Piedmont Park

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Piedmont Park.

Piedmont Park is the "Central Park" of Atlanta, Georgia, located in Midtown, north of the city center. Originally the land was owned by a Dr. Benjamin Franklin Walker, who used it as his out-of-town gentleman's farm and residence. He sold it in 1887 for use as the site of the Piedmont Exposition, during which the first commercial showing of a motion picture in the U.S. was made. The park today is largely as Joseph Forsyth Johnson designed it for the exposition. After that, the Piedmont Driving Club purchased it for their golf course and club. The original Walker residence has been incorporated as a room in the clubhouse.

1 History and Design
2 Current usage
3 Controversy
4 External links

[edit] History and Design

Lake Clara Meer.

Part of the park with the Midtown Skyline behind.

The Cotton States and International Exposition of 1895 attracted visitors from around the world to the future site of Piedmont Park. President Grover Cleveland presided over the opening of this World's Fair in October of 1895, and the first public performance of John Philip Sousa's "King Cotton" march was performed at the ceremony, conducted by the composer himself. Most of the buildings that were constructed for the exposition were made of local Georgia granite. The buildings were dismantled after the event, mainly so that the granite could be sold to absolve the debt that the city incurred to hold the fair.

In 1904, the city bought the park on June 15th, and in 1912 the sons of Frederick Law Olmsted (landscape architect for Central Park in New York) John and Frederick, Jr. were asked to design a master plan for the park while they were at work on Grant Park. This was never fully implemented, although during the 1980s and 1990s, revitalization efforts have used the plan as the major guide to making improvements. However, in recent times considerations such as holding special events and raising revenue have been deemed to be more important than the Olmsted design and the preservation of greenspace (see Controversy, below). The 12th St entrance at the building on the west end of Lake Clara Meer, the entrance and pedestrian walkway at The Prado, the large oval, and other features are the design of the Olmsted Brothers.

In 1892, Piedmont Park was the location of the second football game in the South between Auburn University and the University of Georgia. A centennial celebration was held for the park in June 2004.

[edit] Current usage

Piedmont Park is considered the focal point of the vibrant Midtown community of Atlanta. The park is home to various annual celebrations and events, including Atlanta Pride Festival, the Atlanta Jazz Festival and the Atlanta Dogwood Festival. A summer series of classic films, Screen on the Green, is also aired in the park for local residents. In 2004, Georgia Shakespeare Festival added an annual series of free performances entitled "Shake on the Lake" with Lake Clara Meer as a backdrop. The park is occasionally an unwitting but happy host to local cross-dressing street performer Baton Bob.

[edit] Controversy

In May, 2004, the Piedmont Park Conservancy unveiled a proposal sponsored and funded by the Atlanta Botanical Garden to build a 6-story, 783-car, fee-based, $20 million parking deck in the interior of Piedmont Park. The parking deck would be accessed by two roads that cut through the park, one of them about 1/4 mile long and the other about 3/5 miles long. The opposition was led by a community-based group named Friends of Piedmont Park (www.friendsofpiedmontpark.org). In addition, 20 of 21 of Atlanta's Neighborhood Planning Units that took a position opposed the parking deck, along with numerous neighborhood, environmental, and transit-related groups.

Opponents want the decision-making process to start over so that alternatives can be explored that would improve accessibility to the Park for all people, including those who want to drive to the Park. Alternatives include adding parking at locations on the edges of the park, using existing commercial parking lots in the area, expanding on-street parking during weekends, improving mass transit to the park, and improving pedestrian and bicycle access. Also, the opponents showed that the parking deck would destroy greenspace and wildlife habitat, create noise and visual pollution in the park, create significant public health and safety hazards, permanently injure the historical and architectural fabric of the park, and seriously compromise the enjoyment of the park.

Supporters say the deck plan will not damage too much greenspace in the park, help expand the park's boundaries and generate more cash for two private organizations that operate in the park, especially by making it easier for them to hold high-end special events.

On November 21, 2005, the Parking Deck measure was approved by the Atlanta City Council by a vote of 12-3 and signed by the Mayor.