Big efforts pay off: Franklin Road area revived

When Jai-Mye Moore moved to an apartment complex on Franklin Road in Marietta eight years ago, hardly a night passed without gunshots in her neighborhood.

"Every time we heard firearms going off I would find myself throwing my children and I to the floor for safety," Moore recalled.

So concerned was she about her safety that Moore stopped walking to her job at a day care center less than a mile away and instead began driving.

But those times of apprehension are a rarity now. Things are looking up on Franklin Road.

Moore, who is president of the Franklin Road Community Association, is part of a cadre of volunteers working to reverse a tide of deterioration. In 2006, the neighborhood was accepted into a five-year federal grant program administered by the Department of Justice.

By the time the Weed and Seed program ends in 2011, a total of $824,000 will have been poured into the community to pay for extra policing and community service initiatives, said Daneea Badio, the site coordinator.

Construction will get under way this year on a new $2.7 million park located where the Preston Chase apartment complex stands. And a $3 million regional grant will bankroll streetscape and traffic improvements beginning in 2012. The improvements are expected to help reduce pedestrian accidents in an area with heavy foot traffic.

The Weed and Seed program came into being during the tenure of former Mayor Bill Dunaway, who stepped down in December after serving two terms.

He said the progress is evident in the crime statistics. Violent crime in the area has declined 14 percent since 2006.

"It's been a real godsend for the people that live on Franklin Road," Dunaway said. "It has really improved the whole area and I think more importantly it has improved the mood of the people there."

Other Weed and Seed neighborhoods in Atlanta also have made headway. Crime went down in Mechanicsville by 9 percent, Vine City by 22 percent and English Avenue by 27 percent over the past three years. However, in the Pittsburgh neighborhood, where the program ended in 2005, crime has risen 16 percent since 2007.

Franklin Road was once a hot address. The mile-and-a-quarter-long roadway is dotted with aging strip malls, motels, bus stops, 11 apartment complexes, office parks and a few upscale office towers. In the early 1990s, young professionals flocked to the new apartments because of their proximity to I-75 and desirable stores and restaurants.

Later in the decade and after the turn of the century, the area gradually went into decline.

"With 91 percent of residents being renters, what happens in those apartment complexes has a huge impact on the community overall," Badio said.

In turn, what happens on Franklin Road impacts Marietta, because about 22 percent of the city resides there. Criminals based in the neighborhood use nearby I-75 to expand their reach into other areas of metro Atlanta.

About half the federal grant money has gone toward policing, where the city is making some inroads.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms lent its assistance to the Marietta Police Department in drug investigations. ATF agents came twice a week to help orchestrate undercover drug buys, saturation patrols and reverse stings on drug buyers, said police Sgt. Michael Goins.

Five local drug-dealing groups were broken up through arrests and prosecutions. Most of the offenders were mid- to low-level dope dealers operating out of motels and on the streets, Goins said.

"We saw a drastic drop in crime after that, absolutely," Goins said. "

Goins also heads a Police Athletic League funded by Weed and Seed that provides tutoring and a wide array of free sports programs for kids: basketball, martial arts, swimming, golf and ballet. The program encourages the children of Franklin Road to view police as role models -- "not just the people who come in and lock up their parents," Goins said.

The other half of the federal grant money goes to service organizations like the Boys & Girls Club, Travelers Aid and the Latin American Association that partner with Marietta to offer programs.

There have been a few setbacks.

The Boys & Girls Club on Franklin Road, which had 75 to 100 participants, closed this summer. Children who want to participate will be transported by bus to nearby James T. Anderson Boys & Girls Club in Marietta.

Attempts to form an active Franklin Road Business Association also faltered, in part because the corporations that populate the area's office towers have little in common with the mom and pop stores in the strip malls.

But the Franklin Road Community Association is going strong and working to obtain nonprofit 501(c)3 status. After the Weed and Seed program ends the association will take over community programming and seek continuing sponsorships and grants to fund improvements, Moore said.

At last week's National Night Out community policing event the pools at Notting Hill and Casa Mia Trace apartments were crammed with about a hundred children and families playing games and munching on pizza.

Leslie Valdez, 29, a mother of three, gave her neighborhood a mixed review. Valdez said the rent is affordable, but some complexes aren't well-maintained and she has witnessed drugs change hands in front of children.

"I just don't like it because I don't think it is the right environment for my kids," said Valdez, who plans to move this month. "I do like that they have a lot of things going on for kids in terms of programs, but for safety reasons I don't like it."

Other residents have noticed changes and want to stay.

Marcella McKenney, who has lived on Franklin Road seven years, said fewer teenagers are loitering and getting into trouble because there are more recreational programs for them.

"It has gotten a lot better," McKenney said.

Franklin Road at a glance

Population: 12,867

Total households: 4,800

Single parent households: 1,094

Median household income: $44,152

Race/ethnicity: 26 percent white, 49 percent black, 35 percent Hispanic ethnicity (overlaps with some who racially identify as black or white), 4 percent Asian