News-Record.com

The following is a Counterpoint.

By Donna Newton

Your recent article about Martin Luther King Drive (Jan. 20) failed to reflect the decades of hard work and accomplishments of the neighborhoods along and surrounding it. These residents have worked to improve the area after it was devastated by white flight and the ensuing loss of services that continued in that area into the 1970s.

In the 1980s the neighborhoods gained rezoning to stop the rooming houses that had come about after white flight. Absentee investors had bought many houses in the community and had broken them up into rooms for rent. Many of these landlords showed no interest in who rented the rooms or in how the houses brought down the value of existing homes.

The neighborhoods were also instrumental in obtaining a number of HUD grants. Thanks to these efforts, builder and developer John Kavanaugh and Habitat for Humanity began to build in the community and another builder, Sandra Anderson, built 65 houses. The community went on to dedicate the Nettie Coad Apartments in 1990 and open the Community Resource Office in 1999.

Moreover, Ole Asheboro and the greater Southside community worked for passage of the $5 million bond referendum that was used to begin the Southside redevelopment. Self-Help is building several homes in the area and a number of diverse people are moving into the community and remodeling existing homes.

Another investor is working closely with Ole Asheboro in remodeling a beautiful old structure on MLK. To top it off, as your article did mention, New Zion Missionary Baptist Church is staying in Ole Asheboro and is going to expand. This is a vibrant community.

Finally, Ole Asheboro along MLK has an active association. It brings neighbors together in social and issue-based gatherings, and they are building a strong sense of community. They work with the police by reporting criminal activity and supporting enforcement. They also reach out to the broader Greensboro community. The association is an active member of the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress; it is providing input on the downtown greenway and it participates with the Greensboro Housing Coalition Annual Bus Tour. Ole Asheboro and Asheboro Square are participating as well in the Greensboro Bicentennial.
The long-time residents around MLK have overcome the oppression of a bygone era, and through a dedicated effort only few of us could endure, their neighborhoods are emerging as beautiful places to live.

Please give them the credit they deserve.

The writer lives in Greensboro and is advisor to the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress.