‘Black community of churches’ petitions council over Coosa Avenue closing

Published 7:13 am Tuesday, July 20, 2010

A group of citizens addressed the Leeds City Council during a meeting last week regarding the status of Coosa Avenue.

Coosa Avenue was closed during the construction of the new Leeds High School in 2008. Now, a petition has been given to the council asking the council to open a dialog about re-opening the road.

The Leeds Civic League, along with several local churches, are hoping their voices are heard in regard to reopening Coosa, which services the congragation of Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church.

Those who organized the petition said the closing of Coosa was originally intended to be temporary. The petition states: “The Black community of churches of Leeds strongly object to the unfortunate, unnecessary and unannounced closing of Coosa Avenue by the placing of a locked gate between Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church and the new Leeds High School.”

Some of the strong emotions about the closing of the road have to do with the historical significance of the Mt. Pleasant Church, which is known to many as the ‘Mother Church’ to other African-American churches in Leeds.

“There are a number of citizens still concerned over this situation because they feel there is a remedy to the situation,” Dan Marbury said.

The Mt. Pleasant Church is 137 years old, making older than the City of Leeds itself, according to petitioners.

One of the biggest complaints by the commissioners is what they describe as the lack of communication to the church when it was decided to close the road.

“There was no reason to close the road, and if there was, the least you could have done was contact church officials. The road can be put back and we asking that you stand by your word (that the closing was temporary),” said Fred Jones, a deacon of the church.

Carl Marbury, who served on boards related to the construction of the school, says he understands the original intention in regard to Coosa.

“I know what was said and what as agreed upon,” Marbury said. “This is a case of poor judgement and I ask that you revisit it.”

Carl Marbury also pointed out what he described as the historical significance of Coosa Avenue itself.

“This is not just a street, it goes back over 100 years. This is a piece of what is left of the original road from Birmingham to Atlanta, prior to the construction of Highway 78 farther up the hill. This road is an important part of our history,” he said.

He added that Mt. Pleasant and Coosa Avenue are part of the Leeds Scenic Byway and that the closing of the road has made it dangerous to those who have to turn around on the small road.

According to the petition, GPS units searching for Leeds High School sends drivers onto Coosa Avenue enroute to the school. This was verified when a recent recruiting contingency from the University of Alabama was temporarily lost after being directed by GPS to turn onto Coosa. That group was visiting the school to recruit an LHS player.

The council and mayor did not comment on the petition.

Several other residents spoke on the matter during the public comment portion of the meeting, saying they were disappointed in the council’s decision and that they did not comment on what the petitioners had to say.