CAN WE COUNT ON YOU TO COME TO THE COMMUNITY LAUNCH FOR THE BELTLINE FOR ALL CAMPAIGN?
Proceeding the
actual delivery of the report to City Council and the Mayor,
participants of the research project gathered with their supporters,
City candidates
and elected officials, the press, and others on the steps in front of
City Hall to hear from Southside Residents. All of the speakers
emphasized the importance of community involvement and accountability in
city planning in order to meet the critical
needs of long-time residents and avoid historical and continuing
patterns of racism, displacement, and disinvestment.
As Alison Johnson, a Peoplestown resident and Housing Justice League member who helped author this report, says,
“Communities
on the Southside deserve to be a part of the process to shape and
determine the neighborhoods where we live. We want the kind of
responsible, democratic city building that gives us
the best quality of life, not that which is done by and for the
wealthy.”
Research by the
Atlanta community group Housing Justice League and Research|Action
Cooperative, largely in the three historically Black neighborhoods of
Adair Park, Peoplestown, and Pittsburgh, tracks the hopes
of residents for the BeltLine, how they are actually affected by it, and
the forces of gentrification that, if left unimpeded, will damage
the economic and racial diversity that long-term residents and
newcomers alike say is a strength of the area.
The report – “BeltLining: Gentrification, Broken Promises, and Hope on Atlanta's Southside” – builds
upon analysis of census data, a survey, and a year-long participatory action research project. The researchers found that:
·
Residents overwhelmingly want to stay in their neighborhoods,
·
Gentrification has already raised property values
and displaced people in historically Black neighborhoods not yet touched
by BeltLine development, and
·
Atlanta failed to enact protections against
displacement that have been effective in other parts of the country. It
still has time to do so as the BeltLine turns its development
eye to more of the historically Black Southside.
The report’s major
recommendation is for Atlanta BeltLine Incorporated, the public-private
partnership leading the development, and the City as a whole, is
to embrace more democratic planning processes so that the interests of
current residents are incorporated into development, and the supportive networks among neighbors are protected and appreciated.
Housing Justice League
is itself helping to model what this kind of planning could look like
for the city at large. The community-directed research report is part of
Housing Justice League’s broader BeltLine For
All campaign, seeking to create spaces that center resident voices and
promote community engagement in the development process. The Monday
following the press release Housing Justice League will officially
launch the broader campaign with a community-centered
event where people will be able to learn more about the research,
connect, and sign up to volunteer and lift up their perspectives through
the campaign.
BeltLine for All
will seek to curb Atlanta BeltLine Incorporated’s irresponsible record
on affordable housing through democratic participation, people pressure,
and public policy. Atlanta BeltLine Incorporated was launched in 2005, when
the Atlanta City Council, Atlanta Public Schools, and Fulton County all
empowered a new Atlanta BeltLine Tax Allocation District to fund both
parks and more than 28,000 units
of housing – only 5,600 units of it affordable – in neighboring areas.
The hope of the BeltLine lies in its initial promises: to spur equitable
development and to include a robust affordable housing strategy to
prevent displacement.
But as Atlanta BeltLine
Incorporated itself acknowledges, almost midway through the 25-year-long
development period, fewer than 1,000 units of affordable housing have
been built in the area, far short of the original
goal, even as housing prices near the greenways are rising faster than
in the city as a whole. This means the area is losing far more existing
affordable housing than it is creating. And there are no rent
regulations or alternative property tax policies to
stop the surge.
