ME, An ASSET

I think I bring alot of assets to the project because I am very open-minded and influential. I also believe that I am a role model among my co-workers. I bring new ideas to the table and I speak my mind very fluently

What assets do I bring to the project?

Some assets I bring to the project are I live in the community, also I'm a youth so I see different on the problems in the community. I came up with a plan to deal with the abandoned houses and make our community a more livable place. I want to see abandoned houses torn down, and child care centers and affordable housing built. I would like to see communities cutting out noise pollution, emphasizing the code enforcement rule, and putting an end to the littering. Abandoned house are a haven for drugs, prostitution, rape, and other malicious crimes. I think child care centers and affordable housing would be a much better alternative.

I'm Valuable?!

Earlier this week, we were discussing what assets our communities have and what assets we bring to them. That discussion made me wonder what assets, if any, i bring to my community, and my city.
This Program:

• My Eloquence and Fast-Typing, lol
• My LOVE for research & history
  
• My ability to communicate with senior citizens in a way that they actually understand & CARE!

This City & This Community:

• I'm a young person who wants to be something, and wants to make a difference, and although we don't get as much attention as the youth who choose to wrong, there are still ALOT of us out there.
  

Personally i think that being apart of the neighborhood is a big asset that i offer to this project. Living here I'm able to see the everyday crime and i understand the struggle that this brings among our community. Seeing the abandon houses and the drugs i know what to push towards off top. What is the main sources that causes our neighborhood to go downhill like its doing. By seeing these problems and bringing them to our attention is giving us a head start on what we need to do. Instead of searching for these problems we already have them brainstorming on how to improve them.

What assets do I bring to the project?

Some assets I bring to the project are that I live in the community,and I know more of what goes on in the neighborhood than adults. I am very interested in changing my neighborhood because I want it to be a better place for my self and my children. I want to see all the abandoned houses in memphis gone,and affordable housing put up. I don't want to see the neighborhood go corrupt because of the violence and drugs. I want people to see the positive instead of the negative they always see when they turn the t.v on.

HARC the Herald!!! WOW!!!!

Today was such a very productive day. We went over to the St. Luke's United Methodist Church to meet with the wonderful H.A.R.C. group(Highland Area Renewal Corporation). The most interesting part of this It was a very successful meeting and might I add, I really enjoyed their company. We learned so much about their organization. It feels so good to know that their are other people in our neighborhoods who actually care about our neighborhoods. Everyone from our organization introduced themselves and basically informed the other organization about what we do. We learned about all of their upcoming events to help take back the neighborhood. I think I speak for everyone when I say that this was an awesome experience. HARC is a very productive and beneficial organixation with the same hope and dreams as us and we hope to both come together and make our community better.

Behavioral Mapping of the day

Today we got introduced to something called behavioral mapping. This reflects the way people interact/behave with the surroundings at parks or areas in general. This as well is a way that shows what could be added to improve a park and what can be taken out. The way people interact with each other, how they use the objects in the area, what seems like something that attracts these visitors, the population in the area and even where people sit--these are all questions that we had to ask ourselves as we visited the Court Square park downtown. We saw that the park was in use and yes it had a beautiful setting but it could have offered more. There was a gazebo that could have had more inside to bring the visitors and make it even more relaxing. There was a gorgeous water fountain, but no small drinking fountains for people there. There was plenty off shade, but no areas for the children to go to where they can enjoy themselves and have fun. Even though there are a lot of businesses around the area there were not many business people in the park. In fact, there are a lot of homeless people lying around. The way people were relaxed and conversing in the park you could tell that it was a calm area that you would go to on a nice day during lunch break or just a place where you can go to release thoughts. Speaking for myself and in this case for my teammates as well, I think that we have discovered that there is more that comes out of our actions.

*Communication goes further than speaking*

SUPER PRODUCTIVE DAY!

Today was a really good day.
Like yesterday, we split up into groups, but this time, each group had an adult. We rode to Alexander Ave. off of Central (?)...I Think that's Central. Anyway: We were on Alexander. We each took a side, and we went. The assignment was to take photos of houses similar to the ones we saw yesterday, and to go back to the school and print information on the value, renovations, owners, etc. from the Shelby County Property Assessor Site. In MY group we found that the homes were built around the same years, however the ones on THAT side of the tracks averaged to be a whole $75,000 more expensive than the ones on the other side. VERY weird!

After that, we watched a VERY interesting film on the James Kennedy VA Hospital. Ever since I can remember, I've heard people mention the "old VA hospital", but i've never gotten a chance to hear about the details from someone who was there. I was like "Ohhhh Lord! A BORING FILM! AHHHHHH!" But it was great! I learned about the history of the street, Getwell, and how some people even migrated to Memphis to help out. I even learned (from my mom), that my granddad died there in 1963, just two weeks before she was born. After the film, the day was done, but I'm SOOO glad I got to watch it, and I can't wait to learn more about it. (Perhaps when its NOT 12:11 AM!) lol

-skylEr!

H.A.R.C Presentation

Y.N.M.I.
(Youth Neighborhood Mapping Initiative)

Good Morning! My Name Is Skyler Harris and I live in the Messick-Buntyn District, and for a few weeks now, I’ve been working with The Youth Neighborhood Mapping Initiative, along with Selena, Shay, Jeremy, Marshanique, Marquez, and Patrick. So far, through this program, I’ve not only learned about the landscaping and mapping of my neighborhood, but also about some of the history of Messick-Buntyn, and Orange Mound as well. In fact, I learned that the Southern Railroad was the first railroad to connect the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River.
But about the Mapping Initiative: We’re a group of teens who live in various parts of the University District and have an interest in making positive changes in our community. We are working with a team of city planning students, professors, and professionals to identify the pros and cons of our neighborhoods and share our thoughts to come up with ways to solve problems and get the community involved.

II. What we are doing?
A. Gathering Data/ Information
We visit numerous parts of Memphis focusing on what one area has that we could use to better or be an asset to our community.
B. Blog Entries
We created a blog page to tell about what we do on a daily basis. It also includes our inputs and opinions on what we did and how we feel about it. Our goal is to keep people in our neighborhood informed about assets and liabilities in our neighborhoods.
C. Learning New things

We have learned so many new terms that refer to city planning and landscaping. We also learn a lot about the history of our neighborhood
We are interested in changing the community because we want it to be a better place for our children and ourselves. Our community used to be an example of a livable community but through the years, drugs and violence have corrupted our neighborhoods and our youth. Through the years, people have moved away to less violent areas of the city. The evidence of people leaving the neighborhoods is visible in the multitude of abandoned houses seen on each street. The assets of our neighborhoods are hidden because of the obvious liabilities I just spoke about. Because of the evident problems in our neighborhoods we see everyday, we want outsiders to see the positives in our neighborhoods and this is what we are working towards this summer.

In the hustle and bustle of everyday life we often forget to give back to our neighborhoods. As teenagers we believe we must take back our neighborhoods and become role models for our peers, siblings, and parents. By identifying the assets and liabilities in our neighborhood we can create plans to improve them. These plans can benefit community residents now and build stronger neighborhoods for the future generations. We need to improve the community for all generations. We want to give our community a peaceful environment where everyone can relax and enjoy themselves. We want to improve to give future generations a more positive setting, and a better outlook on life. Motivating them to look up to more and achieve past the obvious high school diploma.

We are putting a plan together to deal with the abandoned houses and make our community a more livable place. We would like to see abandoned houses torn down, and child care centers and affordable housing built. We’d like to see communities cutting out noise pollution, emphasizing the code enforcement rules, and putting an end to the littering. Abandoned houses are a haven for drugs, prostitution, rape, and other malicious crimes. Child care centers and affordable housing would be a much better alternative.

Our project is based on a call to action to the youth. We basically want to influence our young people to get involved with the community. We also want to get the community to realize the importance of the youth. We have different views of certain situations, which mean we also have different solutions. Our input is very valuable to the community, and is needed so we could reach out to more youth. We also want to reach out to the present generation, because if we can build on our present it will make a better future. We need the elderly to provide and watch over our youth. Our neighborhood should be able to look out for each other. If we could get the youth involved with the community, then that would mean less youth on the streets. We believe a change is needed, because the death rate of youth in Memphis is too high. If we can all get together and use our ideas, and your ideas we could see an improved community.

Architectural Touring

We walked around the Messick-Buntyn neighborhood and took pictures of diffrent types of houses. We had two group the went diffrent ways. Both groups started going seperate ways on Spotswood and returned on Carnes. One of our groups ended up getting chased by dogs LOL. We realized that most of the houses that we saw were of the same architecture. The houses with a different style were in the better neighborhoods, but the ones in the coves all looked the same. We also got prepared for our presentation with HARC Wensday. It's going to be a presentation on the importance of our community. We are going to see if we can make a diffrence with our presentation and reach out to everyone there.

Salon

I was watching a movie called Salon on Friday night. It was a very inspiring movie. Every neighborhood has that special place where people from the community can come, sit, talk and get their hair done. For many, it's the thread that holds neighborhoods together. In an era of corporate takeovers in the high stakes real estate market, the neighborhood shop is a dying breed with little resources to fight back. In a way, it inspired me to want me to reach out and take back our community. The film was about a community of people who were, pretty much, in the same predicament as us. They lived in the middle of the ghetto. They had to deal with abandoned houses, drug dealers, homeless people, intoxicated people walking their streets, gang violence etc. When we compare their community to our neighborhood, Orange Mound, we see that we have alot in common. The movie really revolved around this one young lady named Jenny, who owned her own business in this community. She owned a beauty salon. People would come to the salon on a regular basis not only to get their hair done but they also had friends who worked in the salon. So it's not literally a mixed- use but I just referred to it as one, because it was used to do hair, counseling, and love connections. LOL!! Anyway, one day Jenny gets a letter in the mail that informs her that the Department of Water and Power(DWP) is forcing her out of her building so that they can tear it down and make it into a parking lot. This is an example of eminent domain - the power of public agencies to take private property for public use. Now they were offering her money for her removal, but she didnt want to take it. The salon was a family business that had sentimental values to her. Michael, the lawyer on behalf of the DWP came to the shop one day to tell her that she had to get ready to move. He was an African American lawyer who worked for an all white company. Jenny was so hurt, but she didnt tell any of her employees what was going on. She was still praying for a miracle. A couple of days later she got a phone call from Michael that he wasnt supposed to make. Her informed her that the city was having a final hearing about her case and she could come and defend her business if she wanted to. So she went down to the city hall and she explained to them the value that her salon held. They paid her no attention and declared that she had lost the case. They would be shuuting her down. However, Jenny didnt like that answer. Jenny gathered all of her employees and told them what was happening. The employees realized that they needed the salon so they decided to go and voice their opinions about the salon. Jenny began to do research and was looking through some history books when she saw a picture of her building being used as a commercial use in her neighborhood. With the employees envading the court then Jenny showing them the history of the building they decided that the building had too mush historic value to just tear down. She was able to keep her building and all was well. My point is, we can fight back and save our community. Our voice counts.

Why is it important to be involved in your community?

Many answers can be directed to this question especially towards our younger generation because not only do we hold the path of our present we also hold the path to our future and the next generation after us. If we lead by example trying to improve our surroundings showing respect to our community then we could possibly motivate others our age, younger and older to do the same. If we show the younger children that there is nothing wrong with being involved in your community then they will also lead by example doing the same that we did improving the communities further future as well. If we don't show that we care and that we don't want to make a change then people won't care as well and with that attitude nobody can help improve anything.

It is extremely important to improve our community because if we don't then who will.

Being Involved With Your Community

I believe that it is so important to be an active member of our community. I mean so many different things go on in one day right amongst our communities. Yet, and still, we our so dumbfounded about alot of things. That's a prime example of why it's important to know our community. So as you can see, it's not only important to help out your community. It's important because it can benefit you as well. Also, you may want to be aware of crime, loose dogs, sex offenders, or anything that can cause harm to you or your family. We also want to have a say-so in what kind of Big Box or commercial use is placed in our near our home. Who wants to be exposed to all of the noisse pollutin and traffic inthe privacy of their own home? Not me. We want to make sure that our home is in a liveable community. However, how is that possible if we're not involved in our community to know what is happening around us? True enough, the City Government makes the official decisions about our community design, but we also have a say-so. We should want to make sure that our community is a developed land. We don't want anything lacking or out of place. Believe it or not, we can actually make an impact on whether or not that request is honored. All of the greenfields and abandoned houses in our neighborhoods make us look bad as a whole. We can use in-fill as a strategy to redevelope those abandoned houses. It's not like they're serving any purpose being what they are. I take that back. It's not like they're serving any kind of positive purpose. They are being used for drugs, prostitution, gang uses, rape spots, sex, and just a whole lot of things that I know no one in their right mind would want to live around. These places could be used for a more beneficial use, such as: multi-family housing, public space, or even more community facilities to better the lives of young people. In conclusion, we must all be very and I do very involved and active in our communities if we want to see a change. If we step up to the plate and start demanding a better life, then maybe others will see just how important it is.

Get your community game up pimpin'...

I know, when you step out of the house, it would be nice to see a clean environment. This is why it's important to get involved in your community. No one wants their part of town to be a trash can; therefore, DON'T BE A LITTER BUG!!! Pick up ya trash bruh throw it where you throw all your waste; I'm sure the trash people will take care of it.

Trash is only one of the few ways to get involved in your community. You can also get involved with the youth. we must focus on keeping them out the streets so they can learn to do something with their life. This is important becuase the youth is the future and we want a bright future. Now if i'm wrong you tell me what we should do or what sbould happen.

These are only a few ways to get involved with the community. Let's get out and make a change together...come on wud do ya say...let's get our community game up pimpin'.

Importance of Community Involvement

Why is it important to be involved in your communities? Community involvement is important because everyone should have a voice in making decisions that will affect their lives. Also, when you get involved in your community you could help make important decisions that can be vital to your future. Despite others' endeavors to bring down the neighborhood, your opinions and involvement could make a major impact on the future development of your neighborhood.


A community can consist of many things, for instance, schools, houses, stores, community facilities, and parks. However, it takes those who reside in the neighborhood to keep it strong and together. (i.e. especially youth involvement) I say youth involvement because we as youth perceive the world different than those older or younger than us.


Youth are the future, and we are aware of the necessities that could make our community better. For example, Davis Park located on Spottswood Avenue could be a better place for children to enjoy their childhood, if it contained cleaner and safer portable bathroom stalls, more playground equipment that can sustain the attention of the children, a sanitary water fountain that is not located directly in the hot sun, no graffiti on the table or the slide, and near by waste basket so that they won't litter because the garbage can is too far.

Why is it important to be involved in your communities?

I think is important to be involved in our communities because we need the youth input and that can make the community good for now and the future. For now, we can get rid of all the abandoned houses and vacant lots. We can change the abandoned houses to day cares, affordable houses, and corner stores. Day cares are for the little children that don't have any daycare to go to. Affordable house for the homeless and the people who can't afford expensive homes. If the homeless get a job, they can keep their homes. Corner stores will be good because we can't have too many corner stores and it can be for the people who don't want to drive to the store, they can go to the corner store.

These ideas are for the future, too, because you can still use the day cares, affordable houses, and corner stores in the future. People are going to have children so the day cares are going to be good and also the affordable houses would be good for the growing families in the future. The little children can't go to the corner store to get some milk by themselves, but it makes it easy for the parents. That means they don't have to go to stores like Kroger, Wal-Mart, and Walgreen's.

Get On Your Job!

Have you ever gotten on the expressway and got off on the Hacks Cross exit and felt like you were in an entirely different city? Or what about The Avenue Carriage Crossing? Ever wished there was a CLEAN strip mall like that in your neighborhood? It is so important for people to be involved in their communities because one day someone could drive into your neighborhood & become impressed. A lot of times I wonder what changes could be made in my neighborhood to get it to where it could be.

Problems (In My Opinion):

• Unruly Children
• Littering
• Loitering
• Domestic Disputes
  

ALL of these problems go back to one solution: PEOPLE ACTUALLY CARING!

If you actually care about your neighborhood, you take your children to the park instead of allowing them to play unsupervised in the front yard or in the middle of the apartment complex! If you care about your neighborhood, you throw your trash in the trash can, not in your neighbor's front yard. If you care about your neighborhood you don't loiter outside. FOR WHAT?! That just looks TACKY in my opinion! Last but not least, if you care about your neighborhood you don't "bump" your music SUPER loud so that everyone knows you're "BALLIN!" There should be no competition. We live together, and we should work together to get the neighborhood the way it should be and KEEP it that way.
I often wonder if other people see the neighborhood the way I do. I'm glad I live on the "good side", but I'm not willing nor am I ready to see my neighborhood go down. It's VERY important to be involved in your communities. If you don't get involved and fight for a better community, who will? YOU live there not the mayor, not the city council members. Get On Your Job!

Good Framing Gone Bad!!!

Lol... It was just a funny subject because Mr. Andrew told us the wrong thing. Let's get prepared to do it again groups.

We had two groups, one focused on the neighborhood east of Highland and the other group focused on the west of Highland. Group 1 involved Mr. Andrew, P Jay, Selena, and Marquez; Group 2 involved Patience, Shay, Jeremy and Skyler. The purpose of the exercise was to take photos of community places that are important to us and that we feel are the best examples of our community.

Group 1: The first picture we took was The New Olivet Baptist Church on Southern Ave. Across from the church we took a picture of a historic house and the Southern Railroad track. Next we got a picture of Lord's Tabenacle Holiness Church on Midland. Then, we got pictures of the Orange Mound Community Center and the back of it where we found what we are calling No Name Park and the old Melrose High School building. The last place we visited was Cherokee Park where we found a whole lot of open space.

Group 2: First we went to Audubon Park and noticed a playground directly in the sun with no children playing. We visited the park's family area, which was abandoned as well. We spoke with some senior citizens who informed us that very few children are found playing in the park. Then, we traveled down Park Ave. to Marquette Park off of Mendenhall. This park was the best we've seen yet. It had just enough play equipment, enough shade, but not TOO many trees, and the porto-pottys AND the water fountains were located in a central location that was easy to reach but still away from the main features of the park. Marquette wasn't deserted; in fact, there were a lot of families and children playing and watching a group of people playing baseball. After that, we went to Halle Park/Stadium and we found comfort in seeing that it was located next to the Mt. Moriah Police Precinct. Overall, it was a good trip, and we found A LOT of differences between the three.

Peabody Park's Wet Area by Selena

Peabody Park
Originally uploaded by Youth Mappers (University District)

We visited the Peabody Park last week and I am very pleased to say that we enjoyed our stay there. They had such a beautiful park and might I add, it was very inviting. They have lots of play equipment for the children. My favorite part was the motion sensory. The children were so excited to discover that their small hands could make such a big difference. lol. All in all, among all the parks we went to, Peabody Park was the BEST

What I think about my job...

I think this is a straight job. I like the fact that we are going to be doing things to help this community. I also like learning these diffrent terms and stuff like that. Then I'm learning a lot about maps and I found a new way to get around. All of my co-workers are pretty cool too...even Shay;lol. So yeah...this is what I think of my job.

P.S.
Ya really don't have to call me Patrick if you don't want to . I also go by P Jay.

What I Would Change About My Neighborhood?

I would change a the vacant lot and abandon houses/buildings. If we could take away all the abandon houses/buildings and rebuild them, we can have better homes and place for people to go to or live. Or we can change the vacant lots to parks for the little children to play. My neighborhood would be better and more interesting to others once all the vacant lots and abandon house/buildings get redevelopement.

WOW! I Wish Everyone Knew This!

While I was doing research on "that darn train", i stumbled upon information about the Orange Mound/Messick-Buntyn Area & now I see where the street names came from.

Buntyn Station was named after Geraldus Buntyn who built a home along the Memphis & Charleston Railroad in the 1800's, after receiving a land grant when he moved from NC. After he dided in 1865, some of his land eventually became the Memphis Country Club.

Another landowner was David. S. Greer. He bought property east and south of Buntyn’s Station. He became a successful planter and built two homes. One was built at Carnes and Prescott, where the Prescott Circle subdivision is today (BY MY HOUSE!!!). The other was on Kimball Avenue south of Park Avenue in the Nonconnah Bottoms, which is in Orange Mound East. Greer also donated the land on which Messick School was built, and Greer Street was named for him.

Last but not least, John George Deaderick owned 5,000 acres in Shelby County, which was known as the Orange Mound plantation, extending eastward from Airways to Semmes Street. The farm was named for the osage orange hedge found on its borders. Some of the land was purchased from the Deadericks to develop as an African-American subdivision, today known as Orange Mound. Many of the street names running through this area can be traced back to the Deaderick family. Mike Deaderick, John George Deaderick's son, gave the county the right-of-way through his land for the road and was able to name these roads. Deadrick Avenue was a misspelling of the Deaderick name. Park Avenue came from Jane Park, who was the wife of Mike Deaderick. Barron Avenue was named for his mother’s family, and Spottswood Avenue came from a cousin.

WOW!!!!

Osage Orange Plant:




"Cultural Resources Survey of Messick-Buntyn and Orange Mound East." 16 June 2007 .

We have a voice.

Well for starters my neighborhood isn't exactly one of the good neighborhoods. But one day I wish it could be like Red Acres or Cherokee Gardens. But with all of the crime and abandoned houses, I don't want to call my neighborhood home. Maybe if the city would stop spending millions of dollars on river fronts and try to help out people who need it the most, neighborhoods wouldn't be so bad.

THAT DARN TRAIN!

I absolutely LOVE the neighborhood I live in. Its 10-20 minutes away from every other neighborhood, there are COUNTLESS numbers of fast-food restaurants (McDonald's, Wendy's, KFC, etc.), sit-down places (On The Border, Chili's, Rafferty's, etc.), The Oak Court Mall, The Paradiso, etc. However, ONE unwanted feature of my neighborhood is the Southern Railroad (formerly known as the Memphis and Charleston Railroad). The noise doesn't bother me at all. Infact, I seldom hear the train, but, when the train goes during the busiest times of the day it annoys the CRAP out of me. I can remember times when I waited on the train to hurry up and move, and it stopped, and went back the other way!

Anyways: I did a bit of research and it almost made me APPRECIATE having the train in MY neighborhood.

Did you know that the Southern Railroad was completed in 1857, and became the 1st U.S. railroad to link the Atlantic Ocean with the Mississippi River. It ran from Memphis, TN to Stevenson, AL and stopped through towns in Mississippi & North Carolina. It even holds a piece of CIVIL WAR History. On April 11, 1862, Gen. Mitchell's Union troops captured Huntsville, cutting off this railroads use for the Confederacy.

WOW! This REALLY Changed My Mind! Yes something needs to be done about the train's scheduling, BUT it holds alot of history, and I wish I had known this sooner!




That Darn Train In 1885:



Sources:

1. "Cultural Resources Survey of Messick-Buntyn and Orange Mound East." 16 June 2007 .

2. "Memphis and Charleston Railroad." Wikipedia. 16 June 2007 .

My Dream for a Better Memphis

I have a dream that one day Memphis will build many features that will keep the young adult population off of the streets. They say that a person raised in South Memphis, Orange Mound, or North Memphis will be less intelligent than someone from Cordova, Germantown, or Southaven. Why is that? My fellow Memphians, Memphis is good, but good is no longer good enough. We have to rise up from the mentality that we cannot succeed. We have to prove to ourselves and to the remainder of the world that we are more than an environment of poverty and crime. We live in the mighty city of Memphis, and we can overcome any obstacle that stands in our way if we strive together. We must rebuild our city, for we are worthy to be praised. This is my dream for a better a Memphis.

Why I Love My Job

Well, for starters, my job allows me to express my feelings and opinions about my neighborhood. It gives me an opportunity to help my community as well as my city to become a better place for one to live.