Box 20, Folder 33, Document 70

Box 20, Folder 33, Document 70

2474 Black Forest Trail,
Atlanta, Georgia 30331

January 17, 1967

Lo Members of the Zoning Committee:
City Hall,
Atlanta, Georgia

we eO 2 BIG oF

Rez Rezoning Petition, Jan. 19, 1967
Continental Development Corps
Land Lots 228 and 229, Dist. 14.

My home at the above address is adjacent to the property
up for rezonings I wish to be heard, and find that I
will be out of town. Hence this letters

Since I feel very strongly about this recurring matter,
this letter will be lenghty and in some detaile I beg
your indulgences

We moved here 5 years ago and built the house on this

lote We did so because of its convenient location and

the high type middle class homes which form this comm=
unity. Three Atlanta friends also cited certain advantages
to having a city of Atlanta addresse These advantages,

I am sorry to say, have alI proven fallaciouse

As a matter of fact, these helpful friends now reside
outside the city limits. The principle reason for moving?
they became disenchanted by offictal acts of the city
government which penalized, or threatened to penalize,
them as home-ouwning citizense

These people, like the ones now living in the Continentd
Colony areay are middle-to-upppr-middle income group

who form the source=well for community leaders - prime
movers for better living conditions, better homes and
churches and schools, who create and demand upgraded
standardss They are the ones who are will to pay the
price to help themselves have better tings of life, such
as a community that cares, a bit of privacy, minimum of -
noise and confusions, good neighbors, happy environmmenft, etc.
And they are the ones who are most willing to help the
less fortunate toward the same goals»

Now this petition tis aimed directly at these kind of
people, To put it mildly, another disenchantment, another
example of so-called planning - like the expressway ramps =
I have been witness to before in your city hall, a kind of
harassment encouraged and condoned by city officialse
a ot

This is the main reason why the people of Sandy Springs

last year chose not to become citizens of Atlanta; and

the same reason why a slum group did join up. You create
conditions intolerable for the first group, while the second
ts hoping for a little better place than they havec

Lhis is also the reason why, out of a group of 2} people
transferred to Atlanta_ several years ago by one of our
larger national concers, only two still have a city of
Atlanta address. And these were people in the 12,000 —
~14,000, and above, salary rangés I know, I was one of
theme

And it is the reason why you will drive more people out,
and create more slums, Lf this rezoning is approved the
Continental Colony area of homes will begin a slow deter—
toration that is inherent with the coming of a large apart—
ment complex that blocks the orderly development of a
residental section. People in the $15,000 — $18,000 incume
group, which will include close to 80% of those in this
aréa, will not put up with the condition that will come
and they will move out, even at a losse The houses will
either stand empty for awhile, or be occupied by @ lower
income group, Then repeated, dounward steps each times

This is simply the social history of municipal deteriorétion.
Check with any Sociology PHD at “mory or Ga. State or Techs
When a small residental area of a city is isolated and blocked
by an environment of lesser quality, the area simply is
overwhelmed, stagnation sets in and decay is ultimateés

The alternativet put age Rise apartments west of Greenbriar
fronting on Cambellton Road with 300-400 feet maximum ap
depths

Now for another point of contentione The claim that the
addition of an apartment Complex will increase property :
values is bare-faced untrue and misleading. Value, of course,
is somewhat of a relative term, What one holds dear, another
will discards But anyway you slice it, this land with
apartments next door, will not be more valuable to the
present homeowners or future homeoumerse I have gone througr
this before, and so have otherss In terms of money, which

is not the only ckiteria for value, the amount ranges from
$4000.00 to $6000.00 lessa

I certainly will lose moneye However the amount will be small
to what the city of Atlanta will lose over a period of =
say, 15 yearss

I have seen nothing in the plans offered that will counteract
the prospect of deterioration and loss of value to the home=
owners Despite the brightly colored brochures and persuasive
words of the project promoters, these are essentially the Same
two~story box type building so well knoum in this area as
= 3 &

the cheapest of alI construction. The gloss and floss
of the trimmings is to fool the unwaryo I lived in such
an apartment group when we first moved here ~ air conde,
wall-to-wall, quiet settled people, etc etc — my wife
almost went crazy before we could get outs. My hub caps
were stolen twice, next-door neighbor's carg broken
into, and it was a rare week-end that the police were
not around.

You are being misled by the claim that these apartments
will attract the permanent type residente Thts type is a
rare bird in this areao I don't know of any more non~
permanent. They include the young unmarrieds — mostly
airline employees - , OT young married people who will

be moving on in another year, two at the most. People

in their 30's, 408s and 50's with families don't live

tn apartments if they can possibly help ite

Lhe argument that the present high occupancy rate is
evidence of the need for more apartments will not hold
water. It is evidence only of a locked-in market,

people trapped — and I do mean trapped — in appartments

by the shortage of homes, the scarcity and high cost ~

of credits This condition will not exist much longer,
because help for the prospective home-ouner is already

on the waye Personally, I know of more than a dozen families
who can hardly wait to escape the luxury of apartment
livings

Incidently, the 150 foot “buffer” zone offered the

owners on Black Forest will be nothing more that a play-
ground for the children from the first row of apartmentse

And so far as the proposed "Country Club" is concerned,

It means nothing to me. I doubt if it will mean much to

any resident. The ones J have seen elsewhere were either soon
deserted or turned into warehouses, or rather storage

HOUSES»

Consider other economic possibilitiessa If after this project
ets underway, the occupancy rate drops off, what happens?
he prices are cuts A less desirable type renter moves ins
And if the forecasters are wrong, and the rate fails to
hold up, then maybe there there will be some partially
completed buildings to compete with the red mud and rag weeds
for the benefit of "planned” landscaping. Such things have
happened beforés

There is quite a drainage problem here, you knows

Vet, in spite of all this, the city seems bent of penalizing
the type of citizen you would think it would want to the
most to keepe Not only to keep, but to bring in more of the
same kind - the ones with the time, the little extra moneys
the educated background, the self-motivated inelination

to support the churches, schools, civic projects of art,
ee. a

theater and humanities. But no, we are the unwanted people.
Sold down the river, so to speak. (One Greenbriar business
man was heard to say, aboutthe first week in December
"these apartments are in the bag. Haven't you heara?”)

There is something of a moral question heres Maybe more than
ones Time after time I have heard you gentlemen sayz ".

am going to do what is best for Atlanta.” What is best?
after 5 years observation I would say your main objective

is to make Atlanta "big". Big commercially, big in sports,
high in plane landings, up in construction. All, good, I
believes But there are some other bigs? High muder rate,
high lesser crimes, High welefare costs, High traffic
deaths, High traffic accidents without deaths The slums

and the bums. Bigs

"Forward Atlante”is a fine thinge More industrialization,
more trade. In doing this, you and the Chamber of Commerce
did what was expedient at the moment, what woulé bring in

the most tax revenue, what would get the job done in @ hurrys
And mostly you forgot to provide for the middle, or upper
middle class home ouwnera There are few, very few places withn
Atlanta for him to live,. desirable places. He is crowded

out by the big hodge-podge of little commerciali zations

fie is the forgotten man, the neglected man, the abuséd mane

This is particularly true in the S. We. section of Atlanta

where people who want to live within easy traveling distance

of Fulton County Airport or Municipal Airport or the Industrial
Park, have little choice in desirable home location. So more

and more, the engineers, the foreman, the plant managers,

the district supervisors, the sales managers, and young
professional people, and pilots = these people are leaving
Atlanta to find a desirable place to live. They are going across
the river or to m communities south of here, or buying 10

acres in the eoun®ky and building theres

To them, desirable citizens all, Atlanta is an "unfriendly"

citys It cares nothing about theme oFFERS Me Regret ron,

Gentlemen, you may not be particularly interested, but my
state and local taxes is about $1240.00 a years Personal
taxes, not business taxese The approximate breakdown asx
follows? $220.00 Saless 310.00 Incomes $710.00 Property,
Intang property, auto and gasoline, And my place of residenee
tis the only real property 1 oums

And for this you want to put apartments in my back yards
For this price I know when I am being had, and it ts coming
to an enda

For your information, and the informations of others I hope
to send copies of this, we spent close to $1100,00 at one

one sto@in Greenbriar for clothings from the first of Sept~
ember thru Christmas fax (Not Rich's) Add my wife's clothes
5m

clothes, food, drugs, household supplies ete, and you come Bx
up with #340.00 monthly expenditures — yearly averages

If that is not enough,, I am sorry Mr. Storekeeper. Lt is
endings It ended right after @hristmas. Since then we

have spent 10¢ at Greenbriar - for a newspapers We even
returned $48.00 worth of Christmas presents, not to be
exchanged, but for credito

We traded elsewhere before Greenbriar and we can do it againe
Convienence ees I am getting tired and my spelling oe es
convenience does not me*nuch to mes I am enclosing half of
Rich's credit cards The other half goes to hims Uy wife has
a couple of more that will be halved when she gets backoa

I do not own a Gulf card, but I znow of some that are not
around @nymores

And I know wno I am not going to vote for in the next city
electionooes if IT ama resident thens

I don*t especially like to be rough, but when someone puts
corncobs in my bathroom don't expect me to reciprocate with
Scott tissues

Further, I intend to transfer out of Atlanta all of my
assets I can legally do so without penalty or loss, in
anticipation of the time when I can leave this unfriendly
citys Bigs Idon't like little intrigues.

I nave a friend in Houston who says? "A New Yorker bets his
money on triple mortgages and fine print, A Texan bets his
money on first mortgages and a political friend.”

I don't like the job, but you forced it on met so in the
meantime, yours as the ambassodor of ill-will.

Very truly yours,

Karcks
Harry S. King /) :

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