Residents set REZ priorities
By Joe Parrino, KENTUCKY NEW ERA STAFF WRITER June 9, 2006
More than 50 neighbors from Hopkinsville’s inner-city communities added to their French
vocabularies Thursday night at the Lackey Municipal Center.
They were participating in a ‘neighborhood planning charrette’, a visiting consultant told the
crowd. Charrette is French for ‘cart’, which craftsmen of old used to wheel around their tools.
The consultant explained that the craftsmen could be summoned to villages devastated by
bandits or war. The locals would then direct the outsiders where to make repairs and how to
design the rebuilt village.
That illustrated the purpose of the gathering.
“You’re here to share your thoughts, dreams, challenges and strengths to make Hopkinsville
a better place to live,” said Councilman Linda Wood, whose welcome address kicked off the
4-hour groupthink.
The visiting ‘craftsmen’ were of two trades. A team of housing consultants from the
Dennison Associates came from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
with whom it is a frequent contractor. A group of urban planners from a firm called
Camiros was also on hand to provide the technical know-how for turning neighbors’ ideas
into action.
Inner-city residents spent the evening alerting these professionals to their communities’
weaknesses, strengths and future potential. The four districts encompassed by the Inner-city
Residential Enterprise Zone are Durrett/Virginia, Attucks/Eastside, Canton Pike and
Westside.
A circle of Durrett/Virginia district neighbors filled sheet after sheet with their brainstorming.
They listed problems such as slumlords, inconvenient playground locations, abandoned
vehicles, the lack of code enforcement and heavy train traffic.
Afterward, the group prioritized by sticking blue dots next to the problems they thought
affected the most residents or were the most critical to turning the neighborhood around.
One member of the group, Linda Grubbs of 1812 Maplewood Drive, spoke emphatically
about the need to provide the up-and-coming generation with suitable housing.
Grubb’s 18-year-old daughter, Jasmine, recently told her that she didn’t want to come back
to the Durrett Avenue neighborhood after graduating from college. Her daughter complained
that there were simply too few choices of decent, affordable housing.
“Everything a young person can afford needs tons of fixing up,” Grubbs said. “And that
generation isn’t motivated to do all that. They want something that is ready to move into.”
Grubbs hoped that future REZ initiatives would result in new rental properties that appealed
to younger adults.
Residents of the Canton Pike and Westside neighborhoods combined into one brainstorming
group because they were less represented. In addition to weaknesses, they also spent some
time reviewing their community’s strengths, things they hoped to build on in the future.
They mentioned virtues such as the prevalence of sidewalks, the abundant greenery and the
historic value of many of the homes.
Another group of neighbors from the Attucks/Eastside neighborhood overflowed with ideas
about how to turn their neighborhood around. The discussion touched on long-debated
topics such as the conversion of the old Attucks School into a community center as well as
fresher ideas such as an aquatic center within their neighborhood.
The Reverend Darvin Adams of Pleasant Green Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
strongly advocated the need for an eastside Chamber of Commerce.
“It’s not that the (Hopkinsville-Christian County) Chamber of Commerce isn’t doing a good
job,” Adams said. “It’s more that we want to be the captain of our own ship.”
The pastor stressed the need for the neighborhood to support its own businesses and
thereby circulate community dollars. Almost all Attucks residents said they did their shopping
outside the REZ boundaries.
John Hampton, a senior analyst with Dennison Associates, said getting all this input from
community insiders was critical to the success of any revitalization programs the government
might fund or the Hopkinsville-Christian County Planning Commission might implement.
“It’s simple,” Hampton said, “Those who live in the neighborhood know it best. They provide
the qualitative information that leads directly to effective solutions.”
Dennison Associates and Camiros will continue to work arm-in-arm with the city. On June
29th, all parties will meet a follow-up charrette in which the professionals will present their
recommendations to the residents and seek their corrections.
By August, the Planning Commission will incorporate the community’s guidance into its
annual action plan.
Hampton’s colleague Dorothy Reiser, a program manager, likened the process to a funnel.
“You put everything into it, and at the end, what comes out is tighter and more focused.”
Reiser said.
JOE PARRINO can be reached at 887-3239 or by e-mail at jparrino@kentuckynewera.com.