STORY:
Atlanta Scaling Back Millennium Events

Reasons include high costs, competition for sponsors

The memorial would have been the centerpiece of the city's Year 2000 "Possibility City" campaign intended to inspire residents to build a better city. The sculpture would have stood hundreds of feet tall and designed to look like a huge letter "A" with a figure of a man leaping from one side of the letter to the other, symbolizing a jump to make dreams come true.

The sculpture would have also been involved in New Year's Eve celebrations for future generations. Plans had called for a large moving hologram of a man jumping from the letter "A." His jump would occur during the final 15 seconds of the countdown to 2000 and during subsequent new years.

The city will continue with the tradition of dropping the Peach at Underground Atlanta. First Hand Atlanta will hold an expanded version of its concerts and culture-related events on Peachtree Street and there will be a fireworks show. Aside from the traditional new year's eve events, Atlanta is planning to start the millennium with good health by holding an open-air workout for thousands called the "Possibility Workout" sometime in the spring of 2000.

Atlanta 2000, the city's non-profit millennium event committee is seeing competition for sponsorship dollars with the Super Bowl that will be held in January. A spokesman for Atlanta 2000 tells the Atlanta Business Chronicle that sponsors prefer to contribute to a national event rather than a local one.

The price tag for Atlanta's millennium events is now set at $4-million. So far, press reports indicate Visa has contributed $200,000 and $50,000 has come from the city's "2000 for 2000" program. Organizers are asking 2000 corporations and individual to contribute $1000 to fund the city's millennium events.

Source: Atlanta Business Chronicle

DATE: 08/02/99

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