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ATTITUDE SURVEY OF THE RE SIDENTS OF PLUNKETTOWN City of At l anta Dep artment of Pl anning Augus t 11 , 1969 �- This report presents the results of an attitude survey conducted among the people of the Atlanta section of Plunkettown by the City of Atlanta Department of Planning at the request of the Mayor and Board of Aldermen . The purpose of this survey was to explore, on a broad base, the atti tudes of the people toward living in Plunke ttown versus living elsewhere, and to discover which aspects of life in Plunkettown the people consider to be major problems . The ultimate purpose of this report is to provide information concerning the people ' s desires toward r emai ning in Plunket town to help the Board of Aldermen in making the dec ision as to whether or not an urban renewal project in Plunkettown will be a residential rehabilitation and rebuilding project. Interviews were conducted during the daytime hours on Friday, August 1 , and Monday , August 4, and during the evening hours on Tuesda y, August 5. The group of interviewers who conducted the survey included t wo members of the Planning Department staff and five summer i nterns from the Mayor ' s office . All interviewers were white . (A list of int erviewers appears in Appendix A.) Methodology The survey was c onducted through use of a door -to-door ora l interview . An attempt was made t o conduct at le as t one interview in each household. Contact was attempted at each household at leas t three times : morning , afternoon , and evening. In all, interviews were conducted in eighty-two hous eholds , or 85% of all households. The interview questionnaire contained two basic types of questions . The first type asked f or factu al information such as place of work, travel time to work, number of persons in the household, and ownership of property . The second asked atti tud inal questions about the desirability of Plunket town as a place to live as compared to other places. General Reoults The factual resul ts of the survey show that: 1. The workers who live in Plunkettown have an average reported t ravel time to work of twenty minutes by car; and that over half ( 26 of 41) work within two miles of Plunkettown. 2. Thirty-eight per cent (38%) of the present housing is overcrowded, having one or more persons per room. 3. Of the eighty-two households surveyed, thirty-two (39%) owned their houses while the remaining fifty (61%) are renters. �- 2 - 4. Ten of the interviewed f ami lies own property other than th at upon whi.ch they are living . Six ow-n other property in Plunkettown . four others own property in Cl ayt on County, lorthwest Fulton County, East Point, a nd Eas t Atlanta . These four owners reported plans to build new homes on this property . 5. Forty-two of the eighty-two interviews were conducted during aircra ft peak tra ffic periods . These forty-a~o interviews l asted an average of seventeen minutes and were interrupted an average of seven times for an average of eighty-one seconds per interview, e.g 8% of the interview time was lost due to aircraft noise. 0 The attitudinal results of the survey show the following ma j or results: 1. A majority of interviewees woul d prefer l iving e l sewher e to living in Plunket town as it is presently constituted . (See Question 11.) 2. A ma jority of the interviewees consider aircraft noise, a problem which canno t be fully solved, to be a ma jor probl em to living in Plunke ttown . (See Questions 10a, 15 , and 17b.) 3. There appears to be a desire among some o f the interviewees to move together to a " New Plunkettown". At this point in time , fully reli able attitudes on this issue c annot be expected as the people do not now h ave a real opportunity to consider this choice . (See Questions 12 and the "Many of my friends live here" response in 17 a .) 4. If they were to move, there is a definite desir e among the interviewees to remain in an outlying area, as opposed to downtown , where they c an occupy single family type houses. ( See Questions 12a and 13.) Det ailed Results This section presents the complete interview form and the tabul ated results for each question asked. Interview instructions are presented in Appendix B. uestions and Responses 1. How long have you lived in Plunkettown? Average l ength of res idence among interviewees . - 24.5 years �- 3 - 2. How old are you? Average age of interviewees - 50 .5 year s Range - 13 years to 90 years 3. Where do you work ? Within two miles - 26 Fur t her than two miles - 15 4. How l ong does i t t ake you to get to work? Av erage - 19 minutes Range - 2 minutes to 1 hour 5. How do you ge t t o work ?

Car - 35

Wal k - 4 Bus ~·- 2 6. How many people live in this house ? Average - 3.4 7. How many rooms in this house ? Average - 4 . 0 ( 31 houses with one or more persons per room) 8. Do you own this house or rent it ? Own - 32

Rent - 50

9. IF OWN : Do you own any other property? Yes - 10 No - 2 2 I F SO: Where? Plunkettown - 6 Elsewhere - 4 10. Do you like l iving here ?

Yes - 50

No - 31 �.- 4 - a. What do you like about living here? ,':It's home - 14

I've been here a long t ime - 11

I l i ke the peopl e - 11

It's ctose to work - 9

Nothing - 9

Low Rent - 8

It's be tt er than where I lived before - 4 The pl ay area - 2 I own my house - 2 It is a convenient loc ation - 2 I like single-family houses - 1 I t' s clos e to church - 1 b. What don't you like about living here ?

No sewers - t.,O

Unpaved streets - 22

Houses - 20

Planes - 19

No mail service - 8 Poor bus service - 6 No inside water - 6 Poor police protection - 5 No hea lth service - 4 Nothing - 4 Unc ertainty about future - 2 Traffic problems - 2 Inconvenient location - 2 The people who live here - l Poor street lights - l Taxes - l The railroad nearby - 1 Everything - 1 c. Why have you chosen to live here ?

Came to live with relatives - 20

Low rent - 11 No other place availab l e - 10 Close to work - 8 Opportunity to buy a house - 7 It used to be a nice area - 7 I like the country - 7 I like the people - 7 Born in the area - 3 It's a better house than before - 3 This is the best I could do - 1 �.. 5 - 11. How would you feel a bw t living somewhere else? -

Like to ver y much

33 Like to - 14 No t mind 18 Not want to - 11 No t want to at a ll - 6 - a. IF NO : Why not? I ' m too o ld to move - 2 I ' ve been here a long time - 1 My relative s are here - 1 I don't know o f a ny other place - 1 b. If this were overcome , would you like to l i ve s omewhere e l se? Yes - 3 No - 2 12 . In the past few years , severa l groups have come to Plunkettown and sugges t ed to the peop l e tha t they a ll move out together to a new loca t ion. Wha t do you think of this idea?

It ' s a good idea - 20

The idea is 11 0 . k. 11 - 33

The idea is "o.k." i f the people can buy a new hous e - 1 The idea is 11 0 .k. 11 if the people c an move to single-family houses - 1 No opinion - 17 It's a bad idea - 10 The people should be able to move where they want - 1 12a . IF TIIB INTERVIEWEE RESPONDS THAT HE WANTS TO MOVE : Wha t l ocations do you think would be good if e veryone moved out together?

No idea - 26

Poole Creek - 14

Atlanta fringe - 17

Eas t Point - 5 West Side - 2 Southwest - 1 Downtown - l Harper Town - 1 Thomasville - 1 Carver Homes - 1 Perry Homes - 1 12b. IF INTERVIEWEE WANTS TO STAY IN PLUNKETTOWN : I �- 6 - Wha t problems need to be so lved f i rst to improve the neighborhood?

Sewers - 11

Houses - 9

Pave the stree t s - 6

Be tt er po li ce pr otection - 3 Ins i de water - 3 Stop the p lanes - 2 Railro ad noise - l Better s tre et l ights - 1 13. If you co uld l i ve e l sewher e, wh at gener a l area would you like t he mos t ? Don I t know - 13 Poo le Creek - 9 Atl anta fringe - 7 Downtown - 7 Same general area - 4 Eas t Point - 4 A pro j ec t - 4 Gil bert Road - 2 Wes t Side - 2 Hapevi lle - 1 St adium - l Wil son Road - 1 Cl ay ton Count y - l N• . w. Fu l ton County - 1 Forres t Park - 1 Alpharet t a - l De c atur - l Gordon Road - l Was hington , D.C . - 1 14. Can you a ff or d t o buy a house s omewhere e ls e ? Yes - 16

No - 50

Don ' t know - 16 How much could you p ay ? Nothing $16 / month $30/month $40/month $SO/ month $60/month $70/month $80/month 7 - 1 1 4 5 5 3 2 �- 7 - Re ceipts from sal e of present house - 11 Don't know - 8 15. Does living here with the airplanes flying over bother you ?

Very much - 57

Some - 10 Hardly at al l - 5 Not at a Ll - 10 16. What: kind of place do you think Plunkettown is for children to grow up in? Very good - 2 Be tter than most other places - 5

Same as other places - 24

No t as good as most other pl. ac es - 21

·1cvery bad - 25 No opinion - 5 17a . Now, I would like to find out exactly what: you like and dis like about living in Plunkettown . Here is a card which lists some thi ngs we thought you might like about living here. Would you please pick the two you like most . If t here is anything you like, but is not on the card, go ahead and pick it . (Read card aloud before showing.) a.

b .

c .

d. e. f. b. I am close to work - 26 The rent is low - 38 l.fany of my friends live here - 39 I have lived here a long time - 27 I own my home - 27 Anything else - I like none of them - 3 Away from downtown 2 Good bus service - 2 I have a good home - 1 Here is a card which lists some problems we thought you might have in Plunkettown. Would you please pick the five you think are the biggest problems? If there is any problem you would like to pick but do not find on the list, go ahead and pick it. (Read aloud before showing,) a. b. c.

d.

e.

f.

g. Not close to shopping - 23 Not close to work - 3 No recreation - 12 No mail service - 61 No sewers - 63 Too much noise - 56 No health service - 28 �- 8 - h.

i.

j. k. 1. m. n. Poor water servic e - 30 No street paving - 66 Unemployment - 7 Housing - 34 Educ a tion - 8 Poli c e protec tion ~ 41 Anythi ng else - Bus service - 3 Street l ights - 2 Speeding - 2 Too f ar from church - 2 Not a good place f or children - 1 Old we lls are caving in - 1 Yard s are not kept up - 1 There ar e no probl enIB - 1 �7 APPENDIX A List o f Interviewers James 1'1 . Bruce, Offi c e of the Mayor Danie l K. Christenbury , Office of the Mayor Thomas Isaac , Offi c e of the Mayor Joseph Menez , Office of the Mayor Meg So~ell, Office of t he Mayor Mostafa Howeedy , Department of Planning John Ma tthews, Dep artment of Pl anning �,._ APPENDIX B Interview Guide - Plunkettot·m A. General Instruc tions . 1. This is a general guide for conducting a house-to~house s urvey in the Plunkettm,m neighborhood. Make sure t hat al l questions included are answered; however , if a respondant refuses to ans~er any questions, go on to the ne,ct item on your questionnaire . Re cord reas on for no response if possible. You may inc l ude other questions; record them as wel l as the interviewee's answer. 2. Ple ase record all answers as accurately and c arefu lly as possible. 3. Let the interview continue if t he interviewee wishes to t a lk . However , one hour shou l d, in most c ases , be the maximum time r equired for the interview . 4. Record the date o f the interview, the time at which the interview begins and is completed, and t he total amount of time the interview lasts . Record the number of times the interview is interrupted by aircraft noise, and the approximate l ength of such interruptions. B. I ntroduction . The following general introduction should be used in the interview situation: "Hello, my name is________ I represent the City of Atlanta {show your identification c ard) . The Mayor and Board of Aldermen are concerned about the people living in Plunkettown . Many different suggestions have been made about what the people of Plunkettown want from the City. However, we feel that it is necessary to t alk directly to the people o f Plunkettown. For the next few days we will be talking with all Plunkettown residents and asking them questions to help us find out exactly what the people want . Could you please take a few minutes to answer these questions? If subject refuses to participate in the interview, t ry to find out why. If he indicates he is too busy, try to make an appointment to interview him at another date. If he has another reason , try again to get the i nterview . However, if he absolute ly refuses, do not persist. Record a response and, if possible, the reason. If more than one member of a hous ehold wants to participate in the interview session, record.their responses separately. Each interview record should contain the responses . �of one person only . However, if this is not possible, indi c ate that responses c ame from two or more people . Remember that the main purpose is t o get answers to the basic questi ons contained in our questionnaire. If the int erviewee has questions to ask of you, try to delay this discussion until the end of t he fo rmal interview. DO NOT , under any circumstances, attemp t t o answer questions of whi ch you are unsure. The purpose of thi s interv iew is to find out what the peop le in Plunkettown thin and want . If peop l e ask questions you cannot answer, r efer them to Mr . Johnny Robinson or George Aldridge . (You will have a supp ly of their personal c ards to pass ou t to everyone .) C. Close Close the interview by answering any questions you can, and by thanking the interviewee for his cooperation. State again that if he has any additional questi ons he should c all Mr. Johnny Robinson or Mr. George Aldri dge . Also , if he has any additional c onnnents , a ttempt to record them on the answer sheet. (Give Mr. Aldridge's and Mr . Robi ns on's c ards .) �