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"Covers Dixie Like the Dew" Since 1883 Jack Tarver, President ·· EDITORIALS 2-A · low-Cost Housing Gap THE HOUSING Resources Committee heard Thursday that Mayor Ivan Allen's fiveyear, lo,v-cost housing goal of 16,800 replace. ment units by 1971 was . sure of being met. This is encouraging. · But the goal, unfortunately, falls far be-- low the mammoth commitment needed if city leaders are determined to wipe out the terrible slum conditions that breed violence and · volatile r esentment. Noting this, the HRC voted unanimously at its second annual meeting to endorse and push for appr oval of the zoning "package plan" designed to pave the way for low-cost . housing throughout all sections of the city . simultaneously. Is this too much to expect? The answer appar ently has been yesjudging by the silent reception the plan h_as r eceived from the alderm anic Pl anning and · Development Committee and the Zoning Committee since it was r eceived for study last August. Both comm Htces were to seek inform ation from the Planni ng Depar tment. Now, more than four months later , Pl an ning Department Director Colli er Gl adin has r epor ted no substantial progress has been mad e to implement the package plan. HRC Cha irman Cecil Alexander put the · need for the package plan in proper perspec- · . tive las t August. " It's like this, " he told the a ldermen, '.'eithe r we house the poor or we have within ou r midst, if not in this · generation, then cer tainly in the nex t, an alien ated · people r eady to gras p by fo rce what -we would . not pro·vide when there was ye t time. " The true indication of the meager success In providi ng adequate low-cost housing units so far in Atlanta comes from a statement r ele·a sed by the Atlanta Housing Authority Wednesday. F or the first time in Atlanta urban renewal histor=y, said the AHA, housing construction in 1968 exceeded the number of uni ts de molished. In other words , AtlcJ nta has virtually been staniling still, if not going backwards , in at-· tacking its low-cost problem in r ecent years. Therefore, it is not surprising to count the number of r esponsible community orga nizations supporting the package plan. They include the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, the Community Council of the Atla nta Area Inc., Central Atlanta Progress Inc. , the Wori1en's C_hambe~ of Commerce, the League of Jack Spalding, Editor o DECEMBER 14, 1968 Women Voters, the Christian Council of--Metropolitan Atlanta, Inc., and the Metropolitan Atlanta Conference on Housing. It is time that the conscience of the community be heard . �