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Probably not worth fixing most of the homes, but they could do what Baltimore and Detroit is finally wising up and starting to do: Seize the property through eminent domain, dozing the area, then selling the property to developers...
See part of the reason I think eminent domain is not as effective for Atlanta is that you do not have whole neighborhoods empty like they do in Baltimore and other northern and Midwestern cities.You have Row Houses and Triplex's.They are connected.In Detroit even the single family housing has been empty for decades.Entire blocks are empty.Usually people have moved out of all of them.
That's not the case with Atlanta.Atlanta has already gotten rid all its project style buildings.
Atlanta has single family dwellings mainly.It has to be a more targeted approach then just widespread bulldozing.You cant bull doze someones house because its ugly.These are communities with real people and families.Many of those families have owned houses before those neighborhoods went bad.
See part of the reason I think eminent domain is not as effective for Atlanta is that you do not have whole neighborhoods empty like they do in Baltimore and other northern and Midwestern cities.You have Row Houses and Triplex's.They are connected.In Detroit even the single family housing has been empty for decades.Entire blocks are empty.Usually people have moved out of all of them.
That's not the case with Atlanta.Atlanta has already gotten rid all its project style buildings.
Atlanta has single family dwellings mainly.It has to be a more targeted approach then just widespread bulldozing.You cant bull doze someones house because its ugly.These are communities with real people and families.Many of those families have owned houses before those neighborhoods went bad.
I'm sure the city could find creative ways to get those people to move out. Pay some gangs or homeless a few dollars to hassle them until they move. Remember, eminent domain is not voluntary, the city can offer them current market value, which in that hood is likely 20 grand a house, and tell them to get down the road before the bulldozers get there...
Like I stated above, the place is not as bad as it used to be. I admit it looked bad in the 90s. I went to CAU and stayed in Vine City when I went there in the 90s. It is much better than it used to be.
It is also funny to me that people play it up like it is some sort of war zone. Interesting actually maybe because I come from an area that has a high degree of real, national street gangs (GD, Vice Lords, Crips, Bloods) that will kill you for wearing the wrong color so the groups of teenagers here that are called gangs that I have never heard of do not scare me. I am not afraid of any place here in Atlanta and have never been. I have a pretty fearless spirit, but the fact of the matter remains that crime is down in the neighborhood, you won't get killed just by walking down the street, plenty of people live here who are not on drugs, or a prostitute, or a drug dealer. It is just a regular neighborhood with some bad elements, the drugs. I don't do drugs so that doesn't affect me.
Wanted to note that I did say that I saw DEA agents 18 months ago and that an apartment around the corner from my house about 1/2 mile a way was raided. They were arrested and never came back. The place is vacant now except for homeless people who go in there and burn things in barrels in the winter to stay warm. Similar goings on happen on Pelham/Griffin intersection. Homeless people got inside an apartment there and burned the place down with their barrels about 3 years ago. Through some pressuring we got that building torn down. No one has come and taken over it to sell drugs, homeless people don't camp out there, it is just a nice grassy knoll now. So getting rid of buildings that are blight does help. Another empty lot was turned into a playground not too far from the Griffin/Pelham intersection. Kids actually play there, I take my kids there, we are never accosted or victimized.
I think a lot of people like to play up how "bad" of an area that they are from. I am from a bad area crime wise but I always remember the good things about where I'm from. You are alive and well it seems. I hope you aren't on drugs or a drug dealer. If not, I guess the place wasn't all that bad since you had people that cared about you and wanted the best for you and you are doing okay. The relatives you visit, if they are drug dealers, they are contributing the mess and you should encourage them to leave. We don't want them here. If they are nice people, I hope they stay around. Unfortunately we may be moving to Chicago next year, which I don't want to do. THAT is a city that actually makes me worry about crimes because they have real gangs who are notorious and have been around for decades, that hold down many areas. My husband is from Chicago and feels the same way about English Avenue that I do. It looks bad because of blight but really is not that horrible of a place to live. We have lived in Cobb, Gwinnet, and many different parts of the city and the only difference now is the blight and the lack of shopping centers, which isn't that bad of a thing IMO.
All that to say it depends on your perspective. I stated I didn't see DEA agents at that particular intersection you mentioned and I haven't. Someone (don't know if it was you as didn't go back and read) stated that if you get rid of the drug dealers or the properties they will just come back. I used the DEA raid at the apartment and the above reference to a building that was burned down as proof that that is not true. Most of the crackheads and prostitutes around here broke into houses to live in without utilities. If those houses weren't there or if people were living in them, the homeless crackheads and prostitutes wouldn't have a place of refuge in them so they wouldn't be around. I know quite a few people who live here who are not crackheads. I have a very good paying job as does my husband, we could live practically any place we want to live. So not everyone here is the sort of person you think they are. You probably don't see us much though if you are focusing on the negative elements, plus we work so aren't sitting around for those to view who drive through or who visit their relatives every once in a while.
I'm sorry, where in my post did I say that area is a war zone in 2011? Did I mention that or did you just throw that in there to make your argument look better? And miss me with the GD, Vice Lord Chicago street gang demo. My parents are from Gary Indiana, I'm well aware of the gangland culture of Chicagoland. I was just at a funeral for my cousin who got murdered in Terror Town on the SE side of Chicago behind some Black P Stone/Latin Dragon beef. I'm probably more comfortable on the southside of Chicago and the westside of Gary than you are. And to take it a step further you can't even compare the two cities when it comes to a street crime level, because in my honest opinion the goons in Chicago are too busy worried about that gang stuff to even get money. For Chicago to be so big, the black community is pretty country and broke (yeah thats coming from a Georgia boy). Atlanta is a hustler's city, everybody wants to outshine everybody and get more money than the next man. A goon can ride a 2002 Buick Park Avenue with some blades in the hoods in Chicago and everybody will be on your jock and think you're the man making big moves. Here in the hoods in Atlanta people wouldn't even look twice at at you and might actually laugh at you if you try to pull off those Trio/Blades/Chopper rims that dudes in Chicago love so much, seeing as we stopped playing those literally like 10 years ago. Let alone outside the hoods (as unlike Chicago, their are black people in sizeable numbers everywhere here), as when my cousins come down here from Chicago to visit their mouths are literally on the floor when I take them Uptown to Buckhead or Midtown when they see how black people get money here. So I will give you that, Atlanta has no areas that can compare to Chicago as far as violence (who cares though?). But blacks in Chicago don't hold a candle to blacks in Atlanta when it comes to getting money. And I wasn't exaggerating about the crime in the Bluff back in the late 80's and early 90's, even the whole city actually. Atlanta was the murder capitol in '89 and almost again in '90, stuff really was crazy back then. If you don't believe me look it up for yourself. The entire westside is basically a ghost town compared to what is was, you can thank urban renewal and the '96 Olympics for that.
All that to say it depends on your perspective. I stated I didn't see DEA agents at that particular intersection you mentioned and I haven't. Someone (don't know if it was you as didn't go back and read) stated that if you get rid of the drug dealers or the properties they will just come back. I used the DEA raid at the apartment and the above reference to a building that was burned down as proof that that is not true. Most of the crackheads and prostitutes around here broke into houses to live in without utilities. If those houses weren't there or if people were living in them, the homeless crackheads and prostitutes wouldn't have a place of refuge in them so they wouldn't be around. I know quite a few people who live here who are not crackheads. I have a very good paying job as does my husband, we could live practically any place we want to live. So not everyone here is the sort of person you think they are. You probably don't see us much though if you are focusing on the negative elements, plus we work so aren't sitting around for those to view who drive through or who visit their relatives every once in a while.
And don't worry about how often I may be or may not be over there. I could be over there everyday hanging out with people I grew up with or I could never go back. That's none of your business. Either way I mind my business over there as should you.
I'm sure the city could find creative ways to get those people to move out. Pay some gangs or homeless a few dollars to hassle them until they move. Remember, eminent domain is not voluntary, the city can offer them current market value, which in that hood is likely 20 grand a house, and tell them to get down the road before the bulldozers get there...
Have you even been in the area?Its a mixed bag.Yes there are some really bad areas but its still a community with deep roots.Eminent Domain does not mean it can just tear up a entire neighborhood.There are limitations to how it is orchestrated.
If the city could pay to buy houses,then they should be able pay policemen,teachers,firemen etc more money and fix some of these bad roads.
Besides the area has gotten better and continues to do so as more people are moving into the city.Areas that are considered no-mans land in the past now have active interest by people looking for the next spot to invest in.I live here and I see huge potential.
Have you even been in the area?Its a mixed bag.Yes there are some really bad areas but its still a community with deep roots.Eminent Domain does not mean it can just tear up a entire neighborhood.There are limitations to how it is orchestrated.
If the city could pay to buy houses,then they should be able pay policemen,teachers,firemen etc more money and fix some of these bad roads.
Besides the area has gotten better and continues to do so as more people are moving into the city.Areas that are considered no-mans land in the past now have active interest by people looking for the next spot to invest in.I live here and I see huge potential.
Paying policemen, teachers, etc has no upside of profit. If you doze this cesspool of a neighborhood and sell the land to developers, you could make money, collect more taxes to pay for it, etc.
Paying policemen, teachers, etc has no upside of profit. If you doze this cesspool of a neighborhood and sell the land to developers, you could make money, collect more taxes to pay for it, etc.
I'm not making this stuff up...
I hate to say it, but your right. Atlanta's forgotten community needs to be first priority with our governor and local community leaders. This neighborhood has been neglected for far too long.
I hate to say it, but your right. Atlanta's forgotten community needs to be first priority with our governor and local community leaders. This neighborhood has been neglected for far too long.
The Bluff really isn't forgotten, people know about it, and professional people have been moving over there in small pockets. But there are some other pockets in the city that no one talks about that are pretty bad too. Like the bottom of Cascade near the Kroger City Center has gotten a lot worse IMO. Montreat Ave. looks horrible now. Olympian Dr used to be pretty decent back in the day, but now its a huge trap. And almost every single house on Richland Dr. is boarded up. Its not like that area was ever that good, but its gotten a lot worse. It's almost like crime from Oakland City has been creeping north slowly but surely. Stand on the corner of Montreat and Richland and it looks worse right now than the Bluff does.
If you’re visiting Atlanta and aren’t looking to be shot in the face, swarmed by smack dealers, stopped by cops merely for being white, or set ablaze by an HIV-positive crackhead squatter, stay away from the area known as “The Bluff.”
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. And to take it a step further you can't even compare the two cities when it comes to a street crime level, because in my honest opinion the goons in Chicago are too busy worried about that gang stuff to even get money. For Chicago to be so big, the black community is pretty country and broke (yeah thats coming from a Georgia boy). Atlanta is a hustler's city, everybody wants to outshine everybody and get more money than the next man. A goon can ride a 2002 Buick Park Avenue with some blades in the hoods in Chicago and everybody will be on your jock and think you're the man making big moves. Here in the hoods in Atlanta people wouldn't even look twice at at you and might actually laugh at you if you try to pull off those Trio/Blades/Chopper rims that dudes in Chicago love so much, seeing as we stopped playing those literally like 10 years ago. Let alone outside the hoods (as unlike Chicago, their are black people in sizeable numbers everywhere here), as when my cousins come down here from Chicago to visit their mouths are literally on the floor when I take them Uptown to Buckhead or Midtown when they see how black people get money here. So I will give you that, Atlanta has no areas that can compare to Chicago as far as violence (who cares though?). But blacks in Chicago don't hold a candle to blacks in Atlanta when it comes to getting money. And I wasn't exaggerating about the crime in the Bluff back in the late 80's and early 90's, even the whole city actually. Atlanta was the murder capitol in '89 and almost again in '90, stuff really was crazy back then. If you don't believe me look it up for yourself. The entire westside is basically a ghost town compared to what is was, you can thank urban renewal and the '96 Olympics for that.
