Rosedale's reckoning
George Terry describes Rosedale as a “hidden gem.” It’s why he’s lived there for 34 years and ran for a City Council seat in 2016.
But he also feels his neighborhood doesn’t get the attention it deserves.
“Rosedale is a hidden gem, so I feel like, yes, they have been neglected and overlooked by the council. But it doesn’t mean that it cannot be overturned and something can be done about it now,” Terry said.
Terry is one of two Rosedale residents who have recently stepped up to give their neighborhood’s concerns a voice.
The second is Jeremy Love, an eight-year resident and organizer of the Rosedale Community Association. While there have been other Rosedale improvements in the past, Love said he brings a fresh energy and approach as part of the millennial generation.
“Rosedale needed a little more activity, engagement, effort from its residents,” Love said. “I felt the need, not to criticize, but to construct my own organization to galvanize people and gain efforts to help improve Rosedale in a new way.”
In addition to the community organization, Love said he also has applied for vacant Ward 1 seats on the city’s zoning board, environmental commission and municipal housing code abatement board.
Rosedale has a high population of senior citizens compared to the city overall, which has a median age of about 30. Terry said that while these residents may not be as active in community change, they’re willing to back his and Love’s efforts as long as they represent the area’s desires.
Along with Terry, Love said he feels Rosedale’s needs and requests have been a lower priority for the City Council in the past compared to other neighborhoods. However, he prefers to focus on concrete action for the future than any ill will toward the past.
“It’s very sad, but that’s the past, and this is the present, and we’re looking forward to the future,” Love said. “We don’t want broken promises; we don’t want unofficial approvals. We want something on paper that says, ‘Yes, we as a City Council are approving this plan for improvements in Rosedale.’”
Connecting with Council
Love has been a fixture at recent City Council meetings and public sessions over the use of the $110 million bond the city took out in fall 2016. He and Terry both agree on a number of changes they believe could change the face and future of Rosedale.
Among those changes is an increase in affordable and senior-friendly housing, as well as abatement of overgrown properties and neglected structures. They also want to see more infrastructure improvements such as lighting, paving, sidewalks, crosswalks and upgrades at the Lee Community Center and Spring Park. Love added he would like to see more preservation of the area’s history as one of Homewood’s earliest neighborhoods and recognition with signs or a small museum.
Love’s list of proposals also includes a master plan for Rosedale’s direction and future development and the creation of a Rosedale Shopping District. He envisions an area set aside for businesses owned and staffed by Rosedale residents, with shoppers from the neighborhood as well. He said improvements to housing in the area must go hand-in-hand with economic development, so residents can continue to live there if home values increase.
“If we do not do that, we’re ultimately allowing ourselves to be displaced,” Love said.
The bond issue has been a major topic for Love and some other Rosedale residents, as the $110 million is intended for expansion of city schools and a potential new high school, a new public safety building, improvements in West Homewood and Patriot parks and potentially sidewalk projects if there are leftover funds. Except for the school expansions benefiting all Homewood children, none of the other projects in the bond affects Rosedale residents or public amenities directly.
Love said he wants the council to commit a portion of the bond money toward some of the projects on his list. Even after the bond’s funds are allocated, Love said he plans to continue being a familiar face at council meetings to advocate for community projects.
“We need to step up to the plate as residents to work with the council,” Terry said.
Rosedale’s council representatives are second-term member Britt Thames and newcomer Andy Gwaltney. Terry said he’s optimistic about what he’s heard so far from them.
“I’ve really got positive feedback, and I hope they can help us out,” Terry said.
Thames and Gwaltney said they received a lot of feedback from Rosedale residents while campaigning for the 2016-20 term, including many of the concerns Love has presented to the council. Since their election, the two representatives rode through Rosedale to make a list of properties that could be candidates for nuisance abatement, and they hosted a Feb. 21 meeting at the Lee Community Center to make sure neighborhood residents are aware of and on board with these and other changes.
“I think the council will follow our lead since we’re the representatives of Ward 1 … We heard it loud and clear [while] campaigning,” Gwaltney said.
As far as Rosedale’s past interactions with the council, Thames said he felt the city has had several recent Rosedale projects but perhaps has not done enough to share that information with residents. These include a 2014 Community Development Block Grant for sidewalks, funding for Rosedale Drive sidewalks in 2017, rebuilt Spring Creek reinforcement walls and about $73,000 spent on Lee Community Center for new gym floors, paint, interior doors, bathroom upgrades, new play equipment and an outdoor canopy similar to one at Central Park.
“I think maybe we haven’t done a good job of letting people know that. If you don’t use the Lee Center, you don’t know that we’ve been spending money at the Lee Center,” Thames said.
Moving forward, Thames said he wants the community’s “buy-in” before proceeding with projects like sidewalks and the legal process for addressing overgrown or neglected properties.
The Rosedale residents who spoke up at the Feb. 21 meeting were not always as optimistic about plans for the future. Mary Edwards, who has lived in the neighborhood since the 1930s, said she has heard promises from the city before, but hasn’t seen the action.
“Stop putting us on the back burner. We have been back there for a long, long time,” Edwards said. “We have put up with promises for years and years and years.”
Many residents expressed concerns about a perceived division between Rosedale and the rest of Homewood in terms of the attention and quality of improvements they receive from the city.
“We’re always on a different page. We’re Rosedale, y’all are Homewood,” one man said during discussion of the abatement process.
The community meeting did not result in a consensus on whether the council should proceed with the legal abatement process, though Gwaltney said he hopes future meetings will resolve that discussion.
Homewood Mayor Scott McBrayer encouraged residents to keep the city accountable on the projects they discussed during the Feb. 21 meeting, including upcoming paving, sidewalks, crosswalks and street signs.
“Let our actions show you what we’re going to do. You don’t have to believe anything right now. But when we go out and do it, you can stand up and say, ‘Those are men of their words,’” McBrayer said. “The things that we’re discussing tonight, I’m telling you we’re going to do those things.”
“I’ll keep your feet to the fire,” Edwards said at the meeting.
What the future holds
Looking ahead, Thames pointed to plans for an 18th Street South streetscape project for beautification and new parking, plus more sidewalks on the priority list for future years. One item he said is expected in the 2018 fiscal year budget is about $175,000 to $200,000 for a rebuild of Spring Park with new playground equipment and larger pavilions.
“They’re going to totally level the current structures out there,” Thames said.
Another potential opportunity for Rosedale is the new downtown master plan the city has budgeted for 2017. Thames said they had previously believed the Rosedale community did not want to be considered in this master plan, but he wants to revisit the topic with residents to see whether that’s accurate.
“Maybe we were working on bad information in that regard,” Thames said.
The master plan is expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2018.
Not everything on Love and Terry’s to-do list — such as senior housing — is something the city can accomplish, but Thames and Gwaltney said projects such as sidewalks and lighting are possible.
“A lot of this stuff is low-hanging fruit for us. Just let us know you want it, and let us know where you want it,” Thames said.
Thames said he likes many of the ideas Love presented, and he thinks having a more formal structure for voicing Rosedale concerns would help create plans to move forward and prevent residents “spin[ning] their wheels” on projects the city can’t accomplish.
“That’s how things get done are within committees. I think a great idea would be a Rosedale committee comprised of a couple Rosedale stakeholders, obviously either Andy [Gwaltney] or I, or both of us, and somebody from another part of the city,” Thames said. “We rarely do anything without ‘committee-ing’ them to death. That’s the way it starts.”
Love and Terry are both willing to put in the time, and Love said he’s hopeful the future for Rosedale will be brighter than its past. Thames and Gwaltney said they plan to attend future Rosedale Community Association meetings, held monthly, for more feedback from residents, and Love wants to set up his own community meeting to hear more feedback on the items in his petition.
“They hear our voices, hear our concerns, but at the end of the day, it’s business as usual. That’s what I hope to change,” Love said. “I’m not a big believer in holding the past against people and staying in the past. I’m a big believer in moving forward toward the future by doing things in the present. So that’s all I can hope for, that the City Council will actually do something, and we can see constructive progress.”
See full coverage of the Feb. 21 Rosedale meeting and future community meetings on thehomewoodstar.com.