Peoplestown residents, Bertha and Robert Darden, Tanya Washington, Ms. Mattie Jackson and her family and Dwayne Adgar, have been fighting to stay in their homes for more than 8 years. Two of the families have received eviction notices from the City’s attorneys, calling for their immediate displacement.
Former City of Atlanta Mayor, Kasim Reed, initiated the action to take their homes by eminent domain 5 years ago on Oct. 31, 2016. Their names were removed from the deeds to their houses and during the litigation evidence surfaced that the City never had the engineering data to support the taking of the entire block of 27 homes in Peoplestown. The City engineer, Kimberly Scott (formerly Palmer) testified in court regarding the City’s unlawful takings and she was fired by the City for telling the truth.
Mrs. Bertha Darden confronted Kasim Reed at a mayoral forum on Friday Oct. 24 about the City’s unlawful actions under his leadership. In response to her accusations of the predatory use of eminent domain, Kasim said he made the best decision based on the information he had at the time and that he was concerned about flooding “killing people.” Both of his statements are untrue.When Kasim initiated the taking of homes in Peoplestown and before the first of 20+ homes were taken and families displaced, engineer Kimberly Scott had provided written documentation that the City only had engineering data to justify taking 2-4 homes, not 27 homes. Furthermore, the flooding in Peoplestown in 2012 did cause property damage to the 9 residents who sued the City, but it was not life threatening. If flooding on the block was life threatening Kasim would not have allowed Ms. Mattie Jackson to stay in the middle of the block. Kasim Reed’s response to Mrs. Darden highlights the same untruthfulness and fraud that undergirds the City’s efforts to use eminent domain to displace the Peoplestown residents.
Today, on the eve of the Mayoral election Peoplestown residents held rally and press conference to discuss the actions of the current and past administrations and share their perspectives on who should be elected the City’s 61st Mayor to handle the multiple and intersecting crises facing the City: gentrification of legacy communities, displacement of legacy residents, unlawful use of eminent domain, white collar crime/corruption, violent crime, an exploding population of unsheltered people, and a dearth of affordable housing for people earning minimum wage. This rally offers the people of Atlanta the chance to speak truth to power and make their expectations and priorities known to the next Mayor of the City of Atlanta.
Residents have created a GoFundMe page to help pay the hundreds of thousands of dollars we owe to our lawyers and engineering experts. Please share their link —GoFundMe.com/Peoplestownfight
Residents have also created an on-line petition asking Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to suspend efforts to evict them from their homes and to allow the next Mayor to address the situation. Please share their link -- ATL Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Please Stop the Evictions of Peoplestown Residents | Housing Justice League (controlshift.app)
