Conversation, Collaboration, Not Coffee at Six Flags Community Cafes

Residents of the Six Flags Corridor, a three-mile span that consists of Six Flags Over Georgia and Interstate 20 West to Walton Reserve Apartments, are speaking out about the problems they see in their neighborhoods. And now, a dedicated taskforce is listening in an effort to implement positive change and spur economic development in the area.

In June, the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta awarded a $35,000 grant, designating the area an Opportunity Zone. Organizations like the Center for Family Resources and Georgia Power are collaborating for the three-year effort to improve the area by integrating feedback given at the Community Cafes, like the one hosted on Thursday night at the South Cobb Recreation Center by Rep. Alisha Morgan.

Thirty community members, business owners and other stakeholders attended the event, which is the second of four Six Flags Opportunity Zone community cafes.

Members of the Six Flags Corridor Council on Opportunity Zone (COZ), among others, include state (D-Austell), South Cobb Commissioner Woody Thompson and Melinda Ashcraft, president of Six Flags Park. The council will submit a proposal of a strategic development plan by the end of the year, Morgan said.

The café format consists of several round tables where attendants answer questions, which address a specific issue­–health, education, homeless prevention, transportation, quality of life and income.

“I’d like the questions to capture the vision of the what the community wants,” Morgan said.

Attendants switch after an allotted amount of time to a new table until the event ends. After the last rotation, each table shares with the entire room the common themes mentioned throughout the night.

“This session is not about just looking at the problems and not looking at the solutions,” said Morgan. “There is no better time to be involved or to get engaged. You are helping create a vision in this community that’s not going to happen 20 years from now, but you’ll start seeing changes in one, two, three years.”

The next community café dates are Aug. 6 at Destiny World Church at 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and on Aug. 25 at Riverside Primary School at 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. For more information, call (770) 428-2601, ext. 227.

The United Way is not the only organization that has eyed the area as one ripe for economic development.

On July 12, Cobb commissioners authorized the submittal of an application to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs regarding the potential designation of an Opportunity Zone in the Six Flags area. If the GDA designates the area an "opportunity zone," businesses that develop in that area will qualify for Georgia's maximum job tax credit of $3,500 per job, which can be taken against the business' income tax liability and state payroll withholding. Opportunity Zones are typically areas with a poverty rate of 15 percent or greater.

Below are some of the comments discussed at Thursday’s meeting:

Transportation

The lack of adequate transportation in the Six Flags area was the hottest topic of the night.

Besides wanting more frequency and consistency of county buses, the attendants said they wanted sidewalks.

“You can only walk about six blocks and then it runs out,” said William Campbell, a South Cobb resident.

Adding more turning lanes would also help make the area safer, attendants said.

Health

When it came to health issues, the attendants said there are few places for residents of the Six Flags Corridor to go when they are sick. They named the , which many did not know was next door to the , and the on Mableton Parkway.

Education

The opinions varied on education issues.

Some said they felt there should be more respect from educators and school administrators for community members.

“It’s like they treat them as if you’re in a war zone instead of respectfully dialoguing with the community,” said Albert McRae, a Mableton resident, who added that it seems as though school administrators “don’t respect the intellect of the community.”

However, an educator said, “It’s a two-way street…It’s a gulf” between parents and educators. He said more parental involvemnt is needed “because everything starts at home.”

Some of the students who attended said they do not feel that schools in the area prepare them for life after high school. They feel that they have to be highly self-motivated.