Gimme Shelter: May 2012

While I've visited the Lake Claire Community Land Trust in Atlanta, Georgia before, recently I had time for a more comprehensive tour of this amazing community landmark. LCCLT was created more than 25 years ago when community members purchased land from MARTA (Atlanta's public transit system) and cleared out garbage and kudzu. Since then it's been transformed into a vibrant community center for people living on the land itself, as well as neighbors and people throughout Atlanta. It includes a wide variety of structures, as well as fish ponds, gardens and orchards. Despite its central location in the heart of Atlanta, one can find plenty of resident and visiting wildlife at LCCLT (recognized as a wildlife sanctuary). This land trust is closely integrated with and actively utilized by the immediate community, and it's not always obvious where its land ends and neighbors' property begins. There are many different events for every member of the community including picnics, birthday parties, drum circles, yoga instruction, after-school programs, etc. My friends live one block away and frequently visit the land trust and attend events both with and without their two young children, as do other friends living outside the neighborhood.

Lake Claire Community Land Trust is a reflection and integral part of the immediate community as well as the surrounding communities and this is what makes it such a great model for other communities. It's an infinitely repeatable formula: active community involvement ensures the space remains a safe, friendly center for learning, interacting, celebrating, etc. and it eventually becomes a beloved point of pride for the neighborhood. Rather than depressing neighboring home values as abandoned land, effective community land trusts can help build strong communities making neighborhoods more appealing to potential home buyers. Not surprisingly Lake Claire has become one of Atlanta's most desirable neighborhoods.