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C ITY. OF .ATLA1 July 25, 1969 ., CITY HALL ATLANTA, GA. 30303 Tel. 522-4463 Area Code 404 IVAN ALLEN, JR., MAYOR R. EARL LANDERS, Administrative Assistant MRS. ANN M. MOSES , Executive Secretary llAN E. SWEAT, JR., Director of Governmental Liaison The Honorable George Romney Secretary of the Unit e d States Depa1 tment of Housing and Urban Development Washington , D. C . .Dear Mr. Secretary: In November, 1966, we began in Atlanta a concentrated e ffort to stimulate th e developme n t of 16, 800 units of low an d mod e rate income housing to prov ide safe and sanitary she lter for thousands of less fortunate citiz e ns, This e ffort, c a lled 11 The Mayor I s Housin g R e s ources Pro g ram" w as support e d by th e U. S. D e partme nt of Housin g a nd Urban De v e lopme nt, private b a n ks , de v e loper s , churche s , civic g roups an d ind i v idual citizens at all l e v e ls. This pro g r a m h a s produc e d results. A s of this date, 21, 013 of the five year go a l of 16, 800 units h a ve b ee n compl e t e d, are und e r construction, or in pl a nnin g . The mo s t r e c e nt status r e port is attached · for your informa tion. Within the n ext fe w wee ks, th e singl e most s i gnifican t d e v e lopment gene rat e d by o ur pro g rams will b e placed un d e r construction , It i s the E as t L a k e Me a d ows tur n k e y proj e ct, w hi c h is the lar ges t turnke y publi c housing deve l o pme nt in Ame rica w ith compr e he n siv e comm un ity fa c iliti e s . B e caus e of t he s i g nifi cance of this u nde rt aking an d b ec a use it emb o d i es so many of the as p ects of communit y h o u s i ng acti on whi c h y ou so magnificentl y s u p p ort , a ll of u s i n A tl anta - C ity Hall , the b uil ders, o ur housing offic i a l s, and cit i zens i n general - fee l that we want to share the beginning o f thi s pr oj ect w ith you. �Secretary Romney Page Two Jui y 2 5, 196 9 _., I have been asked to issue you an official invitation from all of us to inaugurate construction of this most important housing development for poor people. If your schedule will permit you to come to Atlanta in the next few weeks after August 21, we shall schedule the ceremonies for your convenience. It would also give us the opportunity to show you some of the operational components of Atlanta 1 s Model Cities program. Highlights in the development of the East Lake Meadows Project will give you some idea of its importance not only in relation to the solution of urban problems of Atlanta but perhaps in other cities. The land on which this project is located was once a golf course owned by prominent conservative businessmen in Atlanta. They sold it to the March Company, a private development company, and supported difficult rezoning in an area which had hitherto had no public housing. City officials, local Housing Authority, and the Re g ional Housing Authority, together with local business people, civic groups, communications media, were a ll inv olv e d. The proj e ct includ es 800 livin g units, 150 for e lderly, · shopping center , community and health f acilitie s, city park, recreation areas ~nd the dedication of school site s. ...~n example of coro_l'!lu...11it·y support involves the four leading banks in Atlanta who form.ed a consortium to financ e the interim construction costs in a n effort to assis t in the solution of Atlanta 1 s housing probl e ms for it s low-income citi ze ns. This d e velopment repre sents the highest type of cooperation among city, business, government interagency planning and implementation - a model community effort. Your pr esence h e r e on this occasion, the r e fore, w ould serv~ to g ive str e ngth to the solution of th e m a ny difficult probl ems we still face in Atlanta a nd to s potlight one of the landmark public housing dev e lopme n t s in Ame rica. Thos e of us w ho are fac e d with the community l evel probl e ms of l eaders hip are thankful that you are in the crucia l po sition at HUD. Sincerely yo urs, Ivan Allen, Jr. Mayor IAJr:fy cc: Mr. Edward Baxter �