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Westside story: Falcons owner Arthur Blank trying to make a difference in Atlanta
- Updated: May 20, 2016
9:01 AM ET
ATLANTA — On the front porch of a modest home located at Griffin Street on Atlanta’s Westside, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank extends a warm handshake to 38-year-old Billie Walker and her 2-year-old daughter.
Walker, a 10-year resident of the neighborhood, previously lived in a shelter for domestic violence victims. Now she resides here, in a house built by Habitat for Humanity. She constructed her own future by getting a job at the nearby Atlanta Children’s Shelter, where she also serves as a Zumba instructor.
It’s a story Walker shares with pride. And Blank listens intently while a contingent of his employees — including Falcons coach Dan Quinn — paint Walker’s house in the background.
“Some people might not understand what you’re doing and they may feel some kind of way about the demographics and the things that are going on, but me being a home owner around all this abandonment and what you’re doing with sowing into this neighborhood, it’s awesome,” Walker says to Blank. “It helps us to have a better living environment.”
The neighborhood still needs a facelift.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank and coach Dan Quinn speaks with Atlanta resident Billie Walker at her home on the west side of the city. Vaughn McClure/ESPN
Half the houses within the immediate vicinity of Walker’s are boarded up. Graffiti is scribbled across doors and broken windows. Faded furniture is scattered about the driveways. Empty Doritos bags and Newport 100 boxes litter the curbs.
A few steps down the street stands a hobbled, bearded man wandering the intersection, raising his palm at cars as he tries to scrounge up change for a meal. About 500 feet away from him strolls a female streetwalker, advertising her services as she circles the block in flashy white high heels.
Blank’s cameo appearance in this sketchy Westside area is part of a yearly community initiative involving more than 300 employees of his businesses, including …
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