Don't Fear the Renter

In a clear-headed essay that reads like the antithesis to some Cobb County residents' anti-millennial stance, longtime Atlanta architect and Brookhaven resident Jack Honderd takes to task the idea that new apartments are hurtful to established neighborhoods. Pointing to Harvard studies and his own experience, Honderd addresses the link between rental complexes and such hot topics as traffic, property values and crime, relaying that multiple studies have found "no connection between crime and housing density" and noting "the influx of apartment renters increases local street and retail activity, confirming the popularity of Brookhaven and making it known and attractive to a wider group of metro-Atlantans." It helps that all apartments proposed for Brookhaven are condo-quality and expensive, as Honderd acknowledges, but aren't they all rather nice and pricey these days? [755 North photo: Curbed]