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f· 1 f C I T Y OF .ATL ANT.A July 25, 1969 CITY HALL ATLANTA, GA. 30303 Tel. 522-4463 Area Code 404 IVAN ALLEN, JR., MAYOR R. EARL LANDERS, Admin istrative Assistant ><l MRS. ANN M. MOSES, Executive Secretary DAN E. SWEAT, JR., Director of Governmenta l Liaison The Honorable .George Romney Secretary o f the United States Department of Housing and Urban Developme nt Washington , D. C . .Dear Mr. S e cretary: In Novemb e r, 1966, we began in Atlanta a conc e ntrated e ffort to stimulate the de v e lopme nt of 16, 8 00 un its o f low and mode rate income housing to p rovid e s a fe and s anita ry s h e lter fo r tho usands of l e ss for t una t e citi zens . This effort, call e d 11 The M a yor's H o using R e sourc e s P r o g ram 11 w as supporte d by the U. S. D e p a rtme nt o f Hous in g an d Urb an Deve lopment, priva t e b a n ks , deve lop e r s , c hur ches , civ ic g ro up s a nd indiv id u a l citizens a t a ll l e v e l s , Thi s pro g r a m has produce d i:esults. A s of this date, 21, 013 of the fi ve y e ar g o a l of 16, 8 00 un its have b een c ompl e t e d, ar e und e r constr u c tion , or i n pl annin g . The m o s t r ece n t s t a tus r e port 1s atta c h e d f o r yo ur informa tion. Within the n ext fe w w eeks , the s i n gl e m o s t si gnific ant de v e l opme nt gene r a t e d by o ur pro gr a ms w ill b e pl a c e d uncle r con struc tion . It i s t h e Eas t L ake M e ad ows turnke y p;:oj ec t, which i s the l ar g es t turnkey p ublic h ousing d e v e lopme nt i n A m e r i ca w ith compr e h e n siv e community faciliti es . Becau se o f t h e s i gnificance of thi s u ndert aki ng and b ecause it emb o dies so many of the aspe cts of community h ousing acti on w hic h yo u so m agnifi c e n tly s upport, all of u s in Atl a nta - City H a ll , the b u ild e r s , our ho us i ng o fficial s , a n d c i tizens in gene r a l - fee l that we want t o s h a r e the b egi nni ng of thi s p roj ect w ith y o u. �Secretary R o mney Page T w o July 25, 1969 _., I have been asked to issue you an official invitation from all of us to inaugurate construction of this 1nost im.portant 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· th e opportunity to show you some of the operational components of Atlanta's Model Cities program. Highlights in the· development of the East Lake Me adows Project will give you some idea of its importance not only in r e lation to the solution of urban problems of Atlanta but perhaps in other cities. The land on which this proj e ct is loc a t e d w as once a golf course owned by prominent conserv a tive businessme n in Atlan ta. They sold it to the March Company, a private developme nt comp a ny, and supported difficult rezoning in an area which had hithe rto had no public housing. City officials, loc a l Housin g A uthority, an d the Re g ion a l Housin g Authority, tog e the r w ith local business peopl e , civ ic groups, communic a tions media, were all inv olve d. The proj e ct includes 800 liv ing units, 150 for elderly, shopping center, community and h e a""l th f a cilities, city park, recreation areas -:, ·nrl -t-l-->e r1 ° r1;,-. -:, t;r.n r.f c:r-l--,r.r.l c:it P c:. An e x ampl e o f CO ITLlTi l.l Jl ity s npport invol ve s th e four l ea din g b a nks in A tl a nt a who form e d a consortium to financ e the i n t e rim construction co s t s in a n effort to assi s t in the solution of Atlanta's housing probl e ms for its low -income citi z ens. This dev e lopment r e pr e s e nts the hi g h e st t y p e of coop e r a tion a mong city, busine ss, gov e rnm e nt inte ra ge ncy pl a nning and impl e m e ntation - a model community effort. Your pr e sence h e r e on this occasion, ther e for e , w ould s e r v e to give str e n g th to the solution of th e m a ny difficult probl e ms we still face in Atlanta and to spotli ght one of the l a ndmark public housing dev e lopments in A me rica. Thos e of us w ho are fac e d w ith the community le ve l probl e ms of l eadership a re th a nkful th a t y o u a re in th e crucial position at HUD. Sincer e ly yours , Ivan All en, J r. Mayo r IAJ r: fy c c: M r. Edwar d B axt e r �