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lf{H(E lR[E[NfEW[R NEWSLETTER OF THE CITIZENS AbV1SORY COMMITTEE FOR URBAN RENEWAL Vol. 5 No. 10 Atlanta, Georgia November 1967 CHARTER PUTS OUR CORPORATION IN BUSINESS TO IMPLEMENT $96, 000 221-H ALLOCATION At our executive committee meeting, Nov. 21, Attorney Hugh Peterson, Jr. presented a prestigious document, bearing the gold sealsof the State of Georgia and the Superior Court of Fulton County. Said the first page of the document: "I, Ben Fortson, Jr., Secret ary of State .of the State of Georgia, do hereby certify that "The Citizens Advisory Committee f or Urban Renewal Rehabilitation Corporation, Inc. was on the sixth day of November, 1967, duly incorporated under the laws of' the state of Georgia by the Superior Court of Fulton County for a period of thirty five years from said date." This document went on to list the incorporators as Robert L. Sommerville, William S. Howland, H. W. Whitman, Harold Arnold, Herbert Waldrip, Mrs. Grace Hamilton, Percy Hearle and Harold Davis. It then set forth the corporation's purposes saying "Said corporation is and shall be organized and operated exclusively for the purpose of assisting in the developm:eilt of projects, undertakings, studies and other activities by itself or in cooperation with local government and civic bodies and other corporations and associations for the elimination of slums, blight and blighting influences and to aid, assist and foster the planning, development, renewal and improvement of the metropolitan, Atla nta, Georgia, area, all for the primary purpose of combatting community deterioration and securing adequate housing, community facilities and related facilities for the general welfare of the community. 11 The document further stated 11 no part of the principal funds or income of the corporation shall ever inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual or beneficiary, or revert to any donor or to the estate or heirs of any donor and no part of its activities shall ever be carrying on propaganda or otherwis e attempting to influence legislation or participating in or intervening in (including the publishing or distributing of statements) any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office : 11 The document included an order by Superior Court Judge Jack B. Etheridge gr anting the charter. As Attorney Peterson handed the papers to Chairman Sommerville, he said, with a srr.,ile, 11 Now we'll get a seal for the cor. poration if I can just get all those letters on one. 1 1 The essence of all the words a nd seals a nd signatures on the papers which made up the blue bound document is that what is known as a "legal entity has been created to put into action the $96, 000 221 H grant allocated in response to our committee's application. Summed up Mr. Peterson: "The corporation is now in business. Application for tax exemption has been sent to the Internal Revenue Service. I understand that the committee rec eived the g rant even before the corporation was or ganized, so now e verything is ready to r oll when t ax exemption approval is rec eiv ed. 11 On the afternoon prior to our Nov. 21 executive committee meeting, our new non profit corporation, the Citizens Advisory Committee for Urban Renewal Rehabilitatio n Corporation, Inc. met with Attorne y Hu gh Peterson, Jr. to com plete its organization. All eight inc orporators, as listed previously, were nam.ed trustees of the new corporation. In turn the quorum present e lected two officers to carry on the corporation's work. Officers are Robert L. Sommerville, pr esident and chairm an, William S. Howland, secret a ry-treasurer. It was also decided that CACURRCI will hold regular monthly meetings on the same date as the monthly me etings o f our c omrnittee. CACURRCIORGANIZESSE LF, INCORPORATORS NAMED TRUSTEES, OFFICERS ARE CHOSEN Acceptin 6 the charter documents, Chairman Somn,e rville explaine d that the approv al of a $9 6 , 000 221 H g rant for our committee specifies t hat the new corporation will rehabilitate e i ght dwellings. He pointed out that the 6 rant calls for the pur .. chase, rehabilitation and resal e of this number of structures. NEW CORPORATION WILL REHABILITATE EIGHT STRUCTURES, CHAIRMAN POINTS OUT �-2The Atlanta Housing Authorit y h as ag:teed to as sist CACURRCI in locating the structures, he added. Said Mr. Sommerville " Thi s numoer of str uc t ures - ei g ht_ may s ee m sn--.all, but the idea will spte ad. 11 FHA OFFICIAL OUTLINES PROCEDURES FOR PUTTING OUR CORPORATION T O WORK Followin 6 delivery of our new corporation's charter, Otis Haire, FHA real estate evaluator assi 6 ned to t h e 2 21 H pro g ram in Geor gia, outlined to the executive comn _ittee the procedure by w hi ch the $9 6, 000 g rant allocated to our proJect will be put to work. Mr. Haire first pointed out that 21 applications for 221 H grants so far had been m ade in the state , fou r of these in Atlanta. He expressed the hope that our com n, ittee's plan to rehabilit ate ei 6 ht houses will spur ,; rowth to include several hundr ed units. Said he "Ex pansion br ick by uric K, house by house, street by street, nei;shborhood by neig h oo r hood is the only w ay this can be done . It serves a two fold purpose - - .;; etting rid of dilapidated houses and up 6 radin g people as well as structures . ' ' First step for CACURRCI w ill De to review rehabilitation. requirements with the city buildin,;; inspe c t o r 's office, he pointed out. This is essential, Decause a work . wr ite-up itemizing d eficiencies from foundation to roof will De required for each structure. Next p oint i s that all rehabilitation in one project must be carried out by one contracto r, chos e n fr om competitive bids . The contractor will stipulate the exact price , after whi c h 2 0 per cent of the fee will De held back until all rehabilitation is completed . This i s i n lieu of a performance bond . Upon co rnpletion of repairs, individual apprai s als will l> e m ade . The a r.:, ount of loan ~~ ranted will vary with re 0 ard to the size of fami lies and other factors . After completing the initial paper work and other prelim inarie s , the CACURRCI's next step will b e to m ake financial arran 6 ements with l o cal l e n di ng ins t ituti ons for acquisition of properties After houses are rehabilitate d a nd sold , F HA will pick up the tab. ivi r . Haire also pointed out that FHA has certain s t i pul ations about the types of houses to be purchased and repaired. For example, s o calle d " shotgun houses ' ' will not be approved . The speaker also urged that at lea s t 16 t o 20 houses De considered for choice of the initial ei ght for the project, oe c ause frequently app roval difficulties are encountered . In a di scuss i on followi n 6 j\ '. r. Haire's talk, 1'. frs . Grace Harr.ilton asked if there were any re s tric ti ons o n location of the ei J ht units. J c,hn F. Thigpen , Director, (Georgia) . Depar t ment of H ousing a nd Urban Development, Federal Housin~ Administration, replied that any area w ithin t he city could ue used for location . Mr. Haire added that location of any pr o j ec t w ithin a two mile radius was desirable both from the corporation's viewpoint and tha t o f the cont ractor. In reply to a question from l\ ,rs. Doris Lockerman, abo ut value of hou ses , Chair m an Somm erville pointed out that the total ~rant of $ 9 6, 000 would i ndicat e a value of $12 , 000 per house . Two groups of houses were brought to the attention of the new corporation by James Henl e y of the Atlanta Housing Authority . One is located east of Glen Iris Drive and south of the Sear s stor e. These are on Rankin, \Vilr.i er and Dallas Streets. The other group is in an are a bounded by McDonough, Lakewood and Carver Hoines. Mr. Henley pointed out t hat no individual houses had been designated but that preliminary surveys indicated tha t th e houses were in a purchase price ran g e of $4, 500 to $8, 000, with repair estimate s ran g in 6 from $2, 000 to $4, 000. Said he: " The houses appear to need considerabl e rep a i r w ork, but are not beyond rehabilitation . They also appear to be owner occupi e d , sing le fam ily dw ellin 5 s " . Mr . Henley emphasized that the Housing Authority woul d be deli 6 hted to do all within its power to assist CACURRCI. In an ensuing Q & A session, A. B . Padgett asked Dan E . Sweat , city director of 6 ov ernmental liaison , if th e n ew corporation would help the city's model city pro g ram (for which Atlanta had rece n t ly r eceived federal approval) by choosing homes in that area . Mr . Sweat replied t hat this would definitely be of assistance, but that since considerabl e time would be re qui r ed before definite model city plans could be made, h e su oo ·., 7e sted that CACURRCI u•YO ahead w ith its pro -z r a m in other areas. In reply to a question about whether churches wer e s how ing interest in 221-H, M r . Haire said that a Sunday School clas s at the Sec ond P once d e Leon Baptist Chu r ch had called a meeting to di s cuss participation . In reply t o a n other question about tim e lim its for a project, Mr. Haire said a t otal of 00 days w ould be allotted- - 30 days for choosin6 a site, 30 days for naming a contractor . AHA SUGGESTS TW O GROUPS OF HOUSES FOR NEW C ORPORA TION TO CONSIDER �- 3As the discussion ended , FHA .Housin 6 and Uroan Development Director Thi g pen remarked that his or g anization is so pleased with our participating in the 221 H pro g ram that he is assi 6 ning two of his top assistants to work with CACURRCI. BEDFORD-PINE LEADERS SEEKING TO EXPEDITE PARK THERE , CHAIRMA N WA LDRIP REPORTS A nun 1ber of leaders of the Bedford- Pine ur oan renewal project area m et Nov.20 . with mer.. bers of the Board of Aldermen and representatives of the Atlanta Hou s ing Author ity to discuss how a park for that area could be speeded up, Herbert W aldrip, chairman of our Bedford-Pine associate comr,. ,ittee told the executive comn--ittee Said 1\-i.r. 1,V aldrip - " The property for a park (adJoinin 6 the new C . W. Hill School) has been cleared for a year and the people in the community hate to see another sumn !er come around with no recreational facilities for the children there . " Mr. Waldr ip pointed out that the Nov . 20 meeting was told that the Board of Education was holdin g up development of a park and that another meeting to include representation from the Board of Education will be scheduled shortly, but that he feared that it would be June before any action on a park would ~et under way. NOTE -- The day following our executive com m ittee meeting , Director Howland, who attended the Bedford-Pine meeting, arranged for Mr. Waldrip to confer with Mayor Allen and also with Dr. Darwin Womack, assistant superintendent for scnool plant plannin 6 and construction , about the need for action on a Bedford- Pine park . CHAIRMAN EXPRESSES APPRECIATION OF DR . CLEMENT'S NOTABLE SERVICES At the Nov . 21 meetin 6 , Chairman Somn, er ville expressed our com.rr:ittee's r eJret on the death of Dr. Rufus B . Clement, a long time :.:r,.e ;:n,.ler Said Mr. Sor"11ne rville: " Dr Clement was seldorn able to attend n,eetings, uut no rn.eL : ber w or '.(ed harder to help our comrc ittee and the subco1nn . ittees on which he served achieve their purposes. I never k new a man r: ,ore g entle in speech nor n,ore powerful in 6 etting thin31:, done . If you asked Dr Clement to do something, I know of nobody who w ould 6 0 to m ore trouble to help you. " FINA L GIP STUDIES BEING EVALUATED, DIRECTOR ALDRIDGE TELLS COiv1MITTEE Before year's end, final surveys and report·s of the GIP are due to be received .for evaluation, Direc t or Geor 6 e Aldridge reported to our executive comn:ittee . He added that since many of these will have to be submitted to comn ittees for review, he probably will not be able to present a full report until our January· meeting. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION M AJOR ELEMENT IN MO DEL CITY PROGRAM, SWEAT EXPLAINS Active citizen participation is among maJor requirements of the model city program in which Atlanta is one of the first 6 3 cities to receive a federal grant, Dan E . Sweat, Jr . , city director of 6 overnmental liaison, emphasized in an updatin~ talk to our executive comm ittee Nov. 21. Althou 6 h Atlanta will receive only $152, 000 out of the $500, 0 90 plannin;:s fund requested, the city probably will obtain another $7 4, 000 for m odel city purposes, :r,t r . Sweat said . This latter amount is being reserved in the Corrn.,unity Ir. .provement Program funds . The city m ust show need for it in the model city pro 6 rarn. Mr. Sweat delineated the model city area as comprising 3, 000 acres in the southern section of the city, oounded on the north uy Interstate 20, on the west by Lee Street, and on the south and east by the railroad belt line. Althou 6 h comprisin.:;; only 3. 7 per cent of the city land area, the model city site includes 1 . 5 per cent of the total population , on a 75 per cent Negro, 25 per cent white basis. As reasons for its c h oice for the model city pro 6 ram, l\·~r . Sweat showed that this area includes 8 3 per cent of the t otal housi ng units, but 20 per cent of these are substandard Also it includes 11 . 3 per cent of the city's illiterates and 20 per cent of the population with inc omes under $3, 000 per year. Une m ployment rate is 5 1/2 per cent as compared with the city wide rate of 3 1/2 per cent . All in all, the area represents 20 to 25 per cent of the city's major problems . M r Sweat also i.)riefly outlined the rnethods by which th e l\ : odel city pro g ram will ue adm.inistered . Top direction will oe provided by a project executive board, consisting of policy .::r..a1cin 6 officials NOTE- - On Nov . 22, M ayor Allen and other city officials conferred with Re g ional HUD Administrator Ed Baxter and other re c:,,1ional federal officials involved in i m ple1nenting the model city program, Our comr. 1ittee was represented i.;, y Director Howland . FULL COMMITTEE MEETING -- TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19-DETAILS LATER. �