Athens Justice and Memory Project

Athens Justice and Memory Project Team Meeting #1 Notes Wednesday, September 2, 2020 5 pm – 6:30 pm Virtual WebEx Meeting A. Background of Linnetown a. Linnentown was located off Baxter St, 22 acres of land - Finley, Peabody, and Linden. In 1916, approximately 30 families were present and 63% of the families had at least 1 full-time job. 57% of residents were property homeowners and in 1954 the homeowners petitioned the city to pave Linden road. In 1959 additional ordinances were passed to pave Finley, Peabody, and Church roads in entirety and to improve sewage structures. All of these improvements were meant to improve lives and property value. Ordinances were not followed and improvement did not happen. i. 1959 and 1961: UGA obtained urban renewal contracts (due to state political connections) to clear a “slum area” (their words); Urban renewal project GAR50 ii. Creswell, Brumby, and Russell hall (UGA dorms) now stand in the area iii. Foundation that led to the erasure of Linnentown B. Meeting started with a moment of silence for Linnentown decedents a. The Committee will take a moment of silence to acknowledge and show respect to those who are no longer with us. C. Members Present a. Hattie Whitehead, Committee Chair and First Descendant of Linnentown b. Christine Davis, First Descendant of Linnetown c. Mike Hamby, ACCGov Commissioner d. Jennifer Rice, UGA Professor and Researcher, Parliamentarian e. Charlene Marsh, UGA Aluma, Secretary f. Kelly Girtz, ACC Gov Mayor, non-voting/supporting member g. Krystle Cobran, ACCGov Inclusion Office and non-voting/supporting member h. Blaine Williams, ACCGov Manager and non-voting member i. Shayla Lee, ACCGov Inclusion Fellow, non-voting member j. Alison Kaye, ACCGov Inclusion Fellow, non-voting member D. Expectations of team a. The chair will speak with the team to ensure full participation on each call, continuous participation throughout the entire process, clarify the correct name of the team, and then discuss a brief overview of the focus of the team, and introduce The First Descendants, Committee Participants, and the timeline. b. There will be no voting in this meeting. This first meeting will focus on discussion only. We will make initial assignments and discuss expectations. c. Action items: i. Ms. Hattie Whitehead asked Dr. Rice to research a historical marker for Linnentown along with associated costs.  ii. Ms. Hattie Whitehead agreed to share relevant documents with group, and Mayor Kelly Girtz suggested collaboration with Krystle Cobran to compile documents in a google drive to increase access to team members which Krystle will be doing d. Notes: i. This is the Justice & Memory Team; there is a Linnentown project team that is separate so if anyone contacts you, you want to make sure you are talking about the right team. ii. Three people in a supportive role: Mayor Girtz, Blaine, and Krystle (along with Krystle’s interns) are there to support with information, data, and any other needs of the committee. They can make suggestions, but do not make decisions. E. Introduction of individuals and their roles a. Ms. Hattie Whitehead discussed the fact that this is the first time that we have had this type of team in Athens, so it’s alright if at times Committee participants are uncomfortable because we will be talking about race, history, and other topics that are difficult to discuss. b. Notes: i. Mayor Girtz: teaching GA history led him to finding out about this; hope to replicate this process across Athens and across time (early decades up to the present); necessary conversations and lead us to better paths and better decision making today; in a supportive role - if any resources needed from ACCGov, here to facilitate that ii. Krystle Cobran: Inclusion Officer of ACC; here to listen, honor, work, and grow together through the process. 1. Two Inclusion Fellows: Alison & Shayla - here to help keep track of documents and provide support as timely as we can iii. Blaine Williams: ACCGov Manager; here for additional support iv. Charlene Marsh: Recent MPA graduate from UGA and first learned about Linnentown through an internship with Mayor Girtz. Also served as an intern with Historic Athens, evaluated the impact of urban renewal, compiled narratives that have been shared by residents, worked on statistical analysis on property assessments to look at the impact and will be serving as a secretary for the committee. v. Jennifer Rice: Professor of Urban Geography at UGA and previously taught about Urban renewal. Serving on the committee in the role of a researcher as parliamentarian. vi. Christine Johnson: First descendant; parents owned property in Linnentown and worked in Athens-Clarke. Stated that the urban renewal was a surprise and that residents like her parents tried to push them out but were unsuccessful and faced hardships trying to figure out where they were going to do and what they were going to do. Would like to see recognition for her family and others in the area that once made up Linnentown (Finley, Peabody, Linden Rd). She is happy to know  something is trying to be done and that there were working people and families Linnetown wasn’t just a “slum area.” vii. Mike Hamby: County Commissioner who is looking forward to the challenge of getting out of our comfort zones and to learning and helping with this process viii. Hattie Thomas Whitehead: Descendant of Linnentown and is trying to organize this committee so that everything runs smoothly; wants to make sure everything is done in a way so people can understand what happened to Linnentown and what happened to children who lived through that; would like to come to some kind of justice; She is appreciative we’ve got this far but hope to reach a conclusion that this was not right and get some justice for that. F. Public statement a. There is a need for a public statement about Linnentown and the purpose of the committee discussions around what occurred in the 1960’s that led to its erasure. b. Committee members will be assigned tasks around the committee’s purpose and if there are no volunteers for future tasks. c. Ms. Hattie Whitehead requested assistance from Commissioners Mariah Parker and Mike Hamby for herself and Bobby Crook on revisions of the Linnentown resolution i. Committee purpose will be further discussed and solidified upon completion of revised resolution G. Assist and review wording in resolutions a. Ms. Hattie Whitehead requested assistance from Commissioners Mariah Parker and Mike Hamby for herself and Bobby Crook on revisions of the Linnentown resolution b. Ms. Hattie Whitehead will ask committee members to form a subcommittee to review the wording of resolutions. H. Review purpose a. The committee needs to identify a purpose. Before identifying a purpose, the committee will work on the resolution. We will revisit the purpose during the following meeting once the subcommittee is able to work on the resolution. I. Future Meetings a. Mondays at 5PM b. Meetings occur once a month until and can be adjusted to happen more frequently as momentum picks up c. Ms. Hattie Whitehead will pick a Monday in October at 5PM for the next meeting J. Additional Notes a. For next meeting, Ms. Hattie Whitehead will create another blurb about Linnentown to facilitate discussion and have a better understanding of what happened b. Podcasting and videos to raise general Athens community awareness - so they can understand what happened i. Maps of the neighborhood, photos of the neighborhood; c. Krystle: make a drive or something to have all the documents; i. Personal notes: sharing stories on Inclusion office Instagram; connecting with Jennifer Rice about ArcGIS; uploading documents into project management software when we get that set up