Arthur Blank Family Foundation

Editorial

The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation last week opened its checkbook and gave the city of Atlanta another 2.5 million reasons to proceed with the proposed Belt Line, an intown transit project that continues to show promise. The eponymous foundation established by the Home Depot co-founder and Atlanta Falcons owner will provide an initial $1.15 million gift to the Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit conservation group. The organization recently completed a report touting the Belt Line as a possible catalyst for adding more than 1,400 acres of new and expanded parks to the city's meager greenspace inventory. The foundation also set aside $1.35 million in the form of a challenge grant that will be paid when an additional $5 million is raised from other sources in support of the Belt Line.

The Belt Line has the potential to be more than just another run-of-the-mill transportation project, but instead a development tool that could help attract new housing, retail and recreational facilities along a 22-mile route that traverses more than 40 neighborhoods. The line would conceivably run on mostly unused rail tracks already encircling the city.

The $2.5 million gift is the latest evidence that this largely public initiative is picking up momentum. Developer Wayne Mason has already plunked down $25 million for a 4.6 acre rail artery owned by Norfolk Southern Railroad.

Boosters of the Belt Line are still facing a steep uphill climb; the Georgia Department of Transportation wants to reserve part of the line it controls for future commuter rail, and CSX railroad is running hundreds of freight rail cars daily on a key part of the proposed loop in northwest Atlanta.

While the Blank Foundation's timely gift won't be enough to overcome those obstacles, it will certainly help to keep the Belt Line chugging along on the right track.