Sandy Springs Together

Everyone Deserves a Voice

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The Role of Young People and the Future of Sandy Springs

Editor’s Note: Sandy Springs Together periodically publishes letters or comments from community members who raise a concern we feel should be considered by the broader community. Eliza Bruno, the newly elected Valedictorian of the graduating class at Mt. Vernon School and rising freshman at Ga. Tech and her classmate, Kylie Smith-Wolfe, a rising freshman at the School of Nursing at University of Pennsylvania submitted this letter, which offers a well thought out perspective and confirms that there are young people who are involved and who care about our community. 

Please let us hear your thoughts.

By Eliza Bruno and Kylie Smith-Wolfe

We attended both the February 10th initial Sandy Springs North End Committee meeting for revitalization, and the open public meeting on March 5th. The Committee was established to generate public input regarding redeveloping and repurposing four shopping centers in the North End. 

As teenage residents of Sandy Springs, while we applaud TSW and The City attempting to gather community input, we hope that both data and facts will be used to develop solid policy.

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ICYMI: Elected officials in Atlanta call for rent control

Editor’s Note: The following blog was written before the current COVID-19 outbreak. Many of our neighbors are finding themselves unable to pay their monthly rent. The impact this will have to our schools, our businesses and our community is yet to be seen, but it will be devastating to our community if these residents are forced out. We applaud the city’s support of the Community Assistance Center  in the March 17th council meeting, and hope that there is more that our community can do. Once this crisis is over, however, our need for sustainable rent affordability will still be there, and here is how the City of Atlanta is addressing the issue.

The affordable housing crisis is impacting cities and communities around the country, and our very own Sandy Springs surely isn’t exempt.

Different cities have offered and implemented various solutions to solve this growing problem, and one thing is clear: there is no “one size fits all” solution.

A (New?) Solution for Atlanta

The news crew over at 11Alive is back with another great segment about affordable housing, this time focusing on efforts made by Atlanta city council members to protect existing affordable housing through calls for “rent control” to state officials.

“We’re in dire need of rent stabilization to keep our residents in their homes,” said Atlanta Councilmember Antonio Brown in an article published by the AJC. 

He’s right. Whether or not rent control is the solution, Brown correctly points out the dire need for rent stabilization, a problem that is impacting working families in Sandy Springs, too.

A Step in the Right Direction

In the same AJC article, Georgia State University professor and housing expert Dan Immergluck points out that rent control is a step in the right direction, but not an end all solution. 

The bottom line: rent control does help to stabilize rent, but does little to nothing in the way of helping to decrease long-term housing costs.

Furthermore, Immergluck “pointed out there are other potential consequences to rent control that the city likely can’t avoid,” such as an inability for a city “to stop landlords from converting rental units into condominiums and offering them for sale at high prices.” But…even this alternative can have advantages by offering more affordable home ownership options than new construction would offer.

Is This Right for Sandy Springs?

By our estimation, this is absolutely something the city government should consider along with other policies that might be a better fit for our city.

We aren’t going to endorse this solution. We’re simply here to highlight what solutions other cities are calling for and attempting to implement, provide analysis on both sides of the argument and start a dialogue among community members.

But at the end of the day, it’s imperative that public input be at the center of the decision making process. Without this key step, public trust will decrease and we are worse off in all regards.

We are stronger when each of us are heard, and seen, in the process. If you’re interested in staying up to date on all the details, including important announcements of events where you can raise your voice, follow us on Facebook and join our community of dedicated citizens.

Thank you for your CAC donations

Dear Neighbors, 

We have been blown away by the support you have shown our community by participating in Sandy Springs Together’s COVID-19 Relief Fund for the Community Assistance Center. 

Your generosity is humbling and, once again, you have shown that we are a unique city, which comes together to make sure we all can benefit from each other. 

 This city is full of acts of kindness all around us, with food being taken to drop off locations, masks being sewn, young people running errands for older folks and so much more.

If you hear about an act of kindness, please do let us know. We’d love to learn more about it.  

SO many of our neighbors are scared and struggling, not knowing if they will be able to make ends meet with all of the business closings and reduced hours. The Community Assistance Center’s call volume has risen 400% with more than 100 requests for rent assistance in process and more coming in hourly.

Their budget for COVID relief is $250,000 per month for the next 3 months. The impact of this pandemic and the economic fall-out is staggering.  

But you have made a difference and we thank you. 

If you haven’t made your contribution yet, and you want to see your donation matched by the Couchman Noble Foundation, head on over to the COVID-19 CAC donation link to have your donation matched by the Couchman Noble Foundation.

The match will end on April 4th. But, the link we will remain active beyond that date for all future donations.

Where Have All The Young People Gone?

Where have all the young people gone?

That’s a question you might be asking yourself if you attended the North End Community Input meeting on March 5th; a room filled with mostly middle-aged and older members of our community.

So, where have they gone?

Young People are Missing the Message

Our young people are not absent because they don’t care, they are absent because they are being left out of the conversation.  

Our residents aged 20 to 44 make up 41% of the total population of Sandy Springs — that’s a 7% increase over the past decade.

Such a large portion of our residents should not be left out of this conversation! It is their future that the city is planning.  We need their voices. 

Inclusivity is key,  so why are they not in these meetings?

City Meeting Advertising

If young people are unaware of these meetings, why is that happening? How does the city advertise these meetings?

Well, for one, the city advertises community input meetings in the two local newspapers, the “Sandy Springs Neighbor” and the “Sandy Springs Reporter”.

But, according to both paper’s circulation departments, only single family residences receive these publications. Yes, that’s right. Residents of our many apartment complexes don’t even get the papers.

In addition, the Sandy Springs Council of Neighborhoods posts announcements about community input meetings on their social media platforms, but only homeowners and condo owners are allowed to be members of this non-profit. 

And finally, there’s the Home Owners Associations, which also publish information about community input meetings — but here again, only homeowners receive the information.

It’s common knowledge that most young people can’t afford to own property in Sandy Springs and, therefore, are not able to be homeowners. This means they are living in apartments, condos and townhomes — rental properties.

The Simple Solution to this Disconnect

We would like to see more efforts made by the city and these organizations to include ALL residents in news dissemination and city decision-making meetings, but there are a few ways you can help inform yourself. 

If you are an apartment resident looking to get informed, you have a few options:

  1. Head over to a restaurant who has extra copies of the” Sandy Springs Reporter” in their doorways.
  2. Sign Up Online for the Electronic Version of the “Reporter” 
  3. Sign Up Online for the Electronic Version of the “Neighbor” 
  4. Grab your electronic device and check out the city’s website, and hope that the city has posted the next meeting on the city’s calendar.
  5. Register for the City’s Newsletter

As of March 26, the meetings on May 2nd and May 9 have not been posted. 

Why is This Such a Big Issue?

You might be saying to yourself — there are several available options to get informed about meetings, so what’s the issue?

Unlike single family residences and homeowners, all of these methods require the resident taking action first.

As the resident, YOU have to know that these communication vehicles are available before you can take action. And, you need to know that there are activities going on that could impact you as a renter. 

If the city truly wants input from young residents, who are mostly apartment residents, they need to make an intentional effort to reach them.

How The City Can Reach Them

There are many ways for the city to do this.

  • The city could utilize multiple social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram.
  • The city could implement a targeted direct mail program that puts invitations and/or brochures of information in apartment residents mailboxes. 
  • A volunteer phone bank, or automated phone calls to all residents. 
  • Old fashioned poster on a bulletin board.

These are just a few obvious options, that we hope are not being purposely overlooked. 

Does the city care enough to implement them and make an effort to include all of our residents in this important discussion?

Let’s Push for a Change!

We know our young people are not absent because they don’t care, so let’s help them join the conversation.  

You can help us get more young people at the NEXT Community Conversation.

Reach out to your young friends and neighbors who missed the last meeting and tell them about the upcoming meeting on May 2 and May 9, or post about the upcoming meetings on your social media. 

And, make sure to stay connected to Sandy Springs Together as we inform the whole community about local news and upcoming events.