Top Stories Montgomery

CORDOVA, Alabama — Despite the battering their town took from two powerful tornadoes on April 27, Cordova residents summoned hopeful visions of a reborn town at a Friday night long-term recovery planning meeting that drew about 200 people to Cordova High School.

After a hot dog supper, the participants divided up into groups of 12 and with the help of a facilitator listed the town’s assets, its needs and their visions for a brighter future.

Listening to the buzz of discussion was Jessica Dent of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, the agency that is organizing the process with the support of other state agencies and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“It’s really just electric,” she said. “This is what makes community development work.”

Their suggestions ranged from the ambitious: a marina and park system along the Mulberry Fork of the Black Warrior River, to the immediate and practical need to replace the town’s only grocery store: “We’ve got to have the Pig back!” said construction worker James Johnson, to the roar of applause.

Cheryl Morgan of Auburn University’s Urban Studio served as something of a master of ceremonies for the community brainstorming session. It is wasn’t her first visit to Cordova. The Urban Studio helped the residents devise a long range plan back in 2003 as the arrival of Corridor X on the edge of town created a sense of new possibilities in a place that had lost most of its industrial job base in recent decades.

That plan focused on reviving the historic downtown, something residents voiced support for again Friday night. But since the tornado damaged several of the historic structures to the point that some will have to be demolished, the original plans will have to be rethought. But Morgan said some of the damage may allow for a reconfiguration of streets and properties that would give people better access to and from what will eventually be Interstate 22.

Residents hoped they’ll be able to capitalize on the interstate, the river and railroads, and persuade job-creating industries to locate there. Jobs are sorely needed, said Rick Johnson: “It is hard to keep the young people around here because there is no work.”

Morgan said responses from the citizens will be gathered and organized and presented at meetings Aug. 5 and 6. While there will be some elements of planning for coming decades in the final product, it will also be important to focus on more immediate and realistic needs, like replacing City Hall and the police and fire departments.

“We have a lot of big decisions that need to be made,” said Mayor Jack Scott, who attended as an observer.

Dana Odom and her husband, Larry, owned a downtown building that will likely have to be torn down. She hopes there can be some quick resolution on the fate of the downtown district, where her husband operated a barber shop and leased space to two other businesses. Thus far they haven’t been able to find a place to reopen and there will have to be some collective decision-making about the fate of their building and others in downtown.

“We’re sort of in limbo right now,” she said.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: Ten Years Of Media Lens – Our Problem With Mainstream Dissidents.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.