Downtown Atlanta residents have started a petition to reopen Centennial Olympic Park.
The Georgia World Congress Center Authority, which manages the park, closed the space in July. Executive Director Frank Poe said at the time that the authority had lost income due to the pandemic and couldn’t afford to keep the park open for public use.
A leader of the online petition, Carter Johnson, said he has lived in the Centennial Olympic Park area for six years and its closure has further diminished quality of life during the coronavirus pandemic. The petition has more than 500 signatures.
Some areas of the park are accessible — such as the dog park, sidewalks and the bike path — but Johnson said neighbors want to picnic and utilize the green space with social distancing measures.
“This is for those of us that made the choice to live downtown near a central green space in the fresh air, and enjoy the park with our dogs,” said Johnson, regarding the petition.
The Georgia World Congress Center Authority is a state-owned entity that funds the upkeep and preservation of the park. The Georgia World Congress Center and Centennial Olympic Park generate their own revenue, said Communications Director Holly Richmond.
In normal times a team of 30 people maintain the park’s security, landscaping, maintenance and other operations, Richmond said, but those responsibilities are now being handled by two people and some contractors.
In a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the authority’s Executive Director Poe said the park is being maintained for future use. “Our obligation is to preserve the long-term viability of these assets. We want nothing more than to see event activity return and the vibrancy of downtown restored.”
Johnson said he wants the petition about the park closure to gain the attention of state senators and representatives.
“The number of people who live downtown is not very big but this is really a point of frustration for all of us,” Johnson said.
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