Box 3, Folder 14, Document 11

Box 3, Folder 14, Document 11

, wn Ore a? ee
ive f.28
3% > A A BAS ie = of a ! ;
Cah ES 4 2% Rage Six
1 % UF bel ie off f ij x 7
f : an v* Cod i 3
6 GRA NIDE: City of Atlanta ( corgia)
AMOUNT: $23,000
ues To ass 3st the Bas y' 3 or pence to sta Fe

yor better to develop a

he city's forces to attack
improve the condition of the

and organize the office of -
strategy and action to mob
the problems of the slums
people now resident there.

Foundation funds will be used to pay the salary of a special

assistant to the Mayor expericnced in urban affaixs,
capable, with the Mayor's political leadership, of meshing
the resources and energies of the disparate elements of

the community in concerted action, and knowledgeable akout
securing outside resources to heip with the task.

This wiil be an experiment and demonstration of the value
oz such a staff and function in the Mavor*®s office of a
southern city with a "weak mayor" system. If the
demonstration warrants such action the Mayor will attempt
to establish the staff and function as a permanent feature
of his office. The U.S. Conference of Mayors will obsexve
the experience and report on it to other cities in similar
situations.

BACKGROUND

ANi

RAT TONALE In coping with the crisis problems of

cities and, even more important, developing and implementing
policy and strategy for healthy urban development that will
obviate the crises, the mayor's office is the key commenc
post. Only the mayor has comprehensive responsibility.
Other functionaries have restricted concerns for education,
housing, welfare, public safety, etc, Elected representa

tives have comprehensive concern, but are limited to
n

policy formation through legislation. Only the mayor is
concerned with policy formation and execution.

Without strong and capable leadership from the mayor's
Gofsies and the mobilization cf internal and external
rescurces by him the inexorable forces tending to break
acvg the economic and social order of the city are not

*

iixely to give way.
City of Atlanta Page Seven

(continued)

What this means is that the modern 1 a oe must be a “system
nelyst" and ops. ) Me must view the city as a system

made up of interac. ~~ vSstems ae immpingee upon by
regional and nationa wis, The trick for the mavor is

to mesh these systems so that their own “rules-of~the-geme"
and self-serving objectives are to the greatest dagree
possible induced to serve the purposes of the general
welfare and developncnt of the community. How can the

moxtgage banking system bettex produce low cost housing?

How can the customs , leadership patterns and aspirations
of the low income Negro community best be mobilized to
push constructively for uceward mobility? How can the
needs of industry for skilled pexsonnel be made a force
to speed up the training of unsk
the resources cf federal agencies
marshalled to support orceriy an egnetebee develorment?
Most cities now exploit only a fraction of the outside
resources potentially available to them because they

don't know how to go after them or to use them efficiently.

.

ilLed people? How can
and foundations be

y B, uw

All of this takes know-how. To be deployed most effectively
that know=how must be in, or close to, or at the beck and
call of the mayor's office.

@

Atlanta is one of the beliwether cities of the south with
outstanding leadership in the Mayor's office. The general
climate in the city is such that well reasoned and
executed policies and programs have a favorable environ-

ment in which to confront the complex problems of today's
cities,

These circumstances make it an opportune time and place
to try to improve the capacity of the Mayor's office to
perform the dynamic role it should and for the experience

to be visible and hopefully influential elsewhere.

ape Db

Tha plans for the project were de veloped jointly by the

U.S. Conference of Max yore, the Southern Regional Council,