Long-awaited Memorial Drive Greenway moves ahead at public meeting

A decades-in-the-making plan to transform an 8.5-acre strip on Memorial Drive into a people-centered greenspace held the first in a series of public input meetings on Oct. 14 at the Oakland Cemetery Visitor’s center.

The Memorial Drive Greenway got major attention in 2001, when a breakthrough study identified the strip between Oakland Cemetery and the Downtown connector as linear greenspace. In 2016, Park Pride worked on a “vision plan” for the project. 

But each vision has stalled, until the city announced $1 million in planning and design funds to help make the project a reality. About half comes from the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation Park Improvement Fund, and the other half comes from the City Council District 5 discretionary funds. 

“The long-awaited development of Memorial Drive Greenway is a powerful example of what’s possible when a community comes together with a shared vision,” Friends of Memorial Drive Greenway member Brent Beatty said.

The project is also being helped along with partners like Integral Group, which owns some of the land, Park Pride, Friends of the Memorial Drive Greenway, The Conservation Fund and Mailchimp co-founder Dan Kurzius. 

At the Oct. 14 Open House, project designers Pond & Company showed a six-piece greenway split into uses: “celebrate, move, explore, gather, play and reflect.” Most of the crowd turned out for “move,” though, and it’s planned skate park. 

Pond & Company is partnering with New Line Skatepark Design to build out the park. It’s early in the design process, but for skaters in the area, the park is a sorely needed addition to the city. 

According to Tony Hawk-founded nonprofit The Skatepark Project, a city should have one skatepark for every 50,000 people. By that standard, Atlanta should have 10 skate parks. It only has two. 

Skate advocates have pushed for years to add more skateparks to Atlanta, and now they’re getting one on Memorial Drive. Some New Line representatives said it’s early in the process, and they will get “focused feedback” on things like terrain and transitions to design a park the community would want. 

Skaters weren’t the only ones pushing for their vision at the Oct. 14 meeting. Atlanta Preservation Center David Mitchell showed up to the event ready to push for his plan: naming the greenway after local icon Ria Pell. 

Pell opened up Ria’s Bluebird on Memorial Drive in 2000, and it helped to transform the area from a road of warehouses into a popular dining scene. Her restaurant was one of the first on Memorial, and it sits steps from the greenway’s planned location today.

“She was a lynchpin in seeing the neighborhood differently,” Ria’s Bluebird owner Julie Pender said. “Ria brought people together with food and community.” 

Pender was a longtime manager of the breakfast spot until Pell passed away in 2013 and ownership transferred to Pender. She said Ria Pell made Atlanta a “beautiful, warm and welcoming” place for people from all walks of life. To Pender, a park named after Pell could honor her memory.

“I can’t think of another person better to bind this project together,” Mitchell said. 

He pointed out that Pell was not only a beloved chef but a standout in the local queer community, and a spot named “Pell Park” would represent the welcoming space Memorial Drive plans to be. She was also an advocate for some of Atlanta’s “alternative” communities, like the skaters. 

“We lost Ria, so what better way to keep her around?” Mitchell asked. 

Of course, the rename isn’t so simple. The park is progressing thanks to private and public dollars, and a lengthy community input process is necessary to gauge essential park details like the name. No matter the name, though, the crowd said they feel “optimistic” about the plan finally becoming a reality. 

“This is what transformative infrastructure looks like: inclusive, innovative and inspired by the people it serves,” District 5 Atlanta City Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari said. “From skate parks to shade trees, the Greenway is built not just for today’s Atlanta, but for the generations who will inherit it.” 

There will be two more open houses on Jan. 13 and March 17, each at Oakland Cemetery Visitor’s Center from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Community members can also fill out a feedback questionnaire.