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~ r ~ ReLC. .A.P. NUMBER rn · CENTRA L ATLANTA PROGRESS, me. Do.es Atlanta Need RAPID TRANSIT This is one of the most important questions to face Atlantans in modern times. OCTOBER 18, 1968 2 PEACHTREE STREET, N.W., SUITE 2740 7 THIS IS NO CHOICE BETWEEN RAPID TRANSIT OR HIGHWAYS All of both that can be built will be needed. Response to this question will detennine ..... . But, it's perfectly obvious that highway construction into the central core cannot continue without limit. whether we grow or choke whether we have a strong central hub or disintegrate ATLANTA MUST MOVE FORWARD -- OR BACKWARD -- IT CAN'T STAND STILL, whether we go forward or bog down whether we compete with other regional cities or not in summary, whether ·we are to become a truly great City. RAPID TRANSIT IS NEEDED NOW . ... NOVEMBER 5th IS THE DATE OF DECISION .... A VOTE "FOR" IS A VOTE "FORWARD". BASIC PHILOSOPHY IMPORTANT A city can sprawl --- or it can develop like a wheel, with a noticeable "hub" and satellite development all around, with trafficways and corridors lihking places of residence, places of work, recreation areas, shopping and entertainment facilities. The dramatic concentration of new high-rise office buildings and apartments in central Atlanta is evidence of our commitment to the strong central . core type of city --- with other elements around the central core comprising a great Metro wheel. BUT, A STRONG HUB! In Montreal, a sparkling new rapid trans it system not only moves thousands of people to and from work, but has helped build an exciting new downtown. Atlanta can do li kewi se . ACCESSIBILITY/CIRCULATION VITAL TO THE HUB For the hub to grow --- and function efficie ntly it mu st be readi ly access i bl e t o t hose seeki ng t o rea ch it, and i t must be operable internally. Otherwise, the growth will go elsewhere. OF COURSE, R/T WILL BE EXPENSIVE --- BUT ... . ... . so will be the cost of not doing it. TELLING THE CENTRAL ATLANTA PROGRESS STORY in lost efficiency in accidents -- damages In the loss of Honorable Ivan Allen, Sr., Atlanta has lost one of its grea t citizens --- a person ,hose love for Atlanta and vision for its future have left an indelible mark. We extend deepest sympathy to Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr .. Executive Director spoke to the Nort hs ide Kiwanis Clu b Oct. 4th. injuries deaths in lo ss of development opportunities and the jobs and tax base t here in represented in los s of property values as streets choke up Will address Decatur Rotary Club on November 1st. Secretary of State of Florida, Tom Adams, visited Centra l Atlanta Prog ress on Octo ber 16t h to learn of this un ique particjpation of priv~te enterprise in a cooperative effort to build a better City . in loss of business activity in tryi ng to pay for less workable so lu tions (for ex ampl e, some ci ties have found that it costs as mu ch as $2 1, 000 average TO ADD TO THE EXPRESSWAY SYSTEM THE CAPACI TY TO MOVE ONE ADDITIONAL VEHI CLE. ) - In the current urban cr i sis, those centra l cores tha t do sound planning and act forcefully wi ll move forward the othe rs will falter. Bob Bivens �REPR INT FROM THE ATLANTA JOURNAL (By Ce ntra l At l anta Progress, In c. 9/30/68 ) Downtown: I 's the By TOM WALKER At la nta Joar na l Re a l E:i late Ed t111 r Like the hub of a wheel 1 the downtown core of a ma10r city is the axis around which its suburbs turn. Atlanta is no excepuon . From th is central point, the sprawling urba n community is held together in a meaningful pattern. Without it, these outlying areas would be just so many unrelated neighborhoods. This is why so much concern is expressed in Atlanta and othe r cities about the hea lth and vita lity of the downtown core. In aver real sense the siren o e eniire ur ban complex depends llpon the sfrenglh of the ce~ ,tral city. just as the extremities of a human being depend upon the beat of the human hea,rt. Ma ny agencies and individuals-both private and governmental-are actively engaged in -the business of keeping Atlanta'5 downtown strong. THE PR IVATE real estate developers are in t he forefront in this effor.t, with such major projects as: - Peachtree Center, an In-lel'llationally known deve lopment that will eventually en- · compass office, enterta inment and living space. -The projected " air rights" complex of office. hotel and retail bui ldings which Dallas deve loper Ray,nond Nasher plans to construct over the railroad tracks nitar the Sta te Capitol. - The sim il ar air rig11ts project which Cousins Properties, Inc . of Atlanta plans over the railroad right-of-way at Sprin g Street and Techwood Drive. - The Georgia State College ex pansion plans which will make way for a school of 25,000 students by 1975 right in the hearit of Atlanta . -The government center, where stale. city and county agencies are housed. but which will need room fo r expansion in the future . - Colony Square, a complex of office bu ildings, apartments, hotel, retail and restaura nt Facilities on P eachtree ' at I Hh streets. P L US DEVELOPMENTS connerted with the Georgia Tech campus. the Atlanta Civic Center and new highrise. med ium -r ise and Jow~ise office buildings in downtown Atlanta that. are almost too numerous to keep up with . And at some future date. developments associated with the Metropolitan At I a n ta Rapid Transit system will help transfi gure the downtown core . These are projects or plans which have already been made public. and have advanced to one or another stage of advanced planning or actual construction. But there are other dramatic plans for downtown Atlanta which are Hu The rime re uisites of a down own area, sa1 r. tven\ are that 1t be alfracLlve 1 : eas_ to ~el around ffi, and safe. One o the maior trends in downtown Atlanta development, he said, is the large-scale complex, such as Peachtree Center . Business News and Rea 1·Estate· Frido y, Septem be r 20, 1968 still in the formulative stage, but all of them are aimed at creating a stron~. throbbing central hub (or a sprawling metropolitan community . THE DOWNTOWN, however, is the center of more than just a prom ising future - it is the center of some. major ur ban problems which· will have to be solved before the promise can be ful filled . These include d o w n to w n blight ; ghetto and slum areas: deteriorming neighborhoods, within the very shadows of gleaming new office structures ; transitional business districts where vacant buildings sit idle within a short walk of F ive Poi nts , fin anci al center of the Southeast ; congested streets and clogged freeways - among others. Coping with the future of this high-density downtown core requires detailed study of literally every square fool of space . In its planning " you've got to ta lk about feet and inches where you might be lalk in1; about miles if you're considering areas Carther out,' ' sairi Robert W. " Bob" Bivens. executive director of Central Atlan ta Progress (CA P). A PRIVATELY FINANCED

The overall goal of CAP, said its executive director. ,s 1'to develop ideas that make sense and see them through.11 THE AIM IS NOT to come up with "me in the skv" nr2: posats that sound great, but are 1mpract1cal. The tdea 1s to come up with sensible, practica l proposals. A community which develops the .la!ter 1s m the best position to take advanta~ of mone which 1s ava1able rom ex1s m sources sue as a num er o e era agencies) , he sa1d 1 and also 1s m 6e!!er 9*s1t1on lo mlluence priva te evelopers. Associate Drrector Donald G. Inirram said : ,1We want to enllsF the pnvate sectbf I tD make ir1vate enleronse a earl of he ~rocess of fmd mg solutions . T 1s refu resents a iiewC!imens1on: I e mvolvement of the busmess community in the process of olannmg. II they are mvol ved , we th ink they wilt carry out the ~ " ""Aflhe same time, Mr. Bivens emphasized, CAP works closely with the public planning agencies in the overall search for an answer to the question : What kind of core dqes a booming. metropolita n area need, and how can th is be brought into reality? The central core of Atlanta is hard to deline in exact terms. As conceived ~ Central Atlanta Progress. it is somewhat lar~er than .!;!'•, _region which most people proba- · bly think of as " downtown." agency, Central Atlanta Progress , in effect. is the business community's own planning agency. as opposed to the publicly fi nanced planning departments of the City of Atl anta . the metropolitan area and the · St.ate of Georgia . GE NE R A LL Y, THE As such it is unique "locally, "CORE' ' is defin ed as the and possi bly is unique among area from Brookwood Station major cities of the nation. on the north to Atlanta StaAs Mr. Bivens puts it. Cen. dium on the south , and within tral Atlanta P rogress is th11 the railroad belt line extendlatest step in the evolutionary ing eastward beyond Bouleprogress of the business comvard-Monroe Drive and westmunity of central Atlanta. ward as f;rr as Maddox Parlt It was formed from the nuand Washington Park. cleus provided by two older organizations: the Central Al· One reason for selectinl! · lanla Improvement Associathese general boundaries is tion. founded in 194 1, and the the fac t that so much statistiUptown Association. organized cal data ts available from in 1960. · such agencies as the Census Bureau on neighborhoods that In .January of last year, have these fixed limits. CAP was organized. But .Mr. One of the fundamenta l Bivens explains, these organiproblems facing the future of . 1.ations were also restructured downtown Atlanta is trafficso that, in effect, a completely how to get there and back new association was formed . from outlying regions, and " It is not a rnromotional how to circulate within the ~roup. " sa id Mr. ivens, " but downtown a~ once there. I IS a Blanmng agency, Wtffi e x per I e need. mof•_ssional 1anners who have a strong ackground m pri vate enter- 6 rn, 1- D " Georgia State College is planning for a student body of 25,000 by 1975," Mr. Bivens said. " Obviously, even with r apid transit, most of these will drive cars to school. How will they get in and out? How will you separate pedestrian traffic from streets? These are some of the types of problems which someone has to be thinking about right now. " Said Mr. Ingram : " There is an overriding concern over just what kind of downtown area we are trying to achieve in relation to a city with a ( fu. ture) population of 3 millionplus. " In short, what ought to be downtown and what can be located elsewhere in the metropolitan region: how many and what kinds of jobs, how much office space and for what purposes, what kind of and how much bousing?-to mention just a few major considerations. " EXPERTS SAY, AND we agree, that all great cities have two things in common.11 said Mr. Bivens. "One IS an exciting central core, where people want to go to shop, for entertainment, go lo the theater, to restaurants-and it is a place that is active 24 hours a day. "Second, a stronf, . middle class citiz:WX 11ves ose to the c central core, he wen£ on. I his concen!rabon of people provides the leadership for U1e downtown and patronizes what the downtown offers-without, Mr. Bivens notes, having to commute many miles fro m the suburbs . What then, should go into the central, downtown core? Mr. Bivens and Mr . Ingram listed these: -More high-rise, high-income apartments ("Atl anta is really not quite ready for this now," sa id Mr. Bivens , " but we ought to be thinking ahead to that day, and take steps to make it possible" ). -Downtown •should be the focal point of cultural activities. ( "This is pretty well happening now, but we ought to strengthen it, " he said). This includes theaters, restaurants and great hotels, among other features. -A COMPLEX OF strong retail establishments, which attract shoppers not only from the metropolitan community, but from throughout the region. -A concentration of government offices. -A concentration of financi al activity. - -Merchandise and t r a d e marts. THE LARGE COMPLEX represents a new dimension, because this type of project includes the full range of human activities from homes , to jobs to recreational facilities and entertainment, r ight in the central area. While most air rights developments have been envisioned so far over railroad right-ofway , Mr. Bivens pointed out that air rights developments ROBERT W. Bl\, ENS 'Se nsib le' Solm in ns over freeways offers a broad opportunity for future development. Resourceful thinkin so ua so come u w1 10ns o e use o muc owntown l~nd that 1s currently not utilize to its maximum potential, the planners md1cated. One such area is the socalled "garment district" of downtown Atlanta just south of Five Points. Obviously in a transitional state, the main questions for this and sim il ar property would be: What land use would make the most sense here? AND ALSO IN THE slum neighborhoods-what would be the best use for land that is obviously not fit fo r human habitation? A dilemma here is how to bring the ghetto dweller into closer contact with his potential jobs? It is literally a geographical problem, since the job quite often is many miles from the needy person's dwelling, and the transportation between the two may be too costly, or inadequae. " We've got to work in the Jong haul on a sensible match of people with jobs," said Mr. Bivens, "so that people in the cities can work to improve themselves." This, in. short, is one of the i m m e d i a t e problems that must be solved en route to solutions that are mapped out for longer-range problems. �