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Thursday, January 31, 2008

"What's Old Is New---Riverview!" Program for the Demolition of the Historic Riverview Apartments

(SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

"What's Old Is New---Riverview! Celebration
DEMOLITION BEGINS OF THE HISTORIC RIVERVIEW APARTMENTS



SATURDAY PROGRAM, 12 NOON, FEBRUARY 2, 2008
V.O. DOBBINS, SR. COMMUNITY CENTER
301 LOUIS STREET, KINGSPORT, TENNESSEE



WELCOME: Opening Remarks--Calvin Sneed, Sons and Daughters of Douglass, Riverview
Residents Association
MISTRESS OF CEREMONIES: Johnnie Mae Swaggerty


OPENING PRAYER: Rev. Kenneth Calvert, Shiloh Baptist Church

SONG: Douglass Alumni Chorus

REMARKS: Mrs. Mamie Gillenwater (one of the first families to move into the
Apartments in 1940, and one of the first families to move into the new
HOPE VI Redevelopment Homes)

REMARKS: Terry Cunningham, Executive Director, Kingsport Housing and Redevelopment
Authority

REMARKS: The Honorable Dennis Phillips, Mayor of Kingsport

REMARKS: Dean Reynolds, Field Representative, U.S. Congressman David Davis' Office
(1st District)

REMARKS: From Those Who Cannot Attend in Person, But in Spirit by Calvin Sneed

SKIT: New Vision Youth, Kingsport

SONG: Douglass Alumni Chorus

CLOSING REMARKS: Calvin Sneed, Sons and Daughters of Douglass, Riverview Residents
Association

SONG: "I Cried My Last Tear" by Dana Skaggs

BENEDICTION: Rev. Kenneth Calvert, Shiloh Baptist Church

ADJOURNMENT IN SONG TO THE HISTORIC RIVERVIEW APARTMENTS ("Amazing Grace," other songs)

DEMOLITION BEGINS

THEN, EVERYONE IS INVITED BACK TO THE V.O. DOBBINS, SR. COMMUNITY CENTER FOR REFRESHMENTS AND FELLOWSHIP



SPONSORED BY: Douglass Alumni Association, Douglass Releford, President
Riverview Residents Association, Mary Ellen Cox, President
City of Kingsport Parks and Recreation, James "Moose" Henry
New Vision Youth
South Central Kingsport Community Development, Inc.---Weed and Seed

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

Van Dobbins, Jr.

Food City

Kingsport Housing and Redevelopment Authority, Terry Cunningham, Executive Director

D.H. Griffin Wrecking Company, Bristol, VA/TN

The People of Riverview, South Central Kingsport, and Kingsport

Tri-Cities News Media

"Going Out With Class"

Riverview demolition set to begin
Area police, fire departments conducting training exercises in empty apartments before demolition occurs.

Erica Yoon —eyoon@timesnews.net
Members of the Bristol, Va., SWAT team simulate a standoff situation at the empty Riverview Apartments complex earlier this week. With the apartments empty and slated for demolition beginning Saturday, area police and fire departments have been using the complex for training exercises.




By MATTHEW LANE
mlane@timesnews.net

KINGSPORT — After housing Model City residents for more than 60 years, Riverview Apartments is being demolished on Saturday in order to make way for a multimillion-dollar redevelopment project within the South Central community.
The apartments — one of Kingsport’s public housing complexes — are coming down in connection with the city’s HOPE VI project. In October 2006, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded the Kingsport Housing and Redevelopment Authority an $11.9 million HOPE VI Revitalization Grant.
The money will go toward building new public housing homes in the Riverview community and single-family houses in the Sherwood/Hiwassee area of town. Total cost of the project is expected to exceed $30 million.
Kingsport plans to replace Riverview Apartments with 32 homes (16 single-family houses and eight duplex units). Six other houses will also be built on scattered sites in the Riverview area.
Demolition work will begin at noon on Saturday with the contractors having up to 120 days to complete the work. New home construction in the Riverview community will begin in early 2009.
Following the demolition, New Vision Youth, Fresh Start/ HOPE VI, Douglass Alumni Choir, South Central and the Kingsport Parks and Recreation Department will hold a community event featuring refreshments and a short program.
The program, called “I’ll Huff and Puff and I’ll Blow your House Down,” will be presented by New Vision Youth and the Douglass High School Alumni Choir.
There will be refreshments and fellowship in the V.O. Dobbins Gym for what organizers are calling “Tears & Laughter.”
Several former residents were recently interviewed about growing up in Riverview and how they would feel about the demolition of their onetime homes. All of them agreed it would be a bittersweet time, with some crying and a lot of good memories.
The last of the residents were relocated from the apartments within the past week. Since the relocations began last year, the Kingsport Police Department has performed several SWAT exercises in the area, and the Kingsport Fire Department has conducted training at the apartment complex.
“(SWAT) does building entry and searches. There’s a lot to that. There are right ways to do it and wrong ways, and that complex and those apartments give the team a variety of things to work on,” Deputy Police Chief David Quillin said. “This gives them new places to work on because many times the apartments over there are the same as apartments in Cloud or wherever.
“They can take that knowledge they gain from training over there to other areas of town when they’re on a real call or a real incident.”
Barry Brickey, KFD public education officer, said firefighters have conducted ventilation and structure training, practicing the cutting of concrete and block walls. No fires have been set during the training exercises, Brickey said.
“It’s been hands-on training and close to a regular scenario,” Brickey said.
The second phase of the HOPE VI project calls for the construction of 24 affordable home ownership units in the Sherwood/ Hiwassee area. In September, the city demolished 29 homes along the two streets where the new houses will be built.
A groundbreaking for this phase of the project is scheduled for Feb. 12, with all of the houses expected to be built by Septemb e r.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Riverview Roundtable at the Kingsport Times-News

WELCOME TO THE RIVERVIEW ROUNDTABLE
FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 2008
News Conference Room
The Kingsport Times-News

TIMES-NEWS REPORTER: Matthew Lane
PHOTOGRAPHER: Erica Yoon


FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, AROUND TABLE:
Calvin Sneed (not seen in photo)
Johnnie Mae Swaggerty
Mary Beatty
Beulah Banner
Mamie Gillenwater
Louetta Hall
Ozine Bly
Matthew Lane

MATTHEW: FIRST OF ALL, WHAT DO YOU WANT TO ACCOMPLISH, WITH THE WEBSITE WWW.SONSANDDAUGHTERSOFDOUGLASS.ORG?

CALVIN: We want to keep the legacy of Riverview alive,not just for us, but for the children that will come after us. Riverview has a very storied and proud
history and it should be preserved, as part of their heritage. Our history is important to the history of Kingsport, and the purpose of the website is to
present that history for all of Kingsport to consider, when they consider their own history.

MATTHEW: WHEN DID YOU COME TO KINGSPORT?

CALVIN: I came to Kingsport around 1959, my mother came here to teach third grade at Douglass Elementary, V.O Dobbins hired her, and when Douglass closed, she taught physical education in the Kingsport School system, at Washington, Dickson, and Jefferson Schools. My father's people were already here, the Stafford family moved here from New Canton, my grandfather was Tennessee Eastman's General Foreman, and my father owned Sneed's Cleaning Service for many years. He was also on the Kingsport Planning Commission, and one of his pet projects was getting the soundproof walls along U-S 23 from Stone Drive north to Virginia.. another was the four-laning of Wilcox Drive from Industry Drive to Sullivan Gardens at John B. Dennis.

MATTHEW: TELL US ABOUT THE WEBSITE.

CALVIN: A year ago, we started the website www.sonsanddaughtersofdouglass.org originally as a means for Douglass High School alumni to stay in touch with each other and keep up with things going on in Riverview and South Central, but it quickly grew into this big information source for the entire community. I've heard it called "the EBONY MAGAZINE of Riverview," because everybody uses it for information and entertainment as well.

LOUETTA: I feel the people away from home, enjoy the website more than the people here, because it keeps them in touch with relatives and events that are going
on in the community.



JOHNNIE MAE: I was born and raised in Apt. 79 in 1959, and we stayed there until '66, because we got our first house on Dale Street, and I enjoyed it, I loved it, I met a lot of friends, my family grew up there, Alfred and Vinnie Smith and my grandparents, and I just had a good time. Schooling there was good, just met a lot of friends, like family, everybody knew everybody and if somebody disciplined me, it was all right, wasn't any child abuse back then, everybody was treated with respect.
(chorus of amen's to that). For me to let the legacy keep going, we had that picture-taking in front of all the apartments, we had a fellowship dinner at the Elks
Lodge and it was packed in there. And then we're talking about getting bricks, making a list of people's names to get bricks to give out as a memory, to use as a door-stopper or something, and we just want every year to have a reunion, to come back in the field or whereever we can plan it, just to keep it going, every year, every two years when Douglass has its Alumni Reunion, just keep it going.
And the kids, too.. I want everybody to participate, the churches, organizations, outside and inside, come together, welcome to come in and help out.

MARY: I've lived in the Riverview Apartments since 1942, I was born and raised in Apt. 11, delivered by a midwife, Dr. Foust, and I've been living there until
2007, when they decided to take me to another place to look at the apartments there, and I said 'why do you have to tear them down.'

MATTHEW: SO YOU'VE BEEN PRETTY MUCH WITNESS TO THE WHOLE HISTORY.. The whole history.. HOW HAS THAT CHANGED?


MARY: It's gonna change, I asked them not to change Riverview, leave it as Riverview, as in the name, that's important, because the lady Mama Bessie
(Hipps)was the one that named Riverview.

MATTHEW: HOW WAS IT LIKE, GROWING UP THERE?


MARY: Good, all was good. I knew if I did anything wrong, there was one woman walked
just like my mama, and I'd be doing something I had no business doing, and she'd whip me, but it was good. Didn't have to go no where to buy nothing to eat, we
had Reverend Edge, the Dairy Mart, we had a dry cleaners, had the Midway Grocery, a barbershop, the Confectionary, and we had a place to get your hair done, you didn't have to leave out of Riverview for nothing.. nothing.

MARY: I've lived in Riverview since '53, before that I lived in Alabama. I've seen quite a few changes as well. My son graduated, he went to Douglass School,
and then he went to Dobyns-Bennett, and then he went to Morristown College where he graduated.

MATTHEW: DID YOU EVER THINK ABOUT MOVING?

MARY: No, I never did think about moving out of Riverview. It broke my heart when they said they were going to do this, and I asked the man, why were they
gonna tear 'em down, and he said, well they're outdated, and I said well you knew that a long time ago that they didn't do it right the first time (chuckles all around), you should have done it right. It's hard to see them torn down. I know they brought a trash thing to pick up the trash Wednesday. I saw it coming in and I said 'Oh Lord, they're fixing to tear 'em down.. I almost cried when I saw them put the truck, the bin in there. I knew then, they were fixing to tear 'em down.

MATTHEW: DO YOU FEEL A SENSE OF SADNESS?

JOHNNIE MAE: It's almost like death, like we're getting ready for a funeral, and we're gonna cry.. then there's gonna be some laughter, but there's gonna
be more crying because of the memories that are gonna be there.

LOUETTA: It's where you romped and played as a kid and all types of events took place in the neighborhood, and that's not easily forgotten, because
it really is a part of your body, mind and spirit.

MARY: Plus you could sit on your porch and watch the movies..

MATTHEW: TELL ME ABOUT THAT.

MARY: The drive-in screen was through the woods behind Douglass School). You could sit on your porch.. you couldn't hear it, but you sure could watch it..


JOHNNIE MAE: My dad, Johnny Swaggerty.. used to take me and my sister, he'd pack baloney sandwiches and Kool-aid, and he had this old car, and we see.. my first movie was "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof," Tony Curtis.. I'll never forget that.. you'd put a blanket on top of the car and we'd sit there and just watch it.. and when we didn't have no money, we'd sit BEHIND the fence and we could look, and nobody would bother us, police wouldn't come over and mess with you, we just enjoyed it..

LOUETTA: The screen was so big.

CALVIN: You'd pull in off Wilcox Drive and the screen would be facing back towards the back of Douglass School in Riverview..you could see it, but you just couldn't hear it. This was back in the 50's and 60's. I also remember this in my research.. 'Zine, do you remember the guy who used to come over and put the
movie picture screen up in the baseball field in the summertime?

OZINE: I remember him, but not his name. I remember right in the corner.

MATTHEW: MRS. GILLENWATER, HOW LONG WERE YOU THERE?

MAMIE: We were the first family to move into the Apartments back in 1940. There was nobody over there but us. We had one light, one big light over on the left of us.. we had one phone that people would go out and use, and when we first moved into the apartment, we paid nine dollars house rent, and I had my phone put in for a dollar and a half.

JOHNNIE MAE: DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR PHONE NUMBER?

MAMIE: 2-1-9-6-W. And we had a skeleton key.. one key fits all.

MATTHEW: HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT WHAT THE CITY IS DOING, AND THE CHANGES THAT ARE GOING TO BE MADE TO RIVERVIEW?

MAMIE: Well, I really don't like it, because Riverview was just like home to me.. When I went to have my picture taken (at the Archives For Riverview), I
started crying, I lived in Apt. 12, there's where we moved to, Apartment 12.

MATTHEW: I IMAGINE YOU'VE SEEN QUITE A FEW PEOPLE COME AND GO, IN AND OUT.

MAMIE: Quite a few people.

MATTHEW: DO YOU REMEMBER SOME OF THE THINGS THAT USED TO BE IN THE COMMUNITY THAT NO LONGER THERE?

MARY: We used to have peddlers come through.. sell you greens, corn, stuff like that, then we had the Pet Milk lady come in, buy milk from her.. didn't have to
go to the store, didn't have to go nowhere. They would come to us.

JOHNNIE MAE: I remember, I have a picture of our family, a photographer would come through the apartments and take your picture one easter, a photographer.

OZINE: You didn't have to go downtown to the grocery store, had two grocery stores, Paul Taylor and his Midway Grocery, and Emmitt Collins Grocery. We were pretty well self-contained.

CALVIN: And then there was Clay Hill.. I called it on the website "Riverview's First Unofficial Playground. It's an area behind Dunbar Street, between Dunbar and
Industry Drive, and it's owned by the Brickyard (General Shale), but back then, you go up on Clay Hill and you couldn't go 50 feet without running into somebody else up there. People whose parents wouldn't let them keep dogs at home, they kept them on Clay Hill in doghouses and in their little pens up there, you camped up there..
JOHNNIE MAE: Roasted marshmellows..

CALVIN: You swung from the trees, you blazed paths..

MARY: Got your first kiss there (rousing laughter).

LOUETTA: Our classes would use it for picnics, and then Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts would utilize it for camping, things like that.

OZINE: Field trips..

CALVIN: Unbeknownst to us.. that's the place where General Shale dumped all of their industrial waste from making bricks. You'd be walking around and all of a sudden, there'd be a big puddle of white stuff over here.. some of us would take sticks and poke into it, and we'd walk around it and go somewheres else. There were like old machines, loads of bricks that they couldn't use, we would take the bricks and build
houses.. we had everything except a jungle gym, but with the vines, you could swing from one tree to the other.

MATTHEW: FROM WHAT YOU'VE TOLD ME, RIVERVIEW HAD A STRONG SENSE OF COMMUNITY BACK IN THE 50'S, 60'S AND 70'S, BUT IN RECENT YEARS IT'S HAD A NEGATIVE CONNOTATION..HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT? YOU MENTIONED DRUGS, DO YOU THINK IT'S FAIR FOR THE WHOLE
COMMUNITY TO BE LABELED LIKE THAT?

CALVIN: No.. because drugs are so prevalent, that I kinda have an idea why Riverview kind of got that.. television.. newspapers.. people would see pictures.. they would hear about things going on in apartment complexes in Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte, and people would automatically assume.. sometimes it wasn't just Riverview, sometimes it was Cloud Apartments, sometimes it was Lee, everybody just put the negative connotation to "apartments" and because we were so proud of where we lived.. I'm not saying it was a conspiracy, but everybody kind of looked at Riverview
and said 'well that's the problem right there, is those apartments, those "projects" over there. It was true to a certain extent, but not as much as everybody
thought.

JOHNNIE MAE: It was over-exaggerated.

CALVIN: Because we still had that sense of family, regardless.


LOUETTA: And we never really accepted that into the community, A lot of the time, it was people who infiltrated in from other places, that came in and sold their wares, and then influenced the young people in the neighborhood to sell it. Over a period of time, you had accidents, killings.. of course, that always breeds that sort of thing, but as a whole, some of the best people in the whole wide world lived in Riverview, who really wanted to live decent lives..

CALVIN: Had nice homes, they had flowers, trees, we used to have Christmas carols, we had everything that every other neighborhood in Kingsport had.. we also had that negative connotation.

MATTHEW: OTHER NEIGHBORHOODS HAD IT TOO, BORDEN HAD IT, HIGHLAND HAD IT TO A CERTAIN EXTENT.. BUT RIVERVIEW SEEM TO GET THE BRUNT OF IT. WILL THIS HOPE VI PROJECT HELP CHANGE THAT?

CALVIN: For myself, I'm kinda looking at it as a re-birth.. part of our life going to die when that wrecking ball starts swinging.. on the other hand, there's going to be a rebirth of a new spirit that we used to have there in Riverview, that makes people want to bring that family-type atmosphere back again, and that's going to be a welcome site.

OZINE: This HOPE VI concept is going to be a different type of people with mixed incomes that's going to move into these homes, and I'm like Calvin, it's going to be a bittersweet situation.. you're going to be sad that they're gone, the housing is gone and you're going to lose a lot of memories, but looking to the future and the young people with incomes moving in and with the possibility of buying a home, homeowners, it's going to be different. I'm sad to see them go.. I drove through the other night, it looked like a ghost town, I didn't see anybody, no kids..

MARY: I walked up through that way, I walked around and I said, look at my back door, why is my back door on the porch?.. and then all this scrap is just laying
out there, like you're in a war zone.

CALVIN: The way I understand it, when they tear 'em down, that field is going to be open for probably a year, and I'll tell you, that's going to be like an open wound.

LOUETTA: I lived in Riverview, I was born in 1941.. I lived with my grandmother, of course, my mother and father lived in that apartment at the same time because at that time, you had a couple of families living together, so I lived there until 1977 when I built my home on Maple Street, and being an homeowner, I know the wonderful feeling that that is.. We can look back and reflect on where we've been, but we can
also look forward to where we're going. I think it's a grand thing that people will have the possibility of owning their home and what it will mean to have that
responsibility of having your own "everything."

MATTHEW: LET'S TALK ABOUT THE SCHOOL FOR A MINUTE.. A LOT OF PEOPLE IN TOWN DON'T KNOW THAT WAS ONCE A HIGH SCHOOL.. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT, SHOULD MORE BE
DONE?

CALVIN: I think the school is, probably than the churches, I think the school is probably more of an institution in that neighborhood and in the African-American community, because THAT'S WHERE YOURKIDS LEARNED THE BASICS.. they learned from good
teachers, we had the best teachers at Douglass.. we had the best equipment at Douglass.. that auditorium over there is completely soundproof, it's one of the
most soundproof rooms in the City of Kingsport.. unfortunately with that comes asbestos, because asbestos is basically a soundproofing material.. but the school itself is an icon.. you can't say "Douglass School" or "Douglass High School" or "Douglass Kingsport" without some sense of reverence, and people tend to hold it that way. Of course, they're going to renovate it as soon as the city appropriates the money, and some of the changes for money's sake may be upsetting to a lot of people.. the (proposed new) gym is not going to be where it was first thought, it's
actually going to be beside the old gym in the parking lot. They don't know if they're going to be able to save the auditorium..

MARY: Oh..

JOHNNIE MAE: I wish they would.

CALVIN: ..because the way I understand it, you could pour a million dollars into cleaning up that auditorium, it needs a new roof, the asbestos has got to be cleaned out and properly disposed of, it needs heating and cooling.. the architect told me, you could pour a million dollars into that auditorium and not see anything physically changed about it.. and the whole idea of a renovation, is to make it look better. But you'll be pouring money into that money pit. She says, it's a question of whether we want to pour money into that to make it useful, or just gut it and let it go.

MATTHEW: WHEN I WALK INTO MY OLD SCHOOLS, MEMORIES START COMING BACK TO ME.. OBVIOUSLY I'M SURE THAT HAPPENS WITH DOUGLASS AS WELL..

CALVIN: Plays.. plays.. every class was responsible for a play, they had to put on every year.. and (the Times-News) has some of the pictures from the plays that were put on back in the 60's that we used to do..

MATTHEW: ANY AMATEUR ACTORS IN THIS GROUP?

MARY: Not me.. CHUCKLES..

JOHNNIE MAE: I remember they used to have talent shows there back in the 70's, which I've got pictures of.. just had a good time, and New Vision still uses it to hold our meetings, and some girls from Girls Inc, and Girls Circle that comes in and meetings, so that auditorium has been a blessing to everyone.

MARY: And the (Carver) library has, too.

CALVIN: In the tearing down of the Riverview Apartments, one of the things Dineen West, the architect says, that's going to be saved is, is the steeple from the Carver Library and it's going to have a prominent place in the new development.

EVERYBODY: Oh good, that will be a good thing for the community.

MATTHEW: WILL EVERYBODY BE RETURNING TO RIVERVIEW?

MARY: I'm going back.. I'm elderly, and I've already put my name down for it.

MAMIE: I'm also going back, because it's just home to me over there. It's the only place I ever moved into in Kingsport that I ever cared about. It was a great
thing when I lived there.

MARY: Now, since I moved out, don't have anybody to run to.. if I run out of coffee, don't have nobody to run up to, knock on the door and ask if you have any
coffee.. 'cause in Riverview you can go anywhere, and somebody could give you coffee, sugar, eggs, those that smoke 'got a cigarette.'

MAMIE: Didn't have to go no where to get vegetables, because we had gardens.. all kinds of gardens.

LOUETTA: My grandparents lived in the older set, and in the back where the library is now was an open field, and the families that lived in that row, they were the larger families that had five bedrooms, and there were barns and gardens.. there was a family (the Ross's) that had a cow, and goats and chickens and hogs as well, you had your hog pens back there. Everybody mostly raised their food and put up hams in
the smokehouses, and then the older ladies would can their foods.. There were pantries in the apartments, and I remember my grandmother's pantry was so colorful, she'd have tomatoes canned and they would be red, and green beans and they would be green and beets, and as a little kid, it would be a joy just to go in there and stand and see all these colorful vegetables that were there to make soup during the
winter.

CALVIN: Mary, you're right about the borrowing, if you needed milk, somebody had it, if you needed corn or something, somebody had it. And it wasn't just the
apartments.. ALL of Riverview was like that, you could go from house to house to house, and borrow whatever you needed for a MEAL.

OZINE: One of the main things I remember was the community parenting.. anybody would jerk you up and "give you an adjustment" and that was one of the great
things about the neighborhood. I can remember when we first moved into Riverview and my mother was saying how it was like a Godsend, those apartments, we left some row houses on Maple Street with water spickets and the bathroom on the outside, and when we moved to Riverview, we had warm houses and everybody had bathrooms there, running water. You remember those things like that in your first REAL housing. It's
hard to think about tearing it down, and that's the bitter part of it. But the sweet part of it, is the future for the young people.. home ownership.

MATTHEW: SOME OF THE APARTMENT WERE NEGLECTED BY HUD OR WHOMEVER, THEY WERE IN PRETTY ROUGH SHAPE..

LOUETTA: At one point, we had what was called the Tenants Rights Organization. and through that, we learned about HUD and we worked with HUD and some of the first remodeling was done, once we were educated about what could be done. At that time, Mr. Poston was the overseer of the apartments, and he was kind of stern..

MARY: Kinda?

MAMIE: He was more than that.

LOUETTA: Better word for "MEAN." (rousing laughter) We had to set a fire under him to motivate him to do the things needed, because I remember we would only have one gallon of paint and you had a five-room apartment..


BEULAH: You used a lot of water..

LOUETTA: And through the Tenants Rights Organization, we were able to get more gallons of paint. If your shade tore up, you maybe couldn't get a shade until next year, but through the organization we could find out exactly what we could do, through HUD. We had new cabinets put in, in the older apartments, they put down tile, they put in washer-dryer connections, new sinks, new heaters, new gas stoves to replace the coal ones. Those were put in the newer apartments, but the older ones were late to catch up.

MAMIE: And if you didn't pay your rent, you'd have your lights cut off.. your gas.

MATTHEW: HAS THIS PROJECT ALLOWED YOU ALL TO RECONNECT WITH OLD FRIENDS?

MARY: Oh yes..

JOHNNIE MAE: Definitely.

CALVIN: And then.. a lot of the connection.. never left. It's always been there, there's always been a way and a need for all of us to stay in contact with
each other, we wave going down the street, I think the connection has always been there.

JOHNNIE MAE: And we're gonna keep it going, not let it die down, if we have to do something every other month, we're gonna keep it going.

CALVIN: I think the kids nowadays, they just don't have any idea of the fun we had growing up. They don't have any idea of the discipline that we all experienced "getting adjusted." (CHUCKLES AROUND THE GROUP)

MARY: I remember that cowhide strap my moma used to whip me with, and she put me between her legs one day, and she was whipping me and I made the TERRIBLE mistake of biting her.

JOHNNIE MAE: Whoooo!

MARY: She liked to wore me out (ROUSING LAUGHTER).. I'd never do that again!

JOHNNIE MAE: I'd like to mention one more thing.. we did have a Riverview Boys Club and we did have a Riverview Girls Club.. the girls club was in 70 and 71.

CALVIN: And the Riverview Boys Club sign is still down there, it is still hanging on the side of the building there on Lincoln Street.. the paint is kinda faded and
the sign is kinda crooked, but you can still see "Riverview Boys Club."

MATTHEW: ARE YOU PLEASED WITH THE RENAMING WITH THAT PORTION OF LINCOLN STREET? MARTIN LUTHER KING DRIVE?

GROUP: Oh yes!

JOHNNIE MAE: It was known as "Swingin' Lincoln."

CALVIN: That was our business district.


LOUETTA: Everything went on, on Lincoln Street. I remember when you could leave your house, go downtown, and didn't lock your doors, and you came home and you found everything as you left it. In the summertime, we would sleep with our windows and doors open, and never feared about anybody coming in and molesting your children or stealing anything from you. That shows you how the times have changed, not only
in our neighborhood, but everywhere. You slept all night and got up, realizing that you were O-K, You don't dare go to bed now, without making sure everything is secure.

JOHNNIE MAE: And I need to give a shout-out to Reverend Edge. I'll never forget Reverend (C.E.) Edge.. he would take all of us in this big black Cadillac, he'd say 'y'all go home, get your clothes on, make sure you take a bath (GROUP CHUCKLES), I'm taking y'all over to Bristol, we'd go over to the Bristol church over there and go to birthday parties.. he'd take about five or six of us from the projects, you know, it was all right with the parents, and take us to Bristol, I really enjoyed that.

CALVIN: He pastored two churches, or was it three?

JOHNNIE MAE: I know he did two in Bristol.

OZINE: He also had one in New Canton.

LOUETTA: He was a retired mailman, from Alabama I believe.

OZINE: And once a year, he would feed the entire neighborhood at the Masonic Hall.. the entire neighborhood. That should have cost him a fortune.

MARY: He owned a store-restaurant on Lincoln Street and he and Mrs. Edge lived upstairs. Edge's Place would be a place, if you didn't want to eat in the
(Douglass) cafeteria, when it was time for lunch, everybody would run, headed for Rev. Edge's Place.. the hamburgers, the hot dogs, the pork chop sandwiches, the cheese sandwiches.

LOUETTA: Not to mention the baloney.

CALVIN: His place was down, not quite across the street from the (Riverview Swim) pad, but you had to run down Louis Street to get to it, and I mean that bell would ring, and whoom! That Dianne Simpson was the first one down there.. the FIRST one down there. Boy, that used to make us mad!

JOHNNIE MAE: And let's not forget about Mrs. Gladys Bly. She was like Mom, Grandmom to everybody, you didn't have to be related to her, she was Mama Bly.. she was there for you, and I'll never forget, while she was living over on Louis Street, I would see kids go over there, and she would sit down with them and read to them with their homework, and I was grown then and I would see that.. she would cook the best fish
sandwich you ever had..

CALVIN: Is that where you got them fish sandwiches from?

JOHNNIE MAE: Oh yeah.. and then, I'll never forget when my parents were living in Riverview, she would sell chitlin' dinners, and when all of them were gone, me and my sister would go down there and take the corn bread and soak up the juice, she'd let us do that.

(A ROUSING EWEEEEE! FROM THE GROUP)

CALVIN: You bring chitlin's in the back door and I'm going out the front door.

MARY: But they were still good.

JOHNNIE MAE: And I can still hear her song "This Little Light of Mine."

BEULAH: She could sure sing it.


OZINE: What amazed me about my mother, she made everybody feel like they were special.. if I was there, I was the one, if you were there, you were the one, whoever was around her, she made them feel like they were the one that was special.

LOUETTA: It's a gift.

CALVIN: It is.

OZINE: I try to be like that with my children, and it's hard to do. It takes a special person to do that.

CALVIN: We are proud.. we are proud of our neighborhood.. pride is the thing that motivates us, yes, we're sad about the things are going to be happening, but sadness can spur upliftness, too.

LOUETTA: It's like the Scripture says.. 'tears may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning, so we're looking for joyful things to happen in the
future.

CALVIN: Matt, let me say one thing before we break up.. Our heritage in Riverview, is not just about us.. our heritage is everybody's heritage, the heritage of
Kingsport. It's not just "Black" History, it's EVERYBODY'S history, of which we are a part of. I don't think that anybody would disagree that we want to encourage everybody in Kingsport to learn about our history, learn about the history of Riverview, because it's a very historic community. I don't even refer to
the Riverview Apartments as the Riverview Apartments.. they are the "HISTORIC" Riverview Apartments. We've always been here, it was separate but equal for a long
time, but this is a good opportunity for everybody to learn more about OUR culture and what makes US part of Kingsport, and I think it's important that they know
that, they and everybody else in the Tri-Cities to know that.

URGENT! RIVERVIEW APARTMENTS DEMOLITION START DATE!

The demolition of the Historic Riverview Apartments In Kingsport will begin this Saturday, February 2nd at 12 Noon, as originally planned.



In association with the Douglass High School Alumni Association, the Riverview Residents Association, and Kingsport Parks and Recreation, the program we have planned, begins at 12 Noon at the Douglass Ballfield (if the weather is nice), or in the V.O. Dobbins Center (if the weather is bad or too cold). There will be speeches, songs and entertainment to commemorate the history and legacy of the apartments, then we will adjourn to the beginning site, where the construction crew will begin the work, of tearing down part of our history. Afterwards, we will go back to the V.O. Dobbins Center, for refreshments and fellowship.

PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDAR. This will no doubt be a traumatic and dramatic experience for many of our seniors and former apartment residents, and we need to stand together with them as a community, as we face the future together.

If you have any questions, or wish to contribute a speech or song to the event, please call either Calvin at 423-421-7784 (csneed@newschannel9.com), or Johnnie Mae at 423-246-6623 (newvision_kpt@yahoo.com).

Orders are still coming in for bricks from the apartments. Obviously, all of the apartments will not be coming down this Saturday.. they will be torn down as the demolition crew gets to them, so get your name to Johnnie Mae ASAP.

SEE YOU SATURDAY AT HIGH NOON AT DOUGLASS!

The Douglass High School Renovation Plans--They Are A-Changin'

NEW PLANS WILL CHANGE THE FORMER SCHOOL'S APPEARANCE, BUT ARCHITECT SAYS THE CHANGES WILL IMPROVE THE SCHOOL BUILDING ITSELF





FIRST OF TWO PARTS

The Douglass School renovations are going forward, but changes are afoot, according to architect and designer Dineen West of Cain, Rash and West Architects of Kingsport.

CALVIN SNEED AND ARCHITECT DINEEN WEST OF CAIN, RASH AND WEST ARCHITECTS







I sat down with Mrs. West for an exclusive, in-depth look at the changes, which are mandated by the City of Kingsport's goal of putting all of its non-profit agencies under one roof, yet preserve the historical significance of the largest African-American school in upper East Tennessee.

The renovations are still projected to cost around $7 million dollars, "and those are very fluid dollars," Mrs. West says. "Ultimately, there may be more or less dollars allocated to any one item we want to do. Don't get attached to any one idea, because it may change," she warns.

JUST INSIDE THE DOUGLASS FRONT DOOR, AND TO THE RIGHT TOWARDS THE AUDITORIUM.. THE WALL ON THE LEFT WOULD BE GONE, OPENED UP INTO AN ATRIUM THAT WOULD STRETCH TO THE SECOND FLOOR, DOWN TO THE AUDITORIUM

The first big change would be right at the entrance to the school building from the Louis Street side. "Whenever you come into the front door right now, it's claustrophobic," she says. "I want to try and punch out the walls to the right of the entrance, lose the four headstart classrooms between the old school office and the auditorium, and make that one big open lobby area. That would create a big, grand effect once you enter the building. That was an unusual design for a school building anyway, based on where the auditorium was located, and it never provided for much people flow. We would like to make it more people-friendly."


DOUGLASS TROPHY DISPLAYS WILL BE THE FOCAL POINT OF THE OPEN LOBBY

"Once the open-ness is created there," Mrs. West says, "it creates more of a community-oriented theme. The first person you will meet will be the receptionist for the Upper East Tennessee Human Development Agency. That agency insisted on having its receptionist at the entrance, because of security concerns. Once you go past her, there will be some Riverview Community displays, church items from the neighborhood, and also the Carver Resource Center, which will have computers, dividers and some out-sourcing space.

THE DOUGLASS TROPHIES WOULD BE DISPLAYED IN MODERN, LIGHTED, CUSTOM-MADE CASES, SIMILIAR TO THESE DOBYNS-BENNETT TROPHY CASES, BUT UPDATED

"We have big plans for the Douglass High School trophies.. they will be displayed prominently in several see-through glass cases in the open lobby, similar to the way the trophies at Dobyns-Bennett are displayed right now," she says. One of the entrances that will open up into the lobby will be the offices for the Douglass Alumni Association.

With the loss of the historic Carver Library, plans are to have an area called the Carver Resource Center within the open lobby area, with computers, books, magazines, and lots of self-help facilities for people looking to find a job, access a city or community program, in a comfortable, quiet environment.

"We're also looking at building a small addition to the back of the school, to make up for the classrooms that we would lose on the front side of the building," says Mrs. West. That will make that whole wing, including the cafeteria, just for Headstart. We thought about a separate entrance for parent drop-offs, but the agency felt another entrance would require a second staff member to man it, and Headstart-UETHDA wanted to have control of parent drop-offs for security reasons. The entrance for Headstart will continue to be at the front of the building where it is now."


NEW GYMNASIUM WILL BE IN NEW LOCATION

The Headstart classroom addition in the rear, will also require another change. The new gymnasium planned for the back side of the school where the tennis courts are now, will have to be moved.

THE PARKING LOT BETWEEN THE OLD DOUGLASS GYM AND LOUIS STREET. NEW RENOVATION PLANS CALL FOR THE NEW GYM TO BE BUILT HERE BETWEEN THE STREET AND THE OLD GYM

"With the new design, it doesn't make sense to keep it where we'd planned. We are kind of land-locked right now, with the baseball field coming right up to the building on that side. After talking to Parks and Recreation, it didn't seem wise to separate the old gymnasium from the planned new one, so the feeling is now, the new one needs to adjoin the old one. Because of the land-lock, the new gym would have to be build in the parking lot, between the old building and Louis Street. It just makes more sense to build them side by side. We could punch through, interconnect the two for tournaments, without having spectators walking from one side of the building to the other."

THE STAIRWELL LEADING DOWN TO THE OLD HALF-LEVEL DOUGLASS GYM LOCKERS UNDER THE BLEACHERS

"We are still struggling with locker room space, but one thing that will be the first to go, will be that half-level locker space underneath the bleachers in the old gym. It has always smelled bad, there are leaks down there, and it's always had a moisture problem. The only solution after the interconnect, would be to concrete that in, make it one level, and put in a small locker room area down along the wall between the inter-connected gyms. It doesn't need to be big like high school lockers, but just enough for tournaments."

IN WEDNESDAY'S REPORT.. WHERE WILL THE NON-PROFITS GO IN THE DOUGLASS RENOVATION? AND WHAT IS TO BECOME OF THE DOUGLASS AUDITORIUM, ONCE ONE OF THE MOST ACCOUSTICALLY PERFECT AUDITORIUMS OF ANY SCHOOL IN UPPER EAST TENNESSEE. THE ANSWER MAY SURPRISE YOU!

The Douglass High School Renovation Plans--All of Kingsport's Non-Profits Under One Douglass Roof

CALVIN SNEED AND ARCHITECT DINEEN WEST DISCUSSING RENOVATION PLANS FOR DOUGLASS HIGH SCHOOL, KINGSPORT

SECOND OF TWO PARTS



It's no secret that most people in Riverview and South Central Kingsport are eagerly anticipating the proposed $7 million dollar renovation of the former Douglass School building.

They are not the only ones.

Several of Kingsport's non-profit agencies are also anxiously waiting on the renovation, because they plan to move into the re-designed building. It's a proposal that City Manager John Campbell says, "will make the Model City one of the few (if not the first) municipality that will have all of its non-profit agencies under one roof."

RIGHT NOW, THE KINGSPORT UNITED WAY IS LOCATED ON EASTMAN ROAD

"Right now, I've got about 10 players that I am trying to find homes for," says architect Dineen West of Cain Rash West Architects, one of the designers of the Douglass School renovation. "Among the largest agencies are the American Red Cross and the United Way, then there are some smaller ones like the Adult Literacy Program, a seniors program, a volunteer program, Meals-on-Wheels. We are also looking for duplication among the programs, because maybe some activities can be combined into similar agencies. The Kingsport Police Department will also lose its small substation in the Riverview Apartments, and we are trying to plan for a small room with a restroom in the Douglass building for officers on duty."



RIGHT NOW, THE AMERICAN RED CROSS OFFICE IS AT THE CORNER OF WILCOX AND INDUSTRY DRIVES

"Right now if there is a disaster, the Red Cross has to sometimes call up local churches to set up relief programs and mobilize its contributors," she says. "In the new office space, we are trying to make sure they can do that in their own office space, perhaps with a small kitchen for emergency on-the-spot situations."

"The United Way is not only looking for office space, but also a large meeting room," says Mrs. West. "Frequently, they have a need for gathering the various agencies that are served by the agency, and office space with an adequate banquet room will serve that need."

Right now, all of Kingsport's non-profit organizations are scattered all around town, requiring people who need to access their services to travel to several locations. Mr. Campbell had said that takes time, gas, energy, and tries the patience of many people.



DOUGLASS ALUMNI ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT DOUGLASS RELEFORD LEADING A BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

The Douglass High School Alumni Association is one of the non-profit agencies that Mrs. West says, will have a prominent presence in the renovated building. "The city realizes that the Alumni Association is a very important agency in the community, and that the building holds a sense of reverence to former students and residents of the neighborhood. Along with the Douglass athletic trophy displays we feel are important to remember the heritage of this historic school, the Alumni Association will be easily accessible in the renovated building, not only to its members, but to the community it serves."


RIP UP THE ASPHALT

"I would really like to tear up all that asphalt in the courtyard between the auditorium and the cafeteria," says Mrs. West, "and return it to grass, the way it used to be when the Douglass High School Marching Band used to practice there. This time, there would be landscaping done, and that ugly chain-link fence would be gone. That's a green space that would benefit the new look of the building. The parking that is there now, would be shifted to the other side of the building into a new parking lot that would be where James Street is now. Eastman has already promised that they will let us park in their parking lot across Wheatley Street, and remove part of their chainlink fence there. That will help us handle any overflow of parking in our lot."


TWO- OR THREE-STORY NON-PROFIT TOWER

"To keep the non-profit agencies separate from the community-oriented side of the renovated building," says Mrs. West, "we would propose building a new addition where the bandroom is right now, perhaps a two-story, even a three-story, depending on how many dollars are available. That will essentially give the front of the school building a community-oriented look, with the backside having a corporate-office type look. We're also considering having the one big banquet room, and having all of the non-profit agencies open up into it, and they would all share the room for meetings and other events."



AUDITORIUM FUTURE UNCERTAIN

Although plans for most of the Douglass School building seem certain, Mrs. West says the future of the former auditorium is much LESS certain.

"Over the last few months, we have gone through the auditorium with structural engineers and electrical experts," Mrs. West says. "We even brought in a state codes person from Nashville, and looked at sprinkler, air conditioning, roofing and fire code issues. The ceiling in the auditorium is totally asbestos, which helped make the room soundproof, but now that asbestos will have to be removed to meet the state code. Also, the auditorium has serious roof leaks that will require new roofing, a new sprinkler system, an air conditioning system, sewer system makeover and asbestos removal."

"With just so many dollars available, you have to stand back and look at the room carefully..we could drop a million dollars into the auditorium JUST to bring it up to code," she says, "and it not change the overall appearance of the room at all. There are some renovations to the auditorium that may not be able to be made, but the decision on that is far from being made."


A BIG CHALLENGE TO BRING EVERYTHING TOGETHER


"As I've said before, any proposals we are looking at, are subject to change.. nothing is set in stone, says Mrs. West. "We want to spend money economically to renovate the building, but the biggest challenge is, what can we do to make it LOOK like a renovation, and still put in enough infrastructure to make it work. What can we do to get the most BANG for the city's BUCK?"




"That," she says, "is what will shape one of Kingsport's most historic buildings, into one of Tennessee's most innovative facilities."

Monday, January 28, 2008

George W. Foster Passing & Services


KINGSPORT — Mr. George W. Foster, Jr. (Butch), 57, departed this life on Friday, (Jan. 25, 2008) at James H. Quillen Medical Center, Mt. Home, Tenn. after a lengthy battle with cancer.
Mr. Foster was born in Kingsport on Aug. 24, 1959 to George and Georgia Foster, both of whom preceded him in death.
Butch graduated from Dobyns Bennett High School. He served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam Conflict and was the recipient of a Purple Heart.
Loving memories of Butch will be cherished by his children; Jaquetta Hale, Kingsport,
Tia Etter, Houston, Tex. and Raschad Simpson,
Kingsport;
three grandchildren, Tyrik Hale, TA-Tiona White and Jayla Brooks, Kingsport; beloved sisters, Mrs. Barbara Bristol, Kingsport, Mrs. Rowena (Richard) Cherry, Louisville, Ky.; nieces, Linda (William) Kincaid, Kingsport, Cecilia (William) Trammell, Kingsport, Tracy Cherry, Nashville, Tenn.; nephews, Richard Bristol, Nashville, Tenn., Richard Cherry, Louisville, Ky.; and many extended family and friends.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made to Shiloh Baptist Church Youth Department.
Mr. Foster and family are in the care of R.A.Clark Funeral Service, Inc. 423-245-4971 www. raclarkfuneralservice.com.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

MLK Jr. Drive extension could connect Riverview to downtown

(The new MLK Jr. Drive is the old Lincoln Street in Riverview)

Road through Riverview currently dead-ends near the back of the General Shale property.


THIS ARTICLE COURTESY THE KINGSPORT TIMES-NEWS

By MATTHEW LANE
mlane@timesnews.net

KINGSPORT — Connecting the Riverview community to downtown Kingsport by extending Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to Main Street is in the preliminary talking stages, Mayor Dennis Phillips said last week.
Earlier this month, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted unanimously to rename a portion of Lincoln Street to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The Rev. Ronnie Collins with the Tennessee & Virginia Fellowship Against Racism helped push the renaming forward, saying this has been one of the goals of the organization for nearly a decade.
An offshoot of this goal is to also see the Riverview community connected with downtown, Collins said.
“Since I’ve been here for the past 26 years, I’ve always wondered why isn’t Riverview connected to downtown?” Collins said. “People have gone through the tunnel (near the old Kingsport Foundry property), which hasn’t always been safe. It’s safe now, but it’s still inconvenient.”
The road through Riverview currently dead-ends near the back of the General Shale property. If the road were to be extended, it would have to cross that property and the CSX railroad line and come out beside the Kingsport Chamber of Commerce at Cherokee Street.
“With this, it brings it back downtown and gives those who are leaving Eastman an ability to go downtown, to Netherland Inn or wherever they’re trying to go,” Collins said. “Our approach to everything we’ve done in the past is we have to give it time, and we believe it’s the right thing to do.
“This is a progressive time for Kingsport and is a time we can really get some of these things that people have been talking about for years, actually done.”
Phillips said the idea is in the preliminary talking stages at this point and added if Martin Luther King Jr. Drive can be connected to downtown, he thinks the city should do it.
“I think we need to look and see if it can be done. I have been up there, me and the city manager, and there’s certainly some obstacles to overcome when you’re going through an industrial area like General Shale,” Phillips said. “We have not had the opportunity to talk to them, to get their reaction, before we really get going on the possibilities of opening this street.
“I do plan to talk to General Shale and see what the pros and cons are of doing this.”
Before moving forward on the project, Phillips said the city would have to consider the safety factor, the impact on General Shale, and deal with CSX about crossing the railroad line.
“It’s been talked about for a long time ... and I would certainly be in favor of another avenue (out of Riverview), if we could possibly do it,” Phillips said. “They want to be reconnected to downtown. I don’t think we need any disconnected communities, regardless of where they are.”
Collins said he spoke with several residents of the Riverview community, including one lady in her 70s who had lived there her whole life, and no one remembers Martin Luther King Jr. Drive ever being connected to Main Street, though General Shale would let residents walk through their property to the downtown area.
Kingsport Public Library officials consulted maps of Kingsport from 1919 and the 1930s and found no evidence of a road stretching from the Riverview community to downtown.

Living in HOPE

Kingsport project to mark two milestones


David Grace —dgrace@timesnews.net Demolition of the Riverview Apartments likely will begin during the first or second week of February and take up to 120 days.


Demolition work on Riverview Apartments likely will begin during the first or second week of February, and a groundbreaking for new homes in the Sherwood/Hiwassee area is scheduled for Feb. 12.

THIS ARTICLE COURTESY THE KINGSPORT TIMES-NEWS

By MATTHEW LANE
mlane@timesnews.net

KINGSPORT — Two major milestones in the HOPE VI project are soon to begin — the demolition of the old Riverview apartments and the beginning of house construction in the Sherwood/Hiwassee area of town.
In October 2006, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded the Kingsport Housing and Redevelopment Authority an $11.9 million HOPE VI Revitalization Grant.
The money will go toward building new public housing homes in the Riverview community and single-family houses in the Sherwood/Hiwassee area of town.
Kingsport plans to demolish Riverview Apartments and replace the 92 units with 32 homes (16 single-family houses and eight duplex units). Six other houses will also be built on scattered sites in the Riverview area.
Doris Ladd, director of the HOPE VI project, said four residents have yet to be relocated from Riverview Apartments, but everyone should be out by the end of the month.
“All of those (residents) have places identified they are moving to with one exception, and we’re still working with that family. Most of them are going to a Section 8 voucher home or apartment,” Ladd said. “Considering you’re dealing with people’s lives, I think (relocation) has gone well.”
Since most of the residents have moved out of Riverview Apartments, Kingsport’s police and fire departments have been conducting training exercises within the complex. Ladd said demolition work on the apartments likely will begin during the first or second week of February and take up to 120 days to complete.
Construction on new homes in the Riverview community will begin in early 2009, Ladd said.
People who return to the new houses in Riverview will have to agree to certain qualifications, Ladd said, such as being a part of the family self-sufficiency program at the Kingsport Housing and Redevelopment Authority and be employed. Residents in other public housing units within the city do not have to be in the self-sufficiency program.
The second phase of the project calls for the construction of 24 affordable home ownership units in the Sherwood/Hiwassee area. In September, the city demolished 29 homes along the two streets where the new houses will be built.
A groundbreaking for this phase of the project is scheduled for Feb. 12, and Ladd said all of the houses should be built by September.
“Walker Construction is who we have an agreement with. They’re out of Chattanooga, and they did a HOPE VI project there,” Ladd said. “They’re hoping to turn three or four houses a month; one per week.”
Ladd said these houses would cost about $130,000, and the KHRA has 15 applicants lined up for these houses.
“They’re being reviewed, and two are really good candidates, and we hope to have one at our groundbreaking,” she said.
The entire HOPE VI project — both construction projects, the opening of the HOPE VI/Fresh Start office and the purchase of property along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive — is estimated to cost at least $30 million. The $11.9 million grant is just part of the funding needed to complete the project, Ladd said.
“We still have to do the application for the low-income housing tax credits, which will be submitted in the middle of March. We’ll receive notice if we’re in consideration in June, and if awarded, it would be in September. Then we’ll go out and market those credits,” Ladd said.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

RIVERVIEW DEMOLITION START DATE HAS BEEN POSTPONED!

The start date for tearing down the Historic Riverview Apartments has been postponed. It will not be on February 2nd.

The Kingsport Housing and Redevelopment Authority is working out some issues with the demolition, and has asked to move the demolition date start to a later time to be announced.

We will let you know, when we know, the new demolition start date.

Meanshile, if you would like to have a souvenir brick from your particular apartment once demolition starts, please contact either Calvin Sneed at 423-421-7784 (csneed@newschannel9.com) or Johnnie Mae Swaggerty at 423-246-6623 (newvision_kpt@yahoo.com). The Douglass Alumni Association has also discussed selling engraved bricks with residents' names, and at the commemoration program, we can update you on this.

Also, please plan to attend the 5th Annual Black History Program, at the Kingsport Renaissance Center, 1200 East Center Street.

The theme for the 2008 program is "2008-Mis-Education of the Negro." The presenter will be Carter G. Woodson.

AUTHOR JEFF FAULKERSON

Guest Speaker is our very own well-known author Jeff Faulkerson, Kingsport native and author of "V.O.I.C.E.S."



Dr. Ivy McQuirter with Blue Ridge Internal Medicine of Kingsport, will entertain with a Black History skit.

Other entertainment will include the New Vision Youth-Joyous of Joy Praise Angels of Kingsport.. the Little Miss Vision and her Pageant Court.. the For His Glory Praise Dancers of Kingsport.. The New Beginning Gospel Quartet of Pennington Gap, Virginia,.. the Hales Gospel Methodist Church Praise Dancers of Gate City, Virginia.. Livi Turner and the Gang Gospel Choir of Marion, Virginia.. and the Anointed Praise Team of Kingsport.

Everyone is welcome at both these events.. Please come out and support our young people, friends and neighbors.

For more information on both events, please contact Johnnie Mae or Calvin.

WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Historic Riverview Apartments Countdown

Time is almost up for the Historic Riverview Apartments.





Months turned into weeks, and now the weeks have turned into only days, before the demolition crews come in, to tear down the apartments, to begin the $12 million HOPE VI Revitilization Project, that will resulted in new single and multi-family homes to be built on the site.

"Right now, we have three families remaining," says Doris Ladd, HOPE VI director. "All of the families have houses identified that they are working to move into, and their applications are in the final stages of completion.





"They should all be out of the apartments and into their new housing by January 31st," she says.

"We are waiting on a final environmental report for the land underneath the apartments," says Mrs. Ladd. "The company that did the soil samples found no major issues, but we still need their final official report, and then clearance through the Housing and Urban Development Field Office in Atlanta."







"The demolition site will then be fenced in, as per regulations, and we are also considering cost quotes for the fencing, so that we can select the vendor for that. The start of demolition will also depend on when they can get the area fenced in."

"There are so many faucets to the process," she says.

"We also know that many, many former residents have requested bricks from their particular apartments, once the demolition starts," Mrs. Ladd says, "and we do want to accomodate everybody. So not to interfere with the construction work, we'll need to have a cutoff date for names by January 28th."






Requests for bricks can be made by calling Johnnie Mae Swaggerty in Kingsport at 423-246-6623, or Calvin Sneed at 423-421-7784. So far, Johnnie Mae reports about 210 requests.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

In Remembrance

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Continues

PHOTOS COURTESY THE KINGSPORT TIMES-NEWS

Erica Yoon —eyoon@timesnews.net

At left: Julia, Gina, William and Samantha Dessauer, Louetta Hall and Ozine Bly hold candles during the New Vision Youth’s Candlelight Vigil at Riverview Apartments Monday.



At right: Hall talks about memories at Riverview Apartments as they commemorate the community and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.



At left: Xena Huff, 10, watches former residents of Riverview Apartments light candles.

‘Celebrating the Dream’

Kingsport parade marchers brave the cold to honor MLK

An unveiling ceremony was held Monday to announce the renaming of a portion of Lincoln Street to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

THIS ARTICLE COURTESY THE KINGSPORT TIMES-NEWS


Photo by Erica Yoon —eyoon@timesnews.net
Jack Pierce Sr. unveils the new Martin Luther King Jr. Drive street sign during a ceremony Monday at the corner of Lincoln Street and Wheatley Street. The BMA voted last week to rename a portion Lincoln, which stretches through the Riverview community.




By MATTHEW LANE
mlane@timesnews.net




KINGSPORT — In spite of belowfreezing temperatures, about 50 Model City residents took to the streets on Monday and participated in the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Parade in downtown Kingsport.


The parade began shortly before noon at the intersection of East Sevier and Center Street with participants walking and driving to the City Hall parking lot downtown. The small but dedicated congregation included about a dozen or more kids from the New Vision for Youth program, more than 30 adults and a handful of vehicles.
Overseer Ronnie Collins with the Tennessee & Virginia Fellowship Against Racism said he was excited about everybody who attended Monday’s parade.
“If we can get 50 people or so, we’ve done well. When it’s cold like this, that’s what we hope to get,” Collins said, adding he thinks America is at a pivotal point to change. “Based on what we’ve seen, with (Barack) Obama. We know it’s a change. I’m not going to say racism is gone. It’s not. But as far as how things are being done, people are putting forth more effort, trying to do right, trying to talk instead of fight.



Photo by David Grace —dgrace@timesnews.net
Holding a sign reading ‘Peace,’ Terrell Leeper walks down Center Street in Monday’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Parade, right, in Kingsport.



“The nonviolent attitude Dr. King taught us is still alive and well.”
Ten-year-old Xena Huff, with New Vision, said her parents have educated her about King to better help her understand who she is and what is happening around her.
“The reason why I’m marching is to show people that today is a really important day, and without Dr. King, I think we’d still be back segregated, still be apart and be treated differently,” Huff said.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day became an official U.S. holiday in 1986 and is held on the third Monday in January to commemorate the birthday of King. The holiday was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000.
Stella Robinette said she felt great about the event and thought it appropriate for Charles Maxwell to enter one of his charter buses into the parade with the words “Celebrating the Dream of Dr. Martin Luther King” on the side.

“I wish more people were out here. I think our younger generation, they don’t know the struggle, the trials and tribulations we’ve had as an older group,” Robinette said. “(Education) should start at home. Maybe their parents don’t know what the struggle is all about. They don’t know the true struggle. They only know bits and pieces.”



Photo by David Grace —dgrace@timesnews.net
At left, Parade participants hold hands during the closing prayer at City Hall


Still, she thinks race relations in the United States are better.
“I still think there’s work to be done. There still needs to be education throughout the whole world. It’s not just a black-andwhite issue. It’s minorities total. We all need to be educated.”
The Rev. Anthony Daniels, former pastor of Central Baptist Church and current pastor of First Baptist in Barberville, Ky., said recognizing King’s dream has been an asset for the country.
“I think it’s phenomenal. I think it’s good for the country. It’s done more to bring us together,” Daniels said. “In some locations I guess we’re polarized. For the most part race relations, the progress we’ve made, couldn’t be better.”
Monday afternoon the city held an unveiling ceremony at the corner of Lincoln Street and Wheatley Street to announce the renaming of a portion of Lincoln Street to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The BMA voted unanimously last week to rename that portion of the street, which stretches through the Riverview comm u n i t y.
This renaming is one of the goals that has been nearly 10 years in the making for TVFAR, Collins said.
“Today makes me feel wonderful. After all the time we spent back in 1997, our first march in 1998, our main objective was to have a street renamed for Dr. King, and that has finally manifested,” Collins said. “We are excited and are looking forward to the next phase, which we want to go from where (the street) is now, to reconnect it to Main Street."

Monday, January 21, 2008

Message From The President

The President of the Douglass Alumni Association, that is:

I want to thank everyone that was able to come out for our first meeting of the New Year. The meeting was well attended.

I am asking each one of you to try and bring a person that was not at our last meeting, to bring a new person with you. Let us try and make our alumni meetings a great success.

All each one of us need to do, is get the word out that everyone is welcome.
See you at the next meeting.

SEE YOU AT THE NEXT MEETING!

Douglas S. Releford

CALLING ALL PHOTOGRAPHERS!

If you've taken any photos at events occuring during the celebration of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Junior's Birthday, please send them to me, so that we can post them for everybody.

Sometimes, it's not possible for everybody to attend every event in the community, and it would be a blessing to share any photos that you have taken at the events, with your friends and neighbors, who want to be there, but cannot.

That's what your Douglass Alumni website is here for.. to make sure everybody stays connected.

Please take the time to email your pictures and photos with a short description of the event to me at:

csneed@newschannel9.com

Thanks and happy holiday!

--Calvin

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Part of Lincoln Street Renamed In Honor Of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

David Grace —dgrace@timesnews.net
The Rev. Ronnie Collins and state Rep. Nathan Vaughn stand along a part of Lincoln Street that was renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

THIS STORY COURTESY THE KINGSPORT TIMES-NEWS, SUNDAY, JANUARY 20, 2008

An unveiling ceremony for the new street name is scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday.

By MATTHEW LANE
mlane@timesnews.net


KINGSPORT — The city of Kingsport has renamed a portion of Lincoln Street in honor of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted unanimously last week to rename a portion of Lincoln Street to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive — the portion that stretches through the Riverview community, from Wilcox Drive to where the street dead ends.
An unveiling ceremony for the new street name is scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) at the corner of Lincoln Street and Wheatley Street.
• Government offices will be closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Page 2B.

• The MLK Holiday Parade will be held Monday at noon in downtown Kingsport. Page 2B.
The Rev. Ronnie Collins, with the Tennessee & Virginia Fellowship Against Racism, was one of the people involved in getting a street in Kingsport renamed after King. Collins said that back in 1998, when this idea first came up, he thought it would be unreachable.
“We are ecstatic about it. Everybody I’ve talked to so far has been excited about it,” Collins said, adding it has taken about a year to get the street renamed. “There are not many cities in the U.S. where there’s not something named after Dr. King, because not in how he impacted African Americans, but how he affected African Americans, whites, the poor, the underprivileged. (King) crossed all boundaries and all ethnic groups to bring the idea that while there may be some problems, the only way to solve them is to first recognize them and then work together.”
Initially, some residents wanted Center Street renamed in honor of King.
“We talked about it for a while — the pros and cons — and when you’re renaming a heavily populated street, it creates all kinds of turmoil for people,” said Mayor Dennis Phillips, who was also involved in the renaming process. “So we came up with something that would not affect as many people. This one was just a situation with the least amount of inconvenience and met the goal of what the citizens wanted.”
Phillips said the name change also times well with the HOPE VI project taking place in the Riverview community. Kingsport received an $11.9 million HOPE VI grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help replace the 92 public housing units at Riverview Apartments with 32 homes.
“I feel that it was a request that the city should be willing to do, and I feel good about it,” Phillips said. “Many cities have a Martin Luther King Jr. Drive like we have a George Washington and John Adams. I’m proud of the way the city has rallied behind and been able to do this.”
Soon after the BMA voted to change the name of Lincoln Street, a systematic process kicked into gear within the city in order for everything to flow with little disruption, said Chris McCartt, assistant to the city manager.
“What we’ll do is first identify all of the addresses that would be affected. Then (Kingsport) GIS department notifies the post office. Then we’ll notify central dispatch so all 911 services go without any interruption,” McCartt said.
As soon as central dispatch is notified (last Friday), McCartt said the street name change would technically be in place. The signs have been made in-house, and transportation crews will prepare and install the new signs along the old stretch of Lincoln Street.

Results of Special Meeting of the Douglass Alumni Association Board of Directors


The Douglass Alumni Association Board of Directors met in formal session at the Golden Corral on Saturday, January 20, 2008. It will be the first of several meetings, in a new format of meeting in fellowship whenever there are community and alumni items to be discussed.




Our old business consisted of discussing the postponing of the proposed Black History Concert by the Sevier Middle School Band at the School in observance of Black History Month in February. We were informed shortly after the proposal was made, that time constraints would necessitate a postponement of the concert, due to the availability of the band and the lack of practicing time for black gospel songs by bandmembers. It is hoped that the concert can be rescheduled next year, as it will provide a chance to continue bridging race relations in Kingsport, and a chance to hear a wonderful band from a school that all of our black children ultimately attend.
New business brought up discussion of the proposed renovation of Douglass High School by the City of Kingsport. The City has pledged that any renovation of the school building will be done under the consultation of the Douglass Alumni Association, but a change in renovation plans because of money constraints appeared to catch board members by surprise. The City has proposed spending $7.2 million dollars to both renovate the building, and bring existing sections of it up to state code. Renovating the auditorium brought a lively discussion, when it was revealed that the auditorium's future is very much in doubt, depending on how much it will cost to upgrade it to code, yet bring it to the same asthetic qualities of the rest of Douglass after it is renovated.
Charlotte Maxwell is the new director of marketing for the Choice Hotel, 1900 American Way off Stone Drive in Kingsport, formerly the Americourt Inn (the site of many of our birthday parties, celebrations and commemorations). Charlotte is asking for help in finding five (5) young black men to join the staff as servers for banquets, etc. There is a required dress code from the hotel chain the young men will have to comply with, but the opportunity to have gainful employment, plus some management experience will be beneficial to those involved. For more information, call Charlotte at the hotel 423) 245-0271.