Little Richard resource center may open soon since county officials restored funding

“Little Richard” proclaimed his love for his Macon neighborhood prior to a decision by officials Tuesday that will allow his childhood home to open as a resource center.

The yes vote during Tuesday’s Macon-Bibb County Commission meeting means $90,000 will be given to the Macon-Bibb Community Enhancement Authority to operate the Pleasant Hill Resource Center. “Little Richard” Penniman’s cousin, Stanley Stewart, got Penniman on the phone Tuesday to speak about why his childhood neighborhood and former home were important to him.

His message about the resource center: “I hope that whatever they’re doing, I hope it works out good ... for everybody to enjoy it,” said the legendary musician.

A couple of commissioners have debated whether the county should be paying the money to the enhancement authority, which is led by state Rep. James Beverly, who serves as the authority’s chairman and CEO.

Commissioner Valerie Wynn said she did not feel comfortable providing money to an authority from which Beverly benefits financially. He receives a salary as chairman of the authority, although none of that money comes from the county.

Wynn, instead, proposed selling the resource center.

“If this community takes over the Little Richard house, which I think it should, it should be privatized just as the Allman Brothers Big House (museum),” she said.

Other officials such as Commissioners Al Tillman said the county needs to uphold its agreement to provide the funding needed to operate the 416 Craft St center.

Tuesday’s vote increases the funding after the budget for the enhancement authority was cut from $96,000 to $10,000 during the contentious budget process.

“I do agree with commissioners that we need to allow the people of the area to run the house,” Tillman said. “But we also need to help fund it because we have an agreement.”

Wynn was the only vote against providing more funds to the authority. Commissioner Mallory Jones, who also opposed the funding in recent votes, did not attend Tuesday’s meeting.

The enhancement authority, established through state legislation, has been involved in the Pleasant Hill mitigation effort tied to the state transportation agency’s I-16 and I-75 expansion project. Beverly has said the authority would have backed out of its plans to manage the center if the county did not provide enough money for operations.

The county agreed to maintain the resource center as part of the $12 million Pleasant Hill mitigation agreement with the Georgia Department of Transportation and a Pleasant Hill organization.

GDOT rehabilitated and relocated the Little Richard’s boyhood home, and the Pleasant Hill Neighborhood Improvement Group endorsed the enhancement authority managing the resource center.

The center will allow visitors an opportunity to learn the history of the predominately black neighborhood and other resources such as job placement would be offered.

Prior to Tuesday’s vote, Peter Givens, president of the Pleasant Hill Neighborhood Improvement Group, spoke about the possibility of selling Little Richard’s boyhood home.

“It seems like we’re being stepped over,” Givens said. “We’re not getting our due. I’d like to say keep that in mind and keep following protocol and include the Pleasant Hill community in these actions.”

Macon resident Seth Clark said the sentiment he heard from some Pleasant Hill residents was that some Bibb commissioners were essentially saying, “we didn’t budget for the project because you don’t matter. Pleasant Hill doesn’t matter.”

This story was originally published October 2, 2018 at 8:29 PM.