Inman Park group to Oxendine: Retract East Atlanta Highway statement

Few neighborhood groups have been as vocally opposed to Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate John Oxendine’s proposal of a “parallel downtown connector” than the Inman Park Neighborhood Association. Since Oxendine’s proposal to “talk” about an east-of-Atlanta interstate that could help motorists avoid driving through the city received attention late last week, the neighborhood’s message board has been filled with discussions about the candidate’s pie-in-the-sky idea.

Many of its members still remember the bitter battle over Stone Mountain Freeway/I-485, the proposed interstate that would’ve converted Inman Park and nearby vibrant hamlets, at the least, into “exits” rather than “neighborhoods.” Through an intense showing of community engagement and opposition, residents helped kill that proposal.

And if Oxendine’s proposed road were to ever be built, it could potentially displace many of the intown  residents and impact their quality of life. It would also cost the state an arm and a leg.

Inman Park Neighborhood Association President Lisa Burnette has sent a letter to Oxendine demanding that he retract his statement. The missive is beautiful in a scathing type of way — she gives him an Inman Park history lesson and takes him to task for his “build-more-roads” strategy. She leaves the candidate with this warning:

These Atlanta neighborhoods, including Inman Park, most soundly defeated this highway proposal decades ago, at a time when they had little organization and little resources. Today, we are highly organized and closely networked. We have neighbors and friends in many high places, and we have a lot of money, set aside specifically to protect ourselves against these kinds of proposals.

Burnette’s full letter after the jump.