The Atlanta BeltLine’s second Quarterly Briefing (QB) of 2018 drew a crowd of more than 300 people to Friendship Baptist Church in what was the largest QB in Atlanta BeltLine history. The meeting included updates on the programs and progress of the comprehensive project. The main event of the evening, however, was a moderated panel discussion about equity.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms delivered remarks to open the panel and was featured in the discussion. Mayor Bottoms was joined on the panel by Odetta MacLeish-White, Managing Director of the Transformation Alliance, Brian P. McGowan, President and CEO of Atlanta BeltLine, Inc., Tim Keane, Commissioner of the City of Atlanta Department of Planning, and Brandon Riddick-Seals, interim Executive Director of Atlanta Housing.
The panel was moderated by Rohit Malhotra, Executive Director of the Center for Civic Innovation, who led the panel into a frank and honest discussion about equity. Our panel did not shy away from topics like affordability and income inequality, and some of the thoughts to come out of the evening included how good city planning can actually improve income mobility and what it means to engage the community on a deep level.
If you missed the meeting or want to watch it again, the whole event was streamed live on Facebook. The panel discussion begins at about 1:22.
As is the standard with our Quarterly Briefings, we also delivered project updates, which were summarized in a brief video that you can find linked below:
Check out photos from the evening in our gallery, and stay tuned for more opportunities to engage with the Atlanta BeltLine at beltline.org/community-engagement.
We’d like to thank our panelists again, particularly the Office of Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. We’d also like to thank Friendship Baptist Church for hosting the event.
