By Lewis Cartee and Tony Crump
The East Atlanta Community Association (EACA) works on behalf of our members to increase the quality of life in our neighborhood. Sponsoring community activities, programs and events that contribute toward the association’s mission, this all-volunteer organization has been serving our neighborhood for more than 32 years. In 2015, the successes were many. Highlights for 2015 included the following:
- Growing membership to create a demographic that reflects our neighborhood. At year end, EACA included more than 575 individuals or 271 households with 143 of those households representing new members. This represents a 40 percent growth over 2014.
- Sponsoring some of the neighborhoods’ most notable events and services such as the East Atlanta Farmers market, East Atlanta Strut festival, EAV Runfest (5k), organic garden at Burgess-Peterson Academy, East Atlanta Santa, Eav-o-Ween and the Great American Backyard Campout, as well as hosting a monthly Bingo night for the residents of Brannon Towers with snacks and prizes.
- Organizing, through the Parks and Greenspace Committee, four volunteer work days that contributed more than 600 volunteer hours to maintenance and improvements to Brownwood Park, including replacing decking on the bridge, conducting trail maintenance, and controlling invasive species. The committee also coordinated with Trees Atlanta to focus on long-term invasive species removal and control, stream restoration and native tree plantings.
- Working with neighboring communities, the transportation committee provided input to initiatives such as the Memorial Drive redesign, Moreland/Glenwood intersection realignment, Old Atlanta Prison Farm, Entrenchment Creek Path project, BATL Monument Path project, and safety improvements on Bill Kennedy Way. In addition, it assisted to resolve issues related to sidewalks, damaged light poles, missing crosswalks, and traffic circle signage.
- Supporting the greater APS system, education committee representatives provided leadership to the Southeast Atlanta Communities for School (SEACS) working to improve educational integration of kindergarten through 12th grade, helped ensure all cluster schools began the International Baccalaureate program, and represented East Atlanta’s concerns in forums such as the Jackson Cluster Planning committee, the APS Charter System committee, the APS Local School Council Summit and the King Middle School International Baccalaureate Informational Session.
- Engaging with the Keeping East Atlanta Beautiful organization, the beautification committee facilitated five clean-up days with individual committee members contributing more than 20 hours per month to keep the business district clean. In addition, EACA members participated in the Earth Day Tire Round-up and more than 100 hours of service was recorded by participants of the Adopt-a-Street program.
- Helping senior and low-income homeowners with emergency housing needs and repairs, Neighbor in Need provided assistance to nine homeowners with more than $19,000 in home repairs.
- Exploring the possibility of creating a Community Improvement District, dealing with more than 11 different permits; conducting a parking survey to inform our community on options to meet zoning regulations; and hosting two presentations about the vision for commercial development formed over the last 15 years and embodied in the EAV Master Plan (2000), the NC-2 zoning (2001), and the South Moreland LCI Master Plan (2008).
For a more complete list, please visit www.eaca.net or www.ThePorchPress.com.
Thank you EACA members, volunteers, and committees for making the year a success.
Lewis Cartee is the president of EACA and Tony Crump is chairperson of both the membership and nominating committees of EACA.
Comments are closed.