Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Atlanta BeltLine Quarterly Briefing 2009

On Thursday, February 26, 2009, Atlanta BeltLine Inc. (ABI) will be holding their first quarterly briefing of 2009. On the agenda for this meeting are a number of important BeltLine issues: 1)2009 BeltLine Priorities, 2)BeltLine Partnership Capital Campaign Update, 3)BeltLine Implementation Update, and 4)Affordable Housing Trust Fund Update. The meeting will be held in the auditorium of the Atlanta Public Schools Building; it will last from 6-8 P.M. These meetings are a great time learn about the status of this ongoing project. For further information, go to www.beltline.org or call ABI at 404-614-8300.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Completion of CSO Consent Decree


I was happy to present the following Proclamation to the Department of Watershed Mgmt. for completion of the city’s first CSO Consent Decree in early November. I am happy to report that the project came in on time and under the project budget. I have been working on this project many years and am excited about its completion. Below is the Proclamation that the City Council presented them:

In Honor of The Consent Decree Project Completions

Whereas, The City of Atlanta entered a consent decree with federal and state environmental regulators and the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper to repair and upgrade the sewer system to prevent degradation and pollution of the Chattahoochee River in 1998 ; and,

Whereas, The City has completed construction of the Custer Avenue Storage and Declorination Facility which can store 10 million gallons of combined storm water and sewage as planned; and,

Whereas, The consent decree included a $25 million Greenway Acquisition Program that purchased nearly 24 miles of stream buffer protection throughout the region that will protect them in perpetuity as well as separation of 33 miles of combined sewers, inspection of 73.6% or 1,111 of the 1,530 miles of sewer pipe and replacement of more than 60 miles of water pipes and mains; and,

Whereas, The decree also included the construction of the West Area CSO Tunnel at $190 million that, in two sections 200 feet underground, runs from northwest to southwest and another section that runs from downtown to midtown can carry up to 177 million gallons of rain and sewage – enough to fill the Georgia Aquarium 21 times; and

Whereas, The City of Atlanta celebrates compliance with the consent decree on the combined sewer system which included 55 deadlines at a cost $757 million .

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT PROCLAIMED that, we, the members of the AtlantaCity Council, and on behalf of the citizens of Atlanta, hereby join in celebrating these milestones that have improved water quality for our primary watersheds and additionally improved the quality of life in our great city.