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Some optimistic about economic efforts, others less so

It's no longer the " South Side, " but crime and poverty persist.

By PAUL SWIDER
Published October 22, 2006

On a corner where crack houses once flourished, there is a steady flow of customers going in and out of the gleaming shopping center anchored by a Sweetbay Supermarket, the trophy in the city's economic development efforts in Midtown.

It's a success by any account, but just how big a success depends on whom you ask.

Just a stone's throw in any direction, police still make arrests for drugs and violence that were the hallmarks of what used to be known as South Side.

"They put up a few buildings and landscaped, but I still have drugs running through my neighborhood," said Chrisshun Cox, longtime president of the Melrose-Mercy/Pine Acres Neighborhood Association. "They put flowery things on the outside and keep the bad things on the inside. That's our city government."

Cox's neighborhood was also the site of the 1996 police shooting of TyRon Lewis, an event that sparked race riots throughout the area later dubbed Midtown.

The city has since spent more than $100-million to bolster the economy and fend off discontent there. Progress is real, but questions remain about whom it serves and what direction it will take.

"I think we've done exceptionally well," said Goliath Davis, who once patrolled the South Side as a police officer but has since risen to become deputy mayor overseeing the area. "I'm really pleased with the process. I didn't think the grocery store would happen so quickly."

Davis is quick to point out that economic development is a squishy phrase that means different things to different people. When he took over efforts in Midtown, he conducted a series of public meetings to understand the community's definition. He repeats often how those meetings in 2001 pointed the city toward bringing Midtown a supermarket, a post office and a bank. With the first two firmly in place and the third about to begin construction, Davis feels good about the city's work.

But those community meetings also emphasized keeping shoppers' money in the neighborhood. The city's own report shows people wanted businesses owned by residents of the area, not outside corporations.

"Sure, it's economic development but economic development for who?" asks Dwight "Chimurenga" Waller, local president of the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement. "It's economic development for white people. They just put it in a black neighborhood."

The community also remarked that a sign of success would be people returning to Midtown. Some have come back and even started businesses, but Midtown overall has shrunk by almost 5,000 people since 1990.

Still, many see hope for the future.

"There's dialogue with the city now. People can see improvement," said Carl "Red" Ferguson, who has run Red's Snak Shak on 16th Street S for 27 years. "Before, we had no lights on 16th. At least now we can see something tangible. It's soothing. I hope it's not just a Band-Aid."

Streets like 16th used to be rundown with vacant storefronts or bars, Ferguson said. Over the years, as the city has tried to clean up the community, property owners have followed suit. New businesses are sprouting.

"It's sad that the incident had to happen before they put money into the neighborhood," said Justin Brothers, 24, who earlier this year opened a barbershop on 16th. "Hopefully we can move on, not forget it, but not make the same mistake again."

Over the last decade, the city has engaged in dozens of plans and programs in Midtown. Davis said much money was initially spent on landscaping and infrastructure to make the community more capable of supporting business. Since he took over, he said, the city has worked harder on deals like Sweetbay, which could be the spark to a kind of BayWalk for Midtown.

A SunTrust Bank and office building are set to rise opposite Sweetbay at 18th Avenue S and 22nd Street. On another corner, the same African-American developer, Urban Development Solutions, is in negotiations to build a Red Rabbit gas station, Popeye's Chicken, and a retail and office complex.

"One project does not put money in everyone's pocket," said Larry Newsome of the nonprofit UDS, whose Sweetbay project not only won a state award, it has brought phone calls from "Midtowns" across the country seeking similar investment. "The seed has to start somewhere."

Laws matter, too. The city is about to change land development regulations that could make redevelopment more attractive. Grand Central was the guinea pig on those regulations and has become one of the fastest growing areas of the city. Because Midtown's land is relatively cheap in a built-out city that is still attracting new residents, investors are shopping Midtown corridor properties for their mixed-use potential.

The rules also will make it easier to build or fix housing, which could exacerbate inflation that has quadrupled Midtown's median home value in the last 10 years.

"People who've lived there for generations, will they be able to hold on, buy another house?" asked County Commission Chairman Ken Welch, who works tax season in his father's 16th Street S accounting office.

Critics say that's the point. Economic development, they say, is not for Midtown residents but for those who will replace them. Some say Sweetbay's gourmet lineup betrays that conclusion.

"Their taste is a little bit wild for this community," said Cox. "The people here know what the city is up to."

Davis will hear plenty of such comment soon as he goes back on tour to hear Midtown's comments on the city's progress. He said many of the economic issues are inherent in living in a popular place. As others want to move in, the community changes.

"We've got the same issue in the larger city," he said. "How much development is enough before you start to tinker with that character?"

Paul Swider can be reached at 892-2271 or pswider@sptimes.com or by participating in itsyourtimes.com.

[Last modified October 21, 2006, 17:44:44]