Last week’s discussion of the Atlanta Falcons stadium focused on poor neighborhoods in the shadow of the proposed billion-dollar venue. Specifically, how might they fare? Here is a sampling of reader comments.
D.C.: This sounds really great, until the reality of the dismal situation crashes through. Many of the folks who live in these areas are hopelessly addicted to drugs. Many don't have any idea what it means to show up to work on time, work hard, provide friendly service and be productive, the kind of stuff that makes someone a valuable employee. Time and time again, we get back to just giving food, money and free housing because, frankly, that's way easier than the heavy lifting required to actually help individuals better themselves for good. I, for one, don't have any answers. But it's idiotic to think that by pouring money into these neighborhoods, the issues are going to magically be resolved. You could buy everyone there a new car and a new house, and in a short amount of time, it would all come crumbling down again, unless the people themselves actually change inside.
Big Bill: Thank you, Larry Keating, for pulling back the curtain to reveal the deception and hypocrisy surrounding this infamous undertaking, which seeks to have the taxpayers of our city pay for the further enrichment of a billionaire business owner while facilitating his plan to disrupt and oppress an already impoverished and neglected black community. We are deluged on a daily basis with proclamations from corporate interests, the wealthy and their well-paid elected officials about how wonderful this country is, how great it is to have a free-market capitalist system which provides such great benefits to its citizens and "lifts all boats," and that any government program which really does try to provide benefits to its neediest impoverished citizens is socialist and must be opposed at all costs. Welfare programs, unemployment benefits, Medicaid, food stamps, government-run health insurance programs, we are told, are wrong, don't work and stifle the desire to work. No mention is made of the crippling economic recession and massive unemployment brought to us by major banks with their massive infusion of capital into the sub-prime mortgage-backed business model they created. No mention of the tens of millions of foreclosures that have resulted. Capitalism does a great job for all citizens?
SAWB: Focusing on the growth of small business in the area should be a priority. By doing so, not only can individual business owners begin to build wealth, they can also provide needed jobs and services to the community. Also, businesses would attract individuals from outside the community during stadium events, thus bringing in outside funds.
