#Atlanta Beltline

[atlurbanist]

Build rail for tomorrow's city, not today's

Darin Givens | April 23, 2024

There are many logical reasons to cast a critical eye on the streetcar extension to the Eastside Beltline, and we should never spend this much money without arguing.

But folks, please stop acting like we can only build rail for the current conditions in a place -- this wrong assumption is the foundation for too many arguments against Beltline rail. We should build rail for the future version of Atlanta.

Obviously, we've screwed up in the past and built rail for "current conditions" and not for walkable growth, and that's a set of mistakes we should remember...

We built the MARTA heavy-rail system to serve as commuter lines to a Downtown Central Business District as it existed in the 1970s, but the system ended up being dwarfed by both job sprawl and residential sprawl, while too many of our rail stations were ensconced in parking lots and low-density development.

And we built a streetcar for tourists that runs mostly empty throughout the week because we included no walkable-density plan, leaving it surrounded by too many parking lots and empty properties -- and saddling it with interstate access points that challenge walkability.

So let's learn from our mistakes and start matching investment in high-capacity transit with transit-supportive density for the future. Is the Beltline a great place for doing that? I think so. It's a growth corridor, and the route is level for rail with only a few tricky intersections.

I think it's absolutely a good thing for people to disagree and have healthy debate about this, but the debate needs to be informed by the fact that building rail for current conditions is a mistake, as evidenced by our past, and that remedying that mistake means thinking about high-capacity transit in a new way.

Opposing Beltline rail in terms of what the conditions are on the corridor today is a bad faith argument. It's unfair to the future of the city to burden it with more of that same problematic planning decisions of the past.

[atlantathecity]

We picked up bagels at the new Emerald City location on the Eastside Beltline (just north of Edgewood Ave) today! What a happy sight this is. I'd like for more of our dull-colored apartment buildings to have brightly colored storefronts at the bottom like this. 😍

[threadatl]

Missed opportunities for public benefits with the Atlanta Beltline

A new 12 minute video on the Atlanta Beltline, produced by CNBC, covers the missed opportunities of the project as a catalyst for equitable, transit-adjacent growth; which is something that's sorely needed in a sprawling region where MARTA rail wasn't allowed to reach its potential capacity in the 1970s 

In the video, Amanda Rhein of the Atlanta Land Trust notes that the city lost a chance to devote properties to affordable housing near the Beltline early on: 

"Today, to some extent, we are trying to catch up. It would have been great if we had an opportunity to secure more land earlier in the life of the Beltline because property values continue to increase in close proximity to the project."

The land trust model helps low-income people buy homes by having them purchase only the structure itself, while signing a lease for the land. Even as property values in an area rise, this model helps residents avoid exposure to debt and foreclosure. And speaking of property values, GSU professor Dan Immergluck (author of Red Hot City) points out that the rise in Atlanta's values since the Beltline project started should have been put to good public use, stating: 

"If you walk around the city, the state of the sidewalks is horrendous. It's one of the worst cities for biking. These are all things that the growth in the city's land value should have benefited, and haven't. The city is constantly talking about being in a state of austerity, not being able to hire police. The schools are constantly under budget restraints. It doesn't make sense."

It all serves as a warning for other cities that are embarking on majorly transformative projects. Make sure that there are public benefits. But it's also a lesson Atlanta can use in the future. If we end up following through on freeway caps like the Stitch, we need to bake equitable benefits into it from the start by guaranteeing land for permanently affordable homes.

[hotdog-beltline]

Rail on the Beltline is a 19th century concept. Why aren't we exploring emerging technologies like autonomous, EV wiener mobiles that carry 6 people + a hotdog kitchenette? Studies show this is 1/6 the cost of rail.

[margaretblanton]

635 Center Hill Avenue NW, Atlanta, 30318

Who do you know that is a savy first-time home buyer or investor? This 3/2 has a finished basement, garage, professionally landscaped, and edible yard! This home is move in ready with a newer roof and HVAC! Close to all of the new development on Atlanta's booming Westside, and you couldn't ask for better neighbors! This is a street where everyone waves, looks out for you, but gives you your privacy. This one will go up in value tremendously, so get in while it's still affordable.

[youareraven]

Top Engagement Photo Spots in Atlanta

Top Engagement Photo Spots in Atlanta

When it comes to choosing a place for engagement photos there truly are endless options! Though so often I see people focusing solely on the end product, how majestic, sentimental or picturesque they want to look in the final photographs. And while yes we want the photos to be beautiful I think it’s valuable to choose a place that you feel comfortable in or connect with so that when you do look…

[stfuidontwanturconversation]

[theinfamousjettjaxkson]

Outside look decent on me

[atlurbanist]

This is the dystopian future that evil urbanists want for the Atlanta Beltline. Recoil in terror if you must, anti-rail zealots. But this scene is like candy to me.

I assume this photo of trams on grass is from the Netherlands, since the poster (filmendefiester on Twitter) lives in Utrecht. Looks lovely!

Seriously, the anti-Beltine-rail zealotry is increasingly bizarre to me.

You want to protect trees from being taken down for rail? Let's plant more trees elsewhere so that every square inch of sidewalk is shaded. You want room for expanding the width of bike paths on the Beltline? Let's expand great bike paths onto streets instead and build a network.

The Beltline shouldn't be our only option for planting trees and expanding great paths for bikes and micromobility. We should be doing that *everywhere*.

But as a former rail path and a growth corridor, it's a damn perfect place for expanding rail & rail-supportive density.

Anyway, I'm bitter because the anti-BL-rail group hijacked one of my photos on LinkedIn and used it to trash talk rail. It's been one of those days. These folks need to be seen as the bizarrely misguided ideologues that they are. Stop making them seem relevant, please.

[atlantathecity]

This is the Madison at Reynoldstown, as seen from the Beltline (just north of Memorial Drive). When it's completed this summer it will offer 116 rental apartments for families earning 80 percent of the area median income or less, with those affordable rents guaranteed for 30 years.

Additionally, 46 units of the apartments are reserved families earning up to 30 percent of area median income, providing some deep affordability for people in the lowest income group.

The $43.6-million project is a joint effort by Atlanta Housing, the City of Atlanta, Invest Atlanta, and Atlanta BeltLine Inc.

The photo is mine but the info above was sourced from a recent Urbanize Atlanta post titled "All-affordable BeltLine housing tops out along Eastside Trail."

[wisteriaed]

The Beltline connector to Ponce City Market

Atlanta, Georgia

Shot on Samsung Galaxy S21 FE

May 11, 2023

[yungslaye]

Run! It's Godzilla!!!

[ninadarlingsblog]

Devon....my best friend.🥰

[jrtorresphotography]

By J.R. Torres