By Samrit Sangal
I want to thank the Candler Park Historic Designation Committee for all their hard work, the informative website and keeping the neighborhood informed about its progress.
I will be voting against the historic district designation because historic districts are generally a tool to prevent denser housing. Candler Park is part of a whole. The city of Atlanta has some of the highest racial wealth disparities in the country. The state of Georgia is rapidly losing affordable housing units and is struggling to build new housing. Kamala Harris is promising to build more housing as part of her opportunity economy. Owning homes is the primary mechanism for Americans to build wealth. Making it more difficult to construct new housing to preserve a design aesthetic can end up restricting access to newer residents.
I will be voting against the historic district designation because I do not want additional burdens to be placed on my rights as a homeowner. If I wanted to subject myself to the architectural preferences of my neighbors, I would have bought a house with a HOA or condo board.
I will be voting against the historic designation because it is unnecessary. The Atlanta City Design proposals have been abandoned, and ATL Zoning 2.0 already includes height restrictions and two ADUs. This proposal also confuses preserving a design aesthetic with preserving history. Preservation is an honor that should be reserved for buildings of historic and cultural significance. Examples: Taj Mahal, Hagia Sophia, Notre Dame, the Lincoln Memorial. The responsibility of saving a beautiful home should fall on an eccentric with means. In the absence of such an individual, its owner should be able to utilize it freely in accordance with local land use policies. A city struggling with a housing supply crisis and crippling wealth inequality can ill-afford excesses such as the preservation of a design aesthetic, especially in a prime location close to public transit.
I will be voting against the historic designation because there is also the question of the future, “How and where we want to live?” The people who prevented I-485 from tearing through this neighborhood helped preserve housing that allowed people to live in the city. I want many more people to call Atlanta (and Candler Park) their home. I want to support policies that meet the needs of our growing city. This is not such a policy.
~Samrit Sangal, Software engineer at Microsoft. Candler Park resident since 2022.