Atlanta housing parallels Cincinnati neighborhood
Newspapers carried similar stories this week about development, affordability and social cost. The AJC report “Beltline CEO quits amid housing rift,” News, Aug. 24, regarding the lack of affordable housing, while Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal carried a not-dissimilar article titled ‘A Cincinnati Neighborhood Transforms.”
The WSJ storyline parallels what is happening in Atlanta. The development in Cincinnati’s Over the Rhine Neighborhood — though hailed as a success — came at a cost with longtime residents priced out of their homes.
Property taxes are a state issue. Taxes in Georgia are levied on the assessed market value. The solution is to change state law to establish the real value as the sale price paid by the owner at the time of purchase.
The market sets the value. The buyer confirms the value. The political class lives on a budget.
JOHN FETNER, ATLANTA
Confederate statues don’t deserve public space
I was brought up as a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and regularly attended meetings with my grandmother. We sang “Dixie” and Confederate fight songs while people dressed up in Confederate uniforms. I was constantly taught that the War Between The States was agriculture vs. industry and had nothing to do with slavery. For my 10th birthday, I received the biography of Robert E. Lee. I regularly cleaned Confederate cemeteries while hearing how terrible the government was for not paying for their upkeep.
I feel that I can speak from experience and from a unique perspective when I say that the Confederate monuments must be relegated to history and put in a place where they can be studied and learned from so that history will not be repeated. But they do not deserve prominent space in the public eye. They were almost all erected during the rise and height of the Jim Crow laws. They were intended to intimidate and keep “in place” people of color. Racism in the South (and other places I’m sure) is inherent and endemic, and we must constantly educate ourselves, our families and our communities and fight against it. We need to be progressive and inclusive. Great and exciting things are happening all over the South. Having these monuments around only serves people who want “better” times in Dixieland to not be forgotten.
Let’s celebrate the South in other ways – through food, music, hospitality – but let’s say goodbye to these monuments, y’all.
SUSAN WIETSMA, DECATUR
Basic goodness evident after Harvey devastation
Growing up in central Florida in the ’50s and ’60s, hurricanes were part of life. We knew they were coming. We taped our windows to minimize shatter, bought milk, bread, eggs, Sterno, white gas (for Coleman lanterns), ice, batteries, and water, never knowing for sure what we’d endure.
Every storm was different. Some were an inconvenience. Some, like Donna, in 1960, leveled Orlando. Didn’t matter. Our neighbors were our neighbors and were always there for us.
As a young boy, I was always impressed with how our entire neighborhood came together once a storm had passed. The men used chainsaws to clear the roads and get trees off the roofs of houses. They stretched tarps over damaged areas to prevent rain damage. The women of the neighborhood served sandwiches from trays before the meat had to be discarded. Everywhere, neighbor worked with neighbor for the common good.
Seeing the damage in Houston and the surrounding area following the devastation caused by Harvey reminds me of the basic goodness of mankind. Put aside the political bickering, we’re still humankind, interested in saving each other.
WAYNE KERR, STOCKBRIDGE
Houston continuing to rise above hate
The videos of Hurricane Harvey impacting the people of Houston are heartbreaking. Seeing strangers helping strangers regardless of race, color, or political affiliation shows us what America is all about. When there is a tragedy or a need, we are one people. Stop the partisanship and hate. It is time for Americans to act as one and help our fellow Americans. Kindness needs to win over hate and the people of Houston are showing us the way.
CLARE MILLIANS, ATLANTA
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