Buckhead CID chairman David Allman and executive director Jim Durrrett with Governor Sonny Perdue.
Ah, alliteration run amok. Public-private partnerships are all the rage these days. The leverage! The efficiency! The fact of the matter is that CIDs in Georgia have been leveraging private sector dollars with public sector dollars to achieve significant returns on investment for over 22 years. We have been doing it for 10 years here in Buckhead. I realized that when I carefully read Governor Perdue’s June 30 press release announcing $10 million in grants from the Georgia Transportation Infrastructure Bank (GTIB) for CID projects in the Atlanta region. The Buckhead CID will be receiving $1.75 million (the largest grant given) to help us complete our Peachtree transformation. The grant will allow us to start and complete the final phase, Phase 3, from Maple to West Shadowlawn, much sooner than expected.
So where are we now with our efforts to create Atlanta’s signature promenade? Phase 1 is complete, from Maple to the 400 underpass. Phase 2, from the GA 400 underpass north to the Roxboro / Peachtree Dunwoody intersection, is underway right now. Underground utilities are being relocated. Right of way is being cleared for construction and construction will follow. With our receipt of the GTIB grant for Phase 3, our goal is to have that project underway and completed at roughly the same time as Phase 2 is completed.
So why is the Peachtree transformation considered a public-private partnership? The commercial property owners – the private sector – have chosen to tax themselves extra in order to enable the CID to get the projects teed up and ready to go, and to partner with local, state and federal funding sources to get the projects built. Talk about leverage and efficiency!
buckheadcid Crop_GTIB Governor Phase 3 Buckhead Street Scenes May 2010 056 more >>
With new, walkable streetscapes planned for the Buckhead Village area, a new zoning district planned for the same area that would encourage appropriately-scaled mixed-use development, and Buckhead-based assets such as the Atlanta International School already in place, Buckhead CID executives and board members had an idea about a compatible and supportive economic development approach. We wondered if members of the international business community, who generally come from interesting, walkable, urban places, might be interested in creating a vision for, and eventually locating in, an “international district” that could be integrated into this part of the Buckhead community. So we have pitched the idea to these business leaders, and the response has been most encouraging. Let me give some background and explain where I believe we are headed with this.
For a few years now, the CID has planned a streetscape do-over in the Village, to be funded with Buckhead CID tax dollars, a matching grant from the Woodruff Foundation and local property owners. We have been updating our plans and are now close to implementation. At the same time, we have been hard at work, using CID tax dollars and a Livable Centers Initiative grant, to update the zoning overlay for the village area. We believe Atlanta City Council will be approving this within the next couple of months.
On June 22, the Buckhead CID hosted the quarterly meeting of the International Partners Committee of the Metro Atlanta Chamber. Members of this committee include consulates and bi-national chambers. My questions to the group following my presentation were these: Could the kind of walkable environment that would result from our efforts attract them to the area; and would any of them be interested in working with us to create the vision and implementation plan? The answers: A resounding YES to both.
I had the opportunity last month to join about 100 Atlanta leaders from the business, civic, and local and state government communities as we traveled to Phoenix for the Atlanta Regional Commission’s (ARC) 14th LINK (Leadership, Involvement, Networking, Knowledge) trip. These annual trips provide community leaders with opportunities to learn about how tough issues are being addressed in other metropolitan areas, to mine what we hear for good ideas to bring back to Atlanta, and to develop better relationships as we strive to work together to solve our region’s problems.
We learned about how the folks in Phoenix are dealing − for better or for worse − with water, transportation and immigration, and we learned how they are capitalizing on higher education to stimulate economic growth. One of the things that really struck me was how important the development of a light rail line connecting downtown Tempe and downtown Phoenix is to the revitalization of both cities. Transportation improvements really do create opportunities and drive development − just like what we are working on in Buckhead, especially on Peachtree.
I can also tell you that the relationships I developed and/or strengthened with many of the other participants will help us here in Buckhead as we continue to morph from an auto-centric suburban area to a walkable urban center.
Both photos in this post are from the excellent pieces Maria Saporta posted on LINK 2010 on her blog. My friends Joe Bankoff of the Woodruff Arts Center and Vance Smith of the Georgia DOT are shown above.
Every week is Bike to Work Week for me; but May is officially National Bike Month. This week, May 17 – May 21, is the real Bike to Work Week, and May 21 is Bike to Work Day. Biking to work in most parts of the Atlanta region is a challenge, to say the least. This city and region boomed during the age of the automobile, so drivable, suburban development dominates the landscape. Atlanta’s civic and business leaders and residents realize now that unless we work to transform important parts of our region, including job and town centers, into walkable urban environments, we run a significant risk of losing our competitive edge to other regions in the U.S.
Our Community Improvement District in Buckhead, the Buckhead CID, is working to transform Buckhead into a more walkable and bikable urban environment. I was given the opportunity to describe, in the March issue of the Southern Bicycle League’s Freewheelin’ magazine, how our transformation of Peachtree will benefit bicyclists. Take a look. And pull that bike out of the basement or garage and give it a spin!
With some apprehension and a great deal of excitement, I am counting the very few days until I am headed for the Middle East.
The Middle East Travel Seminar (METS) is an annual event that brings together 24 students from seminaries across the southeast, as well as six non-seminarians who also are recognized as leaders in various professions, government and the arts. This year, I was asked to participate as a non-seminarian, so they apparently lowered their standards, at least for me.
The centerpiece of the program is a three-week trip (May 17 – June 7) through Syria, Jordan, Sinai, Israel, the West Bank and Greece (yes, Greece). It is funded by the Pittulloch Foundation, with additional support from the Fraser-Parker Foundation, and the Cully A. and Lois Dowdle Cobb Foundation.
I am hoping to bring back an insight or two as the Buckhead CID works to make Buckhead a quality place to live and work for an increasingly diverse population. Regardless, I will get to spend time in amazing places, such as Petra, Jordan, with people unlike me, but probably more like me than I now imagine.
The Buckhead CID contributes $150,000 per year, or about 30% of the operating budget of the Buckhead Area Transportation Management Association (BATMA).
Buckhead Community Improvement District 3340 Peachtree Road, NE, Suite 1640 Atlanta, GA 30326 Phone: 404.842.2686 Fax: 404.842.2681 Email: contact@buckheadcid.com
