The October meeting was held in person at the Grant Park Recreation Center, 537 Park Avenue at the corner of Sydney Street and Park Avenue. There was also an online Zoom option. Technical difficulties prevented the in-person attendees from seeing the presentation, but many in person attendees were able to pull up the presentation on their phones/tablets/computer via the Zoom link. ~16 members including steering were in attendance in person.
President Robert Selby called the meeting to order at 7:30pm. We are at the time of year where GPNA votes on the steering committee for 2026. Nominations were opened at last month’s meeting. He read off the GPNA leadership positions that had yet to receive any candidate nominations: President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Legacy Neighbors Committee Chair, Philanthropy Committee Chair, Economic Development Committee Chair, Fundraising Committee Chair. This includes the four top positions; if we don’t fill the main leadership positions per the charter GPNA cannot continue.
Motion to approve the September meeting minutes was put forwarded and seconded.
Treasurer Travis Peterman presented the financials. He said that one of the expenses we would like to get down in cost is the monthly storage fee. We pay >$300 per month for a storage unit.
September Balance Sheet and September Income Statement
Then there was a vote on a $500 sponsorship of The Atlanta Preservation Center Phoenix Flies 2026 Event – this was approved.
Public Safety Chair, Loyal Charles, shared updates from Public Safety and NPU-W / Zone 6 Meetings. The “Queens Day” event left a mess in Grant Park. Trash not picked up and damage done to brand-new basketball court. The city was there Monday to clean up and it cost several thousand dollars. Discussed considering a bond requirement, especially for first-time events. But Loyal believes this would have to come from the city. The current Zone 6 precinct office in Kirkwood needs replacing for many issues but currently has black mold. They will need to relocate while this problem is remediated. Overall, crime is trending down. Car thefts down 37%, car break-ins down 17%. Robberies are up often due to confrontations with perpetrators of car break-ins. The advice is to not confront–call 911 and report a crime in progress for faster service. Keep cars clean of anything that might tempt someone to break a window and tell your guests to do the same. E-bikes have become targets for thefts as has landscape and construction crew equipment. Note that Lt. Christopher Brown is the new evening watch commander, Lt. Maldonado who has attended several GPNA meetings in 2025 was transferred to a new role. Nuisance 911 calls continue to be a problem. Use 311 for non-emergencies; don’t call 911 because your pizza arrived cold.
Sky Hassan, provided Land Use & Zoning (LUZ) Committee Updates. Presentation/discussion of Z-25-60 / 1030-1040 Grant St has been pushed again. Was slated for October 23 GPNA LUZ & Nov 18 GP General Body. Now the cadence is Nov 20 GPNA LUZ. Then at other zoning meetings December 2, 16, and 17. The presenters wanted more time to have neighbor meetings with those directly around the development. The development would be a 300-unit apartment building with ground floor retail. (7-story mixed-use building). Meeting notices were already distributed to a 3-block radius of the property by GPNA LUZ and new flyers would go out with new meeting dates. The October 23 GPNA LUZ committee meeting will still take place so Sky can let those who call in know of the new dates.
James Austin, who chairs the Transportation Committee, could not join so President, Robert Selby, gave a transportation update.
A night walk and streetlight survey happened where neighbors walked from the Beltline to I-20 and findings on streetlights and safety will be reported to the city.
Complete Streets which is the “safe” Boulevard project was then discussed for about 40 minutes because of commentary and opposition by some residents in attendance to the part of the project that takes away street parking on Boulevard. The South Boulevard Safe Street Groundbreaking Ceremony is coming up and slated for Thursday, October 30, 2025 at 10:00am at Boulevard at Hamilton Avenue. It was noted by Adelee Le Grand who has lived on Boulevard ~20 years and who was GPNA Transportation Chair when much of the initial renderings were presented to the community in past years that all the initial drawings and information included street parking. It was felt by many that they used those renderings to get community buy-in and then the last/final one which was just presented a few months ago did not include the parking. Adelee requested information on the project to show why this was done. It was all read through and nothing could justify this change. In fact, some material said that cars on the street acted as a calming agent to motorists. Also, an issue was that there was a community meeting in August and those in attendance could provide their email addresses to be contacted about their concerns and have them addressed and no one was contacted. Another resident who lives on Boulevard for 20+ years, Bill Clark, said it recently took him 15 minutes to get out of his driveway and he needs the project to ensure that there is a proper turning radius for those with driveways who must now back out as an only option because they do not have alleyway access. Adelee then brought up a letter that James Austin who chairs the Transportation Committee wrote asking for the project to consider the neighbors needs and it has gone unanswered. After some back and forth on this, and discussion about why it just came from GPNA Transportation and not all of GPNA – this was discovered after President, Robert Selby, said Councilman Winston called him and asked if it did and he said it was just GPNA Transportation – and many found that not to be the proper stance. So, the letter was read and shared on screen on Zoom, and a vote was taken to change that stance. It was passed and Robert said he would get with Adelee and would send another letter stating the new position.
Laura Keen from the GPNA Bylaws committee then gave a progress report. Kick-off meeting held last Saturday with 5 members in attendance. President, Robert Selby, asked if they could please meet again before the GPNA general meeting in November so more solid findings and information could be shared.
GPNA Nominations Chair, Adelee Le Grand, then had the floor and again went over which positions had nominations and which did not. She has received interest from three people to serve on the steering committee, but that is not enough to fill all open positions. A motion was then made, seconded, and approved to extend the nomination period until the start of the November membership meeting.
Mike Walbert, one of the partners in the most recent proposal regarding utilizing the Grant Park Gateway then shared his experience and let us know that the city is not moving forward with their proposal for a food and gathering space. His team was not selected during the initial RFP when Savi Provisions was selected. After that deal stalled, he was contacted and asked if they were still interested. They were and moved forward. They asked for a couple of amendments to the contract – for instance, they wanted a 30-year lease vs 15-year – and changes were denied. The most egregious part of the contract was a “termination for convenience” clause that said you could be asked to vacate for any reason and without ramifications with a 60-day notice. The city is not providing and tenant improvement money which is usually standard in this type of large-scale project. Instead, the “winning company” will have to spend ~$2M of their own money to do the buildout. The contract seems to be boilerplate from an airport concession lease contract that the city simply amended. It does not fit the needs of a tenant for that space. Mike feels that we will continue to have the same outcome of a vacant building for another five years if some “noise” is not made by the neighborhood. It was then proposed, voted on, and approved for GPNA to form a Gateway Action Task Force. Adelee Le Grand volunteered to lead and Mike Walbert volunteered to assist. The following is a blueprint that Rober Selby read for what GPNA would like to see happen:
- Community Input First -Mandate a public listening session before the RFP process begins.
- A Seat at the Table – Appoint a voting community member to the selection committee.
- A Lease That Invites Investment -Revise lease terms to protect the tenant’s capital investment.
- An Efficient Negotiation – Establish a firm, time-bound window (e.g., 60 days) to finalize the lease.
- Proactive Promotion – Require city to create professional marketing assets to attract top-tier partners.
Ceci Villanueva, joined via online to provide Grant Park Conservancy updates and happenings in the park. In particular, the new playground construction continues and the community is invited to the grand opening on Thursday, October 30 from 4:00pm until 6:00pm. The playground will remain closed to the public until the grand opening, while final construction checks clear and it is safe to access the site.
The meeting ran long. Adjournment: 9:15pm.
