MAKE A RAIN BARREL! April 15, 2010

Join us this weekend at our 2nd Annual Earth Day Celebration (starts at 9am) and you can make your own rain barrel for only $40!

The City of Atlanta will be providing workshop & materials.

When: This Saturday, April 17

Time: 11am

Cost: $40

*Pre-registration required: Call Jamila 404-693-1742

2nd Annual West End’s Spring Egg Hunt! April 5, 2010

Eggs everywhere! This year there were about 800 eggs!

Great turn-out! I'd say!

Friendships!

It's nice when your teacher lives in the same neighborhood!

100% pure cuteness!

By any means necessary...he will get that egg!

We will not let the eggs go!

Won't let 'em go!

Look what I can do!

Family & Friends!

Friends of West End Park attend Park Pride Conference

Park Pride Conference

Friends of the West End Park represent! I only had a chance to take Cici's picture before my camera's battery ran out. Jamila, Sally, Chin and I were also there to represent for our park.

HANDMADE HOLIDAYS in the WEST END! December 23, 2009

Last Sunday, we hosted our first “Progressive Handmade Holiday Celebration and Craft Sale + Swap“…if you missed it here are some beautiful pictures taken by Debbie. The event was great! We look forward to continuing to build community in a way that is FRESH and supports LOCAL ARTISTS & ALTERNATIVE ECONOMIES!

I love these little key chains and book marks!

Handcrafted beads become earrings...

Beautiful custom, hand knitted scarves at affordable prices. Made in the West End (Buy at http://www.craftesania.etsy.com).

Local delicious cookies~Made in the West End!

Best Cookies-Made in the West End! Why buy anywhere else?

Checking out the swap table...

Locally grown in the West End!

SOUL FIRE-This hot sauce is the REAL DEAL!

SWAPpin' HAPPY!

Diego sells his gift tags...

SABROSO CATERING by Local Cooking Guru...Xochitl!

SABROSO CATERING

The children spend time together

My first block print : )

Hand-knitted drawstring pouches (Buy at http://www.craftesania.etsy.com)

Gorgeous Quilts by Shannon!

Coquito-Puerto Rican Rum Holiday Drink!

Wanda's Bright Smile!

Homemade Jelly by Shannon-yummy!

Janvieve from the Latin American and Caribbean Community Center/Radio Diaspora

Adelina from the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights

Robert's grandmother's gorgeous quilt

Authentic Calavera and Vejigante Magnets

I love the colors!

I handcrafted these magnets/ornaments...El SOL (sun) de JAYUYA-Taino (typo on tag-should read sun)

Mark, Kung Li + Rose

Mama Nanji

I made this key holder using salvaged wood. Buy at craftesania.etsy.com

WEST END FALL FEST-October 24th! October 12, 2009

RE-DEVELOPING UNUSED STRIP MALLS October 2, 2009

Macro-Sea is considering re-developing old, un-used strip malls. So, what better place to start this innovative approach to development than Atlanta? The company (which is NY-based) has worked on several project but is now venturing into reviving places where otherwise life-less buildings would sit lonely and grey.

Take a look at their projects: http://www.macro-sea.com. Very inspirational!

Using dumpsters as pools…

picture from readymade.com

Re-developing abandoned strip malls…

photo from http://www.readymade.com

FIRE SAFETY REDESIGNED. August 15, 2009

source: http://plastolux.com

Warnings of Antibiotics Overuse in Agriculture July 28, 2009

Diseases resistant to antibiotics: major threats to food safety and public health

As is well known to the medical community, we face an urgent crisis of antibiotic

resistance. Once considered miracle drugs, antibiotics are becoming less and less

effective at treating infections and disease. Many Americans, including, I would guess,

some in this room, have experienced this problem first hand. Sometimes when drugs

don’t work, it means several days of unnecessary pain and suffering while doctors

figure out that another drug is needed. But increasingly, resistance leads to more dire

consequences. Treating a patient with an ineffective drug can give an infection a

chance to progress to a more serious illness. For cases where none of the available

antibiotics work, resistance becomes a matter of life and death. In addition to rendering

drugs ineffective, resistant strains are often more virulent than their susceptible counterparts.

Antibiotic resistance is of particular concern in terms of food safety. The CDC has found

that half of all human Campylobacter infections2 are drug resistant as are one in five

Salmonella infections.3 Nearly 100,000 of the Salmonella infections would resist

treatment with at least five antibiotics. Salmonella and Campylobacter, the most

common sources of food borne illnesses in the United States, account for well over a

million resistant infections in this country each year.4

Unfortunately, the resistance crisis will not be alleviated by the arrival of new drugs.

The discovery of new classes of antibiotics, once almost a predictable occurrence, has

become frustratingly difficult in recent decades. The unhappy truth is that there are

virtually no new classes of antibiotic drugs in the pipeline.6 Unless we act to preserve

the antibiotics we have, the age of the miracle antibiotics may be coming to an end.

Testimony Before the

House Committee on Rules on

The Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act

H.R. 1549

Presented by

Margaret Mellon, Ph.D.

Director, Food and Environment Program

Union of Concerned Scientists

For full testimony: http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/food_and_agriculture/july-2009-pamta-testimony.pdf

THANKS for participating in clean-up! July 20, 2009

Thanks to Jamila, Joel, Beth, Sally + the many children who participated in the clean-up +  monthly assessment of our park! Your contributions to our neighborhood do not go unrecognized!!!

COMMUNITY SAFETY July 6, 2009

CREATING SAFE SPACES…

The topic of community safety is at the center of many city dweller’s concerns. It is a concern that is not unique to the United States. This month’s issue of UK House Beautiful has 3 pages dedicated to crime prevention and community safety.

One of the major issues in many of our communities is that the police doesn’t always come when they’re called and sometimes the response time can be longer than we’d like.  The reality is that regardless of how much funding is funneled into the Police Department, the police can’t be everywhere. There has to be community-based initiatives that lead to better quality of life and safety. The community must work in partnership with the Police Department, City Council, community organizations to create smart, innovative multi-prong strategies to improve quality of life.

Here are some interesting strategies that are not always discussed when talking about community safety:

• Create a Local Strategic Partnership that includes the Police Department and key stakeholders in the community. The Partnership can create subgroups to address specific quality of life issues among different demographics in our community. For example subgroups can include:  healthier communities and our elders, children and youth, transportation, economic development, etc.
• Gun Violence Education-there are young people w/guns +  silencers in the streets. While being armed-if you have the appropriate permit(s) is a constitutional right, there is a level of community responsibility that has to be in place. The National Rifle Association’s website states that firearms are the second leading cause of traumatic death related to a consumer product in the United States and are the second most frequent cause of death overall for Americans ages 15 to 24.
• Block by Block Community Safety Squads: create + share neighbor’s contact info, plan of action for emergencies from fire to violent incidents, outdoor visibility times,  etc.
• Identify key community leaders that can create a committee to help mediate smaller quality of life crimes/negotiations so the police isn’t being called for loud music, code violations or smaller disturbances that are not life threatening. Of course this takes coordination, training and specific strategies. For instance sending letters to home owners, contacting code enforcement and following up, gathering documentation, etc.
• Promote community pride (from the children to the elders)! Develop a sense of love for the community. Work w/ local schools, neighborhood associations, create neighborhood tshirts, stickers, don’t pollute campaigns, etc-this will build community and give people a sense of ownership.
• Community events: outdoor cook-outs, block parties, walking groups, community bike rides, porch parties, get to know your neighbor brunches, victory gardens, etc.
• Funding for Children and Youth wellness organizations such as Parks + Recreation-promote lifelong learning, the arts, sports, tutoring, mentorship arrangements, summer youth employment programs, etc.
• Fundraising and installation for  additional street lighting, call boxes and other safety features.
• Develop information on Emergency Services such as food banks, mental health, etc for community members and distribute
• Visibility-if you see someone you don’t know or doesn’t live on the street, say hello and keep an eye out. Provide basic community safety workshops that include common sense tips that can help you stay safe. Guidelines to start a neighborhood watch group: http://www.sacsheriff.com/crime_prevention/documents/neighborhood_watch_02.cfm
• Familiarity w map/registry of sex offenders homes

Sources:

• community in U.K. develops community safety plan: http://www.southnorthants.gov.uk/community_living/248.htm
• creating safety networks: http://safetynetwork.org/article.php?id=81
• youth crime prevention: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/bestpractices.htm
• gun violence prevention: http://www.supgv.org/