As part of ongoing Best of Atlanta 2021 coverage, Urbanize’s inaugural Best Atlanta Neighborhood tournament kicked off last week with 16 places vying for the prestige of being called the city’s greatest.
After thousands of votes, it's been a wild, unpredictable, glorious ride so far.
Now, for each Final Four contest, voting will be open for 24 hours. Please, let’s keep the tourney fun and positive, as one neighborhood rises above the rest in very public fashion. The quest to crown an ATL champion—based on whatever criteria you see fit—resumes now!
...
SUMMERHILL (1)
The rapidly changing blocks around the Atlanta Braves' former stadium in Summerhill. Jonathan Phillips/Urbanize Atlanta
Clearly, top-seeded Summerhill is hungry for a championship, just like the MLB team, the Atlanta Braves, that used to call this historic neighborhood home. In an epic clash that saw the most voter participation in the tourney by far, Summerhill triumphed over always-motivated College Park today, pulling in 54 percent of votes.
Earlier this month, Summerhill locked down the tourney’s top seed, thanks to enthusiastic reader nominations, and then booted Castleberry Hill from the bracket in blowout fashion. Summerhill’s big year (or years, really) has been well-documented, in terms of outside investment and consistent buzz. Could the year end on a really high note here? Not if a scrappy Southwest Atlanta opponent has its way.
…
ADAIR PARK (13)
The formerly dilapidated George W. Adair School was revived as creative, affordable housing hub Academy Lofts Adair Park this year. Photo by Justin Schaeffer
In a clear sign that Adair Park is dead set on being this criteria-free tournament’s Cinderella, the SW ATL community of bungalows, BeltLine, and eponymous parks slipped by Goliath—i.e., Midtown—with the equivalent of a buzzer-beater (three votes!) in Round 1.
Earlier this week, the 500 votes Adair Park used to squeak out another victory against Reynoldstown stood as the highest single vote tally of the Best Atlanta Neighborhood tournament to date—until Summerhill just smashed that mark in Elite Eight action. Can Adair Park deploy its communal mojo once again to prove that size, in this case, doesn’t matter so much as heart? We’ll know in 24 hours.
