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Beltline Rail III: Advocacy Groups Then and Now

The third of four installments examines Atlanta developers' stances on Beltline rail and intown neighborhoods' history of advocacy

By  ,   and  Myles Fogle ,   and  James Grenade
22 min read

This is part III of IV of the Georgia State Law Review’s series analyzing the legal, political, and social debates surrounding Beltline rail in Atlanta, Georgia. To read the first part, click here, or the second part, click here.

Part III

A. Those For and Against Beltline Rail

Matthew Rao was living in East Lake, Atlanta, in 2001 when he first heard about the Beltline concept.[1] While there, he attended the first series of meetings seeking to build momentum for the Beltline’s creation, which featured Ryan Gravel, Cathy Woolard, and future-Mayor Shirley Franklin.[2] Rao said those seminal meetings so “completely captivated” him—he was “sold on the idea.”[3] He still remembers a young Gravel, just two to three years off his thesis, explaining the now familiar Beltline concept to a packed house: how an abandoned asset could have a new beginning.[4] Rao kept the excitement of those years easily. “What an incredible urban redevelopment,” he enthusiastically recalled.[5] “What a key to making a new kind of city.” What an opportunity to connect people who have been marginalized and left out deliberately of the prosperity engine that is Atlanta and how to rectify that through an urban infrastructure project.”[6]

At those early meetings, Franklin enlightened listeners on how the political processes could uplift this unknown idea from one discussed at an auditorium at the Atlanta Zoo in Grant Park to a permanent promise: amend the City of Atlanta’s Charter to codify the Beltline as a transit and recreational corridor, focusing on light rail.[7]

In 2007, that dream was realized. Atlanta’s Code of Ordinances—the charter that establishes the city’s structure and defines its functions and boundaries[8]—now finds that the “BeltLine is a major initiative to link green space, trails, transit, and economic development in Atlanta” and that “a continuous corridor along the BeltLine route should be preserved for transit, multi-use trials, and green space.”[9] So, if the city already recognizes the Beltline as a transit corridor and is advocating for the creation of commercial nodes at Beltline station areas that are pedestrian and transit-oriented, what is the debate over Beltline rail even about? Ask the opposition.

Before getting involved with Better Atlanta Transit (BAT), its Communication’s Chair Ken Edelstein,[10] a semi-retired journalist, was “just a citizen enjoying the Beltline.”[11] Like Rao, Edelstein supported the Beltline since its genesis, even writing a 2005 editorial urging Atlantans to vote in favor of the Beltline Tax Allocation District (TAD).[12] Unlike Rao, however, Edelstein does not favor building rail on the Beltline.[13] So when a friend, Walter Brown, invited Edelstein to a meeting at the Beltline Kroger’s patio to discuss the issue with likeminded individuals it immediately “rang a bell” with him.[14] Edelstein discovered he was not alone.

Among this group was Hans Klein, a Georgia Tech policy professor who, since 2022, has participated in various public efforts to preserve the Beltline trail as a park.[15] Klein’s January 2023 article, A Streetcar on the Beltline Would be a Train Wreck, was a prominent call from a transit community leader challenging the idea of Beltline rail.[16] In it, the professor rationalized that the planned Beltline Streetcar extension’s embrace of ill-inherited and expensive technology made it a “prisoner of the past.”[17] Klein further criticized the Beltline’s path through the city as “wrong for transit,” instead advocating for recreational uses.[18] Even if the Beltline made transit a priority, he argued, implementing light rail would be “problematic.”[19] According to Klein, it would have “expensive” upfront capital costs, face “infeasible” subsequent route changes, and suffer from “inflexible” technology that could be brought to a halt by a single, double-parked car.[20]

After publishing the article, Klein became a voice for the anti-Beltline rail movement.[21] Anti-Beltline rail advocates—including Walter Brown, Edelstein, and other future founders of BAT—wondered what could be done about a decision they felt incorrectly placed the city’s transit dollars on an already “beautiful” and “successful” Beltline.”[22] This group began to ask more questions: “Why was this project favored over long-awaited transit in less-advantaged parts of town? Will the streetcar squeeze pedestrians and cyclists into a tighter corridor? [Would] three years of construction be bad for Beltline shops and restaurants? What will happen to the trees and green space?”[23] These questions accumulated enough support to justify incorporating as a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization, like a BeltLine Rail Now! (BRN) “just on the other side.”[24] However, even as BAT began to form, Beltline-adjacent neighborhoods had already begun to directly deal with the influx of new development, questioning how, or if, Beltline rail should be incorporated.

B.   How Ground-Up Politics Impact Atlanta’s Building Environment

Amsterdam Walk, located on the Beltline across from the eastern side of Piedmont Park, is currently a low-rise commercial area consisting of small businesses and restaurants.[25] In September 2023, Portman Holdings—the storied Atlanta developer of landmarks such as the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel, the Peachtree Center Office Complex, and several new commercial buildings near Krog Street Market—announced plans to develop 900 apartments, 330,000 square feet of office space, and 75,000 square feet of retail and dining.[26] Sandwiched between two of Atlanta’s most desirable neighborhoods, Midtown and Virginia-Highlands, and directly on the future path of the Eastside Streetcar, the proposed development should have been an approval slam-dunk in a city hungry for increased density and more housing.[27]

Nearby residents, however, opposed the scale of the project and the estimated 4,000 car journeys per-day to the site.[28] In May 2024, Neighborhood Planning Unit F (NPU-F) “overwhelmingly” voted Portman’s proposal down, 84 in favor versus 282 against.[29] This outcome was surprising, as the Virginia–Highland Master Plan encourages development along the Beltline when oriented towards transit access to reduce congestion in surrounding neighborhoods.[30] Even before the NPU denial, Portman had been in talks with these area neighborhoods to downsize the original plans so that it was not “too dense, too tall.”[31] These negotiations during presentations to neighborhood groups led to a 21% decrease in overall square footage of the development, the majority of which came from non-residential uses, resulting in a projected 41% drop in daily car trips from 4,000 per day to 2,363.[32] Still, the City of Atlanta Zoning Review Board (ZRB) voted against this downsized proposal in June, with NPU-F recommending the ZRB deny Portman’s requested rezoning, a requirement to continue the project.[33] Opponents criticized the project for the likely increase in traffic it would bring to the surrounding areas, particularly on and around Monroe Drive.[34]

Portman Holdings’ executives remain staunch opponents of Beltline rail.[35] Its Senior Vice President of Development, Mike Greene, is a founding member of BAT and has publicly lobbied against Beltline rail.[36] In the ZRB meeting for the Amsterdam Walk development, the Board took Greene to task for his stance.[37] He responded that “my public position on how I feel about the light rail on the Beltline has become intertwined with this rezoning request. . . . I would ask you, if you could, possibly separate your feelings on the two subjects.”[38]

Greene is not the only Portman executive against the extension of the Streetcar East extension. Portman CEO, Ambrish Baisiwala, who is also an Executive Committee Member of the powerful non-profit Midtown Alliance,[39] remarked to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) that the Beltline becoming “dominated by rail” would be a “mistake.”[40]

It calls for speculation that Greene and Baisiwala, who have been instrumental in shaping the Eastside Trail’s current successes, are against Beltline rail. Urbanists have salivated at many of Portman’s projects, as the developer has completed twenty-three buildings incorporating transit.[41] One such venture is the Junction Krog District, where Greene delivered 8,500 square feet of ground-level restaurant and patio space below 135,000 square feet of office space to the Beltline.[42] Located at the corner of Irwin Street and Auburn Avenue, Junction Krog District sits on the Beltline’s Eastside Trail.[43] Greene’s development team “prioritize[d] community engagement” when developing Junction Krog District and also “remained in constant communication with the Atlanta Beltline organization.”[44]

When discussing Portman’s Amsterdam Walk project, Rao coined it merely as “transit‑esque.”[45] He explained that Amsterdam Walk is “a great example of what [Atlanta is] building more of and what we’re getting more of.”[46] Rao believes the Beltline’s developments are transit‑esque, specifically, “because they look like they are transit oriented, but they are not. They are really driven around that transit form that is the private automobile—that is why Amsterdam Walk needs 1,400 parking spaces.”[47] Rao noted this development will not “be the largest” either.[48] If nearby retail shopping areas Ansley Mall, Midtown Promenade, and Midtown Place redevelop too, Rao projected we might be looking at “10,000 more parking spaces.”[49] His lamentation classified these anti-transit developments as more of a shot in the foot than an unexpected blindside, reasoning “that’s what we’re getting because that’s what we’re supporting.”[50] And “if we do not change quickly,” he predicted, “that is what we are going to get because the developer is making an economic judgment on what is going to make his development work.”[51] Rao further stated that “whether it’s Mike Greene or anyone else, he has concluded that in order to be viable, he needs as many residential units and that many parking spaces.”[52]

Rao also criticized Greene for supporting developments increasing car usage while opposing “the one mitigating thing”—Beltline rail.[53] “Think about how much damage that is caused,” he speculated.[54] “We might be further ahead,” Rao admitted, if developers like Greene were on board with Beltline rail.[55] Rao further supposed that if Atlanta developers had supported transit on the Beltline from the beginning, the mayor may not have become so “wishy-washy” on the project.[56] Rao feels that if Greene and kin had been in support of this project and told Mayor Dickens:

I really need for you to deliver [Beltline rail] sooner because I can’t develop these without all the parking spaces, but I’d really rather not spend [so much money] per piece building more parking. I’d rather put that money into more affordable housing. More amenities for the people that are going to be in these building and achieve an overall lower building height since I don’t have so many stories of parking. What about that and where is that lost in this?[57]

C.   Business Opposition to Beltline Rail

In March, a group of Beltline restauranteurs came together to discuss the streetcar extension.[58] The owners of many prominent Eastside Trail stops, such as Lingering Shade Social Club and Two Urban Licks, attended to voice their opposition.[59] Lewis Jeffries of Lingering Shade stated it simply: “I just hope it doesn’t happen.”[60] He anticipates his revenue will drop 50% if the streetcar is extended to the Eastside Trail due to the proposed route requiring taking a portion of his patio, a major draw to the restaurant.[61]

It is not just owners of popular entertainment stops on the trail who oppose the rail either. Influential Atlantans like Matt Bronfman, CEO of real estate juggernaut Jamestown, owner of Ponce City Market and Colony Square,[62] has argued that Atlanta should not make Beltline rail a priority.[63] In an AJC Opinion piece cowritten with Renee Glover, who serves as a BAT board member, Bronfman stated he was “thankful for Better Atlanta Transit’s call for a public debate on the wisdom of building rail transit on the Beltline that will cost more than $3 billion and take decades to build.”[64] Similar to BAT’s position, Bronfman emphasized that Jamestown is still “big champions of transit,” but noted that the best strategy for “preserving the Beltline is 21st century micro-mobility, such as bicycles, scooters and small-wheeled vehicles.”[65]

Ultimately, these key city stakeholders are calling for the mayor to pause the streetcar extension, as they fear the construction of the route would disrupt dozens of established businesses on the popular trail while slashing their revenues and cutting local jobs.[66] Notably, however, two other influential Atlantans attended this March anti-rail meeting: Walter Brown and Mike Greene.[67]

Atlanta urbanists may not be surprised that the Beltline Rail debate is not Walter Brown’s first rodeo. Brown has been a champion of Atlanta’s Candler Park Neighborhood since before the Beltline began construction, and, like Rao, has dedicated much of his adult life to local advocacy. Candler Park comprises one-seventh of NPU-N; its non-profit neighborhood organization (CPNO) was incorporated in 1980 to “unite the people of Candler Park Neighborhood into an organization concerned with the common problems of the area, [to] provid[e] a means for discussions,” and formulate solutions to “such problems [while] maintaining and enhancing the [neighborhood] as an attractive residential community.”[68]

D.   How Atlanta Neighborhoods Impact the City’s Political Process

The City of Atlanta is divided into twenty-five NPUs,”citizen advisory councils” that together comprise over 240 individual neighborhoods including forty-five neighborhoods connected by the Beltline.[69] These citywide divisions were first created in 1974 by Mayor Maynard Jackson and are now operating in their fiftieth year.[70] NPUs instantly became the official avenue for civic participation in city government for Atlantans, as Jackson’s plan set out to serve those voices who would otherwise would have been left out.[71] Importantly, NPUs created an opportunity for citizens to contribute to Atlanta’s Comprehensive Development Plan, which is the city’s vision for its short-term and long-term future.[72] With many of the most crucial development in the city occurring near the Beltline, the NPUs’ power has arguably never been greater.

Throughout their history, NPUs have played a crucial role in Atlanta’s infrastructure history.[73] Indeed, without neighborhood group advocacy, one of Atlanta’s largest parks, Freedom Park,[74] would not exist.[75] Further, Freedom Parkway, the four-lane limited access road running through the park west-to-east from the Downtown Connecter to the Carter Center, was meant to be much larger.[76]

In the 1960s, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) began acquiring land for two east-side freeways.[77] A proposed north to south route would have cut north from Interstate 20 (I-20) through the Virginia–Highland neighborhood to create an interchange at Interstate 85 (I-85).[78] The proposed east to west route, now part of today’s Freedom Parkway, would have run east from the Downtown Connector to the Stone Mountain Expressway.[79] GDOT planned to build a cloverleaf interchange between the two atop a prominent hill in the Copenhill neighborhood, demolished for this project, where the Jimmy Carter Library, Museum, and Carter Center now stands.[80] That effort was ended by local protests and lawsuits led by neighborhood group Bass Organization for Neighborhood Development (BOND).[81] Then-Governor Jimmy Carter felt pressured to stop the project by the 1970s.[82] The land cleared for GDOT’s unfinished freeways lay idle for almost a decade, eventually covered with overgrown kudzu.[83]

In 1981, former-President Carter, alongside Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young and GDOT commissioner Tom Moreland, struck a deal to create the “Presidential Parkway.”[84] This parkway would include Carter’s presidential library built in the center.[85] Although this new parkway had a different name than predecessor Stone Mountain Expressway, Atlanta’s neighborhoods could not be fooled. Neighborhood groups still saw the same old expressway being presented as “lipstick on a pig.”[86] This controversy soon pitted Mayor Young and former-President Carter against the neighborhoods they claimed to represent, with Mayor Young “promis[ing] to arrest anyone who interfered with construction.”[87]

The affected neighborhoods rose up to defend their homes. Residents from Inman Park, Poncey–Highland, Candler Park, Druid Hills, the City of Decatur, Lake Claire, Virginia–Highland, and East Lake banded together to litigate, lobby, and demonstrate against the plan to build a highway through the vacant land.[88] These endangered neighborhoods found more power in the aggregate, uniting in 1982 to form CAUTION—the Coalition Against Unnecessary Throughfares in Our Neighborhoods—to coordinate litigation, fundraising, volunteers, and lobbying.[89] Through this systematic civic coordination, CAUTION spent more than $600,000 in legal fees and received nearly the same in pro bono services.[90] This neighborhood-led advocacy movement captured attention outside the courtroom, as protesters’ tents in Shady Side Park permeated the space around Ponce—with Candler Park residents joining to replenish the protestors with food.[91] Then-City Council member John Lewis and former-Mayor Jackson further fueled the advocacy effort, their combined political weight contributing “credibility, visibility, and advice” to the cause.[92] In 1991, newly elected Governor Zell Miller, wanting compromise, urged for peace.[93] A fifty-four hour negotiation between the City of Atlanta, GDOT, and CAUTION took place to establish Freedom Parkway, a thoroughfare connecting the Carter Center with the Downtown Connector, instead of building the neighborhood-altering parkway.[94]

Here is where it gets interesting. While fighting against the development of the parkway, the labor of lawsuits, protests, and fights yielded unexpected fruit: sixty-four pro-neighborhood candidates had taken office to connect the city with a common goal of community-led leadership.[95] Others made gains as well. After lending his support to CAUTION, Mayor Maynard Jackson was repaid in full—his support aided his reelection to mayor in 1989 where he immediately encouraged the City Council to pass an ordinance to stop the Presidential Parkway and was then positioned to bring the 1996 Olympics to Atlanta.[96] Although, not solely because of this, John Lewis nonetheless represented these neighborhoods in Congress for almost thirty-five years, where he often ran unopposed.[97]

Walter Brown, who was CPNO president in 1990 and its NPU-N representative in 1991, was present during this Candler Park effort.[98] Today, he is leading another neighborhood-civic group to voice resident area hesitancy on another project looking to completely transform his neighborhood. Thus, Atlanta neighborhood-led advocacy groups successfully prevented Presidential Parkway—an otherwise inevitable state-backed infrastructure project supported by a former President.[99]

With the background information on Brown’s former advocacy experience, someone of his caliber (who shares public opinions with Greene) who is also an influential developer, must lead Atlantans to wonder what credence will be given to the anti-rail position. What will happen as the population in neighborhoods near the Beltline continues to skyrocket? Given that BAT only formed in 2023, enough time has not passed to see how far the group will reach and how that reach will impact other advocacy groups like BRN. If rail on the Beltline continues to be a contentious debate that engulfs more neighborhoods as the trial is expanded, will either group rise to the level of CAUTION so as to play an active role in negotiations with city officials and agencies? Will one of the side’s proponents reap political gain due to their alliance with either local politicians or real estate developers and be launched into a position with authority to implement what they promised to get done?

These questions must be asked when, as demonstrated by the Five Points Station debacle,[100] a mayor with ears to the streets has shown willingness to advocate for alternating plans already bound with dry ink.[101] Currently the Five Points station’s forty-year-old, cracked concrete canopy causes water infusion, mold infestation, and damage to major electric train control equipment.[102] Yet, MARTA succumbed on July 3rd to public pressure from the mayor and advocates to postpone the long-planned renovation project to an undetermined date.[103] This change of plans could result in even more issues for the agency—the postponement threatens “current and future federal funding for MARTA” while exposing it to lawsuits from contractors who have already spent money and were ready to start construction in July.[104]

MARTA’s surrender resulted, in part, from activists and city officials uniting on June 25th to condemn the at-the-time four-year renovation project that would have prevented an estimated 17,000 daily riders from boarding the train at Five Points.[105] Not only were Rao and BRN protesting, but like John Lewis with CAUTION, another Atlanta City Council member, this time Council President Doug Shipman, spoke at the protest to publicly thrown the weight of his office behind the activism.[106]

Council President Shipman, leader of Atlanta’s legislative branch, has continued to advocate for this cause. At the August 17th “Reynoldstown Banner Unfurl” at the Wylie Street entrance to the Beltline, Council President Shipman proudly called upon Mayor Dickens to move faster on the development of rail on the Beltline.[107] He emphasized to a crowd of pro-rail supporters that transportation investment is “required” to solve issues of equity and accessibility facing the Atlanta.[108] Council President Shipman, who ran—and won—on a Beltline rail-focused platform, is not the only council member actively advocating for the project.[109]

Three other council members, Liliana Bakhtiari, Amir Farokhi, and Jason Dozier—whose representation comprises three-fifths of the districts around the Beltline—have advocated for the Atlanta Streetcar’s extension on behalf of their constituents.[110] However, it is not just on-the-street activism where city council members have made its support of BRN and rail expansion clear. When BRN made a public call for MARTA to seek maximum federal funding to deliver More MARTA projects, it aligned with Farokhi’s request to MARTA CEO Collie Greenwood that MARTA should consider seeking federal funding for More MARTA projects only a few weeks earlier.[111]

This apparent alignment brings to light an underlying truth about the very-much-alive activism in the Atlanta: local politicians are aware of these advocacy groups, take notice of what they are saying, and will support the groups they think their constituents believe in.

In the past, Atlanta neighborhood-based grassroot organizations have flexed their ability to derail the city’s already-planned public policy, using political pressure to force policy in line with their advocacy.[112] Like the Stone Mountain Freeway, the city’s intown neighborhoods are again faced with another great taxpayer project: whether to build rail on the Beltline. Granted, these two projects share diametrically opposed motives—the freeway would have, and did, tear up in-town neighborhoods to support white-flight suburbanization while Beltline rail aims to equitably connect in-town neighborhoods using an already existing pathway. [113]After all these years, however, the advocacy process remains the same: engage with the public at large through various local communication vehicles. Today, activism exists through blogs and social media, writing opinion pieces in newspapers, and participating in community meetings, gatherings, and events.

Atlanta’s city leaders and developers remain divided on Beltline rail—the former in favor of rail; the latter cannot commit to that vision. Ultimately, this turmoil guarantees at least one thing: Atlantans continue to wait for expanded transit options.

  1. Audio Recording of Matthew Rao (June 11, 2024) [hereinafter Rao Interview] (on file with the Georgia State University Law Review). ↩︎

  2. Id. ↩︎

  3. Id. ↩︎

  4. Id. ↩︎

  5. Id. ↩︎

  6. Id. ↩︎

  7. Rao Interview, supra note 1. ↩︎

  8. City Charters, Ga. Municipal Ass’n, https://www.gacities.com/Resources/GMA-Handbooks-Publications/City-Clerk-Handbook/City-Charters.aspx#:\~:text=The charter establishes the government,essential procedures%2C and legal control [https://perma.cc/7R5D-PAWU\]. Cities and towns in Georgia are considered the same legal entity, referred to as “municipal corporations.” Id. ↩︎

  9. Atlanta Code of Ordinances ch. 36, § 16-36.002 (2024). ↩︎

  10. Author Archives: Ken Edelstein, RoughDraft Atlanta, https://roughdraftatlanta.com/author/ken-edelstein/ [https://perma.cc/8SWX-QBPM\]. ↩︎

  11. Audio Recording of Ken Edelstein (June 3, 2024) [hereinafter Edelstein Interview] (on file with the Georgia State University Law Review). Edelstein was a former editor at the Columbus Ledger-Inquirer in Columbus, Georgia. Id. ↩︎

  12. Id.; Who is Better Atlanta Transit?, Better Atlanta Transit (Dec. 11, 2023), https://betteratlantatransit.org/blog/who-is-better-atlanta-transit [https://perma.cc/7S4H-KM27\]; Ken Edelstein, Cover Story: The Moment is Now Pass the TAD to Keep the Beltline Rolling, Creative Loafing (Sept. 21, 2005 12:04 AM) https://creativeloafing.com/content-185204-cover-story-the-moment-is-now-pass-the-tad-to-keep-the-beltline [https://perma.cc/AJU4-9L9J\]. ↩︎

  13. Edelstein Interview, supra note 11. ↩︎

  14. Id. ↩︎

  15. Id.; Hans Klein, Ivan Allen Coll. of Liberal Arts at Ga. Tech., https://iac.gatech.edu/people/person/hansklein [https://perma.cc/DGF2-D7EG\]. ↩︎

  16. Hans Klein, A Streetcar on the Beltline Would be a Train Wreck, SaportaReport (Jan. 27, 2023 3:11 PM), https://saportareport.com/a-streetcar-on-the-beltline-would-be-a-train-wreck/columnists/guestcolumn/derek/ [https://perma.cc/DR86-ZGAQ\]. ↩︎

  17. Id. ↩︎

  18. Id. ↩︎

  19. Id. ↩︎

  20. Id. ↩︎

  21. Edelstein Interview, supra note 11. ↩︎

  22. Id. ↩︎

  23. Who is Better Atlanta Transit?, supra note 12. ↩︎

  24. Edelstein Interview, supra note 11. ↩︎

  25. Rachel Garbus, Here’s What We Know About Plans for the Amsterdam Walk Redevelopment, Atlanta Mag. (Nov. 9, 2023), https://www.atlantamagazine.com/news-culture-articles/heres-what-we-know-about-plans-for-the-amsterdam-walk-redevelopment/ [https://perma.cc/ETB7-ZKJN\]. ↩︎

  26. Id. ↩︎

  27. But see id.; text accompanying infra note 28. ↩︎

  28. Id. ↩︎

  29. Dyana Bagby, UPDATE: NPU-F Votes Against Portman’s Amsterdam Walk Redevelopment, RoughDraft (May 15, 2024, 10:00 PM), https://roughdraftatlanta.com/2024/05/15/portmans-amsterdam-walk-development-proposal-met-with-opposition-over-light-rail-stance/ [https://perma.cc/4J3P-RM79\]. Neighborhood Planning Units (NPUs) are “citizen advisory councils that make recommendations to the Mayor and City Council on zoning, land use, and other planning issues.” Neighborhood Planning Unit (NPU), Atlanta City Council, https://citycouncil.atlantaga.gov/other/npu-by-neighborhood/neighborhood-planning-unit [https://perma.cc/NC4J-Y7JM\]. NPU-F includes the Virginia–Highland and Morningside–Lenox Park neighborhoods. Neighborhoods by NPU, Atlanta City Council, https://citycouncil.atlantaga.gov/other/neighborhood-planning-unit/npu-by-neighborhood/neighborhoods-by-npu#B [https://perma.cc/CMZ6-UD3G\]. ↩︎

  30. Virginia–Highland Civic Ass’n, 2018 Virginia–Highland Master Plan Update 7 (2019), https://www.atlantaga.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/41088/637589416527400000 [https://perma.cc/M5PT-V48K\]. ↩︎

  31. Josh Green, Portman Bends to Pushback, Shrinks Amsterdam Walk Proposal, Urbanize (May 3, 2024, 8:05 AM), https://atlanta.urbanize.city/post/amsterdam-walk-portman-project-smaller-pushback-proposal [https://perma.cc/R6ZP-4BZG\]. ↩︎

  32. Josh Green, After More Cuts, Amsterdam Walk Proposal Scores Neighborhood OK, Urbanize (May 14, 2024, 12:23 PM), https://atlanta.urbanize.city/post/amsterdam-walk-portman-beltline-modified-proposal-scores-neighborhood-approval [https://perma.cc/C4RK-4K9U\]. ↩︎

  33. Zoning Rev. Bd., Marked Agenda (June 13, 2024), https://www.atlantaga.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/62557 [https://perma.cc/PCK7-5FFQ\]. ↩︎

  34. Bagby, supra note 29. ↩︎

  35. Id.; ZRB Rejects Amsterdam Walk Application, Beltline Rail Now! (June 15, 2024), https://beltlinerailnow.com/news/2024/6/15/zrb-rejects-amsterdam-walk-application [https://perma.cc/B3J6-GTUJ\]. ↩︎

  36. ZRB Rejects Amsterdam Walk Application, supra note 35. ↩︎

  37. Bagby, supra note 29. ↩︎

  38. Id. ↩︎

  39. Board of Directors, Midtown All., https://www.midtownatl.com/midtown-alliance/about/board-of-directors [https://perma.cc/GWA5-6ZCE\]. ↩︎

  40. Riley Bunch & Zachary Hansen, Debate Over Atlanta Beltline Rail Heats Up, Atlanta J.-Const. (Mar. 12, 2024), https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/debate-over-beltline-rail-heats-up/KUNOP2A4JVEUPBIPSQ7AYDAP6A/ [https://perma.cc/YU9M-ULUE\]. ↩︎

  41. Josh Green, Atlanta BeltLine’s Proposed Rail is at a Crossroads, Atlanta Mag. (Feb. 29, 2024), https://www.atlantamagazine.com/news-culture-articles/atlanta-beltlines-proposed-rail-is-at-a-crossroads/ [https://perma.cc/7TD8-L5TM\]. ↩︎

  42. About Junction Krog District, Portman, https://www.portmanholdings.com/portfolio/junction-krog-district/ [https://perma.cc/D3VJ-ELBM\]. ↩︎

  43. Id. ↩︎

  44. Id. ↩︎

  45. Rao Interview, supra note 1. ↩︎

  46. Id. ↩︎

  47. Id. ↩︎

  48. Id. ↩︎

  49. Id. ↩︎

  50. Id. ↩︎

  51. Rao Interview, supra note 1. ↩︎

  52. Id. ↩︎

  53. Id. ↩︎

  54. Id. ↩︎

  55. Id. ↩︎

  56. Id. ↩︎

  57. Rao Interview, supra note 1. ↩︎

  58. Amy Wenk, BeltLine Restaurateurs Say Streetcar Construction Would Slash Their Revenues, Atlanta Bus. Chron. (July 7, 2024, 4:38 PM), https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2024/03/26/beltline-restaurateurs-streetcar-extension.html [https://perma.cc/BQF5-5YZW\]. ↩︎

  59. Id. ↩︎

  60. Id. ↩︎

  61. Id. ↩︎

  62. Amy Wenk, Jamestown to Buy Atlanta Office of North American Properties; Real Estate Valued at $2B, Atlanta Bus. Chron. (Aug. 13, 2024, 10:28 PM), https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2024/08/13/jamestown-north-american-properties-deal.html [https://perma.cc/K6BZ-VVC3\]. ↩︎

  63. Matt Bronfman & Renee Glover, Opinion: Beltline Rail isn’t an Atlanta Transportation Priority, Atlanta J.-Const. (Nov. 11, 2023), https://www.ajc.com/opinion/opinion-beltline-rail-isnt-an-atlanta-transportation-priority/QG4ZADDTIBBJ3CCXW2HFGRTLUQ/ [https://perma.cc/7Q6S-4SGJ\]; Advisory Board, Better Atlanta Transit, https://betteratlantatransit.org/about (last visited Nov. 13, 2024) [https://perma.cc/WM35-DESG\]. ↩︎

  64. Id. ↩︎

  65. Id. ↩︎

  66. Wenk, supra note 58. ↩︎

  67. Id. ↩︎

  68. Neighborhoods by NPU, supra note 29; Articles of Incorporation of Candler Park Neighborhood Org. art. IV, https://candlerpark.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Articles-of-Incorporation-1980-restated-2005.pdf [https://perma.cc/UWU8-U8U9\]; NPU-Atlanta, GA Neighborhoods, NPU-N Atlanta, https://npunatlanta.org/about/ [https://perma.cc/4U2V-9TC4\]. ↩︎

  69. About NPU, City of Atlanta, https://www.npuatlanta.org/about-and-history [https://perma.cc/YCP9-8JCE\]; Atlanta Beltline, Atlanta Beltline, https://beltline.org/visit/ [https://perma.cc/8QPS-7DPY\]; Neighborhoods, City of Atlanta, https://www.atlantaga.gov/residents/neighborhoods#:\~:text=Atlanta is home to 242,for public festivals and programs [https://perma.cc/MA9N-XRGZ\]. ↩︎

  70. Riley Bunch, For 50 Years, Neighborhoods Have Helped Chart Atlanta’s Future, Atlanta J.-Const. (Mar. 25, 2024), https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/for-50-years-neighborhoods-have-helped-chart-atlantas-future/3YMA6EXPRND7XHACDVKNNVX2IU/ [https://perma.cc/2AD4-JR53\]. ↩︎

  71. Id. ↩︎

  72. Id. ↩︎

  73. Bunch, supra note 70. ↩︎

  74. Freedom Park forms a cross shape, intersecting across the Carter Center and stretching west-east from Parkway Drive (just west of Boulevard) to Candler Park, and north-south from Ponce De Leon Avenue to the Inman Park/Reynoldstown MARTA station. Freedom Park, Candler Park Neighborhood Org., https://candlerpark.org/freedom-park/ [https://perma.cc/4CC4-BGQ3\]. ↩︎

  75. Rachel Garbus, Before There Was “Stop Cop City,” There Was “Stop the Road”, Atlanta Mag. (Sept. 13, 2023), https://www.atlantamagazine.com/news-culture-articles/before-there-was-stop-cop-city-there-was-stop-the-road/ [https://perma.cc/5CGL-W5AT\]. ↩︎

  76. Id. ↩︎

  77. Freedom Park, supra note 74. ↩︎

  78. Id. ↩︎

  79. Id. ↩︎

  80. Id. ↩︎

  81. Life in Atlanta’s Original Suburb: The Pioneering Vision for Inman Park, WABE (Oct. 1, 2019), https://www.wabe.org/inman-park/ [https://perma.cc/Q22X-MJSQ\]. ↩︎

  82. Id.; Freedom Park, supra note 74. ↩︎

  83. Maria Saporta, CAUTION Roadbusters 25 Years, Candler Park Neighborhood Org. (Sept. 16, 2016), https://candlerpark.org/caution-roadbusters-25-years/ [https://perma.cc/M36C-2Q9S\]. ↩︎

  84. Id. ↩︎

  85. Id. ↩︎

  86. Id. ↩︎

  87. William E. Schmidt, Work Halted on Road to Carter Library in Atlanta, N.Y. Times 6 (Feb. 23, 1985), https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/23/us/work-halted-on-road-to-carter-library-in-atlanta.html [https://perma.cc/C7SL-KRCP\]. ↩︎

  88. Saporta, supra note 83. ↩︎

  89. Laura Starratt, Frederick Law Olmsted’s Atlanta Legacy, Atlanta Studies (Mar. 7, 2019), https://atlantastudies.org/2019/03/07/laura-starratt-frederick-law-olmsteds-atlanta-legacy/ [https://perma.cc/T97B-AWE6\]. ↩︎

  90. Susan Rose, How Intown Atlanta Was Saved from The Stone Mountain Expressway, The Messenger (Nov. 2, 2016), https://parkrealtyatlanta.com/intown-atlanta-saved-stone-mountain-expressway/ [https://perma.cc/GA8J-9NAD\]. ↩︎

  91. Id. ↩︎

  92. Saporta, supra note 83. ↩︎

  93. Id.; Gov. Zell Miller, Nat’l Governors Ass’n, https://www.nga.org/governor/zell-miller/ [https://perma.cc/SDB8-8M4J\]. ↩︎

  94. Saporta, supra note 83. ↩︎

  95. Id. ↩︎

  96. Id.; infra Part A. ↩︎

  97. LEWIS, John R., History, Art & Archives U.S. House of Representatives, https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/16948) [https://perma.cc/FR7P-7MKE\]. ↩︎

  98. Past Officers, Candler Park Neighborhood Org., https://candlerpark.org/past-officers/ [https://perma.cc/BKY2-YHT8\]. ↩︎

  99. Saporta, supra note 83. ↩︎

  100. See Myles Fogle & James Granade, Beltline Rail: How Public Transit is Funded in Atlanta and the Evolving Financial Aspects Surrounding the Atlanta Beltline, Ga. St. U. L. Rev. Blog (Nov. 1, 2024), https://gsulawreview.org/post/2790-beltline-rail-how-public-transit-is-funded-in-atlanta-and-the-evolving-financial-aspects-surrounding-the-atlanta-beltline [https://perma.cc/AXV8-4KUU\] (explaining how “[m]ore chaos ensued when city officials began criticizing the disruption caused by MARTA for choosing to use millions of dollars to rehabilitate Five Points Station in Downtown Atlanta”). ↩︎

  101. Riley Bunch, MARTA Pauses Access Closures of Five Points Station During Renovation, Atlanta J.-Const. (July 3, 2024), https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/marta-pauses-access-closures-of-five-points-station-during-renovation/ITXBXZCIMFDONDO7ZG73FNPPLM/ [https://perma.cc/CJB3-NY5M\]. ↩︎

  102. Rebekka Schramm, MARTA Board to Meet for First Time Since Postponement of Five Points Project, Atlanta News First (July 18, 2024, 7:20 AM), https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/07/18/marta-board-meet-first-time-since-postponement-five-points-project/ [https://perma.cc/FS62-NT4Z\]. ↩︎

  103. Bunch, supra note 101. ↩︎

  104. David Wickert, MARTA: Mayor Considers 10-Year Fix for Five Points, Atlanta J.-Const. (July 18, 2024), https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/marta-mayor-considers-10-year-fix-for-five-points/PS4HJGILJBEP3DZYMXIWZQZFNY/ [https://perma.cc/P2GH-NF45\]. ↩︎

  105. Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon, Activists Mobilize to Keep Five Points MARTA Station Open, Atlanta Civic Circle (June 25, 2024), https://atlantaciviccircle.org/2024/06/25/five-points-marta-station-atlanta-closing-activists/ [https://perma.cc/SX3C-2LZU\]. ↩︎

  106. Id. ↩︎

  107. Reynoldstown Banner Unfurl, BeltLine Rail Now! (Aug. 17, 2024), https://beltlinerailnow.com/upcoming-events/2024/8/17/reynoldstown-banner-unfurl [https://perma.cc/EZU2-V8ZQ\]; Maria Saporta, Doug Shipman: ‘Rail is the only viable solution’ for Atlanta Beltline, SaportaReport (Aug. 19, 2024), https://saportareport.com/doug-shipman-rail-is-the-only-viable-solution-for-atlanta-beltline/sections/reports/maria_saporta/ [https://perma.cc/59N4-KHFD\]. ↩︎

  108. Saporta, supra note 107. ↩︎

  109. Id. ↩︎

  110. Id.; Council Members, Atlanta City Council, https://citycouncil.atlantaga.gov/council-members [https://perma.cc/5TJK-866G\]. ↩︎

  111. Grace Donnelly, Exclusive: Beltline Rail Now Calls for MARTA to Seek Maximum Federal Funding to Deliver More MARTA Projects, SaportaReport (Sept. 12, 2024), https://saportareport.com/exclusive-beltline-rail-now-calls-for-marta-to-seek-maximum-federal-funding-to-deliver-more-marta-projects/columnists/gracedonnelly/ [https://perma.cc/3WGK-QA3G\]. ↩︎

  112. Saporta, supra note 83. ↩︎

  113. Id.; Kevin M. Kruse, What Does a Traffic Jam in Atlanta Have to do with Segregation? Quite a Lot., N.Y. Times (Aug. 14, 2019), https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/traffic-atlanta-segregation.html [https://perma.cc/N7BM-TYA7\]; Joe Henke, Atlanta BeltLine is Nearly a Mile Closer to Competition as Latest Portion of the Trail Officially Opened in Midtown, 11Alive (Nov. 12, 2024, 6:24 PM), https://www.11alive.com/article/news/community/atlanta-beltline-nearly-mile-closer-to-completion-latest-portion-trail-opened-midtown/85-cafa9605-51c5-48a8-9e34-62fbdb79340c#:\~:text=Atlanta City Councilmember Alex Wan,continuing to meet that goal. [https://perma.cc/B7EH-7TAN\]. ↩︎