Mechanicsville residents concerned about land set aside for homeless

ATLANTA — Members of the Atlanta community are concerned about potential development in their Mechanicsville neighborhood.

The Atlanta City Council’s Executive Finance Committee voted Wednesday to approve a land swap with Atlanta Public Schools. According to the agenda item, the property will be used to help advance the city’s strategy to combat homelessness by providing housing options for people experiencing homelessness in Atlanta.

At the meeting, the mayor’s policy advisor for housing said they were in the early design stages and the priority right now was to first take control of the property and tackle to the camps.

Council member Jason Winston then clarified that this vote was only about the land exchange.

“Anything related to land use will go to another committee, and that will be another conversation,” Winston said. “This is simply the ongoing transaction between APS and the City of Atlanta at this time.”

However, residents of Mechanicsville, where the property is located, are concerned about its future.

“There’s a lot of trafficking coming in and out of there, there’s a lot of drug trafficking coming in and out of there, there’s people who need help,” said David Holder, president of the Mechanicsville Civic Association.

He said he has lived in the area for about 20 years.

“It used to be a nice neighborhood,” he said of the land near Cooper Street. “I’ve come back here a few times and had lunch alone, and now you don’t even want to come back here.” It’s like a war zone.

Sharon Collins spoke at Wednesday’s meeting and has lived in Mechanicsville her entire life.

She said the property was “daunting”.

“Oh wow, it went from a thriving school that was here, Cooper Street School, to now it’s a dump,” Collins said. “If you look around there is trash everywhere, there are homeless people there. »

Collins and Holder said the community feels forgotten.

“Absolutely,” Holder said. “I think it’s become a dumping ground for the city of Atlanta. I think they look, and they say we’re just going to throw this here, and they leave.

They also agreed that they are not opposed to new development coming to Mechanicsville.

“I don’t want anyone to think that the community doesn’t want low income, but we do,” Holder said. “But we want to have some buy-in on what that’s going to be.”

Holder and Collins said they hope the City will hear the community’s concerns and take them into consideration.