November 23, 2013 - November 23, 2013, www.afro.com
Volume 122 No. 16
The Afro-American A1 $1.00
NOVEMBER 23, 2013 - NOVEMBER 29, 2013
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Council Members Seek Answers in Tyrone West’s Death By Blair Adams AFRO Staff Writer
50 Years Later, the AFRO Remembers Story on A3
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Funeral for Macon Ga. Pastor Who Committed Suicide Discloses His Depression
with the church’s Legacy Choir backing her up. Bibb Mount Zion’s Deacon Shawn Stafford discussed Parker’s love for his members. The Macon, Ga. pastor who committed suicide in the “He was loving. You could feel his love,” Stafford said. driveway of his home Nov. 10 suffered “It wasn’t just an ‘I love you.’ He was from depression and though he had a loving man. He didn’t have a selfish shared his diagnosis with some of his bone in his body…He would give you loved ones, many of the people close to anything and everything…He would do him and most of his congregation did without.” not know, according to statements made A long-time friend, the Rev. at his Nov. 16 funeral. DeRienzia Johnson, pastor of Bethesda Services for the Rev. Teddy Parker Baptist Church in Americus, Ga., told Jr., pastor of the Bibb Mount Zion the congregation that he knew that Baptist Church, were held at Fellowship Parker was in pain. Bible Baptist Church in Warner Robins, “All of you can say what you want, Ga., where Parker was ordained at age but I knew the man. I knew his hurt. I 22. knew his struggles. I knew his pain,” he Speaker after speaker told stories of said. “And there were times I couldn’t Parker’s generosity and selfless service say anything to reach him.” to God and his church. God, the speaker said, told him that In a service full of poignant there were times that “people need to be Parker and family several years ago moments, the most heart-wrenching quiet and allow heaven to speak.” may have been a tribute from his oldest daughter, Kamry, In eulogizing Parker, the Rev. Dr. E. Dewey Smith, senior who honored her father by singing a song, “My Liberty,” Continued on A8 By Zachary Lester AFRO Staff Writer
TeddyParker.org
INSIDE
In the four months since Tyrone West was pronounced dead following what Baltimore police say started as a routine traffic stop in Northeast Baltimore, there have been more questions than answers about the death of the 44-year-old man while in police custody. At the core is a central question: How did West die? Although an autopsy has been completed and nine police officers have been suspended while the death is investigated, the police and medical examiner remain silent about the cause of death. Now, several Baltimore City Council members have joined West’s family and friends in the search for truth. On Nov. 18, 123 days after West died during a violent scuffle with police, council members Bill Henry and Warren Branch successfully steered the council into the fray. “The prolonged silence is frustrating and unacceptable,” according to the resolution that cleared the council. In Continued on A3
City Announces Plans for Locals Want Edmondson Inner Harbor Revitalization Village Center Restored By Blair Adams AFRO Staff Writer Imagine a Baltimore waterfront where people swim and fish. That’s part of the vision for the next generation Inner Harbor. City officials and the Waterfront Partnership have revealed their plan for the revitalization of the Inner Harbor, Baltimore’s most visited tourist attraction, which is beginning to show signs of aging.
Photo by Blair Adams
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake at the project’s unveiling.
During a Nov. 13 news conference, officials showcased what they are calling “Inner Harbor 2.0,” a plan that will give the 40-year-old waterfront district a facelift. “Inner Harbor 2.0 is a plan for growth, building on the incredibly successful harbor that we’ve enjoyed for 40 years,” Laurie Schwartz, executive director of Waterfront Partnership, said during the news conference. The goal, she said, is “to add new parks, playgrounds, sculptures, biking and kayaking, all intended to bring tourists back, and back again, and to attract our local residents.” So far, officials have not released an estimated cost for the project or even when groundbreaking will occur but said the results will be impressive –and costly. Inner Harbor 2.0 calls for a pedestrian bridge connecting Harbor East and Federal Hill. The revised Inner Harbor will feature bike trails, a floating swimming pool, interactive water features, and quality open spaces. Schwartz said Baltimore is “a wonderful attraction with 23 million visitors each year, 60 percent of whom visit the Inner Harbor.” “Its place where imaginations come to life—tall ships, views of
Continued on A8
By Blair Adams AFRO Staff Writer The owners of the Edmondson Village Shopping Center, Baltimore planning officials and local legislators are the targets of protests from local residents who are fed up with the state of what once was one of Baltimore’s premiere shopping centers. Opened in 1947, the Edmondson Village Shopping Center was designed for the suburban community—once a mostly White neighborhood—dating back to a time when trips to shopping malls were occasions to dress up. Now, 66 years later, the strip mall is rundown, dirty, unsafe and “looks like crap,” according to
Monique Washington, president of the Edmondson Village Community Association. “I understand that this neighborhood is now predominately Black, but there are Blacks that do care about their community and neighborhood,” she said. Approaching the shopping center along Edmondson Avenue, a visitor is confronted by piles of trash on the once-grassy aprons that frame the store grounds, along with rusted, broken and bent lampposts and a pothole-marked parking lot. It is a sharp turn from the Edmondson Village Shopping Center of yesteryear. Once known for its Continued on A8
Photo by Blair Adams
The back of the shopping center is littered with trash.
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