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ATTITUDE SURVEY OF THE P-ESIDENTS OF LIGHTNING City of Atlanta Dep artment of Planning November 13, 1969 �This report deals with the results of an attitude survey conducted in Lightning. The section of Atlanta known as Lightning is bounded by Northside Drive, Hunter Street, and Simpson Street. Lightning is zoned for industrial use. This survey was conducted by the City of Atlanta Planning Department upon the request of the citizens of Lightning. The citizens voiced their support for this survey or a community meeting held Tuesday, October 14, 1969. The Lightning attitude survey was conducted for several reasons. First of all, the questionnaire is aimed at securing two basic types of information. The first group of questions, one through nine, deal with the attainment of factual information, such as the number of persons in each household. The second group of questions, ten through seventeen, explore the attitudes of the people toward living in Lightning and the problems involved . In addition to securing information, a second purpose of this survey is to let the citizens of Lightn ing know that the City of Atlanta is concerned and interested in their problems. A third purpose of the Lightning survey is to get both the citizens of Lightning and the City of Atlanta to start thinking about the short and long range problems of this area. This includes the exposure of short range problems that can perhaps be solved in the near future, with the people of Lightning and the city working together. The survey was conducted Tuesday, October 28, 1969 through Thursday, October 30, on a door-to-door verbal interview basis. Twelve interviewers, bl a ci: end wh it e , ~e r e us e t o cond uc t t .c su . cy : One City Pla nning Department employee, two City Planning Department int erns, one Model Cities employee, and eight HUD interns. (A list of interviewers appears in appendix A). They interviewed a total of 105 households, which is 77% of the total number of households in Lightning. Contact at each household was attempted at least three times: Morning, afternoon, and evening. General Re sult s The factual results of the survey show that: 1. Forty-four per cent (44%) of the respondents live in housing which is overcrowded, having one or more persons per room. 2. Of the 105 households surveyed, eighty-one per cent (81%) rented their residences and the remaining nineteen per cent (19%) were home-owners. Seventy-five per cent (75%) of the renters and eighty per certt (80%) of the homeowners stated that they could not afford to pay more for housing. �- 2 - 3. Seventy-four of the interviewers, or seventy per cent (70%) were unemployed, due to disability, retirement, household responsibility or simple lack of ability to find work. 4. The average length of residence in Lightning of the respondents was nineteen years, with a range of 1.5 months to sixty-six years. 5. The average age of the respondents was 52.4 years, with a range of twelve to eighty-two7 years. The attitudinal results of the survey show the following major findings: 1. The majority of interviewees (85%) like living in Lightning. However, of the ninety-eight respondents saying whether they would like c o live elsewhere (See question 12), fifty-three per cent (53%) answered affirmatively, with the remaining fortyseven per cent (47%) preferring to remain in Lightning. 2. Ninety-one out of the 105 interviewees feel like they are members of the Lightning community and belong with the people there. 3. Housing was the most frequently-mentioned problem in Lightning, with fifty-two per cent (52%) of the respondents listing it. (See question 13). Detailed Results The complete interview schedule and t abulated results for e a ch of the questions in the interview are presented in this section. Questions and Responses l. How long have you lived in Lightning? Average length of residence - 19 years Range - 1.5 month to 66 years 2. Where do you work? Number of respondents unemployed, due to dis ability, re tirement, household responsibility, etc. - 74 number of respondents employed - 29 3. How long does it take y~u to get to work? Average t rave l time t o work - 30 mi nute s Range - 5 mi nutes to 1~ h0ur �- 3 - 4. How do you get to work? Car - 8 ·I.Bus - 15 Walk - 8 Taxi - 1 5. How old are you? Average age of resporident - 52.4 years old Range - 12 - 82 years old 6. How many people live in this house? Average - 3.5 7. How many rooms are in this house? Average - 3.7 (46 houses with one or more persons per room) 8. Do you own this house or rent it? Own - 20 *Rent - 85 9. I f you ar e a rent er, could you aff or d to pay mor e rent fo r a better house? Yes - 20 No - 64 DOU' t know - 1 If you are a home owner, could you afford to buy a different house? Yes - 3 No -16 Don't know - 1 10. Do you like living here?

Yes - 89

No - 46 a. Why do you like living h~re? Ni ce neighbors - 14 Li ke the neighborhood - 13 �- 4 - It is convenient - 13 All my friends live here - 10 Raised here or lived here a long time - 9 Economic reasons - 8 No trouble or no one bothers me - 7 Nice landlord - 2 b. Why do you dislike living here? Dislike the people - 4 Dislike the neighborhood - 4 Sub-standard housing - 3 Not a good neighborhood for children - 2 Don't like living alone - 1 11. Do you feel like you are a member of this community and belong with these people? Yes - 91 No - 9 Guess so - 1 No answer - 4 12. Wou l d you like to live .,011 ·-1 ,,er e el se? Yes - 52 No - 46 Don 1 t know - 4 No answer - 3 a. Why would you like to live somewhere else? Would like a bette r neighborhood - 13 Would like better housing - 12 Dislike people here - 3 Want a garden - 3 Not quiet here - 2 See a change as good - 2 Wants a bath or hot water - 2 Want to move for health purposes - 2 Don't like living alone - 1 b. Why would you not like to live somewhere else? This is '·'my home" - 6 Would be hard to get used to new people and church - 4 �- 5 - Friends or relatives are here - 3 Close to church - 2 Close to work - 1 Like it here - 2 Couldn't afford to move - 1 13. What problems need to be solved first to improve the neighborhood? Housing Inadequate water service - 11 Traffic problems - 8 Street repairs - 8 Poor sanitation - 8 Inadequate facilities for children - 5 Crime and poor police protection - 4 Bad pe ople in neighborhood - 3 Poor bus service - 1 Lack of job opportunities - 1 We have no problems I can think of - 15 No answer - 14 14. If you were to live elsewhere, what general area would you like most? Nowhere else - 21 s.w. - 2 N.W. - 10 ALHA project - 1 Griffin St. - 1 Dix ie Hills - 2 Any nice place - 10 Hunte r Homes - 2 Kirkwood - 2 Bowen Homes - 1 West side - 12 Out of s t ate - 1 N.E. A & 1 - 1 Hunter & Mit chell - 2 Sout h side - 1 Unive rsit y Home s - 1 Dec at ur - 1 Hi gh Rise f or e lder ly - 1 Casc ade Ht s. a r e a - 1 Howell Dr. - 1 Bankhead & Hightower - 2 Scott cros sing - 1 Simpson Rd. - 1 In woods - 1 Adamsville area - 1 Around here - 3 McDaniel project - 1 Vine St. - 1 �- 6 =- 15. What kind of place do you think Lightning is to grow up in? Very good- 3 Better than most - 8 Same as others - 42 Not as good - 24 Very bad - 16 No answer - 12 16. What do you like and dislike about living in Lightning? Here is a card which lists some th ing s you might like about living here. Pleas e pick the two you lilce most. If there is anything you l i ke but it is not on the card, go ahead and pick it. A. I am close to work - 15 B. The rent i s low - 34 C. Many of my fri e nds live here - 55 D. I have lived here a long time - 43 E. I own my own home - 10 F. My rel atives live in Lightning - 13 · G. Other reasons Conv enience - 6 Like the people People t ake c are of me when I 1 m sick•> bett e r than l a s t pl a ce I lived i n There is nothi ng I like - 5 No answer - 5 17. This c ard lists s ome pr ob l ems or things you might dislike about Light ning . Pleas e p i ck the fi ve you think a r e t he b i gges t pr ob l ems. If t he r e is any probl em you would like to pick but do not find on the list, go ahead a nd pick i t . A. Not clos e t o shopp ing - 27 B. No t clo se to wor k - 7 C. Lack of fa cilitie s and programs - 35 D. I nadequate bu s s erv i ce - 17 E. No healt h serv ice - 24 F. Inadequate water service - 18 G. Unemployment - 18 H. Hous ing - 65 I. Education a 3 J. Police pro te ction - 34 K. Rat control - 42 L. Traffic and parking prob lems - 44 �- 7 - M. - Other reasons 1. Trash collection and yard maintenance - 5 2. Not close to any shopping centers - 4 l. Crime and juvenile delinquency - 2 4. Absentee landlords - 1 5. Need a laundromat - 1 6. Outside help is hurting us - 1 7. Cab fare is too high - 1 �List of Interviewers Frank Biggins, HUD Intern Gary Brown, HUD Intern Bill Hanuner, HUD Intern John Hiscox, HUD Intern Louise Klaffner, HUD Intern John Matthews, Department of Planning Dot Metcal f, Department of Planning Intern Nancy McKnight, Department of Pla nning Intern Sonja Pevey, HUD Intern Steve Steinart, Model Cities Patricia Williams, HUD Intern �APPENDIX B Interview Guide - Lightning A. General Instructions 1. Make sure that all questions included are answered; however, if a responde nt refuses to answe r a ny questions, go on to the next item on your questionna ire. Re cord reason f or no r e sponse, if possible. You may include other questions; record them as well as the interviewee's a nswer. B. 2. Please record all answers as accurately and ca refully as possible. 3. Let the i nterview continue if the i nterviewee wi shes to t a lk. Howeve r , one hour should be the max i mum time required fo r the interview. 4. Record the date of t he interview, the time at which the interview begins and i s comple t ed , a nd the t ot a l amount of time the interview l a sts. Introduction. The followi ng gener a l introduct i on shoul d be us ed in t he interview situation : " Hello , my name i s _ ______ I represent t he Ci t y of Atlanta (show your identi f icat ion card ) . The Mayor and Boa rd of Aldermen a r e concerned about t he problems of the people living in Lightning . Ma~y diff erent s ugge stions have bee n made about wha t the pe ople of Lightning want and need fr om the city. However, we f eel i t is neces sary t o talk di r e ctly t o the people of Lightni ng , so f or the next few day s we will be t a lking with a l l Lightning residents to he lp us find out exactly wha t the pe ople want. Cou l d you p lease t ake a f ew minutes t o answer these que stions?" If sub j e ct refuse s t o participate i n the int erview , try to find out why . If he indica tes he i s too busy, try t o make an appoi ntme nt t o int erv iew him at a nother dat e. I f he has another reason , try again t o get the interview. However , if he abs olutely re f uses, do not per sist. Re cord a response , a nd i f possible, t he r e a son. I f no one i s a t home , t r y to contact the hou:::ehold t h ree different t i me s. I f some i nt e r vieuee s a r e not av ai l able at certain times , a conve nient t ime will be worked out in t he i ntervi ew i ng schedule so t hese people can be co nt a cted. If more than one member of a hous eho ld want t o participate in the interview session, rec or d the i r responses s eparat ely . Ea ch inte rview record should contai n t he r esponse s of one pers on only . However, if this is not possible , i nd icate that responses came from two or more people. �,. Remember that the main purpose is to get answers to the basic questions contained in our questionnaire. If the interviewee has questions to ask of you, try to delay this discussion until the end of the fo rmal interview. DO NOT, under any circumstances, attempt to answer questions of which you are unsure. The purpose of this int erview is to find out what the people in Lightning think and want. If people ask questions you cannot answer, refer theM to Mr . Johnny Robinson (you will have a supply of his personal cards to pass out to everyone). C. Close Close the interview by answering any questions you can, and by thanking the interviewee for his cooperation. State agai n that if he has any additional questions, he should call Mr . Johnny Robinson. Also, if he has any addit ional comments, attempt to record them on the answer sheet. �