January 2026 General Body Mtg. Minutes

GENERAL BODY MEETING MINUTES
West End Neighborhood Development Inc.
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026, 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

 

INTRODUCTION (Tony McNeal, President)  

CALL TO ORDER  –  7:04 PM

• Welcome
• Motion to adopt January Agenda properly seconded and approved. (Kim C. & Dave M)
  Favor: 24+2  Oppose: 0   Abstain: 2
• Motion to approve December 2025 Minutes properly seconded and approved. (Kim C. & Brooks P)
  Favor: 25+1  Oppose: 0   Abstain: 4

CITY REPRESENTATIVES  & ELECTED OFFICIALS-  7:04 PM

• ATL311 – Shade’ Stokes-Campbell – Community Affairs Coordinator. If you have not already created an account at www.atl311.com, please do so. This will help us to keep you more up-to-date on the status of your case. ATL311 is open from 7AM to 12AM, M-F. Call 311 to make a PAD referral. If you can’t reach 311 by dialing 311, call 404-546-0311. There is no direct number to Atlanta PAD.
• Atlanta City Council District 4, Jason Dozier’s Office. Jason Dozier
  • District 4 has had some big changes. CM Dozier is now meeting with WEND and NPU-E at the same time.
  • Going into the new term, CM Dozier’s training wheels are off. Will continue his work around pedestrian/cyclist safety. There’s already a lot of city/state money dedicated to making Lee St. & RDA safer. We already have capital projects that have been promised and funded. The flashing pedestrian lights are supposed to come to Lee St in 2026. Beecher St. is supposed to get some traffic calming.
  • Will continue to focus on homelessness issues. The demolition work will be complete by the end of this year. The groundbreaking for the new construction will be immediately following that.
  • Townhall series resuming soon. Looking for a new location.
  • CM Dozier received his Utilities, Council, and Community Dev and Human Services.
  • GDOT will do another resurfacing/realignment of RDA, including a road diet / complete street. It will include protected pedestrian crosswalks. The West End CID did some design work that helped inform that. Of note, there used to be crosswalks on RDA, but GDOT removed them and didn’t replace them d/t it being deemed too dangerous to encourage crosswalks there d/t the width of the road.
  • Q&A w/ CM Dozier re housing

PRESENTATIONS  –  7:30 PM

• Eid – Ayyub Shakur – Eid is the culmination of Ramadan in Islam. The last time the festival was in West End was in 2023, in West End Park. The organizer is partnering with Lt. Fred Harper to create a security plan. Will hire EMS. There will be first aid and water stations throughout the park. The organizer has contracted with the City of Atlanta on sanitation. Staff will be collecting trash during the event. There will be portable restroom trailers (the kinds with sinks inside them). Will be notifying neighbors by leaving materials at their homes and talking with them, so that they’re not caught off guard. There will not be any carnival rides this year. The streets around the park will be closed, as will West End Place.
• AUD+APS – Carolyn Kovar – Peeples Street will go to the zoning committee on 12th, full council on 19th. They are currently drafting the RFQ, and it includes all the neighborhood’s stipulations. Until NPU-T votes to approve, the RFQ will not go out.
• El Tesoro – Alan Raines – Will be moving from Wild Heaven to the former Best End Brewery site. The old brew-space will be subdivided into retail with more street-facing.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT  –  7:47 PM

• Budget – We had the committee chairs turn in 2026 budget requests. After WEND Treasurer and President conferred, they recommended not to vote on a 2026 budget this month but to instead have a closer look at making a strategic plan for the year. In February they will come back with a recommendation, after having presented it to the Executive Board.

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION  –  7:48 PM

• $11,519.38 –  2025 Ending Balance

   COMMITTEE REPORTS  –  7:50 PM

• Education Committee – 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)
  • The Education Committee works to be allies with our three district schools: M.Agnes Jones, Herman J. Russell West End Academy, and Booker T Washington High School. We are liaisons with the community. When there are issues/needs at the school, we try to get that information to the larger community for increased support. We are a STEAM cluster. MAJ was the first school that was STEAM-certified. Whether you have a student at the schools or not, you can join the PTA and attend GO TEAM meetings. 
  • Thank you to everyone who donated to the annual holiday gift drive, which WEND has been doing for at least the past 5 years. MAJ and BTW have received their items and were truly grateful – the donations went directly to family and students of the schools. HJRWEA will be getting their items very soon. We’ll be bringing final documentation of donations at the next meeting.
  • District 2 has a new board member – Tony Mitchell. The swearing-in ceremony is open to the public. It happens on Jan 12th at the Alonzo Crim Center for Learning.
  • APS has implemented a mental health support system called “Talk it Out” for APS students, family, and staff. 
  • In December, APS approved the APS Forward 2040 plan. Washington Cluster will be impacted, but we’ll share that info at the next meeting.
  • Next Thursday at M. Agnes Jones Elementary, there will be a PTA meeting / parent listening session. The agenda is to discuss the conversation that happened at the Transform Westside Summit. 
  • Booker T Washington High will be having a Whole Child – Whole Family workshop on January 28th from 10:00am to noon. RSVP by Jan 23rd.
  • Currently the Education Committee meets on an as-needed basis, but as committee membership expands, they are open to setting a recurring meeting date.
  • Special shout-out to the Cusick family for opening their home for the wrapping. 
• 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
  • The Environmental Health and Beautification Committee works on issues like environmental pollution, trash, 311 requests, and planting.

• Friends of the Parks Groups – For each park we seek out grants and identify funding sources for each of the individual parks. Seasonally we’ll hold a planting day with breakfast and coffee. We have two Park Pride grants, one for Rose Circle Park and one for Howell Park. For West End Park, thanks to a grant from CM Dozier’s office, CoA Watershed Mgmt and Parks and Rec are working in unison on some draining issues in the park. Now that a survey has been done, they will put together a proposal for how to address it and bring it to WEND for feedback.

• 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)
  • Has been events committee chair for 1-1.5 years. The committee is another liaison between WEND and the Community. A lot of times when neighbors hear about WEND, it’s through an event, like porch parties, egg hunts, the concert, the holiday party. The committee is looking for new fundraising opportunities, so reach out either by email or on instagram to connect. Events Committee will also be working with the Membership Committee to put on WENDnesdays at the Food Hall.
• Grants – Looking for a Chair
  • If you’re interested in chairing this committee to help us find new funding, please let us know.

• Membership – Brooks Payne
  (Meets virtually on second Tuesdays via zoom. More information on committee page
  • Join us for First WENDnesdays at Lee + White Food Hall. There will be 10% discounts at the Original Hot Dog Factory and 15% discounts at Strangers in Paradise. In February, Terry with Studio W.I.P. will be participating. Come to the events to pick up your membership cards at Portrait Coffee, Vine + Olive. 
  • The Membership Committee will be meeting as a committee tomorrow at the event.
• PR – Brittney Cain
  (Does not have a standing meeting, but if you’d like to join, email AtlantaWestEndPR@gmail.com)
  • Maintains our presence on FB and Instagram. Join our committee! We have big lofty plans!

• 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)
  • Responsible for ensuring that the historic preservation standards of properties that fall within the local historic district are maintained. Right now the committee is maintained entirely by the Chair and would greatly appreciate folks reaching out to volunteer. Question: How could someone without experience in historic preservation be of assistance? The committee has to check in the CoA Accela portal every week to login to see if there are any permits filed. Then it’s just a question of maintaining the historic standard, which actually isn’t that complicated once you get the hang of it.
• Transportation – Brooks Payne subbing for Matt Hawkins
  • Spring 2026 MARTA changes. This is going to be one of MARTA’s biggest years in recent memory. There are going to be new bus routes, new trains, and a new fare-collection system that will include tap-to-pay. 
  • The new fare gate system is being installed at the south gate of the West End station, so plan to walk around. 
  • The NextGen bus network – most bus routes will change on April 18th.
  • Don’t put too much money on your Breeze app before April, or else you won’t be able to access the funds after the system transition.
• 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.
  • EidFest 2026. March 28th, from 10AM to 8PM at West End Park. Recommendation from committee is to support the applicant.
    • Favor: 25+1  Oppose: 2   Abstain: 3
  • ALC0001030234 – Crespos Tacos DBA El Tesoro West End. Motion from committee is to support. 
    • Favor: 29  Oppose: 2   Abstain: 2

• Public Safety Chair – Alex McBride
  • Not Present

WRAP-UP & ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Community Advocacy Day – There’s Community Violence Intervention Advocacy Day (lobby day) on Wednesday, January 28th from 8:30am to 1:00pm. It’s being sponsored by Circle of Safety and the GA Majority for Gun Safety. The ask is very clear and very attainable, which is for the Senate to take up and pass HB291. HB291 would create the framework necessary for certifying Community Health Workers. (Here’s a blurb on the bill, from last year). The TLDR is that it will help open up more pathways of funding for community-based orgs that are doing direct street outreach initiatives (think PAD, H.O.P.E. Hustlers, POWER ATL, Intown Cares, etc). If you’re interested in participating, email david.mardis@gmail.com or text 415-519-4024.

ADJOURN 8:37 PM

Draft Minutes Completed on 1/6/26 by DM