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116 ˜ A Work of Hospitality, 1982–2002
whine, “City Doesn’t Belong Just to Bums and Winos”; 3 countless city laws have
been thrown in place to empower police to hound the homeless and to move
them from one corner to the next, and the next.
Now we see this same forced removal in Atlanta’s Olympic zeal. Hundreds
of public housing units were lost as Techwood Homes was torn down to make
room for dormitories for Olympic athletes. Where did all those people go Why
is housing for transient Olympic visitors more important than homes for the
people of Atlanta
Additional examples abound. Seventy-two acres of a low-income, mixeduse
area (with shelters, labor pools, day-care centers, small businesses, and warehouses)
are now being plowed under to make way for Centennial Olympic Park
and to clear this space of undesirable elements. The area, so that no one would
question its removal, was labeled a “cancer” by the former head of the Atlanta
Chamber of Commerce. But the lost housing has not been replaced, businesses
have folded, and shops and restaurants have nowhere to relocate. Of the seventytwo
acres, twenty-five will remain after the Olympics as space for a park, at an
estimated cost of fifty million dollars. The space will be given, not to the city,
but to the state of Georgia for management and control. Why Could the reason
be to up the ante and to make any infraction there a state offense rather than
a violation of municipal laws The rest of the acreage will be developed as commercial
property, and if past patterns remain the same, African American people
and businesses that were displaced will not find a welcome. The park and
surroundings are being redeveloped, not because Atlanta wants to cultivate public
space, but because the world is coming to town, and Atlanta wants a clean
façade; the “garbage” will be swept under a rug temporarily.
How do these decisions about public space and policy get made As a citizen
of Atlanta, I have no recollection of being asked for my opinion. Whose
park is Woodruff Park Like most of the important decisions about Atlanta’s life
and future, this was one more deal cut by the powers in a back room. There was
never any public discussion, debate, conversation, or exchange about the park.
Why does this autocratic method of decision making exist in a democratic society
The answer seems clear: including everyone in a discussion about the use
and regulation of public space might not bring the desired results for those who
already have so much and who stand to gain much more. Atlanta is in fact one
of the poorest cities in the United States, but the super glitz we put forward is a
thin, often convincing, veneer for the rest of the world. If the real poverty were
known, would the world come to Atlanta to fill Billy Payne’s pockets Could the
world of Coke continue to deceive the world, or would we all realize that the veneer
covers an ugly, rat-infested, festering bleakness
How can we have a truly beautiful, friendly city that welcomes all people,
3. Richard Matthews, Atlanta Journal, 20 October 1994.