President Robert Selby, called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. He thanked Oakland for providing the space for GPNA’s in-person meeting. Neighbors also joined us online via a zoom option.
A motion to approve the August minutes was made and seconded.
Treasurer, Travis Peterman, updated those in attendance on the August Balance Sheet and August Income Statement. He stated there were no big expenses in the past month and sunbursts are the main revenue coming in at the moment.
APD Zone 6 update from Officer Maldonado who attended in person. First he went over the traffic stop statistics from August 1 to August 31. There has been an effort to increase police traffic stops based on community concerns over traffic and drivers. The officer then told us there were 3 violent incidents in the last 48 hours. BP at 245 Memorial on Sept 14 – there was a video shoot nearby and afterward people were hanging around BP and an incident occurred and someone was shot. They were able to get themselves to Grady. Also on Sept 14 on 800 block of United Ave a man was robbed and forced into his trunk. Then an incident happened where a 14 year old girl was pistol-wiped by ex-boyfriend on Eloise Ct. A question was asked from a member about the traffic stops – “are they random?” Officer Maldonado said no they need probable cause or there must be some reasonable suspicion. Another question was asked about bike law updates that had been brought up in a meeting earlier in the year – everyone was informed that the changes did not take effect and bikes still follow the same laws as vehicles. To contact the officer with any questions or concerns call 404-772-1889.
Public Safety Chair, Loyal Charles, shared updates from the Public Safety Zone 6 meeting. September items discussed and approved: (1) Atlanta Halal Fall Festival November 22 and 23. Estimated attendance between 7,000 and 9,000. Food trucks but no sale or consumption of alcohol. “Rain date” November 29. (2) Atlanta Horror in Grant Park October 24 – 26. Estimated attendance of 500. Southeast corner of the park near Fort Walker. Food trucks but no sale of alcohol. (3) Spooky Halloween Festival October 31. Estimated attendance of 500. Also in the southeast corner of the park. Food trucks but no sale of alcohol. All 3 were approved by public safety committee and will be discussed for approval by full NPU-W at the meeting tomorrow night.
Skylar Hassan, provided Land Use & Zoning (LUZ) Committee Updates. V-25-146 (316 St. Paul Av) is deferred, applicant wishes to revise the design and the variance request. Heard negative feedback so wants to change up the design and they have asked to defer the vote. Z-25-60 (1030/1040 Grant St) is slated for GPLUZ on Oct 2 at 7p.m. and NPU-W October meetings. This is now an official application. This is the proposed 7-story mixed-use building on the NE corner of Grant Street and Grant Circle. Meeting notices will be distributed in the next week to surrounding neighbors in a 3-4 block area around the proposal site. GPLUZ meeting is changed to October 2nd so there is more time to make impacted neighbors aware of the meeting. Please email Skylar with any questions at luz@gpna.org. The zoning applicant may also be open to deferring until November, which would be good for an extended discussion.
James Austin gave a Transportation Committee update. Beltline construction in the neighborhood is experiencing delays. This is in regard to Segments 4&5, Boulevard to Glenwood, and Segments 2&3, McDaniel to Boulevard. Both are still slated to be completed by the FIFA World Cup in 2026. James also promoted a walking tour on September 30 from Mellow Mushroom up Boulevard to observe lighting. This will occur during the regular transportation committee meeting at 7pm. James can be reached at transportation@gpna.org. A question was asked from an attendee about lane closures on Hill St and other congestion happening in the neighborhood. 2 lanes are closed in the morning. Loyal Charles said it is likely Georgia Power who is amping up the power grid infrastructure prior to the FIFA World Cup because more power is going to be needed.
Daphne Lin, who is acting as a consultant on special projects provided an update on the GPNA Member Survey conducted on August 14-24. Daphne went over the highlights of the results. 355 responses were received and the presentation of results can be found here: GPNA Member Survey. High level information is that residents are interested in beautification/clean-up days followed by opportunities to enforce/promote safety or traffic calming. From a social standpoint, many residents express the desire for more social connection and events (yard sales/porch or block parties as neighborhood events). They are looking for one hub for all park events and miscellaneous concerns such as safety, development and traffic. Residents believe that GPNA needs to be a strong advocate for the neighborhood, convey their interests to the city and be a connective tissue on what’s going on in our community. A neighbor online (Mike) who lives on Delmar said that they do an annual tradition of a living advent calendar and he would be willing to share how it’s done so others in the community could implement it as a community builder. Daphne Lin next shared that the GPNA Yard Sale is being pushed to springtime 2026.
President Robert Selby next presented Proposed GPNA Bylaw Revisions. He shared that the full text of the proposed changes is online for review so everyone can read them and come with any questions to our next meeting. Find them here: gpna.org/bylaws2025 And then next step would be to take an official vote on these revisions at the October membership meeting. There was “pushback” from attendee Laura Keen who was the president when the bylaws were last updated. She expressed that some of the changes were too large and she volunteered to chair a bylaws committee. So first a motion was put forward to form the bylaws committee and there was no opposition to the motion. Then there was a motion to appoint Laura chair of the bylaws committee and it was approved. Laura was a past GPNA president 2020-2021. Laura’s email for those who would like to volunteer to be on the committee is lauraellenkeen@gmail.com. Neighbor and existing bylaws volunteer Morgan Cohen let everyone know that she reviewed the proposed bylaws with Robert when he was drafting them. Secretary, Lynn Lamousin, also let everyone know that the bylaw revisions were discussed and edited by the entire steering committee. Another member (Catherine Manci, past GPNA president 2022-2023) said they support the rethinking of the bylaws. And supports work continuing on this. Catherine was appointed as co-chair of the Bylaws Committee via a motion. Another member Adelee Le Grand said they will take on the task to continue researching ai tools for membership tracking.
President Robert Selby, then let everyone know GPNA Officer and Steering Committee Nominations were open from now until the end of the October meeting. Because of work commitments Robert will not seek another term as GPNA president. Adelee Le Grand (member mentioned above), said in the past there was a nomination committee instead of nominations being forwarded to the president. Adelee then volunteered to run the committee and a motion was made and approved for this to happen.
Ceci Villanueva (CVillanueva@gpconservancy.org)joined via online to provide Grant Park Conservancy updates and happenings in the park. The presentation can be found here: September 2025 Presentation
Open Floor yielded a question about APS redistricting and the impact on Grant Park neighborhoods from Amber Scott. GPNA Treasurer, Travis Peterman, replied that he thought it would affect neighboring communities more than Grant Park. To which Amber replied that the APS website said MLK and Jackson schools were being expanded so that would affect Grant Park. There was then discussion about having an Education liaison and Catherine Manci said it was a position that GPNA has struggled to keep filled. (There is not currently anyone in that role) Question then asked about an update on approval to provide GPNA with $17,000 for Parkside project. The response was that the last we know it is with Councilman Winston. Someone on the phone said they believe that the funding was approved, it just wasn’t shared / publicly announced yet.
The meeting ran over and adjournment was at 8:50pm.
