College Park's mayor: botched apartment closing led to ‘unnecessary chaos and fear'
The Brief
Residents of the Chelsea Gardens apartment complex were initially given days to leave condemned apartments.
Then, after public backlash, the city extended the deadline to leave until end of June
Mayor Bianca Motley Broom says missteps caused "unnecessary chaos and fear"
COLLEGE PARK, Ga. - The mayor of College Park admits the city mishandled the chaotic eviction of the residents of Chelsea Gardens Apartments.
Mayor Bianca Motley Broom slammed how city officials in a statement following the debacle.
"I'm deeply concerned that the involvement of city leadership in this sweeping eviction may have accelerated displacement rather than protecting those most affected," Mayor Motley Broom wrote.
"While I understand and share the concerns about the property's condition, the way this situation has been handled has caused unnecessary chaos, fear, and instability for families who deserve better from us."
She has now vowed to do everything in her power to help the residents find new housing.
Timeline
The Chelsea Gardens apartment complex in College Park has been plagued by rodents and safety issues.
In March, a new owner of Chelsea Gardens told residents their leases were cancelled and everyone had 60 days to get out.
City officials condemned the complex in April, giving residents only a few days to move out.
Public backlash led to a reversal, extending the deadline to the end of June.
What they're saying
"The landlord of Chelsea Gardens tried to carry out illegal evictions with no due process for tenants. The only intervention that the city did, was to join with the landlords to condemn the property," a member of the public said during a May 5 public comment session.
Mayor Motley Broom said she was not consulted on the condemnation before city officials moved forward with it.
"My priority is making sure that the people involved are taken care of," Bianca Motley Broom, College Park mayor, said. "In hindsight, we can look at a number of things, including communication and keeping our residents at the center and the core of everything that we do."
The backstory
A city spokesperson says displaced residents are being assisted in relocating to apartment complexes in DeKalb County with help from the nonprofits Initiative for Affordable Housing and Sage Hands International.
The new owners have ambitious plans for renovation and redevelopment, which can only proceed once the units in need of repair and upgrades are vacated," the spokesperson said in a statement.
The statement also said a majority of the more than 400 units have already been vacated.
On Monday afternoon, FOX 5 observed dozens of people still living there.
The mayor says she has regularly returned to the complex assisting residence that are there.
"At this point, that looks like working in conjunction with our nonprofit partners," Motley Broom said. "I've been down there myself and doing things on my own as well, because everybody's got to pitch in."
SEE ALSO:
College Park residents given days to pack up and get out their apartments
Metro Atlanta apartment complex condemned, residents sent packing
Residents of condemned College Park apartments call for extension to move-out deadline
The Source
This article is based off of original reporting by FOX 5's Rob DiRienzo. Additional information was provided by residents of Chelsea Gardens, publicly available information, and a spokesperson for the City of College Park.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
37 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Trumponomics: Why China Can Afford to Wait on a Trade Deal
On this episode of Trumponomics, host Stephanie Flanders, Bloomberg's Head of Government and Economics, leads a panel from the Hong Kong Invest conference to unpack the latest round of high-stakes trade talks between the US and China, exploring why Beijing may still have the upper hand and how far any decoupling of the two economies will go. She's joined by Robin Xing, Chief China Economist at Morgan Stanley, Lotus Asset Management Chief Investment Officer Hao Hong, and Bloomberg reporter Rebecca Choong Wilkins.
CNN
38 minutes ago
- CNN
Trump administration reviewing Biden-era submarine pact with Australia, UK
US President Donald Trump's administration has launched a formal review of former President Joe Biden's AUKUS defense pact with Australia and Britain to allow Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, a US defense official said. Australia, which sees the submarines as critical to its own defense as tensions grow over China's expansive military buildup, said it remained committed to the project and looked forward to working closely with the US on the review. As well as causing alarm in Australia, the review could also throw a wrench in Britain's defense planning. AUKUS, worth hundreds of billions of dollars, is at the center of a planned expansion of Britain's submarine fleet. 'We are reviewing AUKUS as part of ensuring that this initiative of the previous administration is aligned with the President's America First agenda,' the US official said of the review, first reported by Financial Times. 'Any changes to the administration's approach for AUKUS will be communicated through official channels, when appropriate.' AUKUS was formed in 2021 to address worries about China's growing power. It envisages Australia acquiring up to five US Virginia-class submarines from 2032. Then, Britain and Australia would design and build a new class of submarine, with US assistance. The UK would take first delivery in the late 2030s, with delivery to Australia in the early 2040s. Before that, the US and Britain would start forward rotations of their submarines in 2027 out of an Australian naval base in Western Australia. Vocal skeptics among Trump's senior policy officials include Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon's top policy adviser, who cautioned last year that submarines were a scarce, critical commodity, and US industry could not produce enough to meet American demand. Submarines would be central to US military strategy in any confrontation with China centered in the First Island Chain, running from Japan through Taiwan, the Philippines and on to Borneo, enclosing China's coastal seas. 'My concern is why are we giving away this crown jewel asset when we most need it,' Colby said last year. Only six countries operate nuclear-powered submarines: the US, the UK, Russia, China, France and India. A spokesperson for Australia Defense Minister Richard Marles said the US had informed Australia and the UK of the review. 'AUKUS will grow both US and Australian defense industry as well as generating thousands of new manufacturing jobs,' the spokesperson said. A British government spokesperson called AUKUS 'one of the most strategically important partnerships in decades' that also produces 'jobs and economic growth in communities across all three nations.' 'It is understandable that a new administration would want to review its approach to such a major partnership, just as the UK did last year,' the official said, adding that Britain will 'continue to work closely with the US and Australia … to maximize the benefits and opportunities' of AUKUS. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but one official told Reuters the Trump administration 'is regularly reviewing foreign agreements to ensure they align with the American people's interests – especially those initiated under the failed Biden foreign policy agenda.' US Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said AUKUS was 'critical to ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific' and the administration should work to strengthen it and the US submarine industrial base. 'Anything less would play directly into China's hand,' said Kaine, who represents Virginia, where US submarines are built. AUKUS is Australia's biggest-ever defense project, with Canberra committing to spend A$368 billion ($240 billion) over three decades to the program, which includes billions of dollars of investment in the U.S. production base. On Tuesday, Britain announced plans to invest billions of pounds to upgrade its submarine industry, including at BAE Systems in Barrow and Rolls-Royce Submarines in Derby, to boost submarine production as announced in Britain's Strategic Defence Review. Under this, it will build up to 12 next-generation attack submarines of the model intended to be jointly developed by the UK, US and Australia under AUKUS. In the US Congress on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said 'we're having honest conversations with our allies' and added in reference to Australia: 'We want to make sure those capabilities are part of how they use them with their submarines, but also how they integrate with us as allies.' Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who signed a previous agreement to acquire French submarines shelved in favor of AUKUS, told CNBC last week it was 'more likely than not that Australia will not end up with any submarines at all, but instead, simply provide a large base in Western Australia for the American Navy and maintenance facilities there.' AUKUS expert John Lee at Washington's conservative Hudson Institute think tank said the Pentagon review was aimed at determining whether it could afford to sell up to five submarines when it was not meeting its own production targets. Kathryn Paik, a Biden White House official now at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, said providing submarines to Australia would not sacrifice US readiness but instead boost collective deterrence. 'This review most definitely makes our allies in Canberra and London concerned, and could cause them to doubt US reliability as an ally and partner,' she said.
New York Times
38 minutes ago
- New York Times
David Hogg to Exit D.N.C. After Backlash to His Primary Plan
David Hogg, the young vice chair of the Democratic National Committee who divided the party over his plans to intervene in primary races against sitting Democratic lawmakers, said that he would step aside and not run again for his post after the party removed him on Wednesday. Mr. Hogg, 25, became a lightning rod for criticism within the party after he told The New York Times two months ago that he planned to spend millions of dollars on primaries through a separate group, Leaders We Deserve, that he leads. He said he was raising as much as $20 million to help bring generational change to the Democratic Party. On Wednesday, the Democratic National Committee announced that its members had voted to force new elections for vice chair, removing Mr. Hogg and another vice chair, Malcolm Kenyatta. In a letter provided to The Times, Mr. Hogg outlined his reasoning for quitting party leadership rather than running again for vice chair. 'I came into this role to play a positive role in creating the change our party needs,' he wrote. 'It is clear that there is a fundamental disagreement about the role of a Vice Chair — and it's OK to have disagreements. What isn't OK is allowing this to remain our focus when there is so much more we need to be focused on.' Mr. Hogg's tenure as a party official was brief but filled with drama. It included a move by the party chairman, Ken Martin, to stop Mr. Hogg from engaging in primaries; Mr. Hogg's being caught in a Project Veritas operation talking about party leaders; public backbiting; and the leak of audio from an internal meeting of party officers. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
