AT THE TOP of that list is Vine City, a working-class neighborhood on the western fringe of Midtown. On a scorching day in June, I join Vine
City residents gathering at the site of the future Mims Park—currently a seven- block stretch of vacant land left behind when flooding destroyed hundreds of homes in 2002. Girding the hilly ter- rain are the surviving structures, a mix of houses, crumbling retail buildings, large church properties, boarded-up apartment complexes, and one weath- ered green shack with “HELP US … Tear Down Please!” scrawled in black spray-paint across its façade. Nearby, the cranes and skeletal framework of the half-built Atlanta Falcons stadium rise like a gargantuan, deep-sea crustacean. Despite the heat—the mercury has hit 100—neighbors have turned out in droves for a community meeting organized by The Trust for Public Land. As a DJ spins dance music, they cir- culate through a collection of tents to view renderings of proposed designs, placing stickers to mark the features they want—soccer fields and basketball courts, splash-pads and sculptures. Tillman Ward, whose family has lived
in Vine City for several generations, is among the attendees. He’s seen previ- ous attempts to revamp the park sputter out for lack of funds, but he remains optimistic. “With great minds working on this project, this should offer ecologi- cal balance and economic balance for those who stay here, who contributed to
the neighborhood being what it is,” said Ward. When I ask him what he’s looking for in a park, he’s ready with specifics. “We’d like to see some goldfish some- where. A natural pond, a waterfall. “People are excited,” he adds. “Anxiety comes in when people don’t know what it’s going to look like.” Jay Wozniak, who directs The Trust
for Public Land’s city park projects in Georgia, agrees. That’s why gatherings like this one—part of the “participatory design” process—are at the heart of the organization’s approach to creating parks. “Getting the whole community in- volved doesn’t just make for better and more sustainable parks,” Wozniak says. “It makes for better and more sustain- able neighborhoods.” Participatory design is especially im-
portant in vulnerable communities like Vine City, which have borne the brunt of poor infrastructure planning in the past. The Environmental Protection Agency has designated the neighborhood an Environmental Justice Community of Concern—one with a “disproportionately high burden of adverse environmental conditions.” Furniture salesman Zane Brown’s former house was damaged in the 2002 floods. The front porch of his new home overlooks the roughly 16-acre park site. He likes the park’s prospects—especially plans to integrate education about the site’s ecology—but is concerned that stormwater issues have never been properly addressed.
“The system is already overwhelmed with low-density housing, and when you’re talking about new apartment buildings and all these Millennials com- ing in, 5,000 more toilets flushing, well …” Brown paused. “I love all the con- cepts. But I’ll feel better when they show what they’re going to do to sustain it all.” The city has tapped The Trust for
Public Land to spearhead the search for solutions. Roughly half of the park’s con- struction costs will go toward a stormwa- ter retention pond similar to the one at Historic Fourth Ward Park. That portion will be funded by the city’s Department of Watershed Management—a nod to the future park’s dual role as a recreation space and green infrastructure—while The Trust for Public Land continues to raise private funds for the remainder. If the organization is successful, construc- tion may begin as early as 2017. Sheltering in the shade with her infant grandson, swaying to the DJ’s beat, Vine City resident Angela Scott is ready. She points to her apartment across the street. “Every day I see this empty field. They don’t have anything over here for the kids—nowhere to go, nothing to do,” said Scott. “This will give them something nice, where they can play, run around, have fun. And me, too! I’ll be over there every day.”
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