News RoundUp The City of Atlanta has hired its first violence reduction director, a key initiative of outgoing Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ $70 million plan to combat crime. Jacquel Clemons Moore is serving as director of the newly created Mayor’s Office of Violence Reduction.
The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) has a new executive director. The ARC’s board voted in December to appoint Anna Roach, Fulton County’s chief operating officer since 2017, to head the 11-county planning agency.
Former U.S. senator and gubernatorial candidate David Perdue has filed a lawsuit seeking to inspect 147,000 of Fulton County’s absentee ballots from the 2020 election in an ongoing attempt to find election fraud in Donald Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden.
Shepherd Center has filed plans for a major expansion that will add housing for its patients and their families. The project at 1860 Peachtree Road will add about 160 housing units, more than doubling the current housing provided by the rehabilitation hospital.
Reconnecting Atlanta The Stitch, Atlanta BeltLine get millions in federal grant funding By Collin Kelley The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has awarded Atlanta a $900,000 planning grant for The Stitch, the city’s ambitious plan to cap part of the Downtown Connector with a park, and $16 million for the Atlanta BeltLine’s Southside Trail project. The Stitch would consist of 14 acres atop a platform spanning the I-75/I-85 Downtown Connector between the Civic Center MARTA Center at West Peachtree Street and Piedmont Avenue.
The transformative project would reconnect a portion of Downtown’s street grid broken by the interstate 70 years ago, provide a new greenspace, and spur transit-oriented development around the park, as well as affordable housing. The Stitch is not the only interstate capping project being floated for the city. The proposed Midtown Connector would stretch from 10th Street to North Avenue with a 25-acre park over the interstate, while the long-simmering park over Georgia 400 would provide new greenspace in Buckhead.
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The City of Atlanta Atlanta BeltLine Southside Trail and Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. were also awarded a $16.46 million RAISE grant from the USDOT for the construction of nearly two miles of the Southside Trail. The segment, which spans from Pittsburgh Yards in southwest Atlanta to Boulevard in the southeast, will be a big step for connecting the Westside and Eastside Trails. Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. A rendering of The Stitch. President and CEO Clyde Higgs said in a statement the organization was “incredibly appreciative to the USDOT and our congressional delegation for the recognition and support of the Atlanta BeltLine.” “This project is much more than public infrastructure,” Higgs continued. “With people at the forefront, the infrastructure investments like this one for BeltLine is improving connections to jobs, other vital transportation projects in Atlanta schools, and opportunities, enhancing equity and across our state.” and mobility, and fostering culture.” “This $16 million investment in the The RAISE grant will also leverage design BeltLine is going to substantially accelerate the and construction funding from the Special project and will help communities all around Service District and the Tax Allocation District Metro Atlanta,” Ossoff said. “When I was (TAD). The grant builds on $4 million in campaigning for the Senate, I made promises federal funding received earlier this year to deliver resources for the BeltLine, and I’m through the Atlanta Regional Commission keeping those promises.” Transportation Improvement Program. Construction is expected to get underway “When we connect our communities within approximately two years, following with pedestrian and bike trails, we provide the necessary preparations of brownfield a pathway for residents to enjoy local green remediation, utility relocation, and securing spaces and invest in small businesses,” said permits. Sen. Raphael Warnock, who helped secure the The 1.9-mile trail will include six ADAgrant along with colleague Sen. Jon Ossoff. access points, including ramps and retention “We bolster social and economic mobility for walls, and two enhanced at-grade crossings. The hardworking Georgians when we make strong total cost for construction of these segments federal investments in projects like the Atlanta of the Southside Trail is approximately $40 BeltLine, and I look forward to securing more million. At l a n t a I n t o w n Pa p e r. c o m
