Today marked the beginning of a new experience for me. After a ten hour long drive and a good night’s rest (on shag carpet, of course) Bear Breaks Atlanta began our first service and education experience. We began the day beautifying a chemical free park and playground in the Old Fourth Ward, followed by a tour along Atlanta’s newest public transportation system, the Beltline. This was the first time I had done service outside of Missouri, and it took a while to sink in. Initially I thought that pulling weeds at an empty park at 9:00am was lacking the ‘umph’ I was hoping for as a member of the Bear Breaks trip. As our service progressed, however, Atlantians began flowing in to the park; particularly young kids. This broadened my view on our purpose. We were not just making this park look pretty, but we were preserving its longevity, so that these kids would one day be able to return and see the same vibrant park where they had played. I began to think how service can matter in the long-term.

This was the same way my perspective changed as we began to learn about the Beltline. In short, the belt line is a new walking and bicycling path built around the city to help improve travel throughout Atlanta. As nice as this sounds, the Beltline has also meant that many local, less affluent citizens have been relocated further away from their city to make way for the new development, and the upscale housing and shopping it brings with it. It’s evident that this pathway was paved with good intentions, but has had some unintended costs. So what’s my take? My biggest hope is that new citizens that arrive down the road to take advantage of the Beltline and it’s fancy amenities will realize that others had to pay a price for their benefit. Hopefully, future projects like this will take a more equitable approach to the community as a whole.

For the first time, I have been exposed to the benefits and costs of urban development. My hope from here on, is that this exposure will become an education, and I can leave this trip with a better understanding of how I can fit in to the puzzle of urban development.

xoxo – Dustin Keyhill

@TheFakeDustin