Ponce City Market parking fees to boost Beltline art, Lantern Parade, more

Back in 2015, when the adaptive-reuse heavyweights behind Ponce City Market announced that on-site parking garages would not be free, Atlantans accustomed to shopping-mall-style lots of gratis parking were up in arms—so outraged they took to the Internet to profess their outrage!

One local columnist even decried the blasphemy of paid parking as “urban social engineering”—a newfound love for top Atlanta officials, he asserted. (Fees are $1 per 30 minutes, or $10 for up to eight hours).

Ponce City Market officials countered that parking fees actually weren’t evil, in that they encouraged sustainability and would support, in part, the next-door lifeline that is the Beltline.

For the second year in a row, they’ve made good on that promise.

The Atlanta Beltline Partnership announced Tuesday that developer Jamestown will donate $100,000 to five key Beltline initiatives this year, matching a check cut in 2016.

Matt Bronfman, Jamestown’s Principal and CEO, said the donation of parking fees shows “our commitment to encourage alternative transportation, public art, health, and green space,” per a press release.

The $100,000 contribution will be channeled to:

• Art on the Atlanta Beltline (the South’s largest temporary public art exhibition);

Curbed Atlanta

• the Lantern Parade (a cherished Atlanta tradition that marks the start of each art exhibition, attended by more than 60,000 last year);

Josh Green, Curbed Atlanta

• Adopt-the-Atlanta Beltline (a program that connects community groups to Beltline volunteer opportunities);
• Free Health and Fitness Series (an ABP initiative that offers a variety of free classes to all fitness levels);
• The Run.Walk.Go! Series, which in 2017 will consist of the Westside 5K and the Eastside 10K races.

Exactly how each initiative will be supported by Ponce City Market’s pledge wasn’t specified.

• Dear Atlanta: Just Shut Up and Pay for Your Parking [Curbed Atlanta]