Introduction:
Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

by Renee Kemp-Rotan Acting Director,
Bureau of Economic Development
Department of Housing and Community Development

The purpose of this book is to document the evolution and development of several of Atlanta’s neighborhoods in preparation for, and subsequent to, the 1996 Atlanta Centennial Olympic Games.

The city, its departments, bureaus and agencies, corporations and private citizens, along with many community development corporations, have worked around the clock to prepare the Olympic venues for the world public and to simultaneously target city services and energies towards the re-examination and rehabilitation of those inner-city neighborhoods most affected by Olympic developments.

As the Olympics come and go, The City of Atlanta intends to keep the momentum of community building very much alive. This book represents just a sample of the new urban directives underway that will continue to respect Atlanta’s urban history and to guide Atlanta’s urban future.

Inside, we overview neighborhood histories, current projects and new development opportunities through well-researched text, maps, photographs and charts that guide both the general reader and potential neighborhood entrepreneurs through the most pertinent facts on community projects and their future directions.

This book speaks to Atlanta’s neighborhood dreams and thier present day realities. Its intention is to communicate facts that can inform, stimulate and create vital new urban markets at the crossroads of neighborhood development.

This issue will focus on recent developments in Summerhill, Mechanicsville, Old Forth Ward, Butler-Auburn, Atlanta University (AU) Center, Peoplestown and Vine City. Please note, that these neighborhoods are those that have generated Neighborhood Redevelopment Plans to guide their futures.

This book, the first in a series of neighborhood development information packages to be produced by Program Atlantis, a creation of The City of Atlanta, The Bureau of Economic Development, and the Department of Housing and Community Development.

We hope that you will both use and enjoy this document dedicated to Atlanta’s Urban Renaissance.

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