Box 18, Folder 24, Document 6

Box 18, Folder 24, Document 6

El ead

THE TENEWER

NEWSLETTER OF THE CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE
FOR URBAN RENEWAL



































Vol. 5 No. 10 Atlanta, Georgia November 1967
CHARTER PUTS OUR CORPORATION IN BUSINESS At our executive committee
TO IMPLEMENT $96,000 221-H ALLOCATION meeting, Nov. 2l,

Attorney Hugh Peterson, Jr.
presented a prestigious document, bearing the gold sealsof the State of Georgia and the
Superior Court of Fulton County. Said the first page of the document: "I, Ben Fortson,
Jr., Secretary of State of the State of Georgia, do hereby certify that ''The Citizens
Advisory Committee for Urban Renewal Rehabilitation Corporation, Inc. was on the
sixth day of November, 1967, duly incorporated under the laws of the state of Georgia
by the Superior Court of Fulton County for a period of thirty five years from said date,"
This document went on to list the incorporators as Robert L. Sommerville, William S.
Howland, H. W. Whitman, Harold Arnold, Herbert Waldrip, Mrs. Grace Hamilton,
Percy Hearle and Harold Davis. It then set forth the corporation's purposes saying
"Said corporation is and shall be organized and operated exclusively for the purpose
of assisting in the development of projects, undertakings, studies and other activities
by itself or in cooperation with local government and civic bodies and other corporations
and associations for the elimination of slums, blight and blighting influences and to aid,
assist and foster the planning, development, renewal and improvement of the metro-
politan, Atlanta, Georgia, area, all for the primary purpose of combatting community
deterioration and securing adequate housing, community facilities and related facilities
for the general welfare of the community.'! The document further stated "no part of
the principal funds or income of the corporation shall ever inure to the benefit of any
private shareholder or individual or beneficiary, or revert to any donor or to the estate
or heirs of any donor and no part of its activities shall ever be carrying on propaganda
or otherwise attempting to influence legislation or participating in or intervening in
{including the publishing or distributing of statements) any political campaign on behalf
of any candidate for public office.'' The document included an order by Superior Court
Judge Jack B, Etheridge granting the charter. As Attorney Peterson handed the papers
to Chairman Sommerville, he said, with a smile, ''Now we'll get a seal for the cor~
poration if I can just get all those letters on one."'

The essence of all the words and seals and signatures on the papers which made up the
blue bound document is that what is known as a "legal entity'' has been created to put
into action the $96,000 221 H grant allocated in response to our committee's appli-
cation. Summed up Mr. Peterson: ''The corporation is now in business. Application
for tax exemption has been sent to the Internal Revenue Service. I understand that the
committee received the grant even before the corporation was organized, so now every-
thing is ready to roll when tax exemption approval is received."

CACURRCI ORGANIZES SELF, INCORPORATORS On the afternoon prior to
NAMED TRUSTEES, OFFICERS ARE CHOSEN our Nov. 21 executive

committee meeting, our
new non profit corporation, the Citizens Advisory Committee for Urban Renewal
Rehabilitation Corporation, Inc. met with Attorney Hugh Peterson, Jr. to complete its
organization. All eight incorporators, as listed previously, were named trustees of
the new corporation. In turn the quorum present elected two officers to carry on the
corporation's work. Officers are Robert L, Sommerville, president and chairman,
William S. Howland, secretary-treasurer. It was also decided that CACURRCI will
hold regular monthly meetings on the same date as the monthly n:eetings of our
committee.

NEW CORPORATION WILL REHABILITATE Accepting the charter
EIGHT STRUCTURES, CHAIRMAN POINTS OUT documents, Chairman

Sommerville explained that
the approval of a $96, 000 221 H grant for our committee specifies that the new corpor-
ation will rehabilitate eight dwellings. He pointed out that the grant calls for the pur~
chase, rehabilitation and resale of this number of structures.


“Le

The Atlanta Housing Authority has agreed to assist CACURRCI in locatiny the
structures, he added, Said Mr. Sommerville ‘'This numper of structures - eight -
may seem small, but the idea will spread, ''

FHA OFFICIAL OUTLINES PROCEDURES Following delivery of our
FOR PUTTING OUR CORPORATION TO WORK new corporation's charter,
Otis Haire, FHA real
estate evaluator assizned to the 221 H program in Georgia, outlined to the executive
comn.ittee the procedure by which the $90, 000 grant allocated to our project will ve
put to work. Mr. Haire first pointed out that 21 applications for 221 H grants so far
had been made in the state, four of these in Atlanta. He expressed the hope that our
comn-ittee's plan to rehabilitate eight houses will spur srowth to include several
hundred units. Said he '' Expansion brick by vrick, house by house, street by street,
neighborhood by neighborhood is the only way this can be done. It serves a two fold
purpose -- setting rid of dilapidated houses and upzradiny people as well as structures. ''

First step for CACURRCI will ve to review rehabilitation requirements with the
city buildin, inspector's office, he pointed out. This is essential, because a work
write-up itemizing deficiencies from foundation to roof will be required for each
structure. Next point is that all rehabilitation in one project must be carried out by
one contractor, chosen from competitive bids. The contractor will stipulate the exact
price, after which 20 per cent of the fee will ve held back until all rehabilitation is
completed. This is in lieu of a performance bond. Upon completion of repairs,
individual appraisals will be made. The ar.ount of loan jranted will vary with rezard
to the size of families and other factors. After completing the initial paper work and
other preliminaries, the CACURRCI's next step will be to make financial arrangements
with local lending institutions for acquisition of properties After houses are
rehabilitated and sold, FHA will pick up the tab. Mr. Haire also pointed out that FHA
has certain stipulations about the types of houses to be purchased and repaired. For
example, so called ''shotgun houses'! will not be approved. The speaker also urged
that at least 15 to 20 houses be considered for choice of the initial eight for the project,
pecause frequently approval difficulties are encountered.

In a discussion following hr. Haire's talk, }frs. Grace Han.ilton asked if there
were any restrictions on location of the eizht units. John F. Thigpen, Director, (Georgia)
Department of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Housin, Administration,
replied that any area within the city could ve used for location. Mr. Haire added that
location of any pro,ect within a two mile radius was desirable both from the corporation's
viewpoint and that of the contractor. In reply to a question from Mrs. Doris Lockerman,
about value of houses, Chairman Sommerville pointed out that the total srant of
$95, 000 would indicate a value of $12, 000 per house.

AHA SUGGESTS TWO GROUPS OF HOUSES Two groups of houses were
FOR NEW CORPORATION TO CONSIDER brought to the attention of
the new corporation by
James Henley of the Atlanta Housing Authority. One is located east of Glen Iris Drive
and south of the Sears store. These are on Rankin, Wilmer and Dallas Streets. The
other group is in an area bounded by McDonough, Lakewood and Carver Homes. Mr.
Henley pointed out that no individual houses had been designated but that preliminary
surveys indicated that the houses were in a purchase price range of $4, 500 to $8, 000,
with repair estimates ranging from $2, 000 to $4,000. Said he: ‘'The houses appear
to need considerable repair work, but are not beyond rehabilitation. They also appear
to be owner occupied, single family dwellings’. Mr. Henley emphasized that the
Housing Authority would be delighted to do all within its power to assist CACURRCI.
In an ensuing Q & A session, A. B. Padgett asked Dan E. Sweat, city director of
zovernmental liaison, if the new corporation would help the city's model city program
(for which Atlanta had recently received federal approval) by choosing homes in that
area. Mr. Sweat replied that this would definitely be of assistance, but that since
considerable time would be required before definite model city plans could be made,
he suggested that CACURRCI go ahead with its program in other areas. In reply toa
question about whether churches were showing interest in 221-H, Mr. Haire said that
a Sunday School class at the Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church had called a meeting
to discuss participation. In reply to another question about time limits for a project,
Mr. Haire said a total of 60 days would be allotted--30 days for choosing a site, 30 days
for naming a contractor.


wie

As the discussion ended, FHA. Housing and Urvan Development Director Thigpen
remarked that his organization is so pleased with our participating in the 221 H program
that he is assigning two of his top assistants to work with CACURRCI.

BEDFORD-PINE LEADERS SEEKING TO EXPEDITE A number of leaders of
PARK THERE, CHAIRMAN WALDRIP REPORTS the Bedford- Pine urban

renewal project area met
Nov.20. with men bers of the Board of Aldermen and representatives of the Atlanta
Housing Authority to discuss how a park for that area could be speeded up, Herbert
Waldrip, chairman of our Bedford-Pine associate comn.ittee told the executive
committee Said Mr. Waldrip - ''The property for a park (adjoining the new C. W. Hill
School) has been cleared for a year and the people in the community hate to see another
summ:er come around with no recreational facilities for the children there."' Mr.
Waldrip pointed out that the Nov. 20 meeting was told that the Board of Education was
holding up development of a park and that another meeting to include representation
from the Board of Education will be scheduled shortly, but that he feared that it would
be June before any action ona park would set under way.

NOTE -- The day following our executive committee meeting, Director Howland, who
attended the Bedford-Pine meeting, arranged for Mr. Waldrip to confer with Mayor
Allen and also with Dr. Darwin Womack, assistant superintendent for scnool plant
planning, and construction, about the need for action on a Bedford- Pine park.

CHAIRMAN EXPRESSES APPRECIATION At the Nov. 21 meeting,
OF DR. CLEMENT'S NOTABLE SERVICES Chairman Somn.erville
expressed our committee's
re4ret on the death of Dr. Rufus B. Clement, a lony time m.emwer Said Mr.
Sommerville: ''Dr Clement was seldom able to attend meetings, vut no mer::ber
worxed harder to help our committee and the subcomn.ittees on which he served
achieve their purposes. I never knew a man r.ore gentle in speech nor more powerful
in getting things done. If youasked Dr Clement to do something, I know of nobody
who would 20 to more trouble to help you. ''

FINAL CIP STUDIES BEING EVALUATED, Before year's end, final
DIRECTOR ALDRIDGE TELLS COMMITTEE surveys and reports of the

CIP are due to be received
for evaluation, Director Georze Aldridge reported to our executive comn.ittee. He
added that since many of these will have to be submitted to comn ittees for review, he
probably will not be able to present a full report until our January meeting.

CITIZEN PARTICIPATION MAJOR ELEMENT Active citizen participation
IN MODEL CITY PROGRAM, SWEAT EXPLAINS is among major require-
ments of the model city

program in which Atlanta is one of the first 03 cities to receive a federal 3rant, Dan
E. Sweat, Jr., city director of governmental liaison, ernphasized in an updating, talk
to our executive committee Nov. 21. Althouyh Atlanta will receive only $152, 000 out
of the $500, 590 plannin, fund requested, the city probably will obtain another $74, 000
for model city purposes, Mr. Sweat said. This latter amount is being reserved in the
Community Ir provement Program funds. The city must show need for it in the model
city prozrarn. Mr. Sweat delineated the model city area as comprising 3, 000 acres
in the southern section of the city, bounded on the north vy Interstate 20, on the west
by Lee Street, and on the south and east vy the railroad velt line. Althouzh comprising,
only 3.7 per cent of the city land area, the model city site includes ).5 per cent of the
total population, on a 75 per cent Negro, 25 per cent white basis. As reasons for its
choice for the model city program, Mr. Sweat showed that this area includes 3 3 per
cent of the total housing units, but 20 per cent of these are substandard Also it
includes 11.3 per cent of the city's illiterates and 20 per cent of the population with
incomes under $3,000 per year. Unemployment rate is 5 1/2 per cent as compared
with the city wide rate of 31/2 per cent. Allinall, the area represents 20 to 25 per
cent of the city's mayor problems. Mr Sweat also wriefly outlined the methods by
which the Model city program will be administered. Top direction will ve provided by
a project executive board, consisting of policy makiny officials NOTE-- On Nov. 22,
Mayor Allen and other city officials conferred with Regional HUD Administrator Ed
Baxter and other regional federal officials involved in implementing the model city
program. Our committee was represented vy Director Howland.

FULL COMMITTEE MEETING -- TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19-DETAILS LATER.