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27 October 1967
624 Flamingo Drive, S,. W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30311
Chairman
Board of Alderman
Atlanta, Georgia
Dear Sir:
By way of introduction I am Lt Colonel Raymond W. Quinn, US Army,
Ft McPherson, Georgia and 624 Flamingo Drive, S. W., Atlanta, Georgia
30311.
On Thursday, 26 October 1967, at approximately 1610 hours, I was
present at a meeting of the Board of Alderman (for the first time in
my life) to listen to a petition from a development firm to rezone
Willis Mill Road, North of Flamingo Drive, from a residential area to
an apartment zone. Since the opposition was allotted ten minutes, I
was unable to speak my piece and [ realize I could have remained until
all of the petitions had been heard, and then have testified. My
military duties during this week prevented me from staying later than
1630 hours, I do not know whether or not a decision has been made in
this matter, but regardless, I offer this in consideration,
My plea is a personal one, This may not mean much in a world where
money, strength in numbers, and statistics seem to influence the de-
cisions of some authorities. I do not have a petition bearing many
signatures; I have no petition at all. If I did have such a document,
it would be signed by such Luminaries as my wife, my son, me, my two dogs
(Sheba and Charlie Brown) and the many house guests, both military and
civilian, I have had since we built our home in August of 1964; which
leads me to my next subject, my lot.
Today, I mark twenty-six years of service. In November of 1963 I
was reassigned from France to Atlanta and promptly moved into an aparte
ment, so I am familiar with apartment living and the habits of some of
the people who occupy such dwellings. We liked what we saw in Atlanta
and immediately decided to live here permanently upon my retirement in
March of 1971, With this thought in mind, we looked for a house to buy
or a lot on which to build a home, After months of searching we found
what we considered an ideal spot on Flamingo Drive, S. W. We purchased
the lot from the Wilson Realty Cov.pany and had our home constructed,
After we had moved into the house my son and I proccedec to clear the
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land from our house to the creek (UTOY) which took approximately five
months, (As a matter of interest, the good city of Atlanta hauled
away fifteen truck loads of brush and debris), We also cleaned out and
rearranged the rocks in the stream to permit a continuous flow of the
water at the border of our property, We still clean the stream bed of
debris after each heavy rain and during this time of the year because
of the falling leaves. As an after thought, two years ago (I spent the
last year in Vietnam) I started to clear an additional part of our lot
and it took me two days to negotiate a 45 by 45 foot strip. This will
give you an idea as to what my son and I had to do to make this, in our
opinion (which is also shared by many others), not only the most beauti-
ful lot on the street but one of the nicest in southwest Atlanta, I
invite you and your associates to see for yourselves,
Now as to the land developing agency and the hearing itself, Two
weeks ago I received a notice from the Planning Commission regarding
the Rezoning Proposal, I was one of four or five people to receive such
notification, even though it would appear to me that all of the residents
of Flamingo Drive could be affected by this proposition, I have never
been involved in this type action before, so I called the Wilson Real
Estate Agency to secure some information prior to the hearing. [I did not
receive anything substantial from them at that time; however, Mr, Mike
Wilson did call our home a few days later and said he would like to
brief us (my wife and me) on the plan for developing the area in question,
On Monday, the 23rd of October, Mr, Wilson and the developer came to my
home and presented the project, [I bring this point out only to illustrate
the fact that, although (according to the proponent speakers at the meet-
ing) this plan had been developed over six months ago, no one from the
Developers or Wilson Realty had the common courtesy to call upon us and
get our response to the plan, It's not that we weren't available; I re-
turned from VietNam in June of this year and my wife remained in our home
during, my tour overseas, If this is fair business procedure then apparent-
ly my sense of justice is warped,
To conclude this epistle, I add the following in no special chrono-
logical order, My Life savings have gone into this house/lot investment
and I am not wealthy so I cannot afford to suffer a drastic loss in property
value, I continue to pour my money in this house/lot complex because we
love our area but this will stop 1f the apartment houses are permitted to
be built, Our house was robbed in broad daylight in March of 1966 (you can
see we are rather isolated, by choice), but I can live through this but I
could not tolerate the thought of apartment houses in the near vicinity.
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We love Atlanta and all of Georgia and its people. It's truce we are
"transplanted Yankees" but we feel there is no place like Atlanta and
no place like our home and lot, I am sorry to say that if this re-
zoning action goes through, then I will have to say adieu, if not to
all of Atlanta, at least to the Southwest Section. I really thought
after 26 years I would move no more, but it appears there will be one
more time.
As one last item, I offer this thought for you, sir, and your
committee. Can you picture what this beautiful, blue colored, Utoy
Creek will look like with an "apartment house/recreation area" complex
upstream? [I can. Thank you for listening.
Sincerely,
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RARER. OCA
Lt Colonel, US Army
ec: Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr,
Governor Lester G. Maddox
Editor, Atlanta Journal/Constitution
Editor, Weekly Star
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