Friends of English Avenue celebrate changes to community

By S.B. Williams

The old adage “a friend in need is a friend indeed” definitely applies to Friends of English Avenue – a nonprofit organization founded in response to the tragic death of a beloved 92-year-old resident Kathryn Johnson in 2006.

Just before the holiday season, Friends of English Avenue and guests gathered at Lindsey Street Baptist Church to celebrate the remarkable changes made by their efforts in the community over the past seven years.

Since Kathryn Johnston was shot in her home during a botched drug raid by Atlanta police using a fraudulent warrant, dynamic initiatives have been taken to save the neighborhood including the development of urban vegetable gardens, green spaces, beautification projects and a 45 percent reduction in crimes.

A significant step was taken when Friends of English Avenue spent $35,000 to renovate a dilapidated house and offered it to Atlanta police officer Jaime Wallace rent-free in exchange for performing public safety duties and engaging with residents in the community. Wallace mentors young people through the Police Athletic

League (PAL), and teaches Gang Resistance Education to teenagers. Fifty teens graduated in 2013.

The shooting of Kathryn Johnston illuminated the dire issues of poverty and crime in the historic English Avenue neighborhood that exists only a few steps away from Atlanta’s proudest institutions – Georgia Tech, Coca Cola and the Georgia Dome. English Avenue was named for James English, banker, brick maker, and mayor of Atlanta from 1881 to 1883. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta, also raised four children in the neighborhood.

But it was the desire and vision of Atlanta businessman John Gordon who acted to give Kathryn Johnston’s life a lasting and transforming meaning.

Providentially, it seems now, the tragedy brought Gordon together with Rev. Anthony Motley, a minster for 30 years in the English Avenue community, who became a kindred spirit and teammate in saving the historic neighborhood. Together they forged friendships with leaders, residents and beyond – resources that changed the blighted, depressed neighborhood to one of hope and action. Much has been accomplished and there are many hopes for the future. Under the direction of a resident farmer named Jamaica, an ugly, illegal, dumping ground area was transformed into urban farm, which produced 1,600 pounds of vegetables for the English Avenue residents in 2013.

The community also hopes to benefit from $30 million in community development funding promised to neighborhoods around the new Falcons stadium.

Midtown has always had a colorful history – from Civil War battle eld, to hippie hangout in the 60s and 70s to the neighborhood we know today with its glittering high-rises, art scene, renovated homes and enviable shopping and dining options.

Residents: 30,000

Visitors: 6 million annually

Restaurants: 140

Parks & Greenspace: 230 acres

O ce Space: 22 million square feet

Notable Attractions: Fox eatre, High Museum of Art, Piedmont Park, Atlanta Botanical Garden, Margaret Mitchell House, Georgia Institute of Technology, e Varsity, Dogwood Festival, Atlanta Pride Festival, Music Midtown.

Editor’s note: Neighborhood Snapshots will be a monthly feature to mark INtowns’ 20th anniversary.

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FIRST PERSON: Moving to Cabbagetown

By Melissa Weinman

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Tom Ellicott Top Company Agent Top 1% of all GA Agents 2911 Piedmont Rd. NE - 404.876.4901 - PalmerHouseProperties.com e places we live o en serve as much more than just a place to keep our things. My old Poncey-Highland apartment was full of laughter, romance and adventure. I cherished the independence I felt there living on my own for the rst time in Atlanta. at apartment had become a vessel for my memories and crystallized a stage in my life. My story is one of many that will be painted over in the thick, white paint on those plaster walls.

So when I realized I had outgrown that apartment, it was a thought that le me feeling both excited for what lay ahead and sad to close the door, literally, on a place that had been so important to me.

But it was with a lot of excitement and optimism that I packed up my things and moved to Cabbagetown.

My boyfriend and I love our new lo . e high ceilings and concrete oors speak to his architectural sensibilities; for me, living in a renovated post-civil war cotton mill is a history lover’s dream. ough it’s just a few minutes away, Cabbagetown feels like a di erent world. at’s the beauty of living Intowneach neighborhood has its own unique character, something new to explore.

I love walking my dog through the rows of technicolor houses in Cabbagetown, where porches are rarely home to wicker furniture, serving more o en as corrals for extravagant collections of plants, folk art, ags and hanging lights.

And it’s great having Carroll Street just outside my door. e restaurants, bars, and even the errant palm tree on this bustling, narrow street make it almost seem disconnected in time and space from the otherwise industrial surroundings of east Atlanta.

It’s an exciting time to live in Cabbagetown. is curious pocket of the city is growing and changing as the construction on the Atlanta BeltLine moves forward, connecting this neighborhood to the rest of the city.

My life is in transition, and so is the place where I’m living.

From outside my new fifth floor window, I see the rusting equipment of the former Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills and the downtown skyline in the background. MARTA trains hiss by on tracks that seem to float in the air. The white stone monuments of historic Oakland Cemetery grow from the grass.

In the mornings, I like to look out those big windows at the past, present and future. It’s a hopeful view.

As well as being a new resident of Cabbagetown, Melissa Weinman is a staff writer for Reporter Newspapers.