What Buckhead Can Learn from Other Cities

The following op-ed written by Jim Durrett appeared in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Sept. 19, 2024

 

Last month I traveled to New York with other metro Atlanta leaders to glean insights into what is working well in that world-class city and bring back lessons for our own.

What struck me most was the emphasis they are placing on open space. Leaders have identified open space within business districts as critically important to future-proof places of commerce, and the city even has a so-called “czar of the public realm” to encourage the development of shared public spaces.

We may not have a “czar of the public realm,” but Buckhead shares New York’s commitment to the value of open spaces, especially within our commercial core. In fact, for 25 years the Buckhead Community Improvement District has been working to make meaningful improvements in the public realm and transportation network that connect people and places. Creating new and better connections is critical for a vibrant Buckhead business district to thrive well into the 21st century.

For the first 10 years of our existence, we created plans to guide future investments and launched two important projects including the transformation of Peachtree Road from a traffic sewer to a complete, safe street. In the past 15 years, we have completed an additional 16 projects, with seven currently under design or construction. Every one of them enhances the public realm within our live-work-play district. From the Lenox boardwalk that has just started construction to the pedestrian paths and protected bike lanes we are creating as part of the Wieuca Road at Phipps Boulevard roundabout, every project is designed to encourage walking and cycling and to enhance public spaces.

When I came to the Buckhead CID, I spent some time really getting to know the members of the board. Charlie Ackerman was one of those members, and I distinctly remember his comments as we walked along Peachtree one afternoon. He said that the Buckhead commercial core was missing something important – a significant gathering place for the community.

Five and a half years later we began to address Charlie’s wish, and that was the beginning of our effort to create HUB404, the most important project we are pursuing. The project took a major step forward recently when we were awarded a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to help us build bridges for pedestrians and cyclists at the Lenox Road and Georgia 400 interchange. These bridges, an important aspect of turning Lenox Road into a complete, safe street, will also be effectively the first phase of HUB404. And this week we are selecting the team to take the HUB404 concept plan to the next level of design and engineering.

Places that invite safe and comfortable walking and cycling as attractive options and activities, with outdoor spaces for the community to gather, are increasingly preferred by people as places in which to live and to work. And the more connected a community is, the better it functions for the people who live, work and play there. That’s Buckhead’s future, and we are pursuing it with relentless determination.

Jim Durrett is executive director of the Buckhead CID, which works with the City of Atlanta and its community partners to improve safety and traffic mobility, enhance the pedestrian environment, create better access to public transit, encourage better integration of land uses, and improve linkages to the region’s automobile, transit and bicycle networks.