What once was a 100+ building/duplex community, home to almost 1,000 residents (including boxer Evander Holyfield and Shawty Lo), a public library and an elementary school known as the Bowen Homes housing projects in Westside, is now an unrecognizable 75+ acre plot of completely vacant land with only the abandoned elementary school still standing.
Bowen Homes was the last large family housing project left in Atlanta, having been demolished in 2009, Atlanta became the first major city in America to completely do away with its large family housing projects.
Today, the vacant land is still owned by the Atlanta Housing Authority, there have recently been talks with the community about revitalization and now, 2 public-input virtual workshops are scheduled for today, Jan 20th at 6:00pm as well as Saturday, Jan 22nd at 1:00pm through Zoom and tentative in-person attendance at Springfield Missionary Baptist Church. The Jan 20th meeting will focus on obtaining redevelopment ideas from the community and the Jan 22nd meeting will present the final results from prior meetings. It’s incredibly important to go to these meetings not only to see what is happening, but to share your thoughts with the community as well. Westside is changing so quickly, along with the Westside Park, this area will be unrecognizable in a short time.
To attend Jan 20th’s meeting, register here
To attend Jan 22nd’s meeting, register here
