Vine City residents file motion to block public funding for Falcons stadium (Atlanta: 2014, foreclosure)

[LynnHarris]

A group of Vine City residents have filed a motion to challenge the use of at least $200 million in public funding for the proposed Atlanta Falcons stadium..."

Full Story: Vine City residents file motion to block public funding for Falcons stadium | Atlanta News & Opinion Blog | Fresh Loaf | Creative Loafing Atlanta

[arjay57]

The city of Atlanta pulled out all the stops to satisfy the Falcons.

[jsvh]

They need to connect the street grid to vine city.

But I will be surprised if this suit goes anywhere. They are using the existing hotel motel tax from the dome. But if it does that will be a bad sign for Cobb where they created 3 new taxes and redirected a large chunk of property taxes to the stadium.

[residinghere2007]

They are pulling out all stops for this. FWIW, a couple of the filers are English Avenue residents who were upset about the Community Benefits shenanigans that we went through last year. Everyone is trying to pull together to get the funds needed to do a lot of work in our communities and are just sick of waiting for people to give what they promise.

I am hoping that this will delay the public funding. Personally, I have been basically begging the city to board up open and vacant properties on my street and in my area for years. It is really like a slap in the face for them to constantly say they don't have money to demolish burnt out structures or board up properties or do stump grinding, simple infrastructure and code enforcement needs (that are needed ALL over Atlanta mind you) yet they have no qualms signing over hundreds of millions of dollars to the Falcons and Arthur Blank. Being that I contract demolishing structures in the Atlanta metro area, I know that demolishing a house is usually only $10K. We could demolish all of the houses that are burnt out or are in such bad shape that they need to be demolished in both Vine City and English Avenue for less than one million dollars but we keep getting the run around and told there is no money. If they can ear mark for the Falcons they can use some of that specifically for infrastructure improvements.

But let me stop because I can get angry thinking about it. I know the stadium will go forward but we as citizens in the city of Atlanta are really getting a bad deal in all this being that we could have used that money to really do some improvements in the city. For the community benefits in English Avenue all we wanted was infrastructure improvements (there are actually 2 dirt streets in this neighborhood that have never been paved!), some vending opportunities at the new stadium, and funding to renovate the old English Avenue school into a community center as we have no community facilities or parks or anything. So I am glad that people are finally speaking up and trying to do something.

[tikigod311]

Good info residinghere. That sounds incredibly frustrating.

Does the area already get money from when the Georgia Dome was built, or am I thinking of Turner Field? It seems like what you are proposing should be a top priority for the area.

[residinghere2007]

Originally Posted by tikigod311

Good info residinghere. That sounds incredibly frustrating.

Does the area already get money from when the Georgia Dome was built, or am I thinking of Turner Field? It seems like what you are proposing should be a top priority for the area.

During the community benefits shenanigans it was stated that the $8 million dollars that was set aside for the Vine City community has been used up. They provided us with elementary styled spreadsheets that didn't provide much information out and some of it was given to sheisty developers and was lost but really there isn't a true account IMO of where the money went. Some of it though was given out via Invest Atlanta's, formerly Atlanta Development Authority, housing trust fund which give people down payment assistance to move to Vine City and then it was expanded to English Avenue. The grant, until recently was $40K per family. I actually used the grant to buy my own home and the grant was the main reason why we decided to move to English Avenue versus an east side neighborhood at the time (after some brokers and realtors and other housing people tried to scam us over in West End which is where I actually wanted to buy, but that is another story). I know a couple people who used that grant but it had a lot of requirements in regards to the condition of the house that was being bought and due to the fact that vandalism of vacant homes is a huge issue over here, one would be hard pressed to find a home to buy that was not vandalized in some way.

My own home was vandalized as well but we made a deal with the bank (our house was a foreclosure) that they would pay to get all of the repairs fixed within 2 days of closing so the ADA went ahead and gave us a grant. I am very persistent in trying to get free money though lol! I know people who had similar circumstances and who the ADA did not give them the grant money to who ended up moving in other neighborhoods.

FWIW, that program is still around via Westside TAD funds. They only give $15K worth of grant money now but it is a good deal especially if you want to buy one of the newer homes or condos being built in the area. The ones near the Ashby station are popular for this program in Vine City.

[SLIMMACKEY]

Originally Posted by residinghere2007

During the community benefits shenanigans it was stated that the $8 million dollars that was set aside for the Vine City community has been used up. They provided us with elementary styled spreadsheets that didn't provide much information out and some of it was given to sheisty developers and was lost but really there isn't a true account IMO of where the money went. Some of it though was given out via Invest Atlanta's, formerly Atlanta Development Authority, housing trust fund which give people down payment assistance to move to Vine City and then it was expanded to English Avenue. The grant, until recently was $40K per family. I actually used the grant to buy my own home and the grant was the main reason why we decided to move to English Avenue versus an east side neighborhood at the time (after some brokers and realtors and other housing people tried to scam us over in West End which is where I actually wanted to buy, but that is another story). I know a couple people who used that grant but it had a lot of requirements in regards to the condition of the house that was being bought and due to the fact that vandalism of vacant homes is a huge issue over here, one would be hard pressed to find a home to buy that was not vandalized in some way.

My own home was vandalized as well but we made a deal with the bank (our house was a foreclosure) that they would pay to get all of the repairs fixed within 2 days of closing so the ADA went ahead and gave us a grant. I am very persistent in trying to get free money though lol! I know people who had similar circumstances and who the ADA did not give them the grant money to who ended up moving in other neighborhoods.

FWIW, that program is still around via Westside TAD funds. They only give $15K worth of grant money now but it is a good deal especially if you want to buy one of the newer homes or condos being built in the area. The ones near the Ashby station are popular for this program in Vine City.

Very good info.

[jsvh]

I want west side neighborhoods to prosper, but I think this is an example of how these sort of neighborhood kick-backs only cause more problems than they solve and the money gets lost in corruption.

The key things that should be happening to help the area is: connectivity (connecting streets to downtown and connecting the Beltline), zoning, and zoning enforcement (via fines).

[arjay57]

If they were slapping a gigantic NFL stadium in my neighborhood I'd sure want some serious concessions.

Can you imagine the pandemonium that would erupt if they tried to put this thing in Midtown or Virginia Highland?

[atler8]

Considering the heavy handed, top down-directed experiences that poor neighborhoods have had over the decades with things ranging from urban renewal to road building to stadium projects, I can understand a strong level of distrust or suspicion on the part of neighborhood residents for new projects. The proposed rerouting of a segment of MLK Jr. Drive
to accomodate the new NFL stadium is the latest kink in the plans to be thrown at the local neighborhoods.
Due to the massive size of many of the projects over the decades, the interruption & closure of roads has cut off various areas from each other which has been a body blow or even the death knell for some localities. This has been the case in numerous American cities & has not been just an Atlanta thing. I would have expected us to have learned some lessons about the maintenance, nurturing & the growth of our urban fabric by now.