I’ve seen families struggle,” Zambetti said. The City of Memphis and the Memphis Housing Authority are aiming for the major South City development plan to be completed by 2021 it will be home to more than 700 mixed-income residencies, plus other amenities including a grocery store and improved parks.īut until then, life goes on for the families that have had to move from the neighborhood. If this is a step forward to make things better, then it must be.” If tearing down Foote Homes saves lives – and violence is everywhere, don’t get me wrong – then so be it. “There are so many good memories,” Haynes said, “but it’s almost like you expect (the violence) to come. Kids running around the park.”īut still fresh is the death of 15-year-old Amberiya Davis, who was killed in a drive-by-shooting at Foote Homes in April of 2016 the girl did not live at Foote Homes but reportedly was there visiting friends when she was shot. “Everybody knows you, everybody looked out for each other,” he said, adding his favorite times at Foote were the weekends: “Everybody on the basketball court, hoop session. Gillie says within Foote there was a strong sense of community. “The one thing I didn’t like was anytime something would happen downtown, Foote Homes would get blamed,” he said. He believes Foote’s reputation as an unsafe place was exaggerated. Xavier Gillie, 24, lived at Foote for about a decade. They were all built around this massive public housing developments.” “They were used to having a place to go after school – Streets, the Boys & Girls Club, and the Emmanuel Center. When you start displacing people, it’s a real hardship on families. Patrick (Catholic Church) and the food pantry. “They could walk to Le Bonheur, or The Med, or MLG&W or to St. Maggie Donoghue Zambetti, who is an education coordinator for Streets, says moving from the urban core to sprawling areas such as Raleigh, Frayser and Whitehaven presents some immediate challenges, given that many families did not own a car at the time they were relocating.įoote Homes’ demolition will make way for the South City mixed-use development. “It was hard,” said Haynes, who today is a bank teller and a Streets mentor working with young people. When his family’s apartment burned after the refrigerator caught fire, back when he was in middle school, the family moved to Foote Homes.īy distance, it wasn’t a far move. Taurean Haynes, 25, had lived at the Cleaborn Homes housing project. Even amid the rubble of Foote Homes, good stories are still happening.” But we’ve seen them be resilient and make the most of it, respond well, go to new schools and make sports teams they didn’t think they could. “Kids, let’s be honest, have been disappointed to have to leave. “It’s the proverbial catch-22,” Davis said. That, too, is neither all positive nor all negative, but the irony is the better job they do helping families the fewer of them that will want to return to the old neighborhood. Likewise, if things don’t go smoothly, there will be more desire to come back to the area but less certain is how much opportunity there might be. This, too, is not all good nor all bad, Davis says. If all goes well, there will be less desire to move back to South Memphis. Streets has been tasked with helping families make smooth transitions to new communities such as Raleigh, Frayser and Whitehaven, and students to new schools. While some observers have judged this circumstance as more of a forced disruption, others, aware of the violence that is all too common in South Memphis and within the shadow of Foote Homes, believe moving could be the best thing that ever happens for these families. Formal demolition of the housing project started last week. Some 385 families have had to relocate in recent months, according to the Memphis Housing Authority. I grew up in rural Arkansas and my trailer was home I didn’t realize what other people thought of it.” “It’s tough when this is what families know to be home, regardless of what other people thought of it. “It’s a bittersweet pill with many layers,” said Reggie Davis, executive director at Streets. Some 385 families have had to relocate out of Foote Homes in recent months in preparation for the demolition of Memphis’ largest public housing project.
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