Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has a new greenspace advisory council, what he’s calling a “green cabinet.”
The mayor said the members of the council, representing 13 Atlanta environmental groups, will help hold the city accountable as it works on its long-range parks and recreation plan that was finalized late last year.
They’ll also advise the city on what Dickens said would be Atlanta’s largest-ever investment in parks, as part of an infrastructure bond that’s going to voters in May.
Dickens said at a press conference on Wednesday that he’s interested both in adding greenspace and in investing in much-needed maintenance at existing parks.
“We know besides public safety, another deterrent to people utilizing the park would be faulty or unsafe equipment,” he said. “So we want to make sure that as we look to expand our greenspace, that we also take care of what we already have.”
Dickens also said the council is talking about the South River Forest, a huge greenspace concept straddling the City of Atlanta and unincorporated DeKalb County, centered on the South River. The Public Safety Training Center being built by the Atlanta Police Foundation is on the Old Atlanta Prison Farm property, which is part of that area.
“We’ve talked about how to make sure that all of that land that’s there remains protected, and that we have trails and greenspace available. And to do so collaboratively,” Dickens said.
Park Pride, which is one of the groups involved, announced its largest-ever grant cycle. It will distribute $2.3 million, nearly a million dollars more than last year, to community groups for improvements and upgrades for their parks. According to Park Pride, 60% of the funding is going to parks in low-income neighborhoods.
The greenspace advisory council will meet quarterly.
