Atlanta disputes Sabates claim
NASCAR Scene
The president of the Central Atlanta Progress sent a letter Wednesday to NASCAR team co-owner Felix Sabates disputing comments Sabates made about the city in reference to why Charlotte got the NASCAR Hall of Fame over Atlanta.
Sabates insinuated that Atlanta was not safe at night and that he wouldn't want his wife and kids walking the streets near the proposed site of the hall of fame in downtown Atlanta.
"Think about this, would you want to go to Atlanta at 8 o'clock at night and walk around downtown Atlanta by yourself?" Sabates said March 4. "No. And that's what I told Mike Helton one day, or Brian, 'Would you want to take your wife, and your kid and walk on the streets, park two blocks away and walk to the hall of fame in Atlanta? He said, 'Why?' I said, 'Just try it one time and see what you think.'"
The letter detailed that only 5 percent of downtown Atlanta's total crime was violent crime, and crime has decreased over the last three years. Downtown Atlanta has almost half of the city's population and only 8 percent of its overall crime, said Central Atlanta Progress President A.J. Robinson.
"The inaccuracy of your comment about crime in Downtown Atlanta was met with great concern in our Downtown community, and thus I wanted to provide you with actual facts that present the reality rather than perception," Robinson wrote in his letter to Sabates.
Robinson spearheaded the Atlanta bid for the Central Atlanta Progress. Charlotte was awarded the hall of fame on Monday.
"Mr. Sabates' off-handed comment impacts an existing tourist industry that goes far beyond any level of discussion about the hall of fame," Robinson said in a statement. "Tourism and hospitality is our city's second largest industry, and that's very serious in our book. There's an old adage, 'Never mess with how someone makes a living.' Sabates has done just that by spreading false rumor that impacts one of our largest industries, and one that we continue to carefully grow and nurture."
Atlanta hosts an estimated 2.8 million conventioneers annually. The new Georgia Aquarium has hosted 1 million visitors in its first three months of operation.
"Charlotte was an admirable and honorable competitor throughout the bid process," Robinson said. "It's a shame that one of their highest profile executives had to end the competition by taking cheap shots that were inaccurate and completely out of line."
NASCAR Scene
The president of the Central Atlanta Progress sent a letter Wednesday to NASCAR team co-owner Felix Sabates disputing comments Sabates made about the city in reference to why Charlotte got the NASCAR Hall of Fame over Atlanta.
Sabates insinuated that Atlanta was not safe at night and that he wouldn't want his wife and kids walking the streets near the proposed site of the hall of fame in downtown Atlanta.
"Think about this, would you want to go to Atlanta at 8 o'clock at night and walk around downtown Atlanta by yourself?" Sabates said March 4. "No. And that's what I told Mike Helton one day, or Brian, 'Would you want to take your wife, and your kid and walk on the streets, park two blocks away and walk to the hall of fame in Atlanta? He said, 'Why?' I said, 'Just try it one time and see what you think.'"
The letter detailed that only 5 percent of downtown Atlanta's total crime was violent crime, and crime has decreased over the last three years. Downtown Atlanta has almost half of the city's population and only 8 percent of its overall crime, said Central Atlanta Progress President A.J. Robinson.
"The inaccuracy of your comment about crime in Downtown Atlanta was met with great concern in our Downtown community, and thus I wanted to provide you with actual facts that present the reality rather than perception," Robinson wrote in his letter to Sabates.
Robinson spearheaded the Atlanta bid for the Central Atlanta Progress. Charlotte was awarded the hall of fame on Monday.
"Mr. Sabates' off-handed comment impacts an existing tourist industry that goes far beyond any level of discussion about the hall of fame," Robinson said in a statement. "Tourism and hospitality is our city's second largest industry, and that's very serious in our book. There's an old adage, 'Never mess with how someone makes a living.' Sabates has done just that by spreading false rumor that impacts one of our largest industries, and one that we continue to carefully grow and nurture."
Atlanta hosts an estimated 2.8 million conventioneers annually. The new Georgia Aquarium has hosted 1 million visitors in its first three months of operation.
"Charlotte was an admirable and honorable competitor throughout the bid process," Robinson said. "It's a shame that one of their highest profile executives had to end the competition by taking cheap shots that were inaccurate and completely out of line."
