came about.
“As
happens too often in our city, this deal was put together by Mayor Reed with no
community input and without regard to any of the planning documents which have
been developed in recent years,” she said. “City council compounded that
problem by rushing legislation, again missing the opportunity for public
feedback.”
A
statement from Mayor Bottom’s administration on Friday pledged that the parks
department would host a series of community meetings to incorporate public
feedback into the park expansion and design of the pedestrian trails and access
to the Beltline.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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