Why hasn't the West End gentrified yet? (Atlanta, Roswell: section 8, cheap apartments)

[Atlwarrior]

Oh guys and girls you made me go here.

The are major hidden problems you may not know about such as:

Poor access to reliable information and data make it difficult for community members and public watchdogs(media, public interest groups)to identify responsible parties for problem properties;in turn, this favors speculators, insiders, and sometimes unresponsive bureaucracies.

Inadequate policy and legal tools are available to hold irresponsible owners accountable and to reclaim properties for responsible ownership and community improvement.

There appears to be a lack of political will to solve systems problems, demolish problem properties, and take on beneficiaries of current systems; there can be difficulty in gaining traction on technical, real estate policy issues.

There is a perception in some quarters that housing vacancy and abandonment are simply the "will of the market" rather than the result of public policy decisions, discriminatory investment patterns, and historic patterns of public investment/disinvestment.

Silos and poor communication between different agencies hinder coordinated action on problem properties.

Short term goals should be : Identify the properties most in need of demolition. Identify key infrastructure needs, including stormwater. Identify key crime-reduction needs. Identify key other needs (e.g. schools, home improvements for existing residents). Identify key anchor development phase.

[Mal93]

Excellent, Atlwarrior. Can't give you more rep points but I've been simmering on a response and you hit some key points.

[residinghere2007]

Originally Posted by demonta4

Are you trolling? Seriously, you're saying that blacks don't like parks and coffee. If anything, I would say more blacks use parks than whites. I'm not even going to comment on that first sentence, but are you seriously saying blacks don't cut their grass and leave trash in yards? Where do you live, Detroit? East Point is one of the cleanest cities I've seen. Maybe you're just in the wrong neighborhood.

Sigh...people always like to bad mouth Detroit. You shouldn't have fallen into the troll's game. His/her comments were silly. But I have family in Detroit and everyone who lives there doesn't have trash in their yards nor do they not cut the grass. I actually saw more of that in Atlanta than Detroit, but my family lives in nicer areas of Detroit. Like Atlanta, they have their good and bad sides and the bad sides of Atlanta look eerily similar to those images people have in their minds of Detroit. In Detroit, when they had the money, they were much more proactive in demolishing blighted structures than the city of Atlanta FWIW.


This is a street in Detroit that one of my cousins lives on and it is not even considered a good area
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3981...-Q!2e0!6m1!1e1

This is the neighborhood my aunt lives in and it is a pretty nice neighborhood. Not all of Detroit is bad:
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.4371...WQ!2e0!6m1!1e1

[Mossberg]

^^^^As a person who was born and raised on the West Side of Detroit.....Thank you for speaking this truth.

[d-moving1]

Originally Posted by Atlwarrior

I live in West End, and I see two different things happening. You have young, and middle age professional pouring into West End purchasing mostly beautiful restored Queen Anne style homes. Then you have those who have no sense of community, people who actually see the restoration of West End happening, but don't really understand or appreciate it. The challenge is between bridging two groups of very unique mindsets in West End. Home owner's community type versus Renter who can give a F!c# about the neighborhood in which they live. I don't think you can just throw money into a neighborhood by way of renovate homes, but ignore the needs of people who have been there for years. Needs such as single parents, misdirected youth, and adults who depends on the Government only. I do appreciate the redevelopment of West End, but it must also be a way to communicate with those of different mindset and teach them how to be part of an community, be self supportive versus government supportive and a belief that you can actually trust your neighbor.

I've been visiting this forum for years. Never post a blog, but this thread got my attention. I totally agree with Atlwarrior's statement. I'm a young black professional that sold my primary home in Grant Park last year and bought another one in the West End. Since I've moved in (Sept '13), the owner of the property adjacent to mine has evicted 2 tenants since then. Both were horrible. Never kept the yard clean, killed the grass by parking on it instead of using the parking pad, broken windows, etc. He explained to me that it's been very hard to find a good tenant.

As atlwarrior put it, there are two totally different groups that reside in the area. On one hand, you have new & established homeowners that are really involved in the community for long-term growth, and yet there are some that just don't care. I'm not against tenants, but I wish some would care more about their community and property.

I believe gentrification/development is occurring in a clockwise rotation. It started with Edgewood, then Grant Park/Summerhill. Next will be West End. I'm looking forward to see what kind of developments the beltline projects will bring to the area this year.

[JoeTarheel]

Originally Posted by d-moving1

I've been visiting this forum for years. Never post a blog, but this thread got my attention. I totally agree with Atlwarrior's statement. I'm a young black professional that sold my primary home in Grant Park last year and bought another one in the West End. Since I've moved in (Sept '13), the owner of the property adjacent to mine has evicted 2 tenants since then. Both were horrible. Never kept the yard clean, killed the grass by parking on it instead of using the parking pad, broken windows, etc. He explained to me that it's been very hard to find a good tenant.

As atlwarrior put it, there are two totally different groups that reside in the area. On one hand, you have new & established homeowners that are really involved in the community for long-term growth, and yet there are some that just don't care. I'm not against tenants, but I wish some would care more about their community and property.

I believe gentrification/development is occurring in a clockwise rotation. It started with Edgewood, then Grant Park/Summerhill. Next will be West End. I'm looking forward to see what kind of developments the beltline projects will bring to the area this year.

West End is has some very beautiful and historic areas. I've been rooting for it for many years, and it's nice to see the positive changes happening in the recent past.

[JoeTarheel]

Originally Posted by residinghere2007

Sigh...people always like to bad mouth Detroit. You shouldn't have fallen into the troll's game. His/her comments were silly. But I have family in Detroit and everyone who lives there doesn't have trash in their yards nor do they not cut the grass. I actually saw more of that in Atlanta than Detroit, but my family lives in nicer areas of Detroit. Like Atlanta, they have their good and bad sides and the bad sides of Atlanta look eerily similar to those images people have in their minds of Detroit. In Detroit, when they had the money, they were much more proactive in demolishing blighted structures than the city of Atlanta FWIW.


This is a street in Detroit that one of my cousins lives on and it is not even considered a good area
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3981...-Q!2e0!6m1!1e1

This is the neighborhood my aunt lives in and it is a pretty nice neighborhood. Not all of Detroit is bad:
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.4371...WQ!2e0!6m1!1e1

Detroit is the butt of many jokes, but there are obviously nice areas there just like any other city. I guess it gets more than its share of negative press and always seems to be in competition for things like "Most Dangerous City", and that doesn't help the overall perception. I've never had a chance to visit, but I know that it's just like other cities with some nice areas and some not-so-nice areas. It's akin to Atlanta's "Poster Child for Sprawl" perception that it got stuck with 25 years ago.

[Mossberg]

Just curious....

What parts of the West End are good to live in? I may be interested in buying as a primary residence. I love the location of the West End and it's close proximity to the center of the city.

I just wish more properties over there would have garages. I have motorized toys to store. lol

[d-moving1]

Originally Posted by Mossberg

Just curious....

What parts of the West End are good to live in? I may be interested in buying as a primary residence. I love the location of the West End and it's close proximity to the center of the city.

I just wish more properties over there would have garages. I have motorized toys to store. lol

IMO, off Abernathy directly behind ACE Hardware (Peeples, Olgethorpe, Lawton). That's considered the "Historic" area. Huge well-kept homes. Then there's some nice homes near the West End Park (Oak St, Holderness, Lucile).

Continue west on Abernathy, and you'll find a few good pockets in Westview (down by the Kroger Shopping Center). Some streets have tons of boarded up homes. I'm finding out that many are owned by investors that aren't interested in selling. They're just waiting for the shift.


I'm in the process of getting permit from the city to convert my carport into a garage, so I know how you feel.

[Mal93]

Originally Posted by Mossberg

Just curious....


I just wish more properties over there would have garages. I have motorized toys to store. lol

Sometimes the garages are there, just not as obvious.There could be a detached structure in the back of the property (several of these in my neighborhood are literally old school "auto barn" sheds, built in the 20s/30s as more people got cars). Or the garage could actually be down the street off an alley or around the corner. I am not sure if we had examples of these in ATL, but I've read about old neighborhoods touting community parking garages (which sometimes were just horse stables where you could also park your car).

My garage is a detached underground affair of hewn granite that's not on my address street, but off a side street at the edge of my property. Looking at my house head on you'd think it has no garage. I've lived in walk-up apts or intown houses most of my life so it didn't really occur to me that no driveway/detached garage could be an inconvenience (I don't have kids & buy small amounts of groceries).

If I break a leg or if we continue to have icy winters on the regular I might have to rethink that!!!