South Downtown’s first test was a runaway success. During the World Cup, thousands visited the newly revitalized neighborhood and its local bars and restaurants. SoDo leaders called it a perfect “opening party.” Now what? SoDo is officially scaling back. According to CEO Jon Birdsong the neighborhood is taking a yearlong pause — and letting go […]
Author Archives: Delaney Tarr
Posted inDelaney Tarr
Breaking down the Beltline’s $265 million budget
The Beltline has approved its largest-ever budget, with $265.8 million funding the city’s emerald necklace as it speeds to a 2030 completion goal. Here’s a breakdown of the FY27 budget. Since 2023, the budget has steadily increased year over year – last year rang in at $242 million. It represents the Beltline’s final stretch, as […]
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Atlanta breaks ground on Monroe Drive Safe Streets lane reduction
“The overall goal is yes, we do need to slow traffic down in this corridor.” As Atlanta District 6 City Councilmember Alex Wan says this at the Monroe Drive Safe Streets groundbreaking on July 22, a car flies by at top speed, rattling over uneven pavement and the city’s ever-present potholes. Speeding, congestion and crashes […]
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Invest Atlanta greenlights $18 million bond to Clark Atlanta University improvements
At a July 16 Invest Atlanta board meeting, the city’s economic development agency approved an $18 million tax-exempt revenue bond to pay for construction of improvements and new amenities to the Clark Atlanta University campus. It will pay for a new dining facility, new North Campus gateway and the demolition of two vacant, outdated dorms. […]
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Atlanta marks 30 years since Olympics with documentary screening on the Games’ legacy
On July 18, 1996, the Olympic torch touched down at Atlanta City Hall. On Saturday, a group of Olympic aficionados will celebrate 30 years since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics at the Tara Theater. The theater will host a screening of the award-winning local documentary “The Games in Black & White,” which tells the story of […]
Posted inDelaney Tarr
SoDo is in full swing, but will it last?
It’s 10 a.m. on July 1 and Bottle Rocket Fine Food and Beverage is packed with rowdy soccer fans. They got an early start to the FIFA World Cup festivities. In the afternoon, England and DR Congo are set to face off at Mercedes-Benz Stadium down the street. The impending game has created an infectious […]
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ArtsBridge Foundation receives operating grant from Georgia Council for the Arts
The arts education nonprofit arm of the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre is one of dozens of nonprofits to receive grant funding from the Georgia Council for the Arts — a $10,000 “General Operating Support Grant.” The money is unrestricted funding for organizations with annual expenses over $100,000. In total, the Georgia Council for the […]
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Atlanta History Center opens ‘More Perfect Union: The American Civil War Era,’ its most ambitious exhibit so far
On July 10, the Atlanta History Center will open its most ambitious exhibit yet: “More Perfect Union: The American Civil War Era.” With hundreds of artifacts and roughly 9,000 square feet of space, the exhibit takes on the herculean task of telling the long tale of the Civil War. And it begins with a bang […]
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Bezos Earth Fund gives $9.4 million to Park Pride for Four Corners Park redesign in Peoplestown
Peoplestown resident and unofficial mayor Columbus Ward remembers playing softball in a vacant lot as a kid. He also remembers when it became an official park, and the effort he joined in to keep the park from being demolished. For years, Ward and his community have pushed to give Four Corners Park more resources. Now […]
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Martin Luther King Jr. Birth Home to reopen on July 4
You can quite literally hear the history inside Martin Luther King Jr.’s childhood home. The National Parks System pushes it through — the sound of silverware clinking in the dining room, soft music in the parlor and sibling arguments over a game of Monopoly. It’s an immersive approach to the early years of the Atlanta-raised […]
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Atlanta honors civil rights hero with local street rename
Civil rights activist John T. Johnson has never had fame like his peers. No schools named after him or special events, and certainly no street signs bearing his name. Until now. On a quiet street across from Johnson’s home, on June 27, the city of Atlanta unveiled a new street sign in West Atlanta named […]
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Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation gives $165,000 to 18 sites
The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation announced grant funding for 18 historic sites across the state, including $125,000 from the 1772 Foundation Grants for Georgia. Since 2023, the 1772 Foundation has partnered with the Georgia Trust to match historic grants. This year it gave funds to 14 Georgia organizations to help maintain their historic sites. […]
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Queer Atlanta filmmaker explores the ‘in between’ with debut feature
In August 2025, Atlanta-based actor Nicholas Molencupp decided he wanted to make a feature film. Now he’s putting the finishing touches on his debut feature as a writer, director and star, a project called “In Between.” It’s the object of many filmmakers’ fantasies. In less than a year, Molencupp went from table reads to the […]
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Center for Civic Innovation finds new home at iconic Prince Hall Lodge
Prince Hall Masonic Lodge and Temple, the so-called “Jewel of Auburn Avenue” has been home to many Atlanta greats over the years Martin Luther King Jr.’s only office, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the country’s first Black-owned radio station and Madame C.J. Walker’s Beauty Shoppe. Now it’s home to the local nonprofit Center for Civic […]
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Atlanta releases long-awaited audit of Tax Allocation Districts
A newly-released audit of the city’s tax allocation districts has three recommendations for the city as it plans to extend the TADs — and they’re all about transparency. It’s the latest in Atlanta’s ongoing TAD saga. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has spent months on a full-court press to renew six of the city’s eight tax […]
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Should Atlanta extend the TADs? School leaders aren’t so sure.
The Tax Allocation Districts are a touchstone issue in Atlanta. In his second term, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has championed the funding mechanism for his ambitious $5 billion neighborhood reinvestment initiative to rewrite the “tale of two cities” with development in the city’s neglected areas. But the TAD extension is a controversial proposal. Not everybody […]
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Volunteers take on downtown beautification days before World Cup
Just weeks before the World Cup touches down in Atlanta, hundreds of volunteers took to the streets for the 2026 “Together for Downtown Community Day,” a large-scale volunteer initiative to revitalize South Downtown. Hordes of volunteers painted murals, landscapes, cleaned up litter and covered graffiti at the all-day event on June 1. In total, organizers […]
Posted inDelaney Tarr
Atlanta Civic Circle’s newsroom closes its doors
After five years in business, the Atlanta Civic Circle is shuttering due to funding challenges. It was one of the city’s few nonprofit civic newsrooms. On June 1, the nonprofit newsroom announced via an open letter it would permanently cease operations after being “unable to secure the consistent funding needed to sustain our work.” The […]
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Inside SoDo, Atlanta’s ‘once in a lifetime’ project
It’s the kind of project that happens once in a city’s lifetime. Ten city blocks, 58 buildings, 16 acres and one developer all working to revitalize a historic piece of downtown. South Downtown – nicknamed SoDo – is one of Atlanta’s most ambitious projects. Piece by piece, the development team aims to turn dilapidated storefronts […]
Posted inDelaney Tarr
The Rialto celebrates dual milestones with some major changes
For 110 years, downtown Atlanta has been home to some version of the Rialto Center for the Arts — a movie theater, a shuttered building and now an arts and culture hub all on the same corner. Now the theater team is looking to the future. 2026 also marks a 30-year anniversary. In 1996, Georgia […]
