Members of the Kirkwood Neighbors Organization (KNO) voted on Wednesday to send a letter to Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and City Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari outlining community concerns about traffic, noise and safety during large events at Pratt-Pullman Yards.
KNO initially reached out with questions in a letter from May 2022, but residents felt they didn’t receive adequate answers. Now, with Sweetwater 420 Fest less than two weeks away, KNO is requesting a response from the city this week.
“This is not a new concern. This is an ongoing concern,” Nicole Kibert Basler, chair of the KNO zoning committee, said during the neighborhood’s monthly meeting on Wednesday night. “No one is listening. And now, with the success of the Balloon Museum and the bigger events that they’re starting to have here, we just can’t continue to accept nonresponsive responses. We have to have some action.”
Basler noted that with the Atlanta Department of Watershed Management (DWM) currently installing a new sewer line on Rogers Street NE, congestion in the area is creating a dangerous situation.
Nic Cappon from Bakhtiari’s office echoed what Patrick Husbands shared last month at the KNO meeting: The councilmember has exhausted all legislative options.