This video and story about Vine City is one of seven about neighborhood issues in the Atlanta mayor’s race by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Located west of Mercedes-Benz Stadium and Northside Drive, Vine City originated in the 1800s along the headwaters of Proctor Creek as a working community around a large plant nursery business. Some notable figures, including Julian Bond, Maynard Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mrs. Coretta Scott-King, lived in the historic Black neighborhood. Vine City has experienced poverty, blight, and crime for years as part of an area called “The Bluff.” But the city hopes to revitalize the area to attract new neighbors and private development -- while retaining longtime residents -- using the presence of the stadium and the recently completed Rodney Cook Sr. Peace Park. The area is surrounded by Atlanta’s historically black colleges and universities.
Demographics, according to 2019 data from Neighborhood Nexus:
Population: 4,486
Median household income: $31,103
Median age: 30
Race: 4.1% white, 89.9% Black, 1.3% Asian, 2% Hispanic or Latino
Unemployment rate: 8.5% (this could have changed since COVID)
Poverty rate: 41.8%
Median home value (of owner-occupied units): $138,043
Percent of rental units: 85.1%
Percent of owner-occupied units: 14.9%
Percent of rents above $1000: 39.8%
ABOUT THE VIDEO: Video by Ryon Horne, Tyson Horne and Hyosub Shin. Reporting by Wilborn P. Nobles III.
