Despite the efforts of a noble citizen, as predicted, corrupt progress can seldom be stopped when there’s investor profit to be had, and taxpayers to screw. College Park for better or worse but most likely worse, will be saddled by the future home of The Gateway Center at College Park, the soon-to-be barely used 100,000 square foot venue that will primarily be known for the home of the developmental G-league Atlanta Hawks.
An asshole. On your elbow. That’s about how much anyone needs this.
Seriously, in College Park no less. One of the most impoverished and crime-ridden regions in the entire state, and plopped right near the busiest airport in the country. Everything about this is completely idiotic, and shocking nobody, this too will have absolutely no easy MARTA rail access or any other transit options, other than buses. Meaning It will look like one of the fifty long-term parking car lots surrounding it, and probably be victimized just as badly as all of them, by the legions of car break-ins that have plagued this exact area for literal years now.
Literally right down the street is a shopping center that’s plagued with criminal activity that is getting worse, and a bunch of rich idiots think it’s a great idea to waste money and build a giant venue right near it? Is this what they think gentrification is? Building nice things in ghetto areas and hoping that things will just magically turn around? I mean Atlanta’s trying to do that shit on the west end of the city, and plopping Publixes and Chick Fil-As in the ghetto doesn’t seem to be working. I’d wager money that a brand new convention center/venue is going to drive crime away as much as waving a flashlight will spook some mosquitoes.
Gateway Center is expected to bring an estimated 600 jobs to College Park and surrounding areas.
What they fail to mention is that among those 600 jobs, 90% of them will be for minimum wage, and contribute next to nothing towards the improving the continued poverty of the surrounding area. Sure, minimum wage is better than $0, but let’s not believe that a handful of minimum wage jobs is going to actually put a dent in the poverty line in College Park.
The venue will hold 5,000 seats for events such as concerts and convocations, with 3,500 seats available for the Hawks G League basketball games.
Yeah, good luck with getting 5,000 people into College Park that aren’t headed to the airport. Just because the place can hold 5,000 people, I’m going to bet that aside from the grand opening, or the very first Hawks game to be played there, this place will never have 5,000 people at one point, ever. Hell, they probably won’t get 5,000 people for either of those milestone events either.
Although it’s nowhere near as bad as how much Cobb taxpayers will be saddled with by ScumTrust Park, it’s nice to see that Fulton County has decided that misery loves company and has decided to saddle a town in their county so that they too can get a taste of what it’s like to get (further) bilked and taxed in order to build useless structures to occasionally be used for sporting events.
Either way, this whole thing is stupid, and I do wish failure and ill-will towards the Gateway Center. The money that will go into this useless monstrosity could undoubtedly have been spent in better manners, such as improving the transit in the area or shit, paying for some police to help crack down on the gargantuan amounts of crime that exists in College Park in the first place. Once the crime is held in check, the quality of life might actually improve, and only then would it be wise to start considering some big ideas that would help bring people into the area.
Not the other way around. But profit must come first, because that’s The Atlanta American Way, right?
