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Barricade at
The rebuke Mavor Ivan Allen delivered to
Allanta aldermen in his “state of the city’ ad-
dress was mild in comparison with what
he might have said.
“Not a single major corrective or creative
program has come out of City Hall with which
to cape with the problems of slums and trans-
portathin,”’ the mayor declared,
But it’s even worse than that. In the fight
against slum blight, the aldermanic board
actually has been a hindrance.
That point was made abundantly clear
in another mild-spoken reporl—one delivered
last month by the Housing Ressurces Com-
mittee, a group of civie leaders appointed
by the mayor to expedite his low-cost housing
plans.
The HRC observed that almost all urban
renewal land on which low-cost housing might
be built already has been committed. Most
other siles zoned for multi-family use al-
ready are being used for that purpose or are
- prohibitively expensive.
And yet there is reasonably priced vacant
land in the city. It is zoned for other pur-
poses, however.
“This indicates,” said HRC’s annual re-
port, “that the bulk of remaining land needed
for the program will have to depend on re-
zoning of appropriate tracts for this pur-
pose.”
And there’s the rub. Aldermen have been
notably reluctant to rezone for housing for the
poor—unless the site were in someone else's
ward.
In its report, the Housing Resources Com-
mittee outlined a broad-spectrum attack on
slums, utilizing “turnkey,” 221 and other pri-
vately developed projects; vigorous rehabili-
tation programs, leasing of privately owned
buildings by the Atlanta Housing Authority,
additional urban renewal, and close intergov-
ernmental cooperation.
A key and controversial recommendation
4
SVC
Yall
which deserves serious consideration is selec-
tion of multiple sites scattered throughout
the city’s four quadrants for low-cost hous-
ing. These sites would be submitted for zon-
ing approval as a package to avoid accusa-
tions that any one section is bearing more
than its reasonable share of housing for the
poor,
. vo)
City
But until the aldermen get some backbone
and show some initiative, the mayor's worthy
program to find decent housing for all At-
lanta’s citizens will falter.
Ah, On S ect