It might be another two years before Atlanta swaps mayors, but the gloves among mayoral hopefuls are already coming off, and it looks like Turner Field's plight will be one proverbial haymaker of a talking point. Cathy Woolard, former president of the Atlanta City Council, jabbed at the current administration in a newsletter this week that pleaded, "I need your help to change the way we do business at City Hall," as the AJC observed. Woolard mentions "profound disappointment" felt by neighbors after the sale of Fort McPherson and cautions that any redo of Turner Field that doesn't provide housing and jobs "that can help lift people out of property" is a failure. She continues: "It would be quick and easy to develop this area of surface parking lots so close to downtown. But without connectivity to transit, pedestrian and bicycle options, we'll just dump more cars onto the highway. Without extending the street grid that was destroyed by the stadium and highways, we'll lose the opportunity to connect some of Atlanta's most interesting historic neighborhoods to each other and to downtown." Tough to disagree with that last bit.
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