Scene on Boulevard: MLK memorial service
On the forty-fourth anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, a service was held in the sanctuary of Ebenezer Baptist Church, the historic congregation where King, his father, and his grandfather all served as pastors. On this warm April evening in 2012, a fourth generation was represented by Bernice King, daughter of the civil rights leader, who took over as CEO of the King Center this January.
Year of Boulevard: Round Three
Home to the Village of Bedford Pines subsidized housing complex—the largest in the Southeast—as well as gentrifying sections of the Old Fourth Ward, the Boulevard corridor is one of the most diverse sections of the city. Hall conceived the initiative in 2012 as a “living laboratory,” in which the challenges of crime and poverty on Boulevard would be addressed alongside revitalization. The goal: Avoid the typical patterns of gentrification in which wealthier newcomers replace the original residents of a poor community.
A Boulevard block party
Police barricades were erected at Angier and North Avenue, blocking off a quarter-mile stretch of Boulevard on Saturday for the Year of Boulevard “Block Party,” which along with standbys like hotdogs, inflatable trampolines, balloons, and lemonade featured booths and mobile offices from a couple dozen social services agencies.
A new safety center and spiffy digs for Operation P.E.A.C.E.
On Thursday, two facilities integral to the Year of Boulevard initiative debuted. They represent opposing ends of the proverbial spectrum of challenges faced on the corridor.
If 2012 was the “Year of Boulevard,” what happens in 2013?
Last January, city councilmember Kwanza Hall declared 2012 the “Year of Boulevard,” and outlined an ambitious plan to revitalize a blighted stretch of intown Atlanta. What's in store this year? Get ready for "Mo' Boulevard," says Hall.
Kickoff Q&A with Kwanza Hall
In early February, a few weeks after the “Year of Boulevard” initiative was announced, I sat down with city councilman Kwanza Hall to talk about the project's launch. Hall, whose parents were civil rights leaders and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s, spent much of his childhood in the area. A former member of the Atlanta Public Schools board, Hall has served on Atlanta City Council since 2006. He lives in the Old Fourth Ward and represents District 2, which includes Downtown, Sweet Auburn, Inman Park, the Old Fourth Ward, and Castleberry Hill. We met in the Starbucks at the Atlanta Medical, a few yards from the future site of the Zone 6 mini precinct.
Cleanup day on Boulevard
As weed whackers thwacked yard-high grass and tangles of kudzu along the fence at Boulevard and Boulevard Place, they also disrupted a couple of anthills. The dislocated insects marched out across the sidewalk and over the feet and ankles of Reverend Joseph Crawford.
The first week on the farm
The first week of camp at Truly Living Well got off to a soggy start. It poured on Monday and Tuesday, and campers spent a lot of time in the open-walled pavilion that also serves as the farm’s market stand.
TEDx Atlanta challenge in high gear
Say what you will about tech types; when they decide to do something they don't mess around. Back in March, the tech-arts-design-entreprenuerial whiz kids attending the spring TEDxAtlanta event decided to grant their inaugural "Wish" prize to the Year of Boulevard initiative and raised $6,500 in cash and $25,000 in pledges on the spot. Nice work.
Boulevard cleanup day
The Year of Boulevard initiative will be attempting to clean up the corridor more literally than figuratively on Saturday May 19, with a massive spring-cleaning effort organized by councilmember Kwanza Hall’s office.
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