EAST NASHVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Oprah Winfrey's dad says his refurbished barber shop is spurring a revitalization of the Tennessee neighborhood where he has been cutting hair for four decades.
Vernon Winfrey and his wife, Barbara, marked the completion of the first phase of Winberry Place, a modest commercial development in the Cleveland Park neighborhood that features his shop as the anchor tenant.
"I think this will help brighten up the neighborhood and might encourage some others to do something," Winfrey, 78, told The (Nashville) Tennessean. "I want to leave East Nashville in better shape than I found it."
The Winberry Place project calls for a mix of retail and residential construction down the road. But Cleveland Park is already on the rebound. The Tennessean said Sunday crime in the area has been on the decline and other properties are being built or fixed up.
"There were areas that were entrenched with crime that now it's occasional," Metro Police Sgt. Dan Ogren told the newspaper. "They have already reached the tipping point, and this area is not going to go bad because there are too many people that are invested in the neighborhood."
