South Macon residents unhappy with neighborhood development

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Some South Macon residents want to see change in their neighborhood.

Thursday’s community listening session is a chance for them to tell elected officials about their concerns.

Event Organizer Danny Glover said neighbors are frustrated because they feel they’ve been overlooked.

He wants to channel that frustration into action.

“We have a lot of issues in South Macon,” said Glover.

Glover was joined by two friends and several children Tuesday afternoon in Bowden Homes on Houston Avenue.

The group handed out flyers promoting Thursday’s forum.

“We’re out community organizing right now to build [support] for a community listening session,” explained Glover.

It will be Thursday night at the Buck Melton Community Center on Sessions Drive in Macon.

Four elected officials will be there including Macon-Bibb Commissioners Virgil Watkins and Larry Schlesinger as well as State Representative James Beverly and State Representative-Elect Miriam Paris.

“It gives people like myself and my family members a way to let our elected officials know how we feel about everything. How we feel about what’s not being done in our area,” explained William Harrison, who was part of the group handing out flyers.

Some residents feel there hasn’t been any development in their area in a while.

“Our main corridor we’ve seen it pretty much just go downhill over the last decade. We had Walmart. We had Media Play. We had Home Depot. We had Food Max, Piggly Wiggly. We had a full corridor of things that we could shop at and we just saw it slowly and surely being taken away from our community and it’s lead to the conditions that we’re in right now,” said Glover.

Harrison grew up in South Macon.

His grandmother still lives in the area.

“I would like to see more recreational options for my daughter, cousins, friends. I would like to see things like gardens for the older people we have in our neighborhoods who can’t get out and go to those stores,” said Harrison.

Harrison believes seeing positive changes will help re-energize the community.

“This will bring like a sense of oneness. Community’s are, in my opinion, families. We’ve got to take care of our family,” said Harrison.

The community listening session starts at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Buck Melton Community Center.