Master Plan New vision being created for Downtown

By Collin Kelley

More than a hundred residents, business owners and other stakeholders converged on Marietta Street’s Gallery 72 on Dec. 6 for the first Downtown Atlanta Master Plan open house and meeting.

Hosted by Central Atlanta Progress, the interactive meeting gave attendees a chance to visit various stations to talk about and prioritize what they believe are Downtown’s most pressing transportation needs.

“This is the first meeting in a much longer process over the next eight to 10 months over the future growth and revitalization of Downtown,” said Jennifer Ball, CAP’s Vice President of Planning and Economic Development.

Georgia State University professor of planning and economic development, Dr. Joseph Hacker, touched on some of the areas of transportation that the city wants to focus on, including pedestrian safety and access, bicycling, and bus and rail service.

The last major iteration of the master plan was 2003’s Imagine Downtown. Ball said that since then there has been more than $4 billion invested in Downtown. The continuing redevelopment of Centennial Olympic Park, Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola, Center for Civil and Human Rights and College Football Hall of Fame are just some of the big projects completed in the last decade.

Part of the ongoing master plan discussion will include The Stitch, the ambitious plan to reconnect the heart of the city by capping the Downtown Connector with a ¾-mile platform extending from the Civic Center MARTA station at West Peachtree Street to Piedmont Avenue. This new space would create urban greenspace and foster new development both atop and adjacent to the platform.

Also factoring into Downtown’s future is the transformation of historic Underground Atlanta into a mixed-use development. The sale of Underground to South Carolina-based developer WRS is slated to be finalized in January.

CAP is encouraging residents to give their feedback about transportation and other aspects of the master plan via the planDowntownATL.com website or at facebook.com/PlanDowntownATL. On Twitter, use the hashtag #planDowntownATL or visit the Instagram account @planDowntownATL. You can also email your thoughts to plan@ atlantadowntown.com.

Public Safety Briefs

Erika Shields, a 21-year veteran of the Atlanta Police Department, is now the city’s top cop. Mayor Kasim Reed named Shields chief in the wake of George Turner’s decision to retire. Shields, the former deputy chief, helped spearhead the creation of APD’s surveillance camera network.

Atlanta attorney Tex McIver is out on bond after surrendering his passport and being require to wear an ankle monitor after he was charged with involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct in connecting with the shooting death of his wife, Diane McIver. Tex McIver told police he fell asleep with a gun on his lap while riding in the back seat of their SUV and accidentally shot his wife. He also told police he felt unsafe in the neighborhoods they were driving through after the SUV, being driven by Diane McIver’s best friends, exited the interstate in heavy traffic.

Crime is down in Midtown according to APD Zone 5 commander Major Scott Kreher. After a spike in late 2015, he said crime has been reduced 25 percent in Midtown. Kreher said putting officers on bikes, Segways and on foot have helped control the crime in the area.

The City of Atlanta has invested more than $350,000 in technology enhancements to the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) platform at the Operation Shield Video Integration Center (VIC), funded through the Renew Atlanta infrastructure bond program. Currently, the VIC integrates approximately 7,500 publicly and privately owned cameras, which significantly increase the Atlanta Police Department’s coverage and situational awareness of the city streets, using state-of-the-art analytical software.