WILL HOME-GROWN WORKFORCE HELP BUILD GEORGIA DOME?
Now that the huge, ambitious new project of constructing an expensive,
retractable roofed arena on Atlanta's Westside is underway, we
must consider the many implications of this mega structure's far-reaching
tentacles. Like it or not like it, the
success of this project will have impacts on, not only Vine City, English
Avenue, Historic Westin Heights/Bankhead and
Washington Park neighborhoods largely because Atlanta is viewed through the
World's microscope as the cradle of the Civil Rights movement.
Georgia, can we,
and will we build capacity to use homegrown employees from Atlanta's Westside neighborhoods
to help build the Georgia Dome? Will we (can we) help drug addicts,
ex-prisoners, old and sick people as well as persons who are so far down in the
pit of poverty and despair that they have no way of climbing out? Well. I have a dream that we can, and we
must, inspire hope through a system of well-connected programs that provide
education, training, drug rehabilitation, mental health counseling, as well as
programs that develop CLEAN neighborhoods and promote economic development. This network of programs must have access to
real livable wage jobs to insure sustainable neighborhood stability.
The creative use of
homegrown employees and small businesses can builds capacity for
self-determination and neighborhood empowerment throughout the City. The economic and social step up for a
few individuals and small businesses potentially can become a beginning to the
end of Atlanta’s polarized racial and economic disparity.
