Mattie Jackson, the 93-year-old woman who has resisted Atlanta’s plans to raze her property for a flood mitigation project in Peoplestown, will be allowed to stay in her home.
Mayor Kasim Reed announced Thursday that the Atlanta Department of Watershed Management will design an alternative plan for managing stormwater that has long plagued the community there. Unveiled in 2013, the proposed park and retention pond are part of the Southeast Atlanta Green Infrastructure Initiative, a $66 million dollar plan that also includes stormwater storage vaults and other flooding control measures.
Jackson, who has lived on the edge of Summerhill and Peoplestown throughout her life, had become the face of a small but vocal community group that’s vowed to fight City Hall over the plan.
“Mrs. Jackson has been a pillar in her community, and out of respect for her contributions to our city, we have decided to support her dsire to remain in the neighborhood she has called her home for decades,” Reed said in a statement Thursday.
The vast majority of property owners on the block of Atlanta Avenue and Ormond Street at Connally and Greenfield streets, have sold to make way for the project. Some of the hold-outs say Atlanta hasn’t offered enough money for their property, or convinced them that there’s no other way forward.
City officials have said they’ve exhausted alternatives and that this is the best solution.
Jackson and others briefly met with the mayor Thursday. Joyce Dorsey, a community leader who is representing Jackson in talks with the city, said Reed initially asked to meet with Jackson alone. When the group refused, he informed them of his decision that Jackson could remain in her home.
Dorsey said Jackson didn’t immediately understand Reed’s news Thursday.
“When she finally realized it, she said: ‘Well, I told him he’s not getting my house,’” Dorsey said, with a laugh. “She’s going to sleep soundly tonight.”
A spokeswoman for the Watershed department said the deal only applies to Jackson, and that the remaining property owners will be required to relocate.
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