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COMMWNITY RE LATIONS COMM1S5l0N .l20J . ClTt HaLL. ATLANTA, GEORGIA. DILEl"lr','\ ~ OF THE CITY September, 1967 The Community Relati .__; 1::. Comm~SE",ion, since February, 1967 has. held 29 meetings and has heard from more than 350 private citizens and officials, including the Superintendent of schools, City Director of parks and Director of recreation, The Atlanta Housing Authority, and spokesman fo = the Indepe~dent Food Dea lerE, The President of the Atlanta branch of NAA CP, The Pre..,id e nc _f -z.:-u a ffj.li{Jtl!I of the SCLC. These meetings have been wel l re ported in the press and have resulted in some changes which were within the limits of autharity and resources of the officials. We find, however, that ma ny wrongs are beyond the legal and financial limits of present p~b lic 0cl icies and it is the dilemmas created by these limitations ~b2t th~ following reports illustrate. For convenience, they are divided in t o separ ~t e topics, but they illustrate the interplay of each on the ~thers and again and again point up that the unit of concern is a human being. Dilemmas iu. City Services: There is continuous call for more of all services --- streets µoved, sidewalks paved, trash picked up, garbage collected, police assigned to street beats, houses inspected-------. Trash and garba ge collections -- the sanitary <lepartment is about 100 workers short. Why? Some s~y the salary scale, beginning at $276 or 1300 a month is not a drd wing card for a family man. Another difficulty is that the pay period is ~wo weeks, (the first ch e ck sometimes takes longer to be processed) and a head of a family looking for work often cannot afford to wait t wo or three weeks to pay rent, buy food, clothes, bus tokens. He does bett e r standing on the corner of Decatur street and working by the day, doi ~0 th e same job at the same rate of pay. Irresponsible? Shiftlesa : But would we as citizens condone the sanitary department paying hi · two weeks wages in advance? Another problem for the sanitary depar tment is that many have listened and heeded lectures on self-resp e ct and ambition and are not content to collect trash as a permanent career. fringe benefits are not mJch inducement for city employment. The city civil service is not under social securit~, and under the city's plan of benefits, not until an employee has worked for 10 years is his family entitled to any pension provisions comparable to social security in case of his death. Another problem is the child labor laws, designed to prevent exploitation of child labor, but there are jobs which 14 to 18 year olds might like to do as a temporary measure which they are prohibited by law from doing. Streets: Priority is given by the Construction Department to thorofares, but this little help to people who have few streets in their neighborhoods that go through to those thorofares, particularly those dependent on public transportation. How would you set priority in a street construction program? Sewers: The building boom of ~ihich we are all so proud has increased the areas which are paved, which in turn has increased the need for storm sewers to the point it is estimated that it would cost jb).Q ,QQP.,.OQ.O to meet the needs. This is bad enough where cars drive though the water, but, again where where there are many residents who do not have cars and must walk to bus stops, where children must walk to school or rely on public transportation, the problem is intensified. How should we balance emergency and long-term systematic improvement? Parks & Recreation: Atlanta spends about ~6 per person per year on parks ;nd recreation, slightly lower than the Georgia State average. Dalton, Georgia and Statesboro, Georgia spend about ~8. per person. Parks and facilities of the city are used and enjoyed by residents of Metropoli tan Atla nta and beyond, who contribute nothing to their cost. A well equipped communit~ center, without the land, costs over ~1DQ,PQS! The Decatur-DeKalb YMCA in 1960 cost a total of ~656.000 plus j S0,000 for the land. For the past 2 summers, the city has r~7e.ived additional operating funds from OED and EDA. In both cases, the appropri..ations were not approved until June, and people were hired to start work on �Page 2 Dilemmas faith. Those pro yrams closed the end of August, with the opening of school. Given funds to spend, the Parks and Recreation department is confronted with a choice of buying land, developing land already owned, o'r hiring people to staff the developments. For example, to have a softball league of neighborhood teams in a community park, instead of 1 commuhity team as a part of a city league, requires more workers, either paid or volunteers, and in the areas that need volunteers most, there are fewer adults with free time and enerJ y to help. Same goes for Boy Scouts, Gray Y and the rest. Do we plan for what we can pay for? Do we count on volunteers? Do we re-think the jobs and hire younger people, instigate training programs? Who would pay for those? Police: Not enough police to prevent things from happening, too many wh ~n things do happen. That's the opinion most often expressed at CRC meetings. The success of officers assigned to the EDA Centers emphasizes the repeated requests for "a beat policeman, a person "who will know·us". Presently Atlanta police are assigned to large areas, to patrol in cars, which make the force more mobile. Charges of police brutality are taken up by the Police Committee of the Board of Aldermen, who some claim will " naturally" support the police. But isn't it natural for a department · to support its own staff? And yet how does the public protect itself against the mutual protection of mem ers of a bureauracy?, whether it be a police force, a school staff, a public housing staff or what? On the other hand, how can a single police officer, etc., be reassured of lac k of rep risal i f he r a ises questions? How do we get sympathy and understanding, pro tection and fairness on both sides? In all these cases, money may not cure all ills, but it seems necessary to cure any. The CRC is scheduling a meeting with the Fulton County legislative delegation to put before them the case of the need for additional sources of revenue for the city's general operating budget.
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Dilemmas l!l Public Hou sing:
lemmas in public housing.
Four facts immediately contribute to di-
1. The Atlanta Housing Authority must obtain enough from rents
t o opera te the proj ect s . The City & U. S. Governments participate in
fihancing the building but there are no s ubsidies for operating the
projects.
2. ~ rent must be paid by every tenant. Therefore those in
need, who have no income whatsoever, cannot be served by public housing,
unde r prese nt policies.
3. Publ i c housing i s no
only s uc h resource in Atlanta
t ak es individuals for a brief
not house familie s together.
c e nt er, men to a nother.
r e s ource f or eme rgency hou s ing. The
is the Salvation Army, which houses and
time in extreme emergencies, but does
Women and c l,ildren under 12 go to one
4. Hous in g po l i cies exclude s ome in greates t need for help,
s uc h as fa mili es of prisone r s , s erving f elony sente nc e s a nd mothers
wi th illegitimate child r en under l year old.
Mi sconceptions about the s e on the part of the general public often
res ul t in c ritic i s m of the Housing Authority Staff, who must opera te
within these policie s .
Other limiting pol ic ies a r e those r equ i ring "security de posit s " a nd a
month's rent in adv ance a nd charges for repairs . Since rent is based
on fa mi ly income, increa s e in income means increase in rent. This is
pa r t icularly se l f- de f e a tin g whe n a n uw member of the family goes to
work a nd his a dded income , oft e n s ou ght to pay for educa tion or other
impro vements , res ul t s i n rent i nc reases . This refle ct s not th e opinion
of the housing staff but a publi c po l icy.
Another poli cy, whi ch is within the juris diction of the Atlanta Hous ing
Au horit , is t hat of e xc lud i ng f rom public housing fami lies of prison
inmates and women with illegit im te ch i ld ren und e r on e year old. Tha
policy does not remo ve from the c omm n ity the probl ems of j lleg i t i ma cy
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or providing decent, s anitary housing for the persons involved. It
does reflect a realistic concern for public opinion about public
housing and what the community will stand for, If we do not agree
with such restrictions on public housing, then it is up to us, the
community to have them changed. But even with restrictions, in 1966
there was a back-log of 1500 applications for public housing in Atlanta,
As of September 25, 1967 in all Atlanta Housing Authority projects
there was a totul of 17 vacancies( and these must be filled by the
proper size family for the size of the unit).
Dilemmas .i!J. Non-oublic Housing: In spite of code requirements and
inspections, in 1960, 163,405 (10% of all city housing units) were
in the slum category. In the first place, inspections are part of;
process. When inspectors find code violations, the owner is contacted
and given time (30 days? 60 days?) to make repairs. If not, the case
is rep orted to the Better Housing Commission and the Housing Court.
The owner must make repairs with a stated time or pay a fine. What is
"reasonable time to finJ a contractor, let the contract, m~ke repairs?
What protection is there against an increase in rent when repairs are
made? What protection is there as o inst eviction because of complaints?
If repairs are not made and rent is withheld, the renter can ,be evicted.
If repairs are not made and rent is paid, what protection does the renter
have? Move. "He can move" is the usual answer. There is a shortage of
low and middle cost hoLsi~g for sale and for rent in the city, and those
avail~ble to Negroes are fewer than those available overall. It costs
money to pay for moving. There are specialized restrictions on various
property. Some places won't take children, some places won't take unmarried women, some places won't take divorcees, and some places won't
take 9 children --- even for ~90.00 a month. So if you have 3 rooms
for your 9 children for ~90.00 a month, you're likely to stay there even
if they are cold and ratty. No steady job, no credit references, and
on welfare. Husband in jail. There's little choice for such families,
Race is an important factor still, no matter what the inccme. In one
part of town, apartments close to a Negro neighborhood were asked if
they would take Negroes as tenants, and none said yes.
High rents .f.9£ substandard .housin11: This often turns out to be public
housing in that the rent money in many cases comes from welfare allotments, so that we the µublic are subsidizing the slums. The Department
of Family~ Children Services, whose clients, Dany of these clients are,
cannot produce homes. The allotment for rent mµst come out of the total
family allotment, the maximum for which is J l54.00 in Georgia, regardless
of how man~ children the~e are. This is with no father at home. If he
is present, the family is not eligible for Aid to dependant children, no
matter how little he earns (unle5s he qualifies as physically disabled).
The Georgia legislature could enact l~gislation to implement the Unemployed
Parent provisions of the federal law. rhis would use primarily federal
money but would require some additi~nal and county money. The State
Board of family & Childrens Services, appointed by the Govenor, and the
legislature would have to authorize the program and appropriate the
money, which would permit men looking for work to stay at home with
their families.
The EDA has no money to pay moving costs and rent. Its resources are
limited to existing public housing and other housing for rent from
private owners.
Why are people allowed to live in these substandard houses? Aren't the
landlords and the tenants both vimlating the law? Some of the worst
areas are in that sort of limbo between planning" and "having something
done". The planning may be for urban renewal, model neighborhood, etc,,
but these are long in~olved processes, and meanwhile things are left pretty
much as they are, waiting, waiting and deteriorating.
For example, in one slum area which has been approved by the City Planning
Department and the Aldermanic Board for urban renewal, everybody is waiting now for the next phase, for the U. S, Department of HUD to approve
the actual plans, appropriate the money, etc.------ Once this has been
done, tenant-residents will receive grants for their property. So it
appears to be to their advantage to wait. The Inspection Depa-rtment
requires minimum complia nce since most of the buildings will be boug~t
by the city and demolished. But UR office in the area says the earliest
possibly for the Urban Renewal program to begin to move people out of
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Dile,nmas
these slums will be 6 months. ~o they face another winter, with
little heat, no hot wd~er, leaks, utterly miserable living conditions.
If they move now, they do it on their own------- and where are there
vacancies they can afford or where will they be accepted as tenants or
buyers (because of income, family, race, etc,) ?
Dilemmas i!l Evictions: Other families just a little higher in income
face rents higher than their incomes warrant for new, cheaply constructed,
poorly maintained apartments, where eviction is an automatic process when
rents are not paid on time. few of these units (many with hundreds of
families) have resident managers, and it is difficult to find someone to
whom to make complaints or pay back-rent, Substandard conditions and lack
of repairs are not legal gr?unds for withholding rent in Georgia. You
complain, and nothing happens except that you maybe given notice to leave.
The frustration of trying to deal with nameless, faceless landlords, often
just a street address, adds to the overall despair. It takes energy,
know-how, time and coura ge to pierce the anonymity of a corporation and
someone who can speak and is wit:ing to speak, even to listen.
Neiohborhood Stabilization: In efforts for "neighborhood stabilization",
we are confronted with more dilemma s and paradoxes; By neighborhood
stabilization we mean achieving and maintaining a via ble balance between
white and Negro residen ts . So this means i f the neighborhood is all white
or all Negro, some movi,ng sh'Juld t~ke p.}.ace, but at a certain point ( what
point?) the moving and selling f.hould,stop. How do Negroes get "started"
in a new neig hbor hood? What is the part of real estate dealers? At what
point do we e1.caurage Negroes to move in and ~Jhat point do we discourage
them? What does it take to make whites stay? (Reassurance about schools,
as much as anything, we are told.) How do we relieve pressure on the
area now "in transition"?
It is evident that any area concerned cannot "save itself". It is also
evident that it cannot be "saved" by isolated, localized action. If any
area, and in this case, southwest Atlanta, is to become and remain racially integrated, there must be choices of comp a r a ble housing values in other
areas available to Negroes, buyers and renters so they do not all end up
in one spot. There is no l aw requiring segre aation but under present
practices, Negroes are not fre~ to choose fro m the entire metro area as
whites are. They have trouule finding a real estate agent to show them
property outside pre s ent Neg ro neighborhoods. The real estate agent has
trouble getting "whi~e" property to show. The Ne s ro buyer has trouble
getting f inancing of such property. Some pre dict that open occupancy
legislation for Atlanta ¼ould scare whites to move outside of the city
li~its even faster than ~he~ are now. lJhat are the prospects of getting
open occupancy legislaticn or practices in the metro area? What short
of national legislation will help Atlanta from being a Negro city
surrounded by white suburbs? What would be t ne results if it were?
Dilemmas d!! ~ - Tr,:- in::.. Q...-2:. Emoloyment: Most discussions of urban
problems end with a st~t emen t to the effect th a t "the important thing
is jobs". Jobs keep peo ple busy. Jobs give people money. Jobs give
people stability. Jobs keep families together, Jobs give people a
stake in the community .
How does Atlanta St anc : In the first place, it must be clearly understood that there are nu new public pr~grams designed primarily to put
people to work. The new programs are designed either to train people
or to give social services, so individuals can care for children, take
jobs, etc., but once the training has been given and the social services
have been provided, the fact of whether there is a job is up to the
normal system of ongoing public and private programs which hire people.
Either private ~ndustry or ongoing public pfrograms must produce the
jobs. Many of the new public programs provide additional jobs, but
mo:.:e for professional or skilled persons than for the "jobless". EDA
cannot produce jobs, except for those employed by "the program".
The Georgia State Employment Service cannot produce jobs, There is
much talk about "job development", about the need for lowering professional standards, for giving on-the-job training, but the perso 11 ,:j
1r1ho advocate such changes seldom adopt them themseJ.ve&, ond there are
few examples of success.
How realistic are our admonitions (usually to others) to make the job
One dilemma is that ~11
f i t tt?e person who is looking for employment.
the. surveys and all comments by job counselors confirm the fact, that
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Di lemmas
the majority of thuse lDokin a for work are female, t~e majorit~ of those
ore Negro, either ver y young with no experienc8, or 30 or 4U, with perhaps a high schocl dif)loma but no "marketable skills". On the other
hand, in sp ite of ftdcral l3WS against discrim~naticn based on sex, the
great r,1ajority of job orJer3 are for males, ma .Les 1r.ith experience and
males with skills. To what 8Xtent Negroes in Atlanta ~re denied jobs
because they 2re Ner ro " :S needs to be determined, but it is a ·f act that
a higher percc~~2 ge ~f those lookiQg for jobs Are Ne~ro, and that of
th0se rerru~s with job b , a ~igher percenta ge of whites have good jobs
(profess.i.'"r,a.:., ·1a nage ria l, e tc.). Years of discrir·j nation because of
race have r es ul~ed in Negroes being less qualified accorcing to standards
set by whites for whites. Jo we continue to apply qu~lificBtians which
exclude Ne~roes (such ~s exp8rience which they have been unable to get)
or do we hire "qualifiable" Negroes and give them a chance to qualify on
the job? The August list of vacancies for the City of Atlanta Personnel
department, for example, lists only 6 out of~ categories which require
no experiencli.
Are there enough hobs to go around? Are there more people than jobs or
mare jobs than people? The Georgie State Employment Officies in Metro
Atlanta as of July 31, 1967 had 649 job orders ("a slack season" a spokesman said). At the se~e time, there were ll,32~ "active applicants"
(5,874 female).
Negroes who are worki,g earn less than whites. When the head of the
household , ma~e er female, makes a marginal salary, teenage children,
or you,..,ger :::i,.::.l ~::.-en, must go to work to provide for themseLves and/or
to contri ~ut ~ t2 the fa mily income. An increase in adult incomes might
ease the ,~ce:i for tee:1age jobs. There are, for example, approximately
1000 fami lL£3 in one i\tlanta public housing project being supported by
women who r 2:,._t1 their families' living at domestic service, for w.hich the
average ra te is j 8.00 a day with no prospect of promotion, no future, no
fringe berLfits , lucky if social security is pa~d. Employment to a teenage member of s.Jch a family becomes a necessity unless somehow the family
income is increased. Men and women with families work for 1t.1s, the public,
at full time, per~anent jobs at the "poverty" level (e,g., maids at
Grady hospital at $1.08 an hour; male nursing assistants at $1.29 an
hour, increas.es t-Ji thin the last fe1:J years). Further increases will require increpsed public funds. Whom do we encourage to take these jobs?
Whom should we encourage to take these jobs?
Dilemmas .!!l Training: l:Jhat about taining programs? Some cost; others
pay t~ainees. Ho~ closely does tne vocational education program (as reflected in the new ~9,080,000 Atlanta Trade School) reflect present and
future job markets? All courses there do not require high school education
but they require apti tud,e tests and fees, though smell, and costs of
materials, small enough if you nav,a it, ·but t'o a family i tt:i no margin,
it might as well be ~1000.
Some training programs are sµecifically for youn.g people. The Neighborhood Youth Corps gives "training jobs" both in and oot of school,
but the record of post-NYC employment quanti)y-wise is not i~pressive.
from October 1 66 through July '67 ,. of 62,0 out-of-school NYC trainees
in Atlanta, 98 were placed in f~lltime jobs (most of which were training related). Often the job pays little more than the "training" ~id
{ i.,l. 50 an hour) • Furthermore, the trc;1ining allowclnce does not count
on family income, et~., whereas "earned income" does. (A side effect
of training allowance;;, , which give self-re-spect and dignity and independence to the young, is the resentmel"lt o.n the partof some adult y,1orkar
such as custodians and cooks at seeing an NYC trainee "earn" about as
much as they a re paid straight wages. This could de~troy rather than
strengthen a family.)
Again, the vocational education depar~ment nor the NYC can produce
permanent jobs. How realistic is the training? What about the
family? Should all young people be encouraged to work? Should all
mothers be encouraged to work ?
The MOTA programs also ha ve s uffered from lack of jobs into which
trainees could mo ve . Here race plus se x has compounded the problbm
again , with most jobs calling for ma l es with expeEience, and skills
still uncommon among IJegroes. As of August, 1967, the Atlanta office
G5£S had no f110TA training programs to which applicants coulrl ~ a<;;sioned.
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The new $4, ~70,7 93 ~ ti a ,ta Concentrated [mployment Program (ACEP)
i s ano t her opportu~it) for training, re s trictea to low-income aieas
of t he city. The first group of 252 began August 14, 1967. It is
e xpected· to enroll l UU eve r :. 2 weeks for a training period of 8 - 16
weeks, To be eligible yo~ must live in one of the 5 areas (Price,
Pittsburg, Summerhill-~echanicsville, Naih-Washington, or West·End),
b~ 16 or older a nd presently "bHlow the poverty level". 98% of the
f irst 200 are females. The living allowance for a head of · household
is ~35.QO to ~56.0U a week and for a non-~e~d of house~bld, ,20.00 a
week. Like other training programs it includes pre-voc~tiQnal, ·
ori entation, and other ~uppotting social services. · It · is ~~signed to
train for exislin~ or new j6bs, but it cann~t guaraAtee a job or
produce one,
Dilemmas i!l Education: School buildings in one part of town converted
to special programs as the school population moves out. School building s in other car ts of town i,Ji th double 'enrollment as the school population moves in. lffect on ~chool$ of zoning changes -- apartments
bring · many new children for schciol. ~umbersome and lengthy piocess of
bond issues to finance new buildings. Pre-kindergarten "he~d~tart"
prog!ams with' low pupil-teacher ratio feeding pupils into sch~ol~ with
large classes and double sessions. Double session, which ' me~n~ ½ schci61
. da'y, doing away with lunch. for . children to whom lunch is the bes
t ~e-~ l
of t~e da y a nd for many a free meal • . ½. day for some 8th graders ~n
high school ( those ·c recii ts do , no·t f,igure . _in graduation requirements),
but 13 and 14 year olds. can't work-- . it's agii~~t the law in many instances. (1.Jhe n ·s~hOo.l opened in Au;g~st · n:iorei than . 7000 pupils, all . of
whom . are Negro, . .~.e r e on what is commonly de~cr.ibe.d· as "double· ses·sion".
4ith school day -cut in h~lf, what ·does a 1st grader, 2nd grader~ 7th
grader, 8th grader, llth . gr~der -do t~e i~st of the day? There's no
room at school t~ sta~ • . There . is likely to be littl~ room at home· and
even less likely to be an adu'l t at home to supervise~ to chauffeur, to
· pla.y;
guide, to help wi.th studies, ..to encou:r.age:, to . li:sten.
to
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These ar~ some of the Dilammas of the City. We cannot hold a welfare
worker responsible for inadequate housing of welf~~e clients when we
limit her resources t o $154.00 a month. We cannot hold a public housing
manager responsible f or keeping tenan t s who cannot pay even minimum
rent whe n we do not gi ve hi m public money to operat e on. We cannot hold
t ra in i ng supervisors respons ible for lack of jobs.
Agreed w~ need new innovative programs, but programs that spend more
money, not .less and programs that provide actual economic opportunity,
i.e., jobs. A few ba sic misconceptions stand in the way of innovative
pr·o grams. One misconce ption is that our curren t social services, eve n
with the a dditional "ne w pr ograms" a re adeq ua te. A second mis conc e ~tion
is tha i whe n "even more mone y" has not s olveJ th~ . pr obl ems, that "mone y
i s not t he answer". More money may not ins ure succe sses, but th e re.~s
l ittle lik~lihood of success without it. The mosi effective ~ses of
public money ma y be deba ted but the ne eds are e normous; . widespread and
ur gent and can be met only by massive, similta neou s programs • .
Teacners , doctor s , den tis t, recr~a tion-workers , pla nn_,e rs a nd the l i ke
s pend mo ne y. If we are to ha ve . e noug h of t he kind s of s e.vices the y
· provide~ we must be pre p6reci to spend more money, mucih more. Some of
this ~ill c~eate job~ but ~~a t is not the prime purpose nor the criter ion of succe ss of .social service programs or.training programs~
The other misconce pti on i s tha t i ocia l servi~es. a ~~ ~ia iriing ~~a r a nt~~
j obs a nd i nc ome , a nd/ or guai~ntee a cc eis to c a pi t~l. ~ · Y~~ c a ~ ha ve ·
e verybody hea l t hy, a ll . t he .ba bies in a da y c are cen~ er; ~he ·would -:-b e
wo.r ke r s traied ' bu·t unless th e re is a product:i.ve job ava ilabl_e ; none· .
. of t his ~rings i n f a~ily in~ome. Anti-poverty ~rp~tam~ · toda~ train
·some people . .The y t a ke c a r e of s ome children. Tlie y tak~' some t .9 the
hospita l, tb t he employment office . But the y .do not prdd~ce jobs .·
( nor ,d o they prod uce houses ). They do not pr odu·ce ·t h~ oppor~un i ty .
to make a man , a woman , : a · youn g person se l f.:..s upportin g;· un.l ess he . is
fortunate . eno ugh to be · hired as a sta f f me mber o f on~. of t he " piograms ".
" They can ready him to ta ke adva nta ge of th,e oppor tun { ty;. bu,t .uo~il
-t he _.cn,r'Tl~unity pro~i des i t, he wi ll ha ve t o wa~~ · The r e ~~re in ·A t~:~:a
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Page 7 Dilemmas
during the month uf July n,ore than 11, DUO ~,,.,ai ting, registered far jobs
with the Employment Services.
Self-helping is not the same as self-generating. Self-help programs
require something to start with, something to help. A credit union is
not much help if each member needs to borrow fS0. 00 and can hardly put
in is.oo (if you work by the day and miss two days and don't have money
for rent and food, borrowing from a loan shark at high interest and
"service" charges may not be good businessi but what is the alternative?)
A civic association with no members who own property or have any margin
of income cannot come up with "seed money", loans or fees for technical
assistance, Indeed it is hard for them ta produce the minimum amount to
get the help necessary to apply far grants, etd,
Training, counsel, sympathy, recreation, social services all have their
places but in our money economy, none of these is a substitute for money.
Indeed a minimum income is necessary to take advantage even of "free"
services. As has bee~ said, one has to have a boot before he can have a
boot strap. Dozens of people with no beets still comes out no boot straps.
Z.ero multiplied by "infinity" is still zero.
AnQther notion which i s misleading is th2t the problems can be "taken one
at a time". Chances are a child growing up in a good house in a good
neighborhood will go to a good school and get a good job; chances are a
poor house in a poor neighborhood will go to a poor school and get a
poor job. House, school, neighbarho~d, family condit,ions, health are all
parts of a whole, and the whole is a human being.
· The decisions which result in school and houses and jobs, or no schools
and no houses and no jobs are matters of public policy. The fact that
the decisions are complex and difficult does not alter the fact that they
must be made, and that we are all helping to make them, like it or not.
The democratic process is still the same. The burden of responsible
citizenship is not likely to become lighter,
Detailed Reports of the meetings which have pointed up these dilemmas provide an interesting Diary of Atlanta. These, and other information such as questions and answers on Housing are available fEom the CRC office. The record from February, l96f , thr? ~gh August, 1967, is: Neighborhood Meetings Special at CitySpecial R~gular CRC "Hearings" Hall [RC Meetings CRC Meetings Number 11 7 4 7 299 Approx Attendance App. Spoke 1000 250 650 60 250 Vistors 1960 100 30 380 Approximately 800 requests have been processed through the office. Detailed minutes of all meetings a nd 10 Neighborhood Profiles ha ve been widely circula ted, plus specir.11 r e po.rts s uch a s Dixie Hills, Hous ing, e tc. �The Community Relations Commission uf the City of Atlanta, appointed by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen, meets the 4th Friday of each month, at 1:30 P.M., in Committee Room #2, City Hall. The public is invited and citizens are urged to bring to the attention of the Commission matters pertaining to its functions and duties, which outlined in the Ordinance, include: "To foster mutual understanding, tolerance, and ~espect among all economic, social religious, and ethnic groups in the City. To help make it possible for each citizen, regardless of race, color, creed, religion, national origin or ancestry, to develop his talents, and'abilities ~tnouf ~imitation. To aid in permitting the City of Atlanta to benefit from the fullest realization of its human resources. To investigate, discourage anci seek to prevent discriminatory practices against any individual becau~e of race, color, creed, religion, national origin o.r c1n,c!_:lsi:ry. To attempt to act as conciliator in controversies involving human relations." In between meetin gs, individuals and groups are invited to visit or telephone the Commission office (522-4463, Ext 433) to . report .matters of interest and to obtain information and assistance on specific subjects. Community Relations Commission 1203 City Hall 68 Mitchell Street, SW Atlanta, Georgia 30303 Mr. R. Earl Landers Adm. Asst. to Mayor 68 Mitchell St., SW Atlanta, Ga. JOJOJ • Non - Profit Organization U. 5. Postage P A I D Atlanta, Georgia Permit No. 711 �