April 2026 General Body Mtg. Minutes

GENERAL BODY MEETING MINUTES
West End Neighborhood Development Inc.
Tuesday, April 7th, 2025, 7:00 PM
Virtual Meeting

2026 Officers

Marquise “Tony” McNeal, President – president@atlantawestend.com
John Mitchell, 1st Vice President – firstvp@atlantawestend.com
Kimberly Carlisle, 2nd Vice President – secondvp@atlantawestend.com
Troy Farina, Treasurer – treasurer@atlantawestend.com
Dave Mardis, Secretary – secretary@atlantawestend.com
Melba T. Furlow, Recording Secretary recordingsecretary@atlantawestend.com
Kim Scott, Past President – kimscottmanagement@gmail.com
Terry Ross, Parliamentarian – t-ross01@hotmail.com

➡️ CLICK HERE TO VIEW MEETING RECORDING ⬅️

INTRODUCTION (Tony McNeal, President)

CALL TO ORDER – 7:04 PM

Welcome
Motion to adopt April Agenda properly seconded. (Troy Farina & Rohen Sundaram)
Favor: 18 Oppose: 0 Abstain: 0
Motion to approve March 2026 Minutes properly seconded and approved. (Troy Farina & Terrance Hunter)
Favor: 17 Oppose: 0 Abstain: 1

CITY REPRESENTATIVES & ELECTED OFFICIALS- 7:08 PM

ATL311 – Shadé Stokes Campbell –
- There will be some dates during the World Cup when ATL311 will be open during the weekend.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT – 7: 14 PM

We are still promoting the West End Tour of Homes, Gardens, & Art Stroll on June 13th. We are excited about this signature event that we do every year. We’ve added a church this year. We will have some space at Lee+White and possibly Hammonds House where artists can set up and sell their work. Please help promote, like, sell tickets, etc. We may have some special prizes for folks who are able to sell multiple tickets. We’re still looking for sponsors – our goal this year is $50k. If you know any potential sponsors who the President could speak with, please let him know.
The President met with One West End developers, including breakfast. They’re still in the process of doing asbestos remediation work. They are looking for recommendations of street names.

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION – 7:17 PM

$11,806 balance at end of March

COMMITTEE REPORTS – 7:20 PM

Education Committee – Barbara Mislan and Ayana Dunston, Co-Chair
(Education does not have a standing meeting, but communicates by text chain. If you’d like to join, email WENDeducation@gmail.com)
- Kids are on break.
- Scholarships are coming up. Parks and rec and our schools have programming.
Environmental Health & Beautification – Kristen Koehnemann (Pronounced “Cane-uh-man”)
(Does not have a standing meeting, but if you’d like to join, email WENDbeautification@gmail.com) and visit the committee page
- There is a Trees Atlanta volunteer opportunity coming up.
- For Howell Park there is a proposal by Just Schooling to donate a funded soccer net for placement within the park. Recommendation from committee is to support.
  - Favor: 20 Oppose: 0 Abstain: 1

Events – Doug Cain
(Does not have a standing meeting, but if you’d like to join, email wendevents@gmail.com or call/text 404-934-0583)
- Upcoming
  - Spring Yard Sale will be May 16th.
  - Our Annual picnic will be first weekend in June (June 6th)
  - Tour of Homes (June 13th)
- Thank you to everyone for Amelia and Mike Walliser for hosting our porch party and thank you to everyone who came out to participate in the egg hunt. We had pancakes, Portrait coffee, face painting and over 250 people!
Transportation – Matt Hawkins
- New fare gates are beginning to be operational in some places. Direct payment with your credit/debit card is coming! Currently all fare gates are open, so you don’t have to pay right now. The plan is to begin enforcing again on May 2nd. By October 30th you’ll need to transfer your balance to the new Breeze Cards. New bus routes start on April 18th.
- Transportation Committee will not be meeting this month.
- A member expressed that he’s having difficulty adding balance to his Breeze card for connection to other transit providers (Cobb/Gwinnett/etc).
Grants – Looking for a Chair

Membership – Rohen Sundaram
(More information on committee page)
- WEND Wednesday April 22 at Lee + White Food Hall!
PR – Brittney Cain
(Does not have a standing meeting, but if you’d like to join, email AtlantaWestEndPR@gmail.com)
- N/A

Preservation & Urban Design – Caleb Racicot (Pronounced “Ras ih co”)
(Meets the first and/or third Wednesdays at 6:30 PM, as needed. If you’d like to join, email WENDPreservation@gmail.com)
- N/A
Film Committee – Melba Furlow
- A donation was received from the folks who filmed Will Trent. A donation of $1K was made to WEND. When we can get in on the front end, we can make it benefit our community.
Public Safety Committee –
- N/A
Zoning – Larry Frazer 8:30 pm. Meets last Monday of every month. Advises on new applications as it relates to development, zoning variances. We work hard to make sure that the voices of the community are heard. We also review alcohol licenses and special permits.
- West End Farmer’s Market – WEND is invited to the reopening of the West End Farmer’s Market. It’s a seasonal/Summer market that happens for 13 weeks (June – September). Opening on June 5th and leaving on September 25th. It will be on the Redeemed CDC property on 555 Hopkins St. The banner advertising the market will go up the first week of June. There’s a big lineup this year. Sister’s fave promotion is a “build a bag” for $5. The produce is locally grown. WIC/EBT/and those in need are able to get double value. The garden has new raised beds in the back. The Redeemed CDC has been there for 25 years. There’s even a pick-n-pay, where you can go back to the beds and harvest it yourself. The adopted park at Lucile and Holderness with a fruit tree orchard. It’s public and free to pick! There will be free line dancing, $5 fish fry, and yogurt. Motion from committee is to defer until application is received from the City
- Big Tigger’s Beltline Bike Fest
  - There have never been any complaints from their events. They leave the place as good or better than they found it.
  - Favor: 22 Oppose: 0 Abstain: 1

WRAP-UP & ANNOUNCEMENTS

New Neighbor Introductions
- Ronnie Marshall and Ron J, by Howell Park. There is a community event called Pray and Play
- Avery Ebron with the Guild is opening the SW Atlanta Community Land Trust. He has included some links in the chat. April 25th from 11a to 1p, there will be an event at the Keneckt.
- Carissa Beatty here to introduce herself
- Deven Trowers – a 20 year ATL resident and Spelman College alumna. Representing One West End. We’ll be naming two streets! We’re always looking for new places to hold events. We’re also hiring interns. It was suggested that
- Regarding the proposed Data Center. Back in December 2025, WEND wrote a letter of opposition
- Data Center Comments
  - Brooks Payne – Believes in smart development. Brownfields can be redeveloped.
  - Krista Verdelotti – The WEND letter will go to the ZRB. You can send your own letters!
  - Brian Remler – There’s been a lot of misinformation about the prospects of the property for viable alternative uses for the property. There are other options besides a data center.