Macon Magazine

40 maconmagazine.com | October/November 2024 with the Peyton Anderson Foundation has engaged over 2,500 residents in planning the future of downtown. "The goal is to build as big a tent as possible when it comes to the strategies and to make sure that we're hitting the interests of as broad a population as possible," said Alex Morrison, who has led the development of the Macon Action Plan through the Urban Development Authority (UDA) and currently serves as the city's director of planning and public spaces. "The hallmark of the plan has been that it's a framework that brings together both public and private sector entities and individual citizens under a common umbrella." The first MAP had a guiding question that asked: How do we get anything going downtown? Morrison said, "Despite years of effort, even in 2013, downtown hadn't really amassed into something that had gotten us away from talking about our potential." When the first MAP achieved many of its goals – faster and with more depth than expected, according to Morrison – MAP 2.0 decided to tackle the harder goals. The new research question, now that the energy in the city was moving and partners were coming together with citizens, was how do we create an unparalleled urban core experience? This plan aimed to create a more inclusive, kid-friendly, greener, and creative downtown. As an example, Morrison points to the prominence of the first action step in MAP 2.0, to celebrate and grow Black-owned businesses. Since 2017, the number of Black-owned businesses in downtown Macon has risen from 28 to 51. Murphey said one program that defines enacting that point of the plan is NewTown Loans, Central Georgia's first and only community development financial institution. This program has expanded access to capital and expert business coaching for entrepreneurs and small businesses downtown—with a particular focus on women and BIPOC businesspeople. Murphey said that since MAP's launch, downtown has benefited from over $400 million in public and private investments, 1059 net new jobs, 134 net new businesses and a five-fold increase in residential units. By 2023, 93% of the strategies from the first two plans have been implemented or are underway; 57% have been fully completed. Now, in the third iteration of the plan, MAP XL takes on the massive growth downtown and tries to match it with big improvements in infrastructure to support the increased number of residents, employees, and visitors. Morrison is "making sure that we're making the appropriate statement as we're inviting everyone in the country to Macon as part of the proposed national park. We are "The goal is to build as big a tent as possible when it comes to the strategies and to make sure that we're hitting the interests of as broad a population as possible." Lynn Murphey and Alex Morrison speak with visiting journalists about MAP guiding Macon's progress.

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