HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 9/19/2023 - Memorandum From Lachlan Woods Re: National League Of Cities – Best Practice Tour: Atlanta
City Manager’s Office
City Hall
300 LaPorte Ave.
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.221.6505
970.224.6107 - fax
fcgov.com
MEMORANDUM
Date: September 13, 2023
To: Mayor and City Councilmembers
Thru: Kelly DiMartino, City Manager
Tyler Marr, Deputy City Manager
From: Lachlan Woods, Graduate Management Assistant
Subject: National League of Cities - Best Practice Tour: Atlanta
Bottom Line:
Below are options for additional site tours in Atlanta during the NLC conference. Please let
staff know which options Councilmembers are most interested in pursuing.
Background
Every year members of the City Council attend the National League of Cities City Summit
conference and staff provides them with a number of potential “best practice” sites in the host
city that they could visit. These options are in addition to any mobile workshops offered as part
of the official conference and are meant to provide Councilmembers with insight into how other
cities are handling issues that the City of Fort Collins also faces. The mobile workshops offered
by the conference are listed at the end of this memorandum for reference.
Ponce City Market & Atlanta BeltLine
The Ponce City Market is a mixed-use development in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward
neighborhood that converted a former city facility into a retail, entertainment, and food space
with both apartments and short-term rentals. The Market is located on the Atlanta BeltLine, a
transportation and economic development projects that connects 45 neighborhoods across the
city through a 22-mile loop of multi-use trails and parks.
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA)
MARTA’s Homeless Outreach and Proactive Engagement (HOPE) program pairs experienced
case managers with uniformed security officers to respond to homeless people sheltering on
MARTA property. The program seeks to connect homeless people with available resources in
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the community, avoid unnecessary police involvement in non-criminal activities, and maintain
the safety and quality of the transportation system. The program recorded 4,452 engagements
between August 2020 and April 2022, resulting in 382 people being connected with shelter,
1,353 people being referred to other programs and services, and 47 being reunited with family
members.
The Stitch
The Stitch is a proposed highway cap project that would build a new structure over top of the
Downtown Connector highway that runs through Atlanta. The project is estimated to create 14
acres of urban greenspace, nearly 3,000 affordable housing units, and enhanced
transportation options along the ¾ mile platform built above the Connector. This ambitious
project is a partnership between Central Atlanta Progress, the City of Atlanta, MARTA, and the
Atlanta Regional Commission and has received federal funding from the DOT and HUD.
Atlanta Department of Transportation
ADOT has convened a task force of local partners to develop and implement the City’s Action
Plan for achieving zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries. A final report on the official action
plan is expected to be released in October 2023. One part of Atlanta’s Vision Zero plan that
has already been completed is lowering the standard speed limit throughout the city to 25 mph.
Center for Hard to Recycle Materials (CHaRM)
CHaRM is a permanent drop-ff recycling facility operated by the nonprofit Live Thrive. They
report that 96% of the items they receive are recycled, re-purposed, or re-engineered,
including 2,800 tons of materials in 2022. The facility recently started a home pickup service
and is in the process of expanding it to include more neighborhoods.
NLC Mobile Workshop Options
1) Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
2) Westside Park Capacity Relief Project & Water Reservoir and Pumping Station
3) Mercedes Benz Stadium & Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame
4) Tyler Perry Studios
5) Atlanta BeltLine
6) Oakland Cemetery
7) Public Land as An Instrument for Inclusive, Thriving Neighborhoods
8) Urban Agriculture Tour
9) Martin Luther King Jr. Drive Innovation Corridor
10) Atlanta Civil Rights Tour
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