A framework to divvy up $30 million in community redevelopment funding around the new Falcons stadium was approved by the Atlanta City Council 14-0 during Monday’s meeting. The Vine City, English Avenue and Castleberry Hill neighborhoods around the new stadium will be the beneficiaries. A committee of community and city leaders have been meeting for months to explore how to handle the money, and many of those meetings have been contentious.
Councilman Ivory Young said the framework has been months in the making and recognized the difficulties in getting to an agreement. He cited how the original building of the Georgia Dome had made residents suspicious. “A lot of the angst from the community is justified,” Young said. “When you have the state come to your neighborhood with no engagement and take churches, homes and businesses you have a community that watches and witnesses and has nothing but anxiety about government intentions.”
Councilwoman Felicia Moore said she hoped the community committee would continue to meet. “This should be the beginning of the process and not the end,” she said. “The last thing we want is to get a new stadium, but be in the same place we were after the Dome was built.”
Moore said there were still questions about how funding will be executed or a timeline set on how the process will proceed. The communities have wish lists for improvement projects, but a final list has not been finalized.