ON THE AGENDA

Meetings

The Atlanta City Council meets Dec. 5 at 1 p.m. at City Hall, 55 Trinity Ave. For agendas and more information, visit citycouncil.atlantaga.gov

The Atlanta City Council Finance/ Executive Committee meets Dec. 8, 4 p.m. at City Hall, 55 Trinity Ave., to discuss legislation to make the city’s finances more transparent. The public is invited to comment.

The Decatur City Commission meets in open session on the first and third Mondays of each month at City Hall, 509 North McDonough Street, at 7:30 p.m.

NEWS

Atlanta Police Chief George Turner has announced he will retire at the end of the year.

A deal to sell the Atlanta Civic Center to a Texas developer who wanted to create a mixed-use development has fallen through.

Central Atlanta Progress wants to loosen the signage restrictions in Downtown to allow companies to put up large lighted and projected signage to create a Times Square atmosphere.

The city and Atlanta Hawks reached an agreement for a $192.5 million renovation of Philips Arena.

The City of Atlanta has earned its fourth consecutive perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s 2016 Municipal Equality Index.

The Atlanta Central Library in Downtown and buildings within the Atlanta University Center have been placed on the Places in Peril list by Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.

More Bikes

City expands bike share program to Midtown

By Collin Kelley

The city’s Relay public bicycle share program will have 12 new stations by the end of the year, including locations in Downtown and Midtown. Launched in June, the bike share program, operated by CycleHop, currently offers 100 bikes, which are available at 10 stations in Downtown. Relay will eventually offer 500 bikes at more than 50 stations citywide.

The new bike stations include:

• Piedmont Avenue and Auburn Avenue in Downtown

• Marietta Street and Forsyth Street in Downtown

• Centennial Olympic Park at Park Avenue in Downtown

• Peachtree Center Avenue and International Boulevard in Downtown

• Civic Center MARTA in Downtown

• North Avenue MARTA in Midtown

• Bobby Dobb in Midtown

• Tech Square in Midtown

• Midtown MARTA in Midtown

• 10th Street and Myrtle Street in Midtown

• 11th Street and Crescent Avenue in Midtown

• Piedmont Park at 14th Street in Midtown

The city and partners determined the new bike stations locations after gathering public input and consulting with cycling and community organizations. Once the stations are installed, the city will begin installing Relay stations on the Westside. Since the launch of the bike share program in June, more than 1,400 Atlanta residents and visitors have conducted more than 4,000 bike share trips and ridden an average of 92,000 miles.

Study released on high-speed rail line between Atlanta and Chattanooga

The Georgia Department of Transportation has released the results of a study to build a high-speed rail line between Atlanta and Chattanooga.

The study offers three potential routes with the fastest getting passengers between the two cities in just 88 minutes with trains traveling up to 180 miles per hour.

The I-75 Corridor route – identified by the GDOT as the “best performing alternative” – would have eight stations along its 128-mile route at a cost of approximately $8.76 billion. A second alternative would see the train divert from I-75 to Rome, lengthening the route to 150 miles and adding 15 minutes to the travel time. A third “worst performing alternative” would see the train divert east and add seven minutes to the trip. To see details and the route map, visit dot.ga.gov