in Parks Build Community Ground Broken for Rebuilding of Atlanta's Selena Butler Park By Maureen Hannan " T his park is going to rise like the Atlanta phoenix out of the ashes, " said Paul Taylor, planner for Atlanta's Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs in his opening remarks at the June 8 groundbreaking for Selena S. Butler Park. " Our hope is that this park will be part of the core of a more livable city. " The groundbreaking launched NRPA's second national demonstration park project under its Parks Build Community initiative. Selena Butler Park, located near the Martin Luther King, Jr., historic district in east-central Atlanta, had been known for years as a hub of drug activity-and it was finally closed to the public after a 2008 tornado destroyed the community center on the park site. Chainlink fencing kept the park off-limits as the surrounding Depressionera low-income housing (Grady Homes) was demolished to make way for a new Atlanta Housing Authority apartment complex. Speakers at the Selena Butler Park groundbreaking (l-r): Paul Taylor, planner for Atlanta Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs; Trish O'Connell of the Atlanta Housing Authority; NRPA CEO Barbara Tulipane; local activist Helene Mills; U.S. Representative John Lewis (D-GA); Atlanta City Council Member Kwanza Hall. www.NRPA .ORG J U LY 2 0 1 1 Parks & Recreation 59