Before the Beltline was the Beltline, I used to jog on it.
Back then, it was an abandoned railroad right of way, covered with kudzu and so desolate that my friends worried I was putting my life on the line when I went there. Sometimes, I took comfort in knowing my dogs were running alongside me.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
A few years later, when my business partner and I opened our restaurant, Two Urban Licks, in the old Telephone Factory on Ralph McGill Drive, that same right of way was out back, still abandoned and overgrown. But we watched — and participated — as a slowly unfolding miracle took place just outside what was then our backdoor.
The Beltline’s Eastside Trail officially opened in 2012. A couple of years later, Ponce City Market was completed and kick-started an amazing surge in new development. Now, that kind of economic and community growth is spreading along the entire loop.
But it wasn’t the new buildings or even the trail itself that created the miracle. The people of Atlanta did.
People walking their dogs and strollers. Running. Biking. Bumping into old friends. Creating events. Listening to music. Celebrating a beautiful spring day.
The Beltline has become a fabulous, elongated public square, a place where people — young and old, Black and white, Asian and Hispanic, able-bodied and mobility challenged — get from one place to another, enjoy each other’s company and participate in an incredible explosion of creative culture.
Pretty soon, it made business sense for us to reorient TWO urban licks so that instead of turning our backs on a vacant right of way, we would face the best public space in Atlanta.
Until recently, the city seemed intent on destroying this miracle. A totally unnecessary streetcar that somebody dreamed up in a classroom a quarter-century ago was being rammed through with no attention paid to what an incredible place the Beltline has become — and what might be destroyed in the process.
Finally, with Mayor Andre Dickens’ commitment to review transit on the Beltline, there’s at least a chance that the city won’t obliterate one of its finest creations.
Many small business owners along the Beltline share my concern. Some worry that they won’t even make it through the construction process. They know that many businesses along Edgewood Avenue folded while the downtown streetcar was being built.
Personally, I’m more concerned about the long-term impacts.
Once the streetcar is built, the two sides will be cut off from each other because barriers will prevent people from freely crossing the right of way. Thousands of trees and many acres of meadows will be destroyed. There will be far less room for art or spontaneous get-togethers next to the trail. These are all things that people love about the Beltline.
Will many people be less attracted to the Beltline once it becomes more cramped and metallic, less open and green?
Out of necessity, entrepreneurs are close observers of the lay of the land around them. Those of us who run restaurants and other customer-facing businesses are always on the lookout for threats and opportunities. It’s pretty clear to me which of those the Beltline streetcar is.
I’ve long thought the better course was obvious. We should expand on the Beltline’s success and make it safer for everyone by building a separate path for pedestrians through the green right of way set aside for rail. That way people on foot won’t have to worry about getting hit by scooters and bicycles. And the scooters and bicycles won’t be frustrated by having to weave around pedestrians.
Then, we should take the money we saved by not throwing it into the streetcar and put it into building more transit in places where it’s actually needed.
My colleagues and I love the Beltline. We’ve watched it grow, change and develop its own unique culture. We’ve built businesses that tap into that culture and help to make it better. And, of course, many of us have given back by contributing to the Beltline itself.
Yes, our businesses are tied to that miracle. But it’s not just our businesses. Our hearts are tied to the Beltline as well.
And those hearts are aching over what might happen if this unnecessary streetcar continues down the track.
Bob Amick is owner and founder of Concentrics Restaurants. From the early 1970s, he was a partner in Peasant Restaurants and grew the company from one location to 42 nationwide. He played a major role in creating Mick’s Restaurants and City Grill, among other concepts. Later, he founded Concentrics, which is known for its chef-driven, award-winning restaurants, including One Midtown Kitchen, Two Urban Licks, TAP, Trois and, most recent, Bully Boy.
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