Last week, the Atlanta Beltline Partnership launched a new capital campaign for its Light the Line project on the Beltline’s Eastside Trail. The Eastside Trail is a 2.3 mile segment that connects Piedmont Park to the Krog Street Market. The Partnership is looking to raise at least $1.1 million for lighting needs. The Light the Line project will be a crowd -funding capital campaign and is the first project of this type used for the Beltline.
The Light the Line project was designed by Atlanta Beltline, Inc., the agency in charge of developing the 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit that will eventually ring Atlanta. The design calls for 130 low-energy LED lights 90-feet apart along the trail.
The crowd-funding campaign comes as the Beltline, Atlanta Public Schools, Atlanta Mayor Kasim and the Atlanta City Council hash out a plan to end disagreements over the sources of funding. The Atlanta City Council actually just gave final approval after years of negotiations. The Beltline had previously been using school tax money to fund the expansion of the trail.
The original agreements between the city, the Beltline and Atlanta Public School were settled right as the recession began in 2008. Expected development along the Beltline was severely stunted due to the recession and the payments of borrowed school taxes fell behind schedule. Originally, the city was required to make payments totaling $162 million through 2030. Under the new agreement, Atlanta will pay less than half of that amount, $73.5 million. Atlanta will also pay off the debt owed to APS, nearly $15 million, and pay $10 million next year.
Despite the slow start, the Beltline has picked up speed over the past couple years and has seen tremendous development in the areas where the Beltline has been completed. In 2014, the International Real Estate Federation called the Beltline “the best environmental rehabilitation project in the world.” Atlanta Beltline, Inc. CEO Paul Morris said the Beltline is adding more than 1,300 acres of parks, 20,000 new housing units and 30,000 new jobs and is having a positive impact on the city.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed even appeared at the 2015 Paris climate conference to tout the Beltline and the ways cities can guide policy to fight climate change. In an interview with Bloomberg News during the conference, Reed said “This is the most important set of meetings on climate action since the Kyoto Protocol. I felt that it was important as one of the leading cities in America and the leading city in the Southeast, to be a part of this conversation.”
In addition to the crowd-funding campaign, the Beltline will also seriously begin seeking federal transportation funding. In December, the city council approved the Atlanta Beltline/Atlanta Streetcar System Plan, a more than 50 mile streetcar system throughout the city. The streetcar plan should be a boost in the city’s efforts to receive federal funding. The first year of the streetcar had mixed results, with issues on fees and concerns about ridership, but the city is hoping with an assist from Washington, the streetcar can expand and be more of a central role in the lives of Atlantans.
