Mesha Mainor is excited. Why? “Honestly, the variety of what the inside of the park is going to offer. It’s going to have some natural resources to it that most other parks do not have.”

The Georgia House Representative is talking about Westside Park. Delayed by three days to allow inclement weather to pass through Atlanta, it gets its ribbon-cutting Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. in her District 56. “It’s adding a lot of green space that the Westside is not known for, so I’m very excited that now we’ll be known for green space,” Mainor says.

But she tells WSB Radio the new park brings a lot more than that. “A lot more diversity into the community. Jobs to the community, and also with the businesses that are coming, more workforce development programming.”

It has been a long journey to this point. 15 years of planning that spanned three Atlanta mayoral administrations. “You don’t have the home values, you don’t have the tax base, so I can understand why it took quite a bit. But I’m glad that Mayor Bottoms was able to finalize the project,” says Mainor.

The conversion of the Bellwood Quarry finally began in 2018. More than $40 million in work will be unveiled in this phase one of the park. When it’s fully completed at 280 acres, it will pass iconic Piedmont Park as the largest park in the city – by roughly 100 acres. The largest green space in Atlanta.

Mainor and others are eager to point out, Westside Park is about a lot more than beauty. There’s the needed backup source of drinking water for the city. There’s what the park will hopefully do for economic development for area neighborhoods. And says Mainor, “one of the things that a lot of people have not thought about is how we can use our public spaces for renewable energy projects. So, I’m excited about what that can do in particular.”

But back to that array of amenities, including venues for events, a grand overlook, and links to trails with the Atlanta Beltline.

“Back in the day people would say ‘the Westside is the best side’ so we can be a model, but I do not think we are going to be duplicated because it is such a beautiful park.”

©2021 Cox Media Group