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OFFICERS
James W. Dorsey
President
Ferdinand Buckley
Ist Vice President
Sarah Frances MaDonald
2nd Vice President
Clifford Oxford
Secretary
William H. Alexander
Treasurer
STAFF
Michael D. Padnos
Director
Nancy S$. Cheves
General Counsel
Richard Harris ’
Community Education
L. Rosser Shelton
Virginia A. Bips
Bettye H. Kehrer
Evelyn S. Fabian
Eugene S. Taylor
John W. Brent
Elmer L. Nash
Larry B. Hooks
D. Freeman Hutton
Cynthia T. Beattie
Melvin E. Thompson, Jr.
Michael H. Terry
Edward L. Baety
William J. Brennan, Jr.
George Howell
Sondra Goldenfarb
Reuben Bussey
Kendric Smith
pe
Peataes LEGAL AID SOCIETY, INC. (aoa) $24-581!
(404) 577-5260
153 PRYOR STREET, S.W.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30303
April llth, 1969
Honorable Ivan Allen, Jr.,
Mayor, The City of Atlanta /
City Hall, 68 Mitchell Street, S. W., \ /
Atlanta, Geargia 30303
Dear Mayor Allen:
Thank you for your letter of April 10th on the
subject of AHA's residency requirement.
As an Atlantan I am entirely sympathetic with
the problem you and the city have encountered. I
know of your efforts to persuade county officials to
build public housing outside the city limits, and I
know how frustrating it is to deal with officials who
coldly and calmly throw all of their problems onto our
shoulders,
A residency requirement for public housing,
however, punishes only low-income people. It does not
work to force out-of-city officials to build public
housing, because poor people are politically weak
(especially in non-urban areas) and invariably ignorant
about asserting such power as they may have.
The dilemma faced by Atlanta, of course, is grave.
Irresponsible officials force people into our city, and
irresponsible legislators deny us the funds to deal with
the problems their jurisdictions have imposed upon us.
But this dilemma cannot be solved by residency
requirements, which are both unconstitutional and unwise.
I presume we must attempt to solve our problems by
continuing our search for federal and state funds to
build new housing.
SPONSORED BY UNITED APPEAL AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY ATLANTA, INC.
Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr.,
April 11th, 1969
Page #2.
And while I know it is no answer to the problem you
and the city face today, I must point out that Atlanta
has built its justifiably brilliant national reputation
in large part on the concern you and your administration
have shown for the humane resolution of urban problems.
Anyone can find an angry solution to the 20th Century:
it takes an Ivan Allen to find a calm one.
Legal Aid now has a number of clients who have
suffered as a result of AHA's policy. (I understand
you discussed one of these clients with Eugene Taylor,
a lawyer on this staff.) As I am sure you know I wrote
to you and Mr. Sterne not out of any desire to "create
an issue," but in the hope of resolving, without litigation
or publicity, a very real problem facing a number of clients
of this office.
Sincerely,
L4
Michael D. Padnos
Director
MDP/cj
ce: Mr. Edwin L. Sterne,
Chairman, Board of Commissioners
Atlanta Housing Authority
James W. Dorsey
President
Ferdinand Buckley
Ist Vice President
Sarah Frances MaDonald
2nd Vice President
Clifford Oxford
Secretary
William H. Alexander
Treasurer
STAFF
Michael D. Padnos
Director
Nancy S$. Cheves
General Counsel
Richard Harris ’
Community Education
L. Rosser Shelton
Virginia A. Bips
Bettye H. Kehrer
Evelyn S. Fabian
Eugene S. Taylor
John W. Brent
Elmer L. Nash
Larry B. Hooks
D. Freeman Hutton
Cynthia T. Beattie
Melvin E. Thompson, Jr.
Michael H. Terry
Edward L. Baety
William J. Brennan, Jr.
George Howell
Sondra Goldenfarb
Reuben Bussey
Kendric Smith
pe
Peataes LEGAL AID SOCIETY, INC. (aoa) $24-581!
(404) 577-5260
153 PRYOR STREET, S.W.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30303
April llth, 1969
Honorable Ivan Allen, Jr.,
Mayor, The City of Atlanta /
City Hall, 68 Mitchell Street, S. W., \ /
Atlanta, Geargia 30303
Dear Mayor Allen:
Thank you for your letter of April 10th on the
subject of AHA's residency requirement.
As an Atlantan I am entirely sympathetic with
the problem you and the city have encountered. I
know of your efforts to persuade county officials to
build public housing outside the city limits, and I
know how frustrating it is to deal with officials who
coldly and calmly throw all of their problems onto our
shoulders,
A residency requirement for public housing,
however, punishes only low-income people. It does not
work to force out-of-city officials to build public
housing, because poor people are politically weak
(especially in non-urban areas) and invariably ignorant
about asserting such power as they may have.
The dilemma faced by Atlanta, of course, is grave.
Irresponsible officials force people into our city, and
irresponsible legislators deny us the funds to deal with
the problems their jurisdictions have imposed upon us.
But this dilemma cannot be solved by residency
requirements, which are both unconstitutional and unwise.
I presume we must attempt to solve our problems by
continuing our search for federal and state funds to
build new housing.
SPONSORED BY UNITED APPEAL AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY ATLANTA, INC.
Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr.,
April 11th, 1969
Page #2.
And while I know it is no answer to the problem you
and the city face today, I must point out that Atlanta
has built its justifiably brilliant national reputation
in large part on the concern you and your administration
have shown for the humane resolution of urban problems.
Anyone can find an angry solution to the 20th Century:
it takes an Ivan Allen to find a calm one.
Legal Aid now has a number of clients who have
suffered as a result of AHA's policy. (I understand
you discussed one of these clients with Eugene Taylor,
a lawyer on this staff.) As I am sure you know I wrote
to you and Mr. Sterne not out of any desire to "create
an issue," but in the hope of resolving, without litigation
or publicity, a very real problem facing a number of clients
of this office.
Sincerely,
L4
Michael D. Padnos
Director
MDP/cj
ce: Mr. Edwin L. Sterne,
Chairman, Board of Commissioners
Atlanta Housing Authority