Atlanta’s Latest Park Meant To Honor Civil Rights Leaders And Deal with Lengthy-Working Flooding

The land where Atlanta’s newest park is located, near Vine City, used to have houses. But in 2002 there was a flood of sewage. It overwhelmed the neighborhood, recalls Bishop John Lewis. Lewis is the chairman of the Vine City Civic Association.

“They had to wade through two meters, swim, through sewage,” he said.

At least 60 families lost their homes when the city bought the land.

Now the park that was built in their place should help alleviate some of those long-running flooding problems. Cook Park is designed to slow down and absorb rainwater. This is done with waterfalls and landscaped ponds, surrounded by curved paths.

On Wednesday, the city of Atlanta held an official opening ceremony for the park. Lewis encouraged the crowd to keep an eye on the families who had to move.

“Let’s think about it today,” he said.

Cook Park’s landscaped ponds and curved paths help reduce the risk of flooding in the neighborhood. (Molly Samuel / WABE)

“I was blown away by the beauty of the park,” said Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. “It’s one thing to see it on paper, but another thing to be here.”

Bottoms said it was the first park in Atlanta’s Neighborhood Planning Unit Q, meaning that now all of the city’s local planning units have parks.

Cook Park is also said to honor the city’s civil rights activists.

The park is named after Rodney Cook Senior, a representative of the Atlanta Alderman and Georgia House who supported the civil rights movement. His son Rodney Cook Junior is involved in the park’s development and plans to house statues of civil rights leaders. There’s already one of Congressman John Lewis.

Ambassador Andrew Young also supported the project; he knew Rodney Cook Sr. He said he envisioned Cook Park as a “peace park”, “where you can come and just be together in peace”.

It took about four years for the park to be built. The non-profit Trust for Public Land raised money for the project and oversaw construction.

Cook Park is now officially open, but as Bishop Lewis of the Vine City Civic Association noted, families and children in the neighborhood have already enjoyed it.