At Long Last, the train is coming…

There’s real change in the Atlanta air this fall, and it’s more than the annual return of our spectacular autumn days with their colorful leaves. The completion of the BeltLine Trail, which began on the east side and is now built or under construction in many other places around the 22-mile BeltLine loop, means Atlantans all over the city will finally be more connected.  And at last, there is also a timetable to build the first stretch of BeltLine rail, long the City’s plan, and the reason for beginning the entire BeltLine endeavor.  

At a pair of public information meetings in mid-September, MARTA showed us how BeltLine Rail will begin to connect us through accessible, green, world-class transit with the 2.25 mile Street Car Extension from the Martin Luther King Jr Historic site to Ponce City Market on the BeltLine. There is much to celebrate here. We celebrate the milestone of MARTA completing 30% engineering. We have been paying multiple taxes to fund this project since 2016, when over 70% of Atlanta voters approved More MARTA. BeltLine rail is an essential part of those plans. It’s worth pointing out that the circular rail loop set in a greenway with tracks in grass, connecting 45 previously divided neighborhoods, and paralleled by a multipurpose pedestrian path surround by trees, IS the city’s plan, and multiple agencies decided on that at the end of the largest citizen engagement effort in Atlanta’s history more than fifteen years ago. 

In a sign that we are closer than ever to BeltLine rail becoming a reality, the voices of last-ditch opposition are getting loud and in some cases angry and indignant. It’s sad and sometimes disheartening to watch the ugliness of NIMBYism, privilege, and outright fear expressed in public meetings this summer- the fear that those who take transit are coming to commit crimes- and the assumption that this is a reason to keep us divided and in silos of disempowerment, and that we should not build the project we’ve planned and paid for. These voices have grown louder in recent weeks, and they have garnered much press and even special meetings with MARTA and ABI officials to air their grievances.

But, quietly, many more have continued to believe in and support the streetcar east extension on the Beltline. This summer, 11 BeltLine and BeltLine-adjacent NPUs reaffirmed their support for rail on the BeltLine, and many of them wrote passionately about why in separate letters. They are calling on city leaders, MARTA, and ABI to get going and get this project built as expeditiously as possible. This is so important, because their voices represent contemplative, deliberate, and democratic decision making about what’s in the best interest of all. We think it’s important to distinguish between the covertly expressed voices of a few and the publicly expressed views of the many who represent citizens in neighborhoods across this city.

The questions now remain what they have been since Ryan Gravel brought this transformative idea to Cathy Woolard at the Atlanta City Council and in turn to Mayor Franklin. Only we are now at the threshold of making the dream a reality.  Will we decide to embrace urbanism and equity and become the great city we can be by building what all great cities have- robust rail service that connects all quarters of the city- and by realizing Atlanta’s greatest idea of the last 20 years- the BeltLine, in its complete form? Will we connect this city, long divided by race and class, overcoming the geographic barriers the BeltLine is designed to heal and erase? Will we defeat the racism and privilege contained in much of this last-minute, last-ditch desperate opposition? The jury is out, but WE get to decide as a people, whether we want One Atlanta and The Beloved Community, which BeltLine rail is a vehicle to deliver, or whether we want taller fences, bigger silos, and ever more hollow promises. 

Here’s how you can help right now to get this project over the finish line and to show ourselves- and the world- what a beautiful, equitable, and sustainable project Atlanta, Georgia, decided to build.

Send a quick email to Mayor Andre Dickens, Transportation Committee Chair Amir Faroki, your council member, and MARTA leadership. And please copy us at info@beltlnerailnow.org so that we can leverage your words of support. Your words matter, your voice matters. They really do, especially RIGHT NOW.