The Beltline Tour
This morning I went on a tour of the Northwest portion of the Beltline. It was encouraging to see such a sizeable group there. Reps from various NPUs were there. There were also some older people who had grown up in (or lived in for a significant period) the neighborhoods we toured. It was a mixed bag of folks and their ever-present opinions.
I, of course, am enthusiastic as all get-out about the Beltline. I only wish it could happen faster than over a 25-year-period. But I am realistic about it, and happy that it’s moving forward. I hope other transit projects will take place during the coming 25 years, ones of a smaller scale that don’t require such a long timeline before realization (like the Peachtree streetcar).
But back to the Beltline, and the tour specifically. I don’t want this to come off as me saying that people of all ages and walks of life shouldn’t have input. Of course they should. And the people who live in the neighborhoods that the Beltline will serve definitely should be closely involved. But here’s the thing. Asking questions and raising issues is one thing; just bitching and complaining is another. I really think (and this is going to sound bad, but oh well) that some of these older folks are just set in their ways and refuse to try and see how the Beltline could help Atlanta. They’re looking at things from a different perspective - in a lot of cases, a perspective of the 1970s and 80s. At that time, people were moving out of the city in droves, and the automobile was seen as the solution to everything. Well, obviously we see how that turned out. And now, people are coming back to the city, and we must get on the ball about providing viable public transportation. The curmudgeons can complain all they want, but I didn’t see any of them offering alternative solutions.
For a project like this, you need the younger people with a different vision for the future - a positive, urban-centered vision - to be at the forefront; we’re the ones who are going to be living here in 25 years. I’m not trying to disrespect my elders or anything, but there’s no point in having a bunch of curmudgeons at the wheel; nothing will ever get done that way.
One man kept saying stuff like, “For the past 50 years I’ve watched this neighborhood decline. It used to be much nicer. MARTA didn’t help it. So how is this going to be any different?” I thought the guys running the tour did a good job of providing comprehensive answers. They talked about how the Beltline is more than just a transit system - it’s centered around the ideas of infill development, supporting and revitalizing existing neighborhoods, creating connections between neighborhoods, creating new greenspace, and generally improving quality of life within the city. This vision stands in stark contrast to MARTA, which was built in the 70s when people were fleeing to the burbs, and is only a transit system - and barely worthy of being called that. I couldn’t get over the fact that this old man didn’t seem to understand how the rise of an automobile-centered culture contributed to the neighborhood decline that he went to such great lengths to bemoan.
Another woman made even more of a ruckus than him; she was very confrontational. Some of her questions might have been worthwhile if she had just stepped her tone down a few notches. At one point she said something like, “As a taxpayer I want to know what’s going on, because you’re going to build this in my backyard and I’m not going to be happy.” Well, that really got on my nerves, and I mumbled, “The point is to have it in your backyard.” This woman was also very upset that they didn’t have a complete, over-and-done-with, all-bases-covered plan. Well what does she expect?? They repeatedly stressed that this is in the very early stages. Hell, the TAD hasn’t even passed yet; and “as a taxpayer,” I’m sure she wouldn’t be happy if there was already a plan in place and nobody had asked her about it. I couldn’t understand what she wanted from the Beltline people. It seemed like she just wanted to rant. I wondered why she’d bothered to come on the tour.
There was a middle-aged woman who had some good questions. The difference between her and the curmudgeons was that her tone was not confrontational or negative, and she started off by saying that she’d been in commercial real estate since 1986, which gave her some credibility. See? It’s not that difficult to actually get a dialogue going, people.
I have my share of questions and concerns about the Beltline, don’t get me wrong. I’m not going to blindly go along with anything and everything that’s proposed, if I don’t think it’s a good idea. But I firmly support the vision of urban development that the Beltline represents. This is not a project that should be set back because some irritable old people want to hear themselves complain.
October 8th, 2005 at 11:14 pm
That sounds a bit like some of the folks I saw at Thursday night’s meeting at City Hall. The folks who spoke out against the TAD were mostly old people, a couple of NPU chairs (whose objections were more procedural than substantive), and Vincent Fort. For the most part, the folks who showed up were for the TAD, which was really encouraging. It was probably the most optimism seen in the City Council chambers in years.
October 9th, 2005 at 2:49 pm
25 years? Geezus.
October 10th, 2005 at 3:50 pm
Please be clear that the Beltline, in order to happen, requires federal funding (called New Starts funding, which is part of the Federal Transportation Authorization Bill and allocated in each year’s transportation appropriations bill). This is extremely competetive (sixteen projects got it last year out of over a thousand that applied — you have to prove that you are addressing a pressing mobility need with your project, going in a circle and not taking people from home to work does not really rise to that requirement).
It is an 80/20 match, with the feds providing 80% of the transit funding. And the City has absolutely no alternative for funding if we do not get the federal money. Hence, we get all the development with none of the transit. The TAD simply creates a way for the City to issue bonds for paying for development, it does not — and cannot — cover the cost of building the Beltline. I think your tone is condescending and disrepectful to the folks who do live in these neighborhoods and instead of mumbling your comments, perhaps you should have had the cojones, as they did, to make your point strongly and passionately.
October 11th, 2005 at 6:55 am
Okay, so you think my tone is condescending - fine. I’m aware that it may have come off that way (as I stated in the post) but that’s just the way it is, and I’m okay with that.
Why did I not make my point “strongly and passionately”? Because the tour was not the venue for debate. The tourguides stressed this point several times. The people who were doing so much complaining actually held up the tour and made it late getting back to the station for the next tour (at 10:30). There are other venues for them to voice their concerns and (very apparent) displeasure.
And I am aware of how the TAD works, and the funding, etc. Your tone was a bit condescending in that area.
October 11th, 2005 at 7:27 am
No, I don’t think you are aware of how it works — and if you are, then I am saddened that you are willing to let the City and its taxpayers accept this level of risk without an alternative plan for funding. Perhaps you should run for City Council, you appear to have the requisite qualifications — buying what people who have a vested financial interest in a project tell you as the truth. And making excuses for remaining silent. And so what if the organizers said it was not a forum for debate. They don’t want a debate, they want you to buy it hook, line and sinker. And you did.
October 11th, 2005 at 4:09 pm
I hope the Beltline doesn’t turn out like the monorail on the Simpsons. If you haven’t seen that episode, basically, a monorail salesman comes to town and everyone loves the idea of a monorail before it’s built. but when it is built they all go “okay, what now? we have to ride it?” and then it turns into a disaster.
October 11th, 2005 at 5:47 pm
I’m a bit concerned that Beltline is really “Mixed Use 2.0″, so I’m not optimistic about the development plans.
My other concern is management. MARTA is dysfunctional, for whatever reason. I don’t see how any beltline-based transit solution would be effective while MARTA is in its current state.
October 12th, 2005 at 7:43 am
Well, we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this point. I’m not going to sit here and try to “prove” it to you.
October 12th, 2005 at 8:04 am
I don’t think you could.
October 12th, 2005 at 9:32 am
There are reasons why we’re in the mess we’re in today, and I wouldn’t blame MARTA. On many occasions, when MARTA has worked with developers to build higher density projects next to rail stations, elected officials intervened because it would — ironically — cause more traffic.
So now, fewer people ride MARTA than what would have otherwise been possible or convenient. Fewer riders means less revenue. Less revenue means less money in operating funds. Less operating money means less service. Less service means fewer riders. You know what that leads to.
Are there simple things MARTA could have done to improve the customer experience? Yes. Has there been mismanagement in the past? Probably. Would you have to stretch your imagination to find mismanagement today? Absolutely.
Am I going to claim the Beltline will solve all these problems? Certainly not. But I can rightfully make the claim that the potential is there to solve many problems. Parks, transit, high-quality development, and citizen input are all going together here. For example, because of citizen input, Wayne Mason’s development is now less likely to happen. We’re not getting the equivalent of 3-car garage condos, thank goodness.
This is the best opportunity the City of Atlanta has had in decades to shape development and attract newcomers on any sort of large scale.
If you don’t want the Beltline to happen because you don’t want new development in Atlanta, or new transit, that’s fine. We can argue those merits. What Amber complained about in this post is that old people, set in their ways, are trying to shape a future they’re unlikely to see. Plus, others against the plan went on the tour just to complain rather than give it a fair chance.
If you do want quality development and transit, but you’re totally against the plan because of a lack of trust, that’s something totally different. It’s more of a dysfunctionality that I can’t fix, unless you have a completely different vision.
October 12th, 2005 at 10:18 am
I am not against the Beltline, per say. I am extremely concerned about the inadequacy of the process and the lack of transparency with the public. Because I work for a City Councilperson, I have been deeply involved in the process and have had, up close and personal, a view of the crap that has substituted for well-researched and rigorous explorations of what the Beltline has evolved from and how it is currently being pressed forward. For example, there is no funding to build the transit. There are serious concerns if there ever will be — that according to Atlanta Development Authority’s own transit panel tasked with analyzing it. MARTA gets zero funding from the state — one of only nine states out of fifty that receive no state funding and the largest to be treated this way, and they are the lead agency (will get the federal funds if any come) for the Beltline and the feds want to see dedicated state AND local monies before they hand over theirs. But, you guys know better. A couple of public relations tours and focusing on “old folks” who expressed their opinions, to me, falls in line with the usual cursory and shallow analysis that most of the public has brought to this debate. Embarking on a project of this size and complexity requires so much more than thinking it sounds great. I promise you that it ain’t and won’t be all it is being sold as. And asking hard questions, demanding accountability and transparency are vital — be it with this project or any other. It’s not “you’re either with us, or you’re agin’ us.”
October 12th, 2005 at 8:05 pm
Oh, I see. You work for a politician. There’s less hope for you than I thought!
October 13th, 2005 at 2:55 am
do you know of any support groups . . . ?