It was November 21, 2006. Atlanta police raid the house at 933 Neal Street, gunning down 92 year old Kathryn Johnston. The killing, and the cover up that followed, led to cries of outrage and anger.

But from that raw emotion has emerged new hope for Johnston's neighborhood. And it comes from an unlikely source.

John C. Gordon is president and CEO of Gordon Document Products, an Atlanta businessman who lives in Buckhead and, prior to the Kathryn Johnston shooting, someone who had never heard of Neal Street, or the English Avenue neighborhood that surrounds it.

"As many times as I've driven down Northside Drive and gone to the Dome, I never realized this neighborhood was even here," Gordon says, "because it's camouflaged by Northside Drive and the train tracks."

But something about the killing drew Gordon to the area. That's where he met with Reverend Anthony Motley, of the Lindsay Street Baptist Church. That meeting sparked a friendship, and led to an ambitious idea.

"We said let's work together to make some good come out of this tragedy," Gordon says.

So they started the campaign to "Beautify English Avenue in Memory of Kathryn Johnston and all Grandmothers." It's an effort that begins this weekend with very high hopes.

"We are organizing an Atlanta-wide community cleanup of this 15 square block area," says Gordon, a man of unending optimism.

The effort is this Saturday, May 10, the day before Mother's Day. It runs from 8 in the morning until 4 p.m. Volunteers can come anytime during those 8 hours, and should report to the Lindsay Street Baptist Church.

"We hope to make a difference, and we hope to make a difference by helping people understand that they do have choices and there are other ways to live their lives."

Walking along the streets adjacent to the Johnston home, Gordon meets people from the neighborhood. Two men walking slowly past a burned out house, telling us that they wish someone would do something about the eyesore. Gordon shakes their hands and tells them of this weekend's cleanup. He then recruits the two to come out and help.

As this white Buckhead businessman walks in this mainly African-American neighborhood, he seems right at home, greeting everyone as a friend. His optimism and positive spirit seem to lift the hopes of the residents we see.

"We've proven in Atlanta that, as a community , when we set our minds to doing something, we can accomplish great things," Gordon tells me as we walk past a well kept home, with a flower garden in front. "And so this represents a phenomenal opportunity for all of us in Atlanta to come and do great things."

It won't be easy, but Gordon accepts that challenge, and seems to welcome it.

"The problems are very significant, but they are surmountable."

Those problems are apparent as to walk the streets in the English Avenue neighborhood. House after house with boarded up windows; grassy areas covered with piles of trash; and vacant lots so badly overgrown you'd need a machete to hack your way through. Gordon says any and all of those areas of blight will be addressed this Saturday.

"There are areas where people have illegally dumped trash, contractors have come into the neighborhood and dumped large quantities of empty paint cans and wallboard and building materials. It's very unsightly and very unsafe."

For all the urban blight in the area, there are some houses that make you stop and stare. Well kept homes with manicured lawns and large, inviting porches. Gordon hopes all the homes will soon be like that, and hopes to draw an army of volunteers to fan out in the neighborhood, and start the process of revitalizing this community.

"We have a lot of jobs for a lot of people who want to come out and help us clean up English Avenue," Gordon says. Even if manual labor is out of the question for you, there are still ways to help. "We need volunteers to check people in, to assign them yard tools, to feed the volunteers at noon. So we have a role for everybody who wants to come and help us make a difference."

That difference, Gordon hopes, will be an English Avenue neighborhood far different that the one now.

"A lot of greenspace," Gordon says, "playgrounds, a community center, where people can congregate and socialize." The organizers of the cleanup effort already have one tract of land in their sights, with high hopes for its future.

The vacant lot sits at the intersection of Lindsey and Proctor Streets, two and a half acres of overgrowth, surrounded by a chain link fence. It was once an apartment complex, but it was abandoned, and the building was eventually torn down. That property is now owned by the English Avenue Community Board, and they envision great things there.

"Townhouses and possibly some mixed use, with some light retail and, maybe, an office that is related to providing medical services," says Gordon. The hard part is selling the idea of coming to this area to a merchant, or businessman.

"It's a process," Gordon says, "and, like anything else, it takes time."

As Gordon looks out over the neighborhood, and dreams of what might someday be, he remembers a conversation he had with an area resident following Kathryn Johnston's death. It was a talk that changed his life, and, he hopes, will change this community.

It was a grandmother who came up to me and said, 'please don't forget us when this is over,'" Gordon says. "And I said I won't. And, before I realized it, I had made a promise. So now, we're trying to deliver on that promise."

The cleanup effort is 8-4 Saturday, May 10. The staging area is the Lindsay Street Baptist Church.

May 8, 2008