The Atlanta City Council removed Buckhead from a long-term streetcar expansion plan at its meeting on Monday.
The far-reaching enlargement of the system was proposed to be folded into the city’s official transportation blueprint, the ‘Connect Atlanta Plan’. A streetcar line along Peachtree Road from the Lindbergh MARTA station to Lenox Square was listed as a ‘priority’ extension.
Councilman Howard Shook, who represents much of Buckhead, offered the amendment to eliminate that leg from both the text and the accompanying map.
“We know from previous analysis and discussion that a lot more thought needs to be put into this,” said Shook. “The day may come when the public will support sharing precious Peachtree Road capacity with streetcars, but today isn’t it.”
The amendment was approved unanimously.
The mere fact that anybody in a position of leadership for the City of Atlanta or the metro region in general would even propose such an outlandish idea(streetcar to Lenox) astounds me. It would be hard to think of a more ridiculous proposal. Of course, it was defeated, but you have to wonder how such nonsense made it that far. This crowd cannot be trusted with planning our city’s future else that future will be a jumbled mess.