274301 external_news 1391633451 1475893614 A stand-off is intensifying between the west side communities and the Atlanta Falcons over the future alignment of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive around the new football stadium. The presidents of the four Atlanta University colleges wrote a letter on Jan. 24 to Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, Atlanta City Council President Ceasar Mitchell and Frank Poe, executive director of the Georgia World Congress Center expressing “deep concern” about the latest plans for the street. Beverly Tatum, president of Spelman College, said the community has been meeting with Michael Dobbins, the former planning commissioner for the City of Atlanta who is now a professor of city and regional planning at Georgia Tech, to propose alternative plans that would “foster greater connectivity and community revitalization of Vine City, English Avenue and the Atlanta University Center communities.”

]]> 2014-02-04 1224