Category: Views From Peachtree

By Marcus Neville, Director of Public Safety and Operations, Midtown Alliance When the Midtown Improvement District was formed 21 years ago, the first imperative was for people to feel safe. At the time, Midtown was pretty disinvested, vice and prostitution were active and not a lot of positive things were happening after dark. We stood […]

Wilma Sothern, CAP/ADID Vice President of Marketing  While CAP/ADID’s work has not slowed or decreased during the pandemic, we have certainly noticed and adjusted to the absence of our usual slate of events and programs. Gone were our in-person Town Hall meetings, complete with pre-function networking and coffee. Paused were our jazz concerts and movie […]

By Denise Starling, Executive Director of Livable Buckhead  In a pandemic year when so much was unsettled in our world, asking people to share their perceptions about life in Buckhead was a risky proposition. More than once during the process of developing the 2020 State of Buckhead survey I was reminded of a golden rule […]

By Ellie Hensley, Midtown Alliance Editor and Producer After a long year of isolation and social distancing, pandemic recovery is just beginning to pick up some momentum. With the combination of spring weather and the steadily increasing availability of vaccines, it’s feeling more and more like we could be entering the late stages of this […]

By Denise Starling, Executive Director of Livable Buckhead, and Katie Gable, Program Manager for Mobility Services of Livable Buckhead The COVID-19 pandemic led to more people working from home than ever before, triggering an interruption in professional and personal routines that has continued well into 2021. With a national rollout of vaccines underway, companies are […]

By Fredalyn M. Frasier, Project Director – Planning & Urban Design, CAP/ADID Last summer, Central Atlanta Progress (CAP) and the City of Atlanta announced the launch of “Atlanta Legacy Makers,” a public commemoration of Atlanta’s inheritance exemplified by two Atlanta mayors, Ivan Allen Jr. and Maynard Jackson. This public commemoration—demonstrating dynamic use of public space […]

By Dan Hourigan, Director of Transportation and Sustainability, Midtown Alliance It’s unanimous!  Everyone is dissatisfied (for differing reasons) with what is happening at Atlanta’s curbs.  Drivers are frustrated when the delivery truck is blocking a travel lane; people on bikes fume about the frequency of vehicles parked in bike lanes; and the lack of consistent […]

By Jim Durrett, President of the Buckhead Coalition and Executive Director of the Buckhead CID, and Tony Peters, BCID Director of Capital Projects and Programs What really sets metro Atlanta’s community improvement districts (CIDs) apart from similar groups across the country that mostly go by the term business improvement districts (BIDs) is our emphasis on […]

By Paige Sullivan, Marketing Manager, Central Atlanta Progress Last month, Central Atlanta Progress (CAP) and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District (ADID) hosted their first-ever virtual Annual Meeting & Awards Tribute, presented by PNC Bank. Normally a large-scale live event with 800+ guests, CAP’s marketing department transformed the occasion into an hour-long special, called Good Morning […]

By Ginny Kennedy, Midtown Alliance Director of Urban Design There is no one with a more unique perspective on Midtown’s evolution along the Peachtree corridor than the Sabine Woman. Don’t know her? Let me introduce you. Originally commissioned in 1968 by Jim Cushman to stand in front of his new mixed-use development at 100 Colony […]

By Jim Durrett, President of Buckhead Coalition and Executive Director of Buckhead Community Improvement District In the midst of the attention to issues of public safety, homelessness, and potential zoning changes to address housing needs, I have begun to receive calls and emails about a different subject. “Whatever happened with that park project on top […]

By Eddie Meyers, CAP Board Chair and President, Georgia, PNC Financial Services Group I approach the end of two-year term as Chairman of the Central Atlanta Progress (CAP) Board reflecting on the immense challenges the organization, our members, and our community at large have weathered over the last year. As we enter 2021, CAP’s 80th […]

BY KEVIN GREEN, MIDTOWN ALLIANCE PRESIDENT AND CEO It’s a wrap. 2020 was a year for the history books. It was also a year of discovery as we learned how dependent we are on each other and found new ways to support one another. Midtown residents on balconies every night celebrating our healthcare heroes, thousands […]

By Jim Durrett, President of Buckhead Coalition and Executive Director of Buckhead Community Improvement District I want to dwell briefly on what has been a horrible year by almost any measure, but with a few bright spots from my perspective, both personally and professionally. But I also want to describe what we have to look […]

Alan LeBlanc, President & Chief Operating Officer, Brewed to Serve Restaurant Group My wife Cindy and I have operated restaurants on Peachtree Street in Downtown Atlanta for over twenty years. Opening Max Lager’s Wood Fired Grill & Brewery in 1998, and subsequently opening White Oak Kitchen & Cocktails in 2012, our restaurants filled over 25,000 […]

By Neda Abghari, Curator & Art Consultant  The power of art to provide hope, inspiration, reflection, and connection is undeniable. It is where we turn for solace, sometimes even escape, to simply feel. To sense more, to dream more, to dive into new realities, imagine new possibilities and reflect on those past. Art allows us […]

By Jim Durrett, President of Buckhead Coalition and Executive Director of Buckhead Community Improvement District In July I was honored to be asked to serve the Buckhead Coalition as its president and CEO, while continuing to serve the board of the Buckhead Community Improvement District as its executive director. Those that made the decision to […]

By Ansley Whipple, Woodruff Park Project Manager, Atlanta Downtown Improvement District  In a typical year, Woodruff Park, a six-acre greenspace located in the heart of Downtown Atlanta, would be teeming with activity and events, from a spring jazz concert series and summertime Food Truck Fridays to our WoodRUFF Bark pet pageant and fall movie nights […]

By Rev. Tony Sundermeier, Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta My regular run takes me from my home in Ansley Park to Piedmont Park, and then up 12th Street to Peachtree. Once I reach the Woodruff Arts Center and First Presbyterian Church, I head back home. The other day I was running on […]

Note from Jim Durrett, President of Buckhead Coalition and Executive Director of Buckhead CID: In response to queries from members of the Buckhead community about an apparent increase in the number of homeless individuals seen on the streets, the Buckhead Coalition has formed a Homelessness Committee. The charge to the committee is to better understand […]