City Springs: The New Town Green

Lyrics

Before this?
Just a crossroads.
Roswell Road crossing Mount Vernon.
A river of cars, a place you pass through.
Not a place you stay.
Just a map coordinate for a city with no center.

Then the talk turned to dirt.
Turned to blueprints spread on a long table.
May of sixteen, the golden shovels bit the earth.
Heard Mayor Paul say it plain,
"It's the first new urbanism city center built in Georgia in generations."
Felt like more than that.
Felt like a promise taking root in red clay.

We built a downtown for a city that didn't have one!
Poured the concrete heart right here on the green.
Raised the glass and steel, made a scene!
This is City Springs, this is the pulse now.
This is the gathering ground.
Yeah, we built a downtown.

Now it's Saturday morning, see the tents for the market.
It's August of eighteen and the whole town's come to park it
Right here on the lawn.
Kids screaming in the splash pad, then poof, it's gone.
A floor slides over, ready for a stage.
The Byers Theatre sign is lit, turning a new page.
From a crossroads to a landmark.
Left a brand new kind of mark.

We built a downtown for a city that didn't have one!
Poured the concrete heart right here on the green.
Raised the glass and steel, made a scene!
This is City Springs, this is the pulse now.
This is the gathering ground.
Yeah, we built a downtown.

This wasn't just Eva's dream from way back when.
This is the proof. The dividend.
The answer to thirty years of fighting to be named.
A place to stand, a place proclaimed.
More than a suburb, more than a line on a map.
We filled in the empty space, closed the gap.

The lights are on at Rumi's Kitchen.
Hear the city humming, hear it switching
From a day of work to a night of life.
Yeah, a downtown.
Our downtown.
Right here.