On March 20, we held our first Quarterly Briefing of 2012 and decided to change it up a bit and try something new. This year, we’ve decided to rotate the public meeting to a different quadrant of the city (and the Atlanta BeltLine corridor) each quarter. This gives our guests a chance to see the breadth of our Atlanta BeltLine neighborhoods, explore various parts of the city, and bring more awareness to the scope of the project and the ground it covers. While we may be hosting the presentation in a certain part of town, the Quarterly Briefings will continue to cover the progress made on the whole project during the previous quarter. We encourage all of you to come to each and every one of them and refresh yourself with the project and the latest updates!
Tuesday night’s meeting was held at Atlanta Technical College in southwest Atlanta and we welcomed a lot of new faces. Thanks to all of our regular attendees and volunteers who made it out. If you were there, you were lucky enough to taste the burritos from Food for Life Supreme, a local restaurant in the West End, a southwest Atlanta BeltLine neighborhood.
The presentation included an overview from our President and CEO Brian Leary during which he talked about construction progress, the Business Opportunity Forums, the Organic Land Care Symposium, and new team members Brian Hooker and Jenny Pittam.
Beth McMillan, our Director of Community Engagement, spoke about the adoption of our final master plan (which brings to conclusion the 4.5 year master planning phase!), our upcoming meetings, and our outreach efforts, including our latest Citywide Conversation on Environmental Justice.
Fred Yalouris, our Director of Design, filled us in on Eastside Trail design and construction and Art on the Atlanta BeltLine 2012.
Nate Conable, our transit guru, delved into the Transportation Referendum – the one percent sales tax that is up for a vote on July 31, 2012 that will build 10.2 miles of transit of the Atlanta BeltLine, midtown and downtown. Nate also showed photos of forward-thinking, wire-free streetcars now running in Europe to show what the kinds of innovative technologies different cities are using, and what could be possible here in Atlanta.
Valarie Wilson of the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership covered our volunteer programs, the running series and the Annual Campaign and membership and Capitol Campaign. By the way, you should check out our facebook fan page today if you haven’t already!
Flip through the slides of the whole Quarterly Briefing from the comfort of your own home right now!
Audience members posed questions about affordable housing, vacancies, job programs, and more. We would love to answer any questions you may have about the Atlanta BeltLine, so be sure to stay tuned for our next Quarterly Briefing date and location in June 2012!
