INTERVIEW BY ANGELISE RIVERA.
Photograph provided by Daemon Baizan.
MICHELLE COOPER KELLY, MARIETTA CITY COUNCILWOMAN, WARD 6
On her place of special meaning: One of my first projects as Chair of the Marietta Parks, Recreation and Tourism Committee was the Elizabeth Porter Park. This site holds a special significance for Marietta City and Baptist Town residents. Prior to this use, the site was originally developed in the 1940s as the Cobb Cooperative Negro Hospital. A group of private citizens raised funds to ensure adequate medical services could be available for African American residents across Cobb County during segregation. After its closure in 1950, the site continued to serve generations of neighborhood residents as the Montgomery Street Recreation Center, teen Canteen, and Elizabeth Porter Recreation Center. I wanted to ensure the preservation of this history.
“I find that we are a lot similar than we are different.”
On her firsts while in office: I’m the first African American female to get elected to the city council in Marietta in 2013. It is amazing but to say that we’re still making firsts in the 2000 century, I wish we were a little bit further along. Having said that, making history in a city that I’m not from speaks volumes because there has been a lot of people who’ve paved the way for me to be able to take claim to that history. Since then, we have elected two additional African Americans to the Marietta City Council, and I think that’s important because our council now reflects a community that we serve. So, you’ve got diversity of thought and different perspectives and I think that’s what diversity brings.