GSU Law Review: Parkway fight holds lessons for Beltline rail
A 1988 protest on Moreland Avenue against the Presidential Parkway. Photo courtesy of the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center.
The Georgia State Law Review has just published an insightful article on Beltline transit and the role that advocacy groups have played in molding Atlanta.
“Build Transit or Separate Heels and Wheels—How Advocacy Groups Have Historically Altered Atlanta’s Public Policy” is the third installment by Myles Fogle and James Granade in their series on “arguments for and against” Beltline rail.
Fogle and Granade point for context to the neighborhood fight against the proposed Presidential Parkway, which ended in the early 1990s with a compromise to build the less disruptive Freedom Parkway.
“While fighting against the development of the parkway, the labor of lawsuits, protests, and fights yielded unexpected fruit: sixty-four pro-neighborhood candidates had taken office to connect the city with a common goal of community-led leadership,” they note.
Fogle and Granade have done an admirable job of conveying the debate over Beltline rail in an even-handed manner and sticking to facts. After several discussions with Fogle, I’m still not certain where he stands.
The first two articles in the Law Review series are well worth the read as well:
