City won't postpone demolition

By Eric Stirgus / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution / Published on: 12/04/07

The Atlanta City Council won't delay the housing authority's plan to demolish some of its older apartment buildings. At least, for now.

Council members decided Monday to wait before making the demand. They want to create a task force that will study the demolition's effect on elderly tenants and make sure those residents have adequate housing.

Councilman Ivory Lee Young, one of two co-sponsors of the legislation, asked for more time to map out what the task force will study and who should serve on it. He pledged to bring the legislation back to the council by late January.

"We're trying to hurriedly and haphazardly go through this," Young said. "It deserves a lot more thought."

Shirley Hightower, president of the Bowen Homes resident association, one of the buildings scheduled to be demolished, was disappointed by the council's decision.
"I wanted some results today," she said.

The Atlanta Housing Authority has announced plans to demolish 11 apartment complexes it says are old and in poor condition. The apartments include two high-rise buildings for the elderly. One of them, the 250-unit Palmer House, is scheduled to be demolished early next year. The other, Roosevelt House, is set for April 2009.

Displaced tenants will get federal housing subsidized vouchers they can use to offset rent in other public housing, privately-owned apartment buildings or homes elsewhere in the region.
Some tenants and community activists have complained that the residents will have to go to areas where it is tougher to get to public transportation and health care. About two dozen residents spoke about the issue Monday. Most were in favor of a task force.

The council did hire a fire chief. Kelvin Cochran, fire chief of Shreveport, La., since 1999, was appointed unanimously Monday to lead Atlanta's 1,045 firefighters and emergency medical service workers.

Cochran, 47, will make an annual salary of about $160,000. He has said his tasks will include assessing the condition of Atlanta's 37 fire stations and possibly pushing for raises. The average starting annual salary for a city firefighter is about $35,000.