Presented by Rally Built Homes

Hey, VaHi / Morningside! This week: Atlanta and MARTA finally settled a decade-long tax dispute, freeing up $52 million for transit upgrades, while City Council quietly advanced a "parking bill of rights" aimed at predatory booting. Add in Atlanta Black Pride's return over Labor Day weekend and a jam-packed committee week at City Hall, and there's plenty to catch up on before the holiday.

- News — Black Pride's Labor Day lineup lands, MARTA and the city bury the hatchet on a $52M tax fight, and a new parking bill of rights could reshape private lots citywide.
- Events — From Strings in the Garden to a full slate of MJQ and Smith's Olde Bar shows, plus the Pureheat Community Festival capping off the week at Piedmont Park.
- Government — Council committees tackled tax-delinquent developer subsidies, $7M in BeltLine Segment 6 grants, a $4.5M Buckhead paving deal, and a Selig Enterprises mega-rezoning on the Upper Westside.
- Construction — A new Urban Body Fitness on Lambert, a white-box buildout on Piedmont Rd signaling a fresh tenant, and LED lighting upgrades rolling out along I-85.

One more update: our new Downtown and Southwest Beltline editions are now live! As a reminder, you can always update your neighborhood selections here

Let's dive in.

NEWS

Your Guide to Atlanta Black Pride 2026: Parties, Festivals and More
Atlanta Black Pride returns for Labor Day weekend with major programming spanning Midtown, Piedmont Park, and nearby cultural venues, including community gatherings, cultural festivals, health expos, and nightlife events.

Atlanta leaders consider new 'parking bill of rights'
Atlanta City Council leaders are advancing legislation to regulate private parking lot operators and increase signage transparency, aiming to curb predatory booting and unclear payment practices in commercial districts.

Fulton County's Tax Digest Delay Hits Homeowners
Delays tied to mapping software backlogs have stalled the Fulton County tax digest, triggering court intervention and shifting timelines for local property owners.

Atlanta and MARTA settle decade-long tax dispute, paving the way for transit upgrades
The City of Atlanta and MARTA have resolved a long-standing dispute over sales tax revenue, freeing up $52 million in funding for transit improvements and key regional transit projects.

Fulton County partners with Emory to provide free prostate cancer screenings to uninsured Atlanta-area men
Emory University's Winship Cancer Institute is teaming up with Fulton County leadership to provide free prostate cancer screenings for uninsured men across the metro area, expanding early detection and preventative healthcare access.

EVENTS | Presented by

Peace of Mind Recycling is your one stop shop for a convenient and affordable way to make sure your recyclables actually get… recycled! With Atlanta's city recycling services your guess is as good as ours in regards to what actually gets recycled. We document where we take your glass, metal, electronics & everything else so you can rest assured it's going to the good place 100% of the time.

Monday, August 31
- Atlanta Running Meetup | 7pm - 9pm/Park Tavern
- Strings in the Garden | Atlanta Botanical Garden

Tuesday, September 1
- Weekly Walking Club | Green Market
- Garden Playtime | Atlanta Botanical Garden
- Drew White at Smith's Olde Bar with Joshua Fletcher and Eli Blackshear | Smith's Olde Bar

Wednesday, September 2
- Storybook Time | Atlanta Botanical Garden
- Anna McClellan, Lowtown, Red Henry & The House of Bamboo | MJQ Concourse
- Basics of Pruning | Atlanta Botanical Garden
- Figure Drawing - September | The Supermarket ATL
- Deconstruct and Reassemble - September Literary Open Mic | The Supermarket ATL
- LOCALS ONLY | MJQ

Thursday, September 3
- Garden Grooves | Atlanta Botanical Garden
- Cocktails in the Garden | Atlanta Botanical Garden
- The Band Honey | Smith's Olde Bar
- BATA! BATA | MJQ

Friday, September 4
- Kash'd Out | Music Room at Smith's Olde Bar
- Shows for Seedlings: Atlanta Ballet's Fairytales with Friends | Atlanta Botanical Garden
- Silk Daisys, Ricochet Star, Conari | MJQ Concourse
- R3800T | MJQ Concourse
- The Tipsy Zone: Award-Winning, Cocktail-Fueled Sci-Fi Comedy | Red Light Cafe

Saturday, September 5
- Dukes and Boots | Dockside
- Green Market | Green Market
- Tree Tour: Virginia Highland Neighborhood Arboretum | Murphy's Restaurant
- Patio Gardening | Atlanta Botanical Garden
- Frog Feeding | Atlanta Botanical Garden
- SUPER SICK | MJQ

Sunday, September 6
- Pureheat Community Festival | Piedmont Park
- DJ GSP at Heretic SUNDAY SEPT 6, 2026 | 2069 Cheshire Bridge Rd NE

Monday, September 7
- WRFG's 41st Annual Labor Day Blues BBQ | Park Tavern

GOVERNMENT

Note: our information comes from posted meetings documents (agendas and minutes when available) — latest source document hyperlinked to each meeting.

Past Week Roundup

Atlanta City Council

Council committees packed the week with big-ticket items. At Finance/Executive, members took up a crackdown on tax-delinquent developers getting city subsidies, over $332,000 in water and sewer refunds, and the city's upcoming property tax rates, though minutes for the packed agenda hadn't been posted at the time of this newsletter for every item. The Transportation Committee took up (agenda only, no minutes yet) $7 million in grants for BeltLine Southside Trail Segment 6, a $4.5 million Buckhead street resurfacing deal, and traffic safety fixes near Sarah Smith Elementary. The Community Development/Human Services Committee considered rezonings that would allow denser mixed-use buildings along Ponce de Leon, Ellsworth Industrial, and Decatur Street, and moved forward with condemnation proceedings against five blighted Westside properties. The City Utilities Committee approved $2 million for Chastain Park stream restoration, a $2.7 million solid waste contract extension, and a deal letting GDOT relocate city water lines for the I-285 Top End project at no cost to Atlanta, but held a proposed data center water restriction policy for further review. The Public Safety & Legal Administration Committee approved $815,000 in police lawsuit settlements and forwarded a $40 million Axon body camera contract to full council, while the Zoning Committee approved a nearly 37-acre industrial-to-mixed-use rezoning for Selig Enterprises on the Upper Westside and voted to shelve the proposed Peachtree Circle Historic District. If you're a renter or a driver, that parking bill of rights covered in today's news section also traces back to council action this week.

Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education

The Student Advisory Council met to kick off the school year, and the session stayed light on formal action. Members reviewed a draft district policy on artificial intelligence use in schools, though no rules were finalized or voted on yet. District leaders also gave an update on strategic goals for the 2026-2027 school year. The rest of the meeting covered internal housekeeping like committee assignments and the annual meeting calendar, so there's nothing binding here yet, but the AI policy is worth watching if you've got kids in APS.

Notable Neighborhood Mentions

Atlanta City Council
- Yorkshire Road NE & Cumberland Road NE at McCoy Street NE — Proposals to convert the neighborhood intersections into three-way stop-controlled crossings were held in committee.
- Amsterdam Avenue NE (residential) — The committee considered a Comprehensive Development Plan amendment redesignating the property from medium-lot single-family to low-density residential use.
- 774 Ponce De Leon Avenue NE — The committee reviewed a Comprehensive Development Plan amendment to change the parcel's designation from medium-density mixed-use to high-density mixed-use.

Meetings This Week
- Atlanta Public Schools — Board of Education | Sep-01 | key topics: affordable housing redevelopment agreements with AUDC, Parks and Recreation joint use agreement, and student technology policy
- Fulton County Board of Commissioners | Sep-02, 10:00 AM | key topics: affordable housing grants in Vine City and English Avenue, road and water infrastructure agreements in Roswell and Milton, and Fulton County Jail elevator modernization

CONSTRUCTION | Presented by

If you’re thinking about a residential renovation to create a space that’s comfortable, memorable, and personalized for you, look no further than Rally Built Homes. Learn more here.

Permits

- 1345 Piedmont Ave NE — A temporary construction trailer just got routed for review. No water or sewer hookups yet, but it'll need temporary power. Expect a active job site here soon.
- 812 Lambert Dr NE — Urban Body Fitness is renovating an existing building for its new location. Another sign the area keeps pulling in boutique fitness concepts.
- 2157 Lenox Rd NE — Three separate window replacement permits filed for this commercial property, covering Buildings A and C with 77 windows total. All work stays within existing openings, so don't expect structural changes or major disruption.
- 2173 Piedmont Rd NE — Electrical work for a white box tenant separation just got issued. That usually means a new tenant is prepping to move into a previously vacant commercial space.
- 1094 Virginia Ave NE — A residential addition is in review that expands the front porch, converts the back porch to conditioned space, and adds an office above plus a mudroom. Expect some exterior construction noise once this moves forward.
- 554 Allen Rd NE — A residential alteration backed by a stamped structural engineering letter suggests real structural work ahead, not just cosmetic changes.

Smaller electrical permits at 1029 Kentucky Ave NE and 1752 Pine Ridge Dr NE round out the week. Both cover interior rework and won't affect the street.

Road Work

Under Construction
- I-85 from I-75 to N of Lenox Road, Lighting — Crews are swapping old HPS lighting for energy-efficient LED fixtures along this stretch, with pole, conduit, and wiring replacement included in the scope.
- Buford Spring Connector @ I-85, Tunnel Lighting — This project upgrades the tunnel's HPS lighting to LED and covers conduit and wiring replacement where needed.
- SR 236 / LaVista Rd & Shepherds Ln Signal Upgrade — Crews are upgrading traffic signals at SR 236 / LaVista Rd, in DeKalb County.
- SR 9 from SR 3 to N of Paces Ferry Rd & SR 9 South — GDOT's District Maintenance Office is resurfacing SR 9 to fix a low pavement condition score.
- Bridge Preservation at 7 Locations in Cobb, DeKalb & Fulton — This multi-county project covers co-polymer overlays, steel beam painting, and bridge joint replacement at seven bridges spanning Cobb, DeKalb, and Fulton counties, including a span at Moreland Ave.

Service Requests
- Potholes — Ten reports clustered on Johnson Rd NE, N Highland Ave NE, and the intersections of Johnson Ave & Meadowdale Ave NE, N Highland Ave & Los Angeles Ave, and N Highland Ave & McLynn Ave NE. Most are in progress, a few are stuck in the duplicate backlog, and one's closed.
- Right of Way Litter Removal — Crews are working two cleanup requests on Barnett St NE and Pasadena Ave NE.
- Traffic Signal Repair — A non-emergency signal issue at Arcadia St & Virginia Ave is in progress.
- Downed Tree — A report at Johnson Rd & Pasadena Ave has been closed out.
- Graffiti Removal — The city's working on graffiti in the right of way along Piedmont Ave NE.

Want to sponsor us? Submit here

Want to alter your neighborhood selections? Submit here

Want to promote an event? Submit here

Until next week,
VaHi / Morningside Busybody

Disclaimer: We use advanced data retrieval and analysis techniques across hundreds of sources, and may be prone to occasional error. Independently verify information with a secondary source, and please let us know if we got anything wrong via the feedback form.