Excerpt:

‘The Old Bad History’

“Techwood Homes was a place you would not drive through,” said Thomas Boston, a professor of economics at Georgia Tech.

Where Centennial Place is now was the nation’s oldest public housing, Techwood Homes. Boston said on his regular commutes from the Atlanta University Center he steered clear from the area.

Like many public housing projects around the country, Techwood (seen here to the right of the interstate) grappled with drug violence and units in disrepair. 

“It was just such a distressed and troubled and violent neighborhood that you avoided it,” he said.

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