Beverly Blake, Knight’s Macon-based program director, was on the road when the news broke in Georgia. She’s attending the invitation-only FiberFête in Lafayette, La., learning about that community’s innovative fiber optic infrastructure and municipal broadband network, already in place. Before she left, she commented on the impact the mobile library will have when it takes to the road in 2011. “Digital access is essential to first-class citizenship in our society. Without digital, you lack full access to information; you are second class economically and even socially. While the mobile library will benefit families and individuals, the staff of CVL will also benefit as they learn more about the people they serve and how CVL can provide those customers access to computers, the Internet and materials that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to obtain.”

The grant to CVL is part of a $5.7 million Knight Foundation initiative benefiting library users in 20 communities across the United States. The effort reinforces the recommendations of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy, a project of the Aspen Institute. In a report issued earlier this year, the Commission concluded that democracy in America is threatened by the lack of equal access to quality information. Funding public libraries as centers of digital and media training is one key to fill the gaps.

From the Macon.com article:

With funding from the Knight Foundation, a disinterested third party, Georgia Tech's College of Architecture IMAGINE Lab (www.coa.gatech.edu/imagine) is being employed to look at the proposed project and present a 3-D rendering that should show the community what the project will actually look like. There are all sorts of rumors of the project's height and width and how it will interact with the Ocmulgee River. In the letter informing community leaders about the Tech project, Beverly Blake, the Knight Foundation program director, said, "Will it (the I-16/I-75 interchange) provide an orderly set of feeder streets to bring more folks into downtown/intown Macon? Will the time for construction effectively choke off all life to downtown? Are the alternatives worse than the proposed plan?"

The computer generated visuals, she said, will let us "see just exactly what the proposed interchange will look like when completed from different perspectives..."

Blake's original letter concluded:

They [Georgia Tech’s College of Architecture IMAGINE Lab] are pleased to provide us with a proposal for their work to bring to us the three dimensional view of the proposed interchange; they will need info from Bibb/Macon and also DOT. If the scope is within the financial parameters of the grantmaking of the Knight Fund for Macon at the Community Foundation of Central Georgia, we will ask the Board of CFCG to consider funding of this visual presentation.

I wish to be clear that Knight Foundation does not have a position on this plan-our only position is to support projects and ideas that move forward Macon as a vibrant, progressive community. Our goal is to assist in providing accurate information to our citizens and policy makers.

I welcome your comments and ideas. Kindly respond to all so that we can each be a part of this conversation.

Do you have comments or ideas? Please leave them in the comments below.

Charles E. Richardson of the Macon Telegraph contexts the new grant as part of a much larger effort to attract business partners to join Mercer, Macon Housing Authority, the city of Macon, NewTown and the Medical Center of Central Georgia on the College Hill Corridor Committee. In his article, he explores how Macon can model some of Akron's recent success in reshaping a downtown area.

Mercer.edu is streaming video and audio from the June 6th press conference here.

From the Mercer.edu press release:

“From my arrival in Macon two years ago, I have been struck by the opportunities for economic renewal in the historic neighborhoods around downtown,” [Mercer President William S.] Underwood said.

“Downtown redevelopment is gaining momentum, and the success of initiatives such as the Beall’s Hill neighborhood redevelopment provide a solid foundation for further expansion of redevelopment efforts.

"I am deeply grateful to Knight Foundation for providing a major grant that will allow the partners to combine and more effectively coordinate their efforts, while attracting new partners and additional expertise, to make this endeavor a national success story.”

Knight Foundation Program Director of Macon Beverly Blake agrees, acknowledging that "enduring change happens when we work together-across real or perceived barriers-with others of good faith to create the future of Macon...for all of us."

What ideas do you have about the new direction for Macon? Please leave comments for Beverly below.

Yesterday, a $250,000 Knight grant was announced for a comprehensive revitalization planning effort in Macon, Georgia--a significant expression of Knight's confidence in the community to make Macon's neighborhoods vibrant and welcoming for all people to live, work, play and study.

From the announcement ceremony (video is 11:02):

Macon has eleven historic districts containing more structures of historic significance than either Savannah or Charleston. The successful revitalization of two distressed Macon neighborhoods in 2002 led to a push to reclaim the soul of the intown neighborhoods with beautiful architecture, great history, and forty years of decline.

Mercer University anchors one end of both the downtown and intown historic districts: the downtown area with beautiful boulevards and architecture and the Ocmulgee River at the other end. This revitalization grant will specifically target an area between Mercer University and downtown Macon known as College Hill Corridor.

With a community alliance joining Mercer students, a new mayor, and a reinvigorated city council with existing Macon leaders and residents, we are on our way to transform the physical landscape of Macon's first neighborhoods and the way we feel about this place we call home.

I invite you to join us in this effort; please let me hear your thoughts by e-mail (blake {at} knightfoundation {dot} org) and in the comments below.

Related coverage: Macon.com, Fox 24, 13 WMAZ.