The apartment complexes are currently owned by a handful of private owners. The owners will decide the future of the apartment complexes including improvements based on market demands. The city enforces building codes holding the owners accountable.

However, any city policy that impacts the residents of the apartment complexes should include the voices of the residents who will be impacted the most. It’s important for the city to slow down and get this policy right. The city has the power to make policies concerning zoning and codes that could include anti-displacement policies and limit gentrification.

It’s vital for residents to learn more and be heard in this process.The apartment complexes are currently owned by a handful of private owners. The owners will decide the future of the apartment complexes including improvements based on market demands. The city enforces building codes holding the owners accountable.

However, any city policy that impacts the residents of the apartment complexes should include the voices of the residents who will be impacted the most. It’s important for the city to slow down and get this policy right. The city has the power to make policies concerning zoning and codes that could include anti-displacement policies and limit gentrification.

It’s vital for residents to learn more and be heard in this process.

The Task Force, which wrote the current plan and stand to profit from it, is dominated by developers who lacked the diversity of our broader community.

• NO people of color

• NO representatives from the school system or public safety

• NO small business owners

• NO representatives from any of our major employers

• NO residents who live in the communities likely to be demolished

The Mayor nominated and the City Council approved the appointment of 14 people to the group.

There are no Opportunity Zones in Sandy Springs.

The city council has not yet adopted the Task Force recommendations as official city policy or as an official planning document. To adopt the plan, the city council will need to pass a vote to support the recommendations, which may or may not include the displacement of thousands of residents.

These positions are hard to fill and cannot be moved overseas. In Georgia, 1 in 4 workers is a member of the essential economy.

That means ¼ of the population needs to have housing that is affordable to these workers.

The city has no plans to demolish apartment homes. However, the city council could adopt the recommendations of the Task Force plan that would make it possible — and financially attractive — for private developers to buy apartment homes, demolish the apartment complexes and rebuild with fewer and more expensive single-family homes.