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Club Helps Secure Rail Transit for Atlanta
Beltline
Atlanta, GA - February, 2007
A light-rail
transit loop around inner-city Atlanta is on its way to becoming
a reality, thanks in large
part to the Sierra Club. he Atlanta BeltLine, a 22-mile
loop of public transit, paths, parks, and new development on
abandoned rail corridors in the city's
core, was conceived in 1999 as a master's thesis by Georgia Tech
student Ryan Gravel. Gravel teamed up with then-City Council President
Cathy Woolard to promote the plan in church basements and neighborhood
association meetings around the city, catching the mayor's ear.
Sierra
Club organizers began meeting with Gravel and Woolard in 2005,
launching a grassroots campaign to promote expanded public
transit in the city and drum up support for the BeltLine.
"
We formed a coalition that ran the gamut from bicycle and
transit advocates to African American clergy," says Sierra
Club Atlanta Group Chair Dan Friedman. "We gave presentations
to civic organizations, neighborhood associations, anybody who
would listen. And MARTA, our rapid-transit rail system, recognized
who their allies were and went along." Friedman says the issues
of air pollution and transit woes were compelling to Atlantans,
who endure the most expensive and third-longest commute in the
nation, and some of the worst air pollution. Read more...
 Read
our recommendations for the BeltLine
workplan. (downloadable
PDF)
Read
our recommendations to MARTA for the type of transit the BeltLine
should be.
What
is the BeltLine? Read more...
Earth Day 2006 – BeltLine Day of Action
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A stormy Saturday morning gave way to a sunny, beautiful Earth
Day on April 22, 2006. Sweetwater Brewery hosted the fabulous
100+ volunteers who came out, pick up pledge cards and yard signs
to headed out to neighborhoods all over the BeltLine. Volunteers
went door to door and park to park, informing Atlanta residents
about the logistics of BeltLine and city's public input process.
Throughout the day, canvassers went to 12 neighborhoods (3 per
quadrant of the BeltLine) knocking on over 1200 doors and talking
to roughly 500 people about the BeltLine. About 400 people signed
pledge cards, vowing to participate in the public input process
to have their valuable voice heard on the workplan and 200 yard
signs were posted in neighborhood yards and parks encouraging
other residents to find out more and get involved.
Afterward volunteering, folks headed back to Sweetwater Brewery
for an Earth Day celebration with free Sweetwater beer, food,
the musical stylings of DJ Preston, and a step team show by some
of our Clark Atlanta volunteers. The event ended around 9:00
and everyone agreed it was a thorough success. We can't wait
for Earth Day 2007!
A big thanks to our coalition partners for this event: Citizens
for Progressive Transit, Georgia Conservancy's Generation Green
Program, Park Pride and the BeltLine Partnership. Another big
thank you goes out to Willy's Mexican Restaurant, Bagel Palace
and all our friends at Sweetwater Brewery for the food and libations.
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Sign up to volunteer or get involved with the Sierra Club's efforts.
Click here to see a calendar of volunteer events.
Be part of the BeltLine vision. Stay updated through
the city's website. Go to www.beltlinecommunity.com
to stay connected and give input to the city.
Check out a map that shows all of the BeltLine neighborhoods. Click
here to see it.
(downloadable PDF)
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| Sierra Club volunteers rally outside
the final TAD vote in December 2005. |
Learn more about our partners in our BeltLine work:
Citizens for Progressive Transit
Georgia Conservancy's Generation
Green Program.
The BeltLine Partnership
Park Pride
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| Sign
me up to get help the Sierra Club make sure
the public is heard as plans for the BeltLine are developed. |
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