Atlanta has a great opportunity to prevent pedestrian violence while also reducing onerous parking requirements — ThreadATL and Propel ATL are asking for your help!
Council member Jason Dozier is sponsoring a set of zoning papers for the BeltLine overlay districts to disallow new car-oriented businesses like gas stations, drive thrus, and service stations, and to eliminate the mandated minimum number of parking spaces for new developments.
How can you help?
Ask your Council member to approve these papers at the full council meeting on Monday Aug. 21, 2023.
- 23-O-1003 (eliminate parking minimums)
- 23-O-1004 (no new drive thrus or drive-ins)
- 23-O-1005 (no new service stations)
Why this matters!
In 2020, the Atlanta City Council committed to Vision Zero, a safe system approach to eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries through safer street design and other proven strategies. Making our BeltLine districts less dependent on cars and safer for people walking is a great step toward that commitment through the design of our communities.
The impact of neighborhood design on pedestrian safety is well established. A report in the Journal of Urban Affairs last year found that higher parking supplies are positively related to more collisions, and a report in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found higher traffic fatality rates per mile among Black and Hispanic Americans, highlighting the inequitable outcomes of dangerous streets.
Also, several U.S. cities have banned drive-thru windows in the last few years as part of their efforts to make streets safer for walking.