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.
Year of Boulevard: Now a trilogy
“On this cool, cool, cold night, we feel the warmth of the love of those in the Fourth Ward,” said Fort Street United Methodist’s pastor Joseph Crawford as he delivered the benediction, thanking God for “the relationship we have with one another.”
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.
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.
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.
Year of Boulevard: The Sequel
“Year of Boulevard: The Sequel” premiered Thursday evening at Tabernacle Baptist. The sanctuary was crowded—people even took spots in the front pews. Everyone had jostled upstairs after chatting and snacking in the basement fellowship hall. It felt like a weeknight service, if, that is, your congregation included Harry the Hawk, folks who dress up in anime costumes (more on that later), a cluster of politicos, and the Zone 6 police commander.
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.
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.
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.
Atlanta TEDx “Wish” grant for the Boulevard initiative
At the March 13 TEDxAtlanta event, the group presented its first-ever "Wish" grant to Kwanza Hall and the Year of Boulevard initiative. Organizers of the TEDx event — which brings together people from the tech, creative, nonprofit, and business communities — asked Hall to present a "wish" to TEDx attendees. Hall challenged the TEDxAtlanta attendees to help create jobs and internships for the young residents of the Village of Bedford Pines and to raise cash to support summer camps and job training programs.
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