The Atlanta City Council passed a resolution Monday, renaming a portion of Pryor Road to honor the legacy of the former President of the United Youth-Adult Conference and late advocate for affordable housing, environmental justice, food security, public safety, and equity for all Atlantans, Michael Langford.
“Our community voted for me because they had seen people like me before, they had seen people in our community, young boys they had raised, went to our schools, that went to college and came back to organize,” Councilmember Antonio Lewis said at the full council meeting on Oct. 20. “I’m a direct beneficiary of the work of Mr. Michael Langford, Mr. Arthur Langford, and Mr. Derrick Boazmann.”
Langford died in 2021 at the age of 63. He worked in the community with his brother, former Georgia State Senator Arthur Langford, and served on Atlanta’s Anti-Violence Advisory Council under Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. A portion of Pryor Street in south Atlanta, from Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard to Lakewood Avenue, will be named “Michael Langford Drive” in his honor.
The city council also passed legislation on Monday to develop affordable housing and improve infrastructure, including a resolution donating $1.5 million from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to Mercy Housing Southeast to deliver affordable housing units in the Old Fourth Ward by supporting the redevelopment of Henderson Place.
Also approved:
• Other passed legislation included a three-year, $2.5 million agreement to provide telehealth kiosk services for Department of Human Resources employees
• The requirement of all Atlanta Fire Rescue Department engine companies and ladder/truck companies to be staffed with a minimum of four personnel per apparatus per shift.
• A resolution adding a $3 million amendment for repairs to the green infrastructure at Historic Fourth Ward Park.
• A resolution requesting that the city designate or acquire property within Gilbert Gardens for the development of affordable housing.
• A resolution executing a $645,000 project management agreement to implement sidewalk repairs and improvements to Downtown Atlanta.
• The launch of the “It Starts With Me” campaign, an initiative encouraging residents to employ the Front Yard Tree Program to plant up to three free trees on their property.
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