Atop a little hill at Eighth Street and Park Avenue Friday afternoon, Marvin Williams helped heave some ceremonial dirt that marks the beginning of what’s thought to be a transformational project for an area once referred to as “the hood.”
Williams, who grew up in West Bremerton, has gone onto become one of the area’s most celebrated sons, having spent a decade in the NBA. He finished up his college degree from the University of North Carolina this summer, his father, Marvin Williams, Sr., told those gathered Friday. He’ll play for the Charlotte Hornets this year as well.
But because the NBA season starts up in November, Williams won’t be around at that time to mark the official groundbreaking of the center that will bear his name. The Marvin Williams Community Center, combined with the C. Keith Birkenfeld economic empowerment center, is a $7.1 million project spearheaded by the New Life Community Development Association, a wing of Bremerton’s Emmanuel Apostolic Church. Organizers already have almost $5 million in donations and government grants; the Williams-named recreation center, complete with basketball court, will be built by summer 2015.
Speeches Friday by politicians, donors and Williams himself were upbeat with promise about the future of the area (even a speech by Kitsap Community Foundation Executive Director Kol Medina, in which he referred to county residents perceiving West Bremerton as “the armpit of Kitsap County,” didn’t spoil the mood).
“Bremerton has stepped up and embraced this project in a very special way,” Congressman Derek Kilmer told those gathered. “You have an extraordinary coalition here in Bremerton embracing this project.”
“This building is going to be for everyone,” added Bremerton Mayor Patty Lent, noting the City Council’s recent renaming of nearby Seventh Street for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Watching this project go forward is in some ways witnessing Williams’ legacy unfolding before our eyes. And, I must say, he’s got some serious style — I snuck a photo of his shoes and socks during the interview. See below.
