Longtime Midtown resident Maria Saporta wrote this week that she supports a new Atlanta City Council resolution to create a special commission focused on improving guidelines and enforcement for events held in Piedmont Park. Councilmember Alex Wan, who represents Piedmont Park and lives in Morningside, planned to introduce the measure at the April 20 council meeting.
The push comes after this year's 404 Festival in Piedmont Park drew comparisons from longtime residents to Freaknik, the out-of-control 1990s Spring Break event that Mayor Bill Campbell shut down in 1999. On Saturday, April 4, two young women were shot on the tail end of the festival (one later died) when tens of thousands of people were drawn to the park.
"I was shocked at the congestion and the standstill of cars and how far it went," Wan said. "I've never seen anything like this."
The 19-member Special Event Technical Advisory Group already has guidelines on the books, Saporta noted, but enforcement and coordination between the city, Piedmont Park Conservancy, and event organizers has broken down. Saporta, who has lived within two blocks of the park for more than 50 years, said the goal is to protect the park's green space while still letting it host the legacy events (Peachtree Road Race, Atlanta Jazz Festival, Dogwood Festival) that make Atlanta Atlanta.
