Southside town hall meeting set for Jan. 31

Press release:

Southside Town Hall Meeting set for Jan. 31

In a citizen-led process, community members are invited to a Southside Town Hall Meeting to discuss recreational opportunities for the Southside neighborhood. Facilitated by Tyrone Greenlee, Director of Christians for a United Community, the meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 31 in gym at the Arthur R. Edington Center, 133 Livingston St.

Topics to be discussed include:

·         The location of a new pool for the Southside community.
·         A more attractive Walton Street Park
·         The next phase for the Grant Southside Center

A team of community members and City staff has put together a survey to gather community input on what services and programs will be featured in the designs for Walton Park and the Grant Southside Center.  The survey is currently available at the Grant Southside and Edington Centers.  It will also be available at the meeting. The same survey will be available online at Open City Hall Asheville.

Child care and transportation to the meeting will be available (flyer with schedule attached). Refreshments will be served at the beginning of the meeting.

Community members have been meeting with City representatives the past few months to decide upon the best way to engage the Southside community for decision making. The Jan. 31 Town Hall Meeting came out of those discussions. And the community members will take the lead at this meeting with City staff in a supporting role.

“Our goal is to change the way the Asheville Parks & Rec Department engages with the community and build community capacity at the same time. Helping the Southside community develop a recreational services plan that meets the needs of the community will do just that,” said Asheville Parks & Recreation Director Roderick Simmons. “After we hear from the community at the Town Hall Meeting and through the surveys, we will get a better idea about what the community wants.”

The ideas collected from the Town Hall Meeting and through the surveys will be presented at another meeting, set for Feb. 28 (details to be announced).

“Some concepts could be presented to the community at that time,” Simmons said.

Radio interview Friday

In the meantime, WRES radio station will air an interview with Asheville Parks Director Roderick Simmons and former Mayor Terry Bellamy about this Southside Town Hall Meeting at 11:30 a.m. Friday (Jan. 20). Be sure to tune in at 100.7-FM.