Asheville Parks & Recreation Board Meets

The newly built community center is scheduled to open in October 2011. The center is located in the Southside community.  Photo: Urban News

Naming of the New Community Center Meets with Controversy

By Johnnie Grant

The Asheville Parks & Recreation Advisory Board met July 11 under
the leadership of Advisory Board chair Wanda Hawthorne. The primary
agenda item presented by the board was the naming of the new recreation
center located in the Southside community.

Two name recommendations from the Advisory Board’s “Blue Ribbon
Committee” survey were “Southside Community Center” and “Livingston
Street Community Center.” The Blue Ribbon Committee comprised two board
members from the W. C. Reid Center, two members of the Asheville Parks
& Recreation Advisory Board, and one liaison appointed by the City
of Asheville.

Local ministers (L-R) Rev. Louis Grant, Rev. Dr. Lavonia Ray, Rev. Dr. John H. Grant,  and Father James Abbott (standing), listen intently as the board addresses the communities concerns.  Photo: Urban News

Advisory Board member Lonnie Gilliam moved that the center be named the “Southside Community Center,” because the designation of the word “Southside” was representative of the community since its inception. Gilliam rescinded his motion pending a discussion of how the survey was conducted.

That question was raised by member Mildred Nance-Carson, who stated that she was aware (during the survey and the “name-the-center” solicitation) that not all people within the Southside community had access to a computer to record their name preference. “With that in mind,” said Carson, “another Blue Ribbon Committee member and I distributed the surveys and waited while they completed their survey on the center’s name recommendation. There was in excess of 72 recommendations that the center be named the Wesley Grant, Sr. Community Center, but it appears that those survey recommendations were not taken into consideration,” Carson concluded.

The survey began in May and ended July 1. Chairwoman Hawthorne stressed, “It was not in any way a campaign, with the name based on the number of votes; this was a survey.”

Rev. Louis Grant makes his appeal to the Park & Recreation Advisory Board to consider naming the new center after his father, the late Rev. Dr. Wesley Grant, Sr.   Photo: Urban News

Rev. Louis Grant, son of the late Wesley Grant, Sr., appealed to the board for reconsideration in the naming of the center. “My father, Reverend Dr. Wesley Grant, Sr. toiled, labored, and advocated for all the people in this community. For fifty-two years he made sure their voices and concerns would be heard. Welfare Baptist Church is located in the heart of the Southside community, and not one of the center name surveys was bought to this church. And the church has yet to see any of the surveys. What happened?” Rev. Louis Grant asked.

Advisory Board member Wayne Wheeler stated that all the names for the center had been submitted, and that the final names chosen as options were the two mentioned. Board member Megan Shepherd reminded those present that the center’s opening is set for October, and the plans were to have the center named before then.

The newest Advisory Board member, Todd Dunnuck, moved that the center be named Southside Community Center-Dedicated to Wesley Grant, Sr.; the motion carried and the recommended name will be presented to Asheville City Council for approval at its meeting slated for July 26.