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DEPARTME NT OFFICE OF THE A SS I STANT SECRET A R Y FOR MODEL CITIES AND GO V E R N M ENT A L REL A TIONS Ho1;.orable Ivan Allen, Jr. Mayor of Atlanta Atlanta, Georgia 30303 IN REPL Y R ErE R TO : JUN 1 1 1969 Dear Hayor Allen: In his press conference of April 28, 1969, _~ecr etary Romney made the following statement: ·I "The 10% population restriction on the size of the target neighborhoods will be dropped . . . . [T]his 0 ' • • . does not mean that the program will be ex pand ed city wide within each city. Its purpose will rema in tha t of focusing r esources on pa rti~ula rly pe e r a n~ blighted neighborhoods, but local officials will be given greater latitude in drawing progr am boundaries that conform to local conditions. " The Secretary's comments have been given widely differing interpretations in newspapers and periodicals around the country . In order to avoid any confusion I would like to ex pand a bit on the Secretary's remarks. Cities are certainly not required to ex pand their model ne i ghborhood boundaries. They will be permitted to do so in order to remove arbit r ary geographic limit a tions that pr event logi cal and effective program dev e lopment. For exampl e , in one city a sma ll geographic area was eliminated from the model ne i ghborhood in order to meet the popula tion limit a tion. This area i s contiguous to the model neighborhood, is a bli ghted area, with ess e ntially the same kind of population mix a s the model n eighbor hood , a nd contains onl y a few thousand residents . Ex pans ion to includ e t his contiguous area would not materially aff ect the ca pa city of t his city to mount a progr am tha t will have subs tantia l impa c t on the neighbo rhood pr oblems. This r epresents an ar tif icia l constrain t wh ich may be r emov ed, i f the c i t y seeks to init ia t e such a c ha nge , �2 Any addition to the model neighborhood must still meet all statutory requirements. The additional area must be a blighted one. The program for the expanded area must meet all the statutory criteria, including the requirement that the program achieve a substantial impact on the neighborhood's problems. No additional supplemental funds will be available for the expanded areas. For most first round cities, this means that new projects or extended projects in the new areas would depend on funds from . o_ther than Hodel Cities supplemental grant funds. All cities may find it difficult to assure the program impact required by the statute if the model neighborhood is greatly expanded unless substantial additional resources are available. In most situations, however, as CDA's develop their capabilities to plan, coordinate, and evaluate the program in their first target area, much benefit could be derived from expanding these activities of the CDA to those resources and programs presently going into poverty areas of the city other than the present model neighborhood. This expanding role of the CDA as the program continues would enable the cities to be in a position to better utilize additional resources in the futur e a s they may become ava ilable . Any request for area expansion should set forth the reas ons the refore and demonstrate that the city has the capa city to administer the program in the expa nded a reas in accordance with the for egoing considerations. Very truly yours, Floyd H. Hyde �