VALDOSTA – Two Valdosta groups recently called on Valdosta City Council to repeal the Valdosta Historic Preservation ordinance and pay the Southside restitution to the tune of $250 million.
Representatives of the People’s Tribunal, in collaboration with the Valdosta Black Heritage Group, told council members during the work session this week that they want a reversal of the Valdosta Historic Preservation ordinance on grounds it discriminates against the African-American community.
In an interview with The Valdosta Daily Times, Gwen Sommers Redwine, Valdosta Black Heritage Group representative, said the ordinance includes an exclusive local historic district that is controlled by an all-white Historic Preservation Commission; another entity created by the ordinance.
“Back in 1980, over 40 years ago, the city violated the 1965 Civil Rights Act and violated Section 106 of the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act. Nothing of African-American culture has ever been placed inside the LHD and in the 40-year history since the historic movement in Valdosta began, only two have been nominated for the historic register,” she said.
“The Southside should have absolutely been included for preservation and protection along with the rest of the LHD. We see that with the James Beck Overpass just south of downtown. The area under it was once a thriving, Black commercial district, but now it’s a literal shell of itself thanks to its construction diverting traffic away from the Black businesses. It’s absolutely maddening.”
The James Beck Overpass on State Route 94 lifts traffic over the Norfolk Southern railroad line. It was named after James Beck, a Valdosta mayor (1966-70 and 1972-74) whose leadership laid the groundwork for the construction of the overpass in 1982.
She told council the historic preservation ordinance was “one of the most bizarre occurrences of segregation ever witnessed in modern day America.”
“It created the Valdosta Heritage Foundation. One of the first things that the foundation did was to create the local historic district. The second thing the foundation did was create a commercial district which was the first district to be housed within the district … but on a smaller scale. But this is the first district that was a commercial district at the time, and the commercial district should have included the Black portion,” she said.
“There are six historic districts in Valdosta but only five are in the local district. The only excluded district is the Southside Historic District. This also was the last to be placed on the registry. It was placed in 2007. Almost exactly 26 years after the first district was placed in 1981.”
In May 2022, Johnny Robinson, a People’s Tribunal representative, said the group planned to file litigation against the city in wake of the expiration of a 60-day notice to the city to distribute funding necessary for revitalization, referring to the city’s American Rescue Plan Act’s coronavirus funding.
In March 2022, the city allocated $3.3 million for the Southside’s Griffin Avenue housing project, $1.3 million for purchase of properties on South Patterson and surrounding parcels and $300,000 for neighborhood rehabilitation projects.
IDP Properties, in partnership with the Valdosta Housing Authority, announced in November that it has been awarded an additional $1,076,400 in federal and state housing tax credits from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.
These and city COVID funds will allow the development of Harvest Station Apartments, an 80-unit affordable housing community consisting of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with a total development cost of $18 million.
Councilman Eric Howard said the project, in addition to the $2 million renovation of the McMullen Southside Library, the development of a Dollar General Market on South Patterson and the rehab projects, will help revitalize the corridor of the Southside and provide residents much-needed housing and economic relief.
To Robinson, while those efforts are appreciated, it is not enough to assist all of the area’s low-income residents from the resulting “40 years of damage of structural racism.”
Eight months after The People’s Tribunal’s May press conference, a lawsuit has still not been filed.
Robinson said while the option is not completely off the table, the two groups would like to collaborate with the city on revitalization efforts.
“These communities in the past have deteriorated for over 40 years. Southside Valdosta is in a deplorable condition and has dilapidated houses. We propose a plan. There needs to be a vision for our resolution. You know, we made a stance that we would file litigation at some point, and we don’t want to go into litigation. We don’t have to cost the taxpayers, but we have to do something,” he said.
The reparation plan includes, but is not limited to:
— An overhaul of Southside infrastructure and roads.
— A fully renovated Southside Recreation Center.
— The development of a one-stop shop that offers housing services.
— A trade training center that utilizes the Dasher High School, the city’s historic high school that served African-American students prior to integration, to teach residents skills such as carpentry and welding.
— A $50 million loan fund without a formal repayment plan to help local entrepreneurs start their ventures in the Southside.
Robinson said the city could apply for $30 million in Georgia Department of Transportation grants alone to address under-served and under-represented Black neighborhoods that were hardest hit by “reckless demolitions and construction of interstate systems.”
After Robinson’s and Redwine’s remarks, Councilman Tim Carroll asked Redwine if she had expressed these concerns to the HPC planner or the city planner. Redwine said the group had been working with previous HPC planner James Horton, but the latest crop of HPC members had made them feel unwelcome, and they wouldn’t work with them again until “they had a voice.”
Carroll said there are “perceptions that being in the historic district automatically makes you eligible for funds,” adding that’s not the case.
Redwine said the ordinance makes it clear that these districts have access to benefits and funds that those outside of the district do not get.
In past interviews, Valdosta City Manager Mark Barber said while he admires the Tribunal’s passion for revitalizing the Southside, he claims the city has tried working with the Tribunal to ensure proper funding would go to the community.
“We have met with them and we’ve had several discussions about funding for the Southside and taking care of their needs. The city has always made sure to fund and serve our underprivileged communities,” he said.