Peoplestown Residents Facing Eviction Fight Back

 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)

Mayor Bottom's Troubling Behavior Pattern

In response to flooding resulting from over development and neglect, former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed decided that 27 homes in Peoplestown, a historically black neighborhood of in Atlanta needed to be demolished to make room for a Japanese themed park and pond.  As a result of persistent protests, rallies and resistance by community members, he decided that one resident, 93-year-old Ms. Mattie Jackson, could stay.  The city of Atlanta filed eminent domain lawsuits against the remaining residents who refused to leave in October 2016.  Resident's names were removed from their deeds, and though they continue to pay their mortgages for the past three years, they do not own their homes and can be evicted at any time. Of the 27 homes and families that originally occupied the block in the heart of Peoplestown, only four homes and four families remain. 

In the midst of a three year court battle, emails surfaced that were written by a former City of Atlanta engineer, who was the project manager for the proposed park and pond, stating that the City didn’t have the necessary engineering to support the taking and demolition of an entire block of homes.  Those emails were written in 2013, BEFORE the first home was demolished.  The engineer, Kimberly Scott, testified in court, under oath, that the actions of the City were neither necessary nor justified and she testified before City Council and asked them to “correct [the] wrong.”

 (​See the emails )    

After years of protest, online petitions, and media coverage current Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms agreed to meet with one of the families, Mr. Robert and Bertha Darden, to discuss their desire that the lawsuits be withdrawn and they be allowed to stay in the home they have lived in and raised their children and grandchildren in for over 30 years.  During that April 30 2019 meeting the Dardens shared with Mayor Bottoms the evidence that clearly showed that the City should have never sued them in the first place for their homes and provided her with alternative plans for the block developed by the engineering firm they hired to assist them in the litigation.  

The Dardens left the meeting, which a press release from the Mayor’s office described as “productive”, hopeful that a resolution was near.  Nine months passed and the Dardens heard nothing from the Mayor and the litigation continues.  In December 2019 the Dardens and Tanya Washington, with the support of the Housing Justice League, planned a rally on the steps of city hall and a sit-in in Mayor Bottoms’ office.  After 11 hours, senior officials, Rashad Taylor and Rev Eric Thomas reached out on behalf of the Mayor and expressed a desire and intention to bring the matter to an end before the Christmas holidays.  Residents left city hall and went home to their families with the expectation that the matter would be resolved before Christmas and certain that they would not carry the 7-year fight into the New Year. There was a sense of relief at the thought of lifting this burden. 

The effected residents asked if Deborah Scott with Georgia Stand-up and myself could negotiate on their behalf. We decided to go into negotiations with Mayor Bottom's administration with the assumption of trust despite a track record of poor communications, broken promises, and unanswered calls/emails. We met the day immediately following the sit-in. Reverend Eric Thomas and Rashad Taylor represented the Mayor's office. The meeting was friendly and lasted about an hour. We spent our time laying out terms that would end the campaign and present a win-win solution for the city and the remaining residents.

 It was clearly communicated that the family's terms were reasonable and the Mayor Bottoms was highly motivated to do right by the families. We left the meeting Tuesday December 17th with an agreement that a written road map to resolution would be completed by Friday December 20th.

Over the course of the week we continued to negotiate through email and text message. It started to become clear that the Mayor's team was moving very slowly. We began to hear something that many community organizations have been hearing in regards to promises from this administration, "We're working on it."

Highlighted txt is Tim Franzen

I began to fear the worst, that we had fallen into a trap. Certainly the Mayor wouldn't promise a positive solution to this problem just to get us to pause the campaign through the holidays? Of course this Mayor wouldn't intentionally enter into bad faith negotiations? 

I began to ask if there was anything the families were asking for that the Mayor took issue with. Was the slow down in progress due to ifs or hows? It was made clear that the Mayor had no real issues with any of the families requests and they simply needed more time to work out details.

So we compromised and asked Rashad Taylor and Rev Thomas what deadline would work best and Rev Thomas let us know that Dec 31st would work, so we agreed on a second deadline even though doubts were beginning to arise. 

Highlighted txt is Tim Franzen

 On January 2nd Rev Thomas said they need more time after which we never heard from either Rashad or Rev Thomas, the Mayor and her team has totally ghosted the families since. I can't tell you how difficult it was to watch the joy and hope build as families fighting for their homes began to believe that the Mayor really wanted to work out a solution that all parties could live with only to have the rug pulled out from under them yet again. 

As one of the negotiators entrusted  by the families I felt embarrassed to admit that I believed Mayor Bottom's team was acting in good faith, I encouraged the families and the organizations advocating for them to put the campaign on pause only to have them ignore community after the holidays passed. In my mind it begs the question, is there any good faith in Mayor Bottom's administration?

In the aftermath of this disappointing chapter of this 7 year fight Tanya Washington expressed her pain and confusion, "I simply can't understand how a black, female Mayor who pledged to support the community who voted her into office can treat people this way.  She has seen the evidence that this was never necessary and she refuses to right the wrong the City committed.  My family and I are so tired of this fight.  If Mayor Reed had the power to decide Ms. Mattie could stay in her home why can't you use your power to allow us to stay in ours?"      Mrs. Darden, a senior who has lived in home in Peoplestown for 30+ years is heartbroken. "How long does it take to do the right thing?"  she asked Mayor Bottoms at a recent Invest Atlanta meeting. "All of this could have been avoided.  Since April of 2019, you gave me and my family hope and then in December 2019 we still had hope, and now we have no hope.  You have shown us that we cannot put our trust in what you say.  The faith we had in you is gone because you do not keep your word and because you will not do the right thing by us."

The truth is we don't know where things stand with the Mayor and the Peoplestown eminent domain fight because the community has been shunned by her office yet again. Maybe she's to busy stumping for Joe Biden, maybe her schedule is to jammed hanging with celebrities instead of following through with commitments she's made to community. At this point we have learned we can't hold our breath waiting on this Mayor to do the right thing.

Outside Ebeneezer during King Holiday Events

So we will continue to show up wherever Mayor Bottoms is so we can tell the truth, so we can remind her of the commitments she's made to communities, and we can hold her accountable to them.  As former Senator Vincent said said, " Using eminent domain as a device to displace black people from their homes is shameful.  That's why I joined the Dardens and Tanya Washington on the King Holiday outside of Ebeneezer Baptist Church to protest Mayor Bottoms' ruthless gentrification policies; educate the public and encourage others to join our resistance."

Tim Franzen

Atlanta Economic Justice Program Director

American Friends Service Committee

Labor & Community Unite to Redlight the Gulch on MLK's Birthday

Today on the steps of Atlanta's city hall organized labor joined community groups on the Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr to appeal to the Mayor and other city leaders who often invoke the name of Dr King but pursue policies and projects(Like the Gulch project) that continue to widen the gap between rich and poor in Atlanta.

Today was significant because the Redlight the Gulch Coalition, which is made up of several community groups, was joined by a number of labor unions including International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, District Council 77, Laborers International Union of America, Local 515, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, Local 33

United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers, Local 136, Unite Here, and Teamsters local 728.

Our Communities can no longer survive this approach to development that sees our city leaders cutting billion dollar welfare checks to the super rich to develop luxury developments with little to no affordable housing, community benefits, and workforce agreements. The money we are spending on the Gulch isn't monopoly money, it's real, which means public funds are being diverted from other public needs in order to help billionaire Slum lords from LA(CIM group) to build a city within a city. CIM will own the sidewalks and the streets. Where is that money coming from? A very large chunk(over 500 million) will come from a Tax Allocation District(TAD) that would otherwise go to our already struggling public schools in Atlanta. The cruel irony is that we are being forced to pay for our own gentrification through projects like the Gulch.

What adds insult to injury is the fact that our current Mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms made a promise to the community when she was running for mayor. She committed to support legally binding community benefits agreements between developers and the communities they seek to profit off of whenever public funds were involved. It would appear that she was either lying, or that she very quickly changed her mind after winning the election.

Tomorrow at 9am at the Fulton County Superior Court in courtroom 9G the Redlight the Gulch coalition goes back to court. Members of the Coalition have intervened on the bond validation process in order to get in the way of this 2 billion dollar welfare check set to help fund the luxury development. The legal fight is likely to go to appeal and the Redlight the Gulch coalition is raising money through crowdsourcing to cover the hefty legal costs.

The current City of Atlanta’s Gulch proposals DO NOT include:

Community benefits agreements

Community workforce agreements

Real affordable housing

Anti-displacement policies

Certified apprenticeship program

Community planning process

Redlight The Gulch Coalition Weighs in on Norfolk Southern Ultimatum

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 2, 2018
STATEMENT FROM “REDLIGHT THE GULCH COALITION”
ON NORFOLK SOUTHERN ULTIMATUM


Norfolk Southern’s CEO says that unless his company can make a big profit on its land in the Gulch, it will not consolidate staff from Norfolk, VA to Atlanta.

There is no justification for throwing a Gulch public subsidy — variously put at $1.9 billion and $1.44 billion — at an 850-job move.


The typical incentive from the City for that number of jobs is $850,000 to $2.5 million. That’s Million with an M, not Billion with a B. Some companies do not choose to extract any incentives when moving to the city.

The public cost of the Gulch scheme is on the order of one thousand times the incentive justified for the Norfolk Southern jobs.


By contrast, Blackrock announced last week that they are creating 1,000 new jobs in the city. They did not require billions in subsidy. Like Atlanta residents, they were also unfazed by the Gulch. Like all the other companies moving to and expanding in Atlanta over this decade, Blackrock is coming for our talent, our universities, our airport and our standard of living.


We also remind residents that Norfolk Southern did Atlanta no favors when they sold their stretch of the future Beltline to a developer for $25m, which forced the city to $65m — vastly more than if Norfolk had waited and sold it to the city directly.


We call upon Council Members to resist absurd last-minute arguments and bullying. The Gulch scheme would squander future revenues desperately needed to run our city and schools, and to support housing affordability.

Redlight the Gulch on November 5!

URGENT ACTION: Redlight The Gulch!

URGENT ACTION: This Monday City Council will vote to approve or deny the Gulch development plan and we need to show up in force to demand that they VOTE NO! Join us for a #RedlightTheGulch rally before the vote. Then we will pack the house at the City Council meeting and make our message clear: we must redlight the Gulch!  WEAR RED!  The proposed Gulch development would be a MAJOR loss to our communities: Mayor Bottoms wants to sell part of downtown Atlanta to billionaire developers who are known slumlords in Los Angeles. The public would lose at least $1.9 billion in taxes only to receive $100 million at most back in benefits, at most. Plus, there would be ZERO public ownership. The City has felt our pressure and made a few changes to the deal, but it's not enough. As the vote on the deal approaches, we need to apply pressure now more than ever. Learn more about the #RedlightTheGulch campaign here.

Rally FB Event Link Here

Want to take action before the vote on Monday? Call City Council members and demand they #RedlightTheGulch. Suggested Script: "Hello, I am an Atlanta resident  and I am urging you to VOTE NO on the Gulch development plan this Monday. The plan would be a HUGE loss to residents and prioritizes billionaire developers over the people of Atlanta. Thank you." The numbers to call are below:

Redlight The Gulch Coalition Responds to Mayor/CIM's Revised Gulch Deal

Click here to read the full independent review of the Gulch project

Tak Action: Housing Justice League will be holding a community canvass to educate Atlanta residents this Saturday at 12:30pm. Click here for details.

TOP 10 REASONS WHY THE GULCH PROJECT IS A SHAM FOR ATLANTA

TOP 10 REASONS WHY ATLANTA'S GULCH DEAL IS BAD FOR THE CITY'S FUTURE

1. Public cost is 55 times the public benefit. This is a grossly disproportionate cost/benefit in CIM’s favor. Council has done well to hold it. This deal is so terrible that Council now needs to walk away from it. You don’t negotiate when the gap is so enormous between what the billionaires are demanding from the public and what their scheme is worth to the public

 2. Public cost is about $2.5Bn at 2018 prices, of which $2Bn is property tax and $0.5bn in sales tax. In return, public benefits are only worth about $45mm. Details are broken out below. 

3. When the public is putting in as much as 50% of the cost to develop a private, commercial project, the public should own 40% of it. Instead, we will own nothing. The only explanation for this grotesque imbalance of advantage is CIM’s Abject Greed.

 4. The numbers. Property tax on a $5bn project when it’s complete - in 2032, per developer’s schedule - would be $90mm / yr. APS (the schools) would be losing out on $45mm / yr and the city and county $22.5mm / yr each. 

5. Despite all the smoke from the project’s boosters, this lost property tax really IS a cost to the public. Because if offices, hotels etc. are NOT built in a tax-free Gulch, they will be built in taxable parts of town, such as Tech Square, Midtown, S Downtown, Atlantic Station, Buckhead and around the Beltline. If CIM does not get this deal, the demand for office space, etc. will be met by developers in places where new construction pays taxes. In other words, this Gulch scheme ‘cannibalizes’ a massive amount of commercial growth and deprives the city and schools of future revenues for 30 years.

6. The same is true of the sales tax. This scheme would short the city and the state of some $500mm at 2018 prices thru 2048. Retail sales demand is not going to be created by putting stores in the Gulch. Those sales are going to happen somewhere in town, and the only question is whether they pay tax to the state and the general fund or not. Again the Gulch scheme would ‘cannibalize’ or displace retail activity in town and rob the state and city of tax revenues needed to pay for public services. So the total revenue loss IS $2.5 Billion. That is over $5,000 per man, woman and child resident in the city. It is equivalent to a $20,000 donation or more from every family of four in Atlanta to the billionaire Ressler brothers. 

7. The public benefits that have been dribbled out amount to around $45mm. The different cash funds are easy to add up: $42mm (though with no guarantee they’ll be spent to create real community benefit). The 200 housing units affordable at 80% AMI are worth only about $3mm, because CIM can sell them off after 3 years as rentals. CIM could sell the 200 units at prices for which a buyer would need an income 20% higher than the area median. By definition, that’s not affordable. Forget the claim that there might be some extra units for low-income folks: that’s only if AHA pays for them, which means it costs CIM nothing. 

8. The hard sell for this deal pretends that it brings 37,000 jobs to town. That is nonsense. Employers bring jobs to town – over 40,000 new jobs have moved here in the past 6 years – NCR, Worldpay, Honeywell, Anthem, Kaiser and so on. They locate here for our competitive talent, universities and airport. Office towers do not bring jobs here. (If they did, we’d have had no unemployment in the great recession, because we sure had masses of empty office towers, including the biggest - Bank of America Plaza.) So the scheme does not bring one single job here. CIM is betting that the city will continue to attract employers to fill the huge office towers that they are planning to construct. But this scheme does nothing to attract those company relocations. In fact, if Council allows this crazily one-sided deal, smart company executives will question the city’s financial responsibility. They’ll wonder if a city too busy to think can be trusted to provide good

schools and public services for their employees.

 9. Similarly the CIM sales pitch takes credit for 1800 construction jobs. But office towers are going to be built in the city to meet employer demand. So the same construction jobs will be here, whether those offices are built in the Gulch or in S Downtown and elsewhere. Handing over a $2.5bn subsidy will not result in more offices being built than are needed - or more construction jobs.

 10. The final arm-twist on Council has been a Norfolk Southern deal. NS wants us to give this enormous subsidy to CIM so that NS can sell Gulch land to CIM at a big profit. There’s nothing in that for the public. But NS might move 1,000 HQ people here in a consolidation. To justify a $2.5bn subsidy, we’d need not 1,000 jobs but about 700,000 jobs! That’s around three times the entire number of jobs in the city. It’s also 14 times the size of Amazon’s HQ2, for those who still imagine HQ2 will choose Atlanta.