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The Midtown Ponce Security Alliance posted this video on YouTube showing alleged prostitution in Midtown.
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: RYAN LEE
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In a dramatic illustration of the cultural shift that has taken place in Midtown over the past few years, the once predominately gay area now has a neighborhood association that characterizes the black gay men and lesbians who have long gathered in Piedmont Park on Sunday evenings as “probably the most dangerous ongoing situation we have encountered so far.”
The July public safety report e-mailed to Midtown residents by the Midtown Ponce Security Alliance says the “large and unruly” Sunday crowd includes people “engaging in fights and other violent behavior, and various illegal activities such as drug use and public indecency.”
“The problem continues to escalate weekly, and we fear that if some concrete solutions are not found, someone will be seriously injured or even killed,” the MPSA newsletter states. “Needless to say, most regular park visitors are afraid to use this area of the park on Sunday evenings.”
Written by Steve Gower — a gay Midtown resident and vice president of the MPSA board of directors — the newsletter discusses the group of black gay men and lesbians in Piedmont Park as though they are a new and unfamiliar phenomenon.
“This is somehow tied in with a group that has been meeting there for several years — they are organized to some degree into groups known as ‘houses,’ and into something known as ‘vogue dancing,’” the newsletter states.
“We don’t fully understand what this group is, but we do not think there is anything problematic about the group’s intention or philosophy — and certainly nothing problematic about vogue dancing — but some bad elements are definitely coming into their midst.”
The newsletter solicits information from anyone who may know more about the black gay subculture, and states, “We are told the movie ‘Paris is Burning’ would shed more light on them.”
The newsletter relates several incidents it claims are related to the group. However, Atlanta Police Department officials dispute the notion that crime is spilling out of the Sunday crowd at Piedmont Park.
“That is not true,” said Officer Darlene Harris, LGBT liaison for APD. “Nothing has been proven as far as that crowd being linked to any crime in the area.”
Black gay men and lesbians — most of whom do not belong to gay houses — have regularly flocked to Piedmont Park on Sunday evenings for at least a decade, and so to portray them as something new and dangerous is “highly inappropriate,” said Angel Luis Poventud, a gay Midtown resident who received the MPSA newsletter.
“Anyone who’s been in Midtown for four or five years knows that Piedmont Park is where black folks meet on Sundays because it’s a safe space for them where they can be themselves away from their families, who might not be accepting,” said Poventud, who inline skates in the park every Sunday afternoon.
“It’s people getting together and socializing,” he said.
When Southern Voice e-mailed questions to Gower about the MPSA newsletter’s claims about the Piedmont Park situation, Gower apparently forwarded them to other MPSA leaders, including MPSA board President Peggy Denby. Denby immediately responded to Gower, but her message was also delivered to Southern Voice.
“Do not under any circumstances answer those questions,” Denby instructed Gower.
A day later Gower e-mailed Southern Voice a statement that the MPSA newsletter was simply passing along information that MPSA members received during a recent meeting with Chris Nelson, vice president of the Piedmont Park Conservancy.
“I believe we made that clear in our [newsletter],” Gower wrote.
Midtown resident Angel Luis Poventud believes MPSA leaders sometimes overreact in their attempts to ‘improve’ Midtown.
The Midtown Ponce Security Alliance has turned to YouTube in its fight against gay and transgender prostitution in Midtown.
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The newsletter introduced the discussion of the park crowd by saying that Nelson "told about a serious problem in the park."
Nelson did not respond to interview requests by press time.
However, Poventud said it isn’t at all clear that MPSA is “passing along” information — but rather offering their own assessment of the situation.
“That e-mail goes out to the entire neighborhood, and it just doesn’t seem appropriate,” Poventud said.
Myra Reeves, a spokesperson for the city of Atlanta’s Department of Parks, Recreation & Cultural Affairs, attended the MPSA meeting at which Nelson spoke. The primary concern about the Sunday Piedmont Park crowd is that it is typically so large that it blocks ...
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