Carter Center to welcome crowds for viewing of late president
The center is expecting large crowds to come say their final goodbyes to former President Jimmy Carter
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - The Carter Center is preparing to welcome possibly thousands of people who want to say their last goodbyes and pay their final respects to the 39th president.
Carter, the only president to hail from Georgia, will lie in repose at the Carter Center for several days before being flown to Washington D.C. for his state funeral.
People are welcome to come to the Carter Center for public viewing from 6 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 4, through 6 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 7.
During that time, the center will be closed except to those there for public viewing. There will be no on-site parking, but people are welcome to come through the main entrance on foot. Many of the streets surrounding the center will be shut down to car traffic but people can still walk, bike or scooter to the entrance.
Likewise, MARTA, which Carter helped establish through legislation as governor, will also be shuttling people from the nearby King Memorial Station, though parking will not be allowed there either.
Like his wife Rosalynn’s service, they expect the lines of people will snake around the presidential library.
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“We expect large crowds,” said Carter Center CEO Paige Alexander. “It will give people a chance to walk around the casket, there will be ropes and stanchions set up and if people want to take a moment depending on the size of the crowds, we encourage that. I mean, it’s a very personal moment for people who have wonderful memories.”
It was Carter’s wish to lie in repose at the Carter Center, where he and former First Lady Rosalyn Carter led humanitarian efforts for decades. The place meant a lot to the two, who even kept an apartment on site.
“They would sleep one week out of every month for 40 years on a pull-down Murphy bed,” said Alexander. “This truly was their home.”
There are no public parking spots as MARTA is expecting big crowds.
MARTA Senior Director of Operations Peter Bruno says they offer continuous shuttles for 60 hours straight, with a bus leaving every five minutes.
Many of their workers are picking up extra shifts.
“I have to tell ya, I was talking to someone with the Carter Center the other day and he said thanking me for our efforts, and I said no thank you, it is a privilege. It’s an honor for Marta to serve The Carter Family,” said Bruno.
‘Beyond blood relatives’: Jimmy Carter’s kin release statement
As the nation prepares to bid farewell to its 39th American president, the family of Jimmy Carter released a statement Thursday morning.
Without Carter, MARTA might not exist.
In Carter’s first year as Governor of Georgia, he pushed for a transit system.
Voters ed a one percent sales tax to fund MARTA operations.
“He was a huge er of ours, instrumental in getting MARTA service started, providing transit service for people who need it so it’s really the least we could do,” said Bruno.
You might have to wait in lines, so make sure you dress warm.
Leave all of your bags including purses and backpacks at home.
Secret Service will be doing sweeps.
And it will be like the airport — anything they collect, you cannot get back.
For more information on public participation in memorial events at the Carter Center, click here.
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