Supporters of building light rail on the Atlanta BeltLine rallied in Reynoldstown over the weekend to urge Mayor Andre Dickens to throw his full support behind the project.
Organized by BeltLine Rail Now, the Aug. 17 rally occurred days after Dickens expressed ongoing doubts about the financial feasibility of building light rail around the Beltline’s 22-mile loop. He also posed questions if newer technology may be a better option for Beltline transit.
Matthew Rao, chair of Beltline Rail Now, said Dickens touted his support of the first leg of light rail, an approximate two-mile Atlanta Streetcar extension from Downtown to Ponce City Market, when he was on the city council and in his successful bid for mayor.
But over the past year, the group Better Atlanta Transit has lobbied the mayor to rethink the streetcar extension along the popular Eastside Trail, Rao said. The approximately $230 million is set to break ground next year and be operational by 2028.
“Over the last year, a project that is moving forward has had a lot of shade and doubt cast upon it by a small group of highly organized, politically well-connected and well-financed, mainly Eastsiders, who have the ear of the mayor and are causing Mayor Dickens, once the loudest proponent of this project, to hesitate,” Rao said.
City Council President Doug Shipman spoke at the rally to say his support for light rail on the Beltline is unchanged since his run for office three years ago.
“Equity will never be solved unless we have transportation,” he said. “We cannot have equity without transit on this corridor.”
“Affordability will never be solved unless we have transportation. Transportation in areas that have been under-invested in is not enough. Transportation from areas that have been under invested into affluent areas, is required,” he said.
The rally included the unfurling of a Beltline Rail Now banner on the side of the 912 Wylie St. building for Beltline users to see.
“There’s a large group of people out here in Reynoldstown and in other places … and there are folks in city council and in government and everywhere that want to see us move forward without delay on this project, because we can have trains running in 2028 if we don’t stop right now,” Rao said.
