Photography by Martha Williams
Years ago, when Marci Overstreet’s children were graduating high school, she realized she needed to find somewhere to grow old. As a lifelong southwest Atlanta resident, she knew she wanted to stay, but the community would need some improvements so it could age with her. So, she ran for city council. “I didn’t want to come home from a vacation and wish I had more amenities and beautification around my own space,” Overstreet says. “I know we have so many things we need to plug in to make it an age-friendly community, and I want us to support families better.”
Overstreet is now in her second term as a councilmember, where she’s known for her $20 million initiative Cascade Complete Streets, which was designed to transform Cascade Road. Those millions contribute to road resurfacing, expanded bike lanes, pedestrian infrastructure, and multimodal sidewalks so parents pushing strollers and residents in wheelchairs can move through town just as easily as cyclists and joggers. “I will know my job is done when I can walk out of my home, get on the sidewalk, walk less than two miles, and be at my favorite restaurants or greenspace,” Overstreet says.
Her efforts extend past Cascade across southwest Atlanta, including the construction of the first dog park on Melvin Drive, a new fire station in Princeton Lakes, and the city’s first standalone emergency management services station off Campbellton Road. She chooses projects that honor her community and protect its future. Her plans to add workforce housing by Greenbriar will help attract younger professionals to an aging area. And the community is already noticing.
“One of my greatest moments of satisfaction was when one of my residents came to a cleanup for Martin Luther King Day and she had the mailer I’d sent out about our improvements,” she says. “She told me she did a district tour with her mother using our mailer. It was the biggest compliment and showed people really do care about differences you’re making in the community.”
