EABA - in accordance with our Main Street principals - has committed to unifying efforts with East Atlanta stakeholders as steam builds with a "Friends of Brownwood Park" revival. Although not technically within EAV's Main Street district boundaries, we see the immense value in helping with efforts to revitalize and maintain our community's public park space. There are endless mutually beneficial advantages for our business district and community members alike that can result from a better Brownwood Park.
Brownwood Park has the potential to be a HUGE asset to one of Atlanta's best walkable communities. The overarching vision for our Brownwood Park efforts can be summed up in this quick video highlighting the importance of "Third Places" by urbanist Nathan Allebach.
Below is a re-cap of efforts to date. This is an ongoing effort and we welcome any involvement from community and business members alike in the form of volunteers and connections.
1.14.22 | Visioning Meeting
This kickoff meeting was organized by several stakeholders including: CoA Parks Commissioner, Park Pride, East Atlanta Kids Club, East Atlanta Parents Network, East Atlanta Community Association, the reemerging Friends of Brownwood Park group, and Liliana Bakhtiari's office.
Takeaways:
1. We’re relaunching Friends of Brownwood park to help manage revitalization efforts at the park in conjunction with EACA’s parks committee. City pretty much said…the best way to get projects done is to show the city that the community has an organized effort behind the initiative.
2. We hosted Commissioner Bakhtiari, parks Commissioner Cutler, Park Pride leaders, Ryan with EAKC and other community groups at Brownwood Park on Saturday 1/14 to begin efforts to make improvements. We walked the entire park with the group and made suggestions. Park Pride is putting a report together of that walk through.
3. The commissioners let us know they are planning on setting aside a $500k bond to work on improvements at the park. They want the community to match it through fundraising efforts. Through oversight from Park Pride, they want to make short term improvements and long term improvements…including improvements at the community center. They will work with the community to help solidify the plan which can then be used to begin raising money to match city contributions. There will need to be a revamping of the Vision Plan from 2005. TBD on timeline for the plan, but they are looking to complete some major projects in 2023.
4. EABA has committed to helping with visioning and fundraising efforts. The idea is that by creating reasons to draw people to Brownwood Park we will in turn help draw people to the Village.
5. Short term wins discussed with the city include (but not limited to): Fixing park benches, shoring up pavilion, repainting lamp posts, shoring up grills, resurfacing tennis courts, fixing erosion issues along walkways, clearing out debris and adding more security cameras.
