Homelessness in Atlanta, "Safer" Atlanta texts, and a new Kemp 2022 strategy

The Update 7/9

Jul 10, 2021

Welcome to my freemium newsletter by me, King Williams. A documentary filmmaker, journalist, podcast host, and author based in Atlanta, Georgia. This is a newsletter covering the hidden connections of Atlanta to everything else.

1. Questions on Atlanta (city and metro) for the first-ever mailbag edition on Friday, July 16th

One week from today on Friday, July 16th, I’m hosting my first-ever mailbag edition of the newsletter. The mailbag is for any question on Atlanta. The answers will be replied to one week from now in this newsletter and via my podcast The Neighborhood Watch.

2. BookClub - Rage in the Gate City

*Please note that the next events are open for any member of the newsletter to attend especially the July 18th and 25th events.

Our current book club selection, Rage in the Gate City on the history of the 1906 Atlanta Race Riot written by former Atlanta Magazine editor and current University of Georgia Professor Rebecca Burns is coming to an end this month.

3. “Safer Atlanta” — a new anti-crime text campaign and website

Over the last few weeks, many people in Atlanta have begun to receive text messages concerned about crime. The text message is from Safer Atlanta, a new initiative recently rolled out during this electoral cycle. If you read my last article Atlanta is Losing the Narrative you would realize this is the next level of misinformation and malinformation in Atlanta. We are now entering the next level of political activity within Atlanta, so text messages, voicemails, and social media are all a part of the new political landscape.

From the Safer Atlanta website as of 7/9/2021*:

Despite calling itself Safer Atlanta, Inc. the company is not registered directly with the Georgia Secretary of State’s office as of the publication of this newsletter, likely being a shell company, operating under another name, or buried into another legal entity. The website was registration information is private but the company did use Domains By Proxy, a GoDaddy registration company based in Arizona. The Safer Atlanta website includes a secured link for an online fundraiser with prices ranging from $5,000-$100,000. Due to the lack of discernible origin, basic website, and high dollar amount this is potentially meant for the crowd of Buckhead secessionists or their supporters. I would expect more text messages, robocalls, voicemails, social media ads, alongside an increase in tv and radio campaigns.

4. Atlanta’s homeless protest

Earlier this week, the Atlanta Homeless Union held a protest over the conditions of homeless people in the city. The protests included a march as well as a camp-in on the lawn of Atlanta City Hall. Six people were arrested in the protest and the effort is an attempt to recenter the topic of homelessness during a city electoral cycle focused on crime and Buckhead secession. The group has also released a list of demands related to providing care for the homeless. Homeless advocates demand more from the city, while the city since the Reed administration, has had a rather hands-off approach.

The city of Atlanta estimates that there are about 3,200+ chronically homeless people in Atlanta. That number doesn’t fully encapsulate the city’s homeless population nor does it the transient population of homeless people. These homeless residents are often congregating around the resources of downtown Atlanta where food, shelter, medical services, public transit, and safety are more readily available. As a result, the city for decades has had to wrestle with how to deal with the homeless population. The worst solution being around the time of the 1996 Olympics when homeless people were rounded up, some were incarcerated, while others were given a one-way bus ticket out of Atlanta. Atlanta’s homeless population has been hindering the growth and economic potential of downtown Atlanta for decades but outside of the 1996 Olympics, only the mayoral term of Kasim Reed seemed to put a dent in it. Under the Reed administration, the city saw a wider crackdown on homelessness and the closing of the city’s largest homeless shelter.

4b. Emory University + Peachtree & Pine

During the Reed administration, the city saw the closing of its largest shelter The Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, bka ‘Peachtree & Pine’ (P&P) in 2017. That location downtown would be sold off nearly 18 months later to Emory University for a mere $6.2 million in 2019. The same Emory University which may or may not tear down the 100-year old building for a new project. For years Peachtree & Pine sat at a valuable intersection of Atlanta real estate between North Avenue and the I-75/85 freeway. Due to the large space of P&P as well as its parking lot, the location is prime for destruction as the university is seeking to develop a stronger foothold in Atlanta.

Emory is probably going to destroy a 100-year old building and former homeless shelter for a 3,000 unit parking lot next to a train station.

*This section incorrectly lists the site of Emory’s completed 3,000 unit parking deck. That university did tear down a 90-year-old building, not Peachtree & Pine. The current site of Peachtree & Pine is still TBD according to the university. Emory is considering making the Peachtree and Pine location a part of its midtown ‘hub’ of its growing portfolio of properties.

This foothold has also led to a larger annexation of downtown Atlanta into Midtown, leading to increased property values for new real estate projects currently in development.

Photo via Emory University and the Atlanta Department of City Planning

This could be one issue where the new Atlanta City Council and mayor actually preserve one of the few remaining 100-year old buildings in Atlanta. The plan pitched to the department of city planning includes building a massive 3,000 unit parking lot despite being two blocks away from the Civic Center MARTA station. This is in addition to several other large multi-hundred unit parking lots in the area.
*This is a mistake by myself. Emory did in fact tear down the 90 year old Georgia Life Insurance building downtown, not P&P. Emory still has not released public plans yet on P&P. - KJW

Per the Department of City Planning:

The deck will provide 3,000 parking spaces and consolidate five different lots within blocks of the hospital. The formerly leased lots will be made available for future active development. Emory also plans to subsidize MARTA passes at 100 percent for all its employees. It’s part of its plans to promote alternative ways of travel in anticipation of more density. The deck will have rideshare zones, commuter bicycle facilities and increased electric charging stations.

This isn’t the only facility downtown as directly next door to P&P, a new luxury condo development is also on the rise. The condo is attempting to finally make the ‘SoNo District’ (south of North Avenue) a thing.

Photo via The Atlanta Journal Constituion - 2/20/2020

Per the AJC - 2/20/2020:

A planned luxury apartment tower near the former Peachtree-Pine homeless shelter shows how developers are licking their chops at the potential of the once-derelict intown neighborhood.
Woodfield Development, a South Carolina residential developer, plans to break ground in October on 505 Courtland, an $87 million, 16-story building with about 280 rental units. Woodfield did not disclose a price range, but Atlanta development partner Patrick Kassin said they will be marketed as luxury units.
The neighborhood has been economically depressed for decades, partly due to the shelter and the hundreds of residents it housed nightly. City and business leaders worked for years to remove the shelter and it closed in December 2017. A coalition of community advocates helped relocate some of the shelter's residents.
Developers hope a new name for the district catches on: SoNo (South of North Avenue).

4c. The Stitch and downtown revival

The site of Peachtree & Pine also sits a potentially lucrative location, as rumors of ‘The Stitch’, a downtown highway capping project.

The Stitch would be a capping project, where a new overlapping development on top of the highway would open a new opportunity for increased landmass in a city destroyed by the intersection of I-75/85. The Stitch is one of three currently proposed highway capping projects including one in Midtown from 5th Street at Georgia Tech to 17th Street at Atlantic Station as well as one on top of Georgia 400 in Buckhead heading into Alpharetta dubbed HUB404.

The project could have viability under a Biden administration as current Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is seeking to undo the wrongs of highway development on African American communities in addition to the havoc it has brought to American cities. Highways that purposely destroyed Atlanta’s Black wealth center of Auburn Avenue in addition to other Black communities throughout the city.

4d. Political implications of chronic homelessness

Currently, the appetite for addressing homelessness will likely see more seriousness a year from now. Due to the increasing role of the 2022 Georgia Governors and US midterm elections, Atlanta’s homelessness could emerge as a wedge issue against Democrats. Should that happen, expect more moves during the big election next year. As the GOP moves further into culture wars and ‘law & order’ policing, expect those two to be linked together as new wedge issues. The GOP culture machine plus people fed up with Democratic leadership over the last 18-24 months is leading a tidal wave of support that once again the Dems have no answer for.

4e. San Francisco’s anti-homeless, anti-liberal backlash is a warning sign for Georgia + the Dems as a whole

San Francisco has emerged as ground zero for this as both traditional conservatives alongside tech libertarians have been successfully pinning these faults on Democratic governance. This comes in addition to several high-ranking Libertarians, Mayor London Breed detractors, and others to incorrectly link homelessness to crime. This has been used in combination with a large anti-liberal effort to recall San Francisco District Attorney Chesea Boudin and California Governor Gavin Newsome.

The efforts against Boudin should be of particular interest to Georgia activists as Boudin, a reformer candidate who won impart on reforming police has received the brunt of criticism regarding policing. As well as the city of San Francisco has sought to remove the role of police in resolving issues of homelessness, instead of relying on a more robust system of housing + care instead of incarceration. Homelessness, perceptions in crime on the rise, anti-Asian American violence, covid-19 response, back-to-school rollouts, and social media are also shaping the new reality of San Francisco.

In a similar phenomenon of what's happening with ATLScoop + Atlanta social media influencers, the public perception is now leading to a bigger narrative developing on people in San Francisco wanting to leave. These members cited are often white, non-Democratic leaning, non-California native, and from the tech industry, not necessarily indicative of the large long-term residents of the city. Three groups of people who are also aiding in massive gentrification efforts in the city, who are also leading an exodus to Texas and Miami.

5. Kemp and Rafensperger have a new strategy—the big government Dems are attacking them

The Biden DOJ is investigating Georgia voting laws alongside several other states currently suppressing the vote across the US. As Republicans are writing more laws nationally to suppress and potentially commandeer the vote, the campaign strategy for both incumbents Brian Kemp and Brad Rafensperger has a strategy ahead of the 2022 election.

Kemp and Rafesnperger have managed to wedge out a new identity—thoughtful and pragmatic conservatism. This identity is a shield against claims levied by voter rights action groups, while also being socially distanced from Trumpism, despite passing the laws the Trumpist base wants. This has also been successful against portraying Dems, voting rights advocates, and alarmists on the GOP’s descent into authoritarianism as unreasonable. And for the most part, it’s working.

5b. SB202 appeal is upheld by Georgia’s course

Today a judge dealt a blow to voting rights activists as former DeKalb County judge and now US District Court judge JP Boulee has rejected 8 appeals by voter rights organization groups. There will be another set of appeals on more election laws next week as two additional cases will be coming under judgment.

Red Clay News

The Krispy Kreme on Ponce has caught on fire again.
The DeKalb County School District drops mask mandates.
A $10,000 reward has been created for a Kennesaw State University quarterback who was killed in Florida.
The Pinetree Country Club has reopened after a shooting of a Golf Pro was killed at the course. Today included an arrest of a suspect in the case.
Marietta is looking for ways to slow down traffic.
Kasim Reed is the target of a new investigation based on campaign expenditures.
Former University of Georgia and Dallas Cowboys running back Herschel Walker has announced that he will run against Senator Warnock.
A judge has thrown out most of the lawsuit targeting Fulton County ballots
A new Campbellton Road development is facing residential pushback over its ‘prisonesque’ design.
There is another Fulton County 2020 election audit is taking place.
APS wants public input on how to spend its $201m in pandemic funds.
KLB’s recent AJC op-Ed has ruffled some feathers, this comes one year after her op-Ed in The New York Times.
The Atlanta Design Studio has released its comprehensive design first draft.
PAD (Policing Alternatives Directory) has a new survey that its using to help improve the service, you can click here.

National News

The Delta variant of covid-19 is now the dominant variant in the US. This comes as 99% of all covid-19 deaths in May were from unvaccinated people.
Chicago’s famous Lakeshore Drive has been renamed after Jean Baptiste Point DuSable.
Former Trump Attorney General Bill Bar rehabilitation tour is in full effect as he is trying to distance himself from the administration.
The rest of the Miami condo collapsed building has now been demolished.
Native Hawaiian activist Haunani Kay Trask has died at the age of 71.
The Pentagon has canceled a lucrative $10 billion dollar contract that was originally awarded to Microsoft.

International News

China is clamping down on Bitcoin as the country considers it a threat to national security.
Jack Ma and ANT Financial are coming under more government control after China is cracking down on its richest person after he has criticized the government. This includes halting his company’s IPO in December 2020 and then been forced to restructure the company back in April.
Iceland is touting the country’s 4-day work week as a success after initial studies.
The Ukrainian army is under fire for having its female soldiers march in heels instead of boots.
Due to the spread of covid-19 impacting hospitals, Indonesia is facing an oxygen shortage, while currently importing more to the country.
The country of Georgia has had its LGBTQ marches canceled due to threats of violence.

What I’m checking out: Atlanta media edition

Podcasts

The Atlanta Podcast - Andre Dickens episode, which includes this video,
Archive Atlanta Podcast - “The Hidden History of Old Atlanta” with author Mark Pifer

Newsletters

George Chidi - The Atlanta Imperative - A Night On Edgewood Avenue
Peach State Politics with Niles Francis - The Gwinnett Republican who could reshape GA politics for a decade

I Am King Williams Newsletter