Box 3, Folder 14, Document 15

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The Atlanta Community Relations Commission held a town hall meeting for
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the residents in the Peachtree-Tenth Street area in an effort to begin some kind of
dialogue between the young people, long-time residents, and property owners and
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to determine whether the city services and resources are adequate for that area.

The areas of concern seemed to be as follows:

Priority Number 1: Jobs

Priority Number 2: Housing

Priority Number 3; © Drug traffic and drug hazards

Priority Number 4; The need for a community house that would also house

health facilities and provide for counseling.

Priority Num er 5: The need to make plans for a projected influx of
vacation Hippies from other cities .

“Priority Number 6: The need for police patrolling the district without
harassment of the residents

Priority Number 7: Neighborhood cleanup facilities
(Need for more street garbage cans)

Priority Number 8: The need for a center to’ cope with the problems of
runaway people

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: The Community Relations Commission is, concerned with the Tenth Street area
in the same way that it has concerned itself with other neighborhood areas in the city.
However, we realize that the problems in this area are made more complex by the
presence of drugs and the conflict between the life styles of the long-time residents
and the younger residents. The Commission applauds the efforts by the young people
in handling the drug problem and for using their own pressures to rid the neighborhood

of drug pushers and to keep new drug pushers trom coming inio the area.

Obviously Atlanta has no desire or inclinction to make the city into a police
city by prohibiting anyone from choosing to come to Atlanta to live or to exist.
However, the Commission does urge that whatever means ore available he used to get
information to Hippies in other areas as to the lack of job opporiunities that exist a
over Aflania as well as the lack of housing for the existing population. We urge
that this information be dissiminated as well os the. information that the city government
intends to use every resource it has and even to using whatever outside agencies are
available in a tough crackdown policy on the sale of narcoties throughout the cily.

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The Commission bélievés that there’Should be no misunderstanding as to the climate of






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opinion in regard to the implementation of the city government itself, its police
department and all other agencies in policing of the overall city. We think it is
only fair to tel! young people what to expect if they arrive in Atlanta without a

job and without visible means of support.

Up until now coexistence in the area has been made possible by concerned -:
citizens, by churches, by individual members of the medical profession, which

includes psychiatrists. We are grateful ‘or the concerned people and organizations.

' -As individuals and as a city commission we will continue to work with the

community in attempting to further a peaceful, creative community. We in no
way subscribe to the theory for this community or dny community in Ametica that

if you ignore problems they will go away. The grim lesson of other cities which
subscribe fo this philosophy has been heeded. We-intend to return to the Tenth
Street area on June dnd to make a report, to make suggestions, and to listen to

the residents. In the meantime, there ore certain recommendations which we would
like to make now and which we believe would be supported by the majority of the

people in the coramunity.




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