Beltline/APS vs. Eastside (Home Depot, schools, property tax)

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by arjay57

How come, jsvh? I thought the Beltline still had the money. Or not?

Funding // Atlanta BeltLine

Can the Atlanta BeltLine continue with the current agreement?
No. In 2005, economists projected that the Atlanta BeltLine TAD would generate $3 billion in incremental property tax revenue over 25 years. But then the Great Recession hit. By 2012, the projected property tax revenue dramatically decreased to between $1 billion and $1.4 billion. According to the original projection, TAD revenues in 2014 would be $47 million. But actual TAD revenues in 2014 were only $18 million. All those TAD funds are required to pay bondholders, are committed as local match to capital improvement projects currently underway, and are paying program and project management expenses required to implement the Atlanta BeltLine. If the $6.75 million annual payment is made to the Atlanta Public Schools, all money for operations will be gone, Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. will be shut down, and there will be no expansion of the Atlanta BeltLine to new neighborhoods.

Originally Posted by tikigod311

Maybe they can just sign over that check they got from Porsche

To put it in scale of how much APS is asking for, the Porsche donation would only cover 7.5% of one year of APS payments, or 0.3% of the total amount. If they get a Porsche-sized donations every day for about the rest of the year (337 $500K donations), they can pay off APS.

Meanwhile APS controls its own tax rate and has about the highest per-student collections in the metro. It's budget is more than the entire rest of the City of Atlanta combined.

Schools should be well funded, but there is plenty of room for both well funded schools and the continuation of the Beltline. Both sides need to move past their egos to reach a resolution.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

If the Beltline had the money to hand over, there wouldn't be nearly as bad of a fuss. There's a reason the city is fightibg so hard to keep the money in Beltline's hands.



It wouln't cover nearly enough to make a dent in the debt.

The Beltline has plenty of money to pay it. They just wouldn't be able to develop anything for a while without the city helping.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by bu2

The Beltline has plenty of money to pay it. They just wouldn't be able to develop anything for a while without the city helping.

They also wouldn't have money to operate as an entity, and because of that, it would kill the remainder of the project (and any future $$$ APS would get from increased property tax revenue due to the project).

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by bu2

The Beltline has plenty of money to pay it. They just wouldn't be able to develop anything for a while without the city helping.

If they had to money to pay it, they would be quite a bit further along in their construction efforts.

Originally Posted by Gulch

They also wouldn't have money to operate as an entity, and because of that, it would kill the remainder of the project (and any future $$$ APS would get from increased property tax revenue due to the project).

Exactly. Why should we kill the single most important piece of city planning we've seen, in favor of an already bloated school system, when there are plenty of options for compromise that leave both parties in favor.

[koko339]

When are we ever going to get a connection from the Eastside Trail down to Ponce Ave?

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by koko339

When are we ever going to get a connection from the Eastside Trail down to Ponce Ave?

There is currently one from Murder Kroger to the BeltLine, PCM is building a connection to the building and a connection tot North Ave. So there are options that are not out of the way.

[koko339]

Do the owners of the Whole Foods shopping center have any interest in connecting?

[magnetar]

Originally Posted by bu2

The Beltline has plenty of money to pay it. They just wouldn't be able to develop anything for a while without the city helping.

Why are you so insistent on proffering an opinion on subjects where you are clearly ignorant? You refuse to go to a meeting, you refuse to listen to people who do, and you still make statements like this that have zero basis in fact. Please document this bizarre assertion of yours.

[onemanarmy]

Originally Posted by koko339

Do the owners of the Whole Foods shopping center have any interest in connecting?

I suspect not, the entire shopping center is a disaster and a parking nightmare. If you build a connection, it will encourage people to park without shopping. However, if they would have built a deck, or not wasted the land on surface parking it could have been a great revenue stream.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by koko339

Do the owners of the Whole Foods shopping center have any interest in connecting?

No, they have interest in making a permanent connection.