A Virtual Success!

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Lighthouse helps Unity Park shine
Of The Daily Oakland Press

PONTIAC - The Unity Park Neighborhood revival around Lighthouse of Oakland County is the most ambitious project ever undertaken by the agency.

Since its beginnings in 1992, Unity Park has undergone a complete revitalization with the partnership of Lighthouse, volunteers and donations from the Building Industry Association of Southeastern Michigan, corporate sponsors, and residents.

The neighborhood is bounded by Woodward Avenue on the west, Auburn on the north, Martin Luther King Jr. on the east and the railroad tracks just south of Osmun to the south.

County Commissioner Mattie McKinney-Hatchett, a resident of the neighborhood since 1970, and City Council President Everett Seay, both give Noreen Keating, Lighthouse of Oakland County president and chief executive officer, credit for identifying the community's needs, formulating a program to meet them and then carrying out the plans.

Initially, the activist residents of the bedraggled urban neighborhood were a small group.

But they joined forces and grew, eventually partnering with Lighthouse of Oakland County to create the new Unity Park Neighborhood out of an aging one suffering from crime and blight.

Beverly Garrison, 64, has lived in the neighborhood for 35 years and was the neighborhood association's first president.

"There's been a lot of tearing down of homes and lot of building up," said Garrison.

Like other Unity Park residents, Garrison said there has been a drop in crime and a rise in property values.

Joe Heaphy, executive director of Lighthouse Community Development, said the neighborhood has improved so much that real estate agents are again working in the area and private companies are building homes there. Among the Lighthouse volunteer partners are members of the Building Industry Association of Southeastern Michigan and Oakland Schools building trades students.

According to a CNNmoney RealEstate report, the Unity Park ZIP code, 48342, which also includes part of downtown Pontiac, has the 10th fastest rising property values in the nation. The median price of a home is $68,000, which is up 39.6 percent in five years through the third quarter of 2004, according to the report.

Garrison raised her four children in the neighborhood. Before Lighthouse got involved, she said, "A lot of the houses were raggedy. It was more like a slum. That's the way I saw it moving in here from Ohio.

"When I first lived here, we went through a thing with young gangs, the 'Black Disciples,' (and) the era of busing when our children were bused to the other side of town ..."

She said her children went to three elementaries and three different junior high schools under the busing plan.

"They seemed to adjust. Three graduated from Pontiac and the youngest from Cranbrook," she noted.

"There's been parks built up," Garrison continued. "It's a cleaner neighborhood. People have moved out and people have moved in."

She cited the construction of new homes, the new senior citizens complex and the new Lighthouse building that opened in 2001 as examples of the renewal.

Hatchett became involved with Keating when the Pontiac Area Transitional Housing residential program for homeless mothers and their children started in 1991.

"One of the things Noreen Keating needs to get recognition for is she had the vision to see that we needed to help single parents, women, a concentrated program to move them to a more constructive level," Hatchett said. "Without intervention, we'd continue to have babies being born and women not being homeowners or getting an education or training."

The apartment selected and renovated inside and out for the PATH residential program had been drug-infested, Hatchett said.

"I've seen the whole tone of my community change and I believe my own property values has gone up because of the renovation of homes and building of new homes just in my pocket alone. Noreen and Lighthouse deserve a lot of accolades for that."

Seay said he remembers that in 1985, crime was rampant and "we weren't tearing down houses that should have been torn down. When a new house was built, it was like big-time news.

"I did studies on infant mortality on the east side and found that blight and crime is a root cause. I was in the paper saying, 'How can you allow this to happen?' And the only organization (leader) that called me was Noreen.

"She wanted to do a plan with not only the physical aspects but the human aspect of it.

"Noreen, Unity Park, Eirther Shelmonson-Bey and Citizens District Council 7 and various mayors - we knew if it was going to work for Pontiac, it would have to work over there (in Unity Park). That was the proving ground."

Seay said the program covered every aspect of the quality of life.

"The spin-off has been that other people are clearing land. People are coming back and living within the community," he said. "After I'm gone and Noreen's gone, (neighborhood and Lighthouse) will continue. This is beyond the politics.

"What we've got over there is a fraction less than a miracle. That's what happens when everyone's working together."
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