Bellevue Community Center opening well received by neighborhood

The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office cut a red ribbon Wednesday evening for the grand opening of the Bellevue Community Center, the first of several expected to open around town.

The center which is in one side of a duplex at 1222 Oak Water Court had been vacant for a half decade until recently, when the Macon Housing Authority allowed the sheriff’s office to make it into a community center.

Over the past few months, volunteers and sheriff’s office employees painted, cleaned and decorated the center between Log Cabin Drive and Napier Avenue.

“We’ve been out all across this county in those community walks,” Sheriff David Davis said to a few dozen people at the ribbon cutting. “We’ve walked through the neighborhoods and now we’re sort of going to homestead in a few of the neighborhoods.”

The community center is the first of its kind since 2013, when the Macon and Bibb County governments consolidated, the sheriff said.

The center’s location has been vacant since 2010, when it was used by the Macon Police Department in conjunction with AmeriCorps.

“It is for these young people right here,” the sheriff said. “So that every moment that they spend in a center like this is a moment that they can connect with someone in a positive way. ... and can be inspired to be better and to do great things in their life.”

After the ribbon cutting, the neighborhood’s children were the first to go inside to check it out.

Natalie Harp, 45, lives on the other side of the duplex.

Harp walked through the community center with her 5-year-old granddaughter.

“There’s really nothing for the kids to do, you know,” Harp said. “You can’t have basketball goals you can’t get a swimming pool ... This is a good opportunity to get outside and enjoy something else besides (video games).”

Pictures of the neighborhood kids hung on the walls, and the youngsters were thrilled to look for their own faces in each room. An air hockey table and miniature basketball goals are among activities for kids at the center.

On a giant chalk board that read “Welcome Sheriff David J. Davis,” someone had drawn a picture of Sponge Bob Square Pants and Patrick the starfish.

“They really know how to draw,” a little girl said while looking at the chalkboard. “They put their best into this.”

More community centers are expected to open in vacant spaces once occupied by Macon police and AmeriCorps. A center is being planned on Bloomfield Way as well as another in Bird City, the sheriff said.

Davis said the Bellevue neighborhood was picked as the first community center to open because more people are getting “interested in making a positive difference in this neighborhood and this community.”

This story was originally published November 2, 2016 at 7:45 PM with the headline "Bellevue Community Center opening well received by neighborhood."