Time for new focus at Stone Mountain park
Georgia does not need a park with a point of view. The world’s largest monadnock does not need a carving on its side or flags at its base to make it attractive to people from around the world. Metro Atlanta does not need a memorial to appreciate the natural beauty and the opportunities for fun within this massive conservation and recreation area tucked within our suburbs.
Georgia law should be changed to remove from Stone Mountain Park the duty to maintain a Confederate memorial. Its mission should be to promote the natural and unique beauty of the mountain itself.
Educational opportunities should be available in the park on the long and interesting history of human interaction with the mountain – truthful history – as well as resources for exploring and understanding its unique natural history. But the time for memorializing the Confederacy has come and gone. Let’s return the focus of this amazing local treasure to the place and not a tiny bloody sliver of the past.
J. MARCUS PATTON, STONE MOUNTAIN
Beltline not ideal for new transit stops
Kudos to the writer’s letter in the July 20 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution regarding transit in the Beltline.
My firm also studied development patterns in cities having rapid transit. These studies commissioned by the Atlanta Regional Commission found high density at transit stops. A density that no Beltline lover would find desirable!
I vividly remember Georgia Tech’s transportation class’s models of origin and destination studies almost always showed that the transit needs were home to work and back – not what the Beltline is about at all.
Sooner or later, commercial and office would take over the stations, which most of us don’t want.
TERRENCE L. LOVE, Ph.D., SANDY SPRINGS
