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About
Blighted is a powerful narrative about the decades-long decay and remarkable two-year reinvention of Summerdale, an aging apartment community located in one of Atlanta's grittiest corridors. From burnt-out, mold-infested buildings to traumatized classrooms, Blighted unfolds in the voices of ruthless drug dealers, phantom tenants, fearless landlords, the working poor, educators, and visionary local leaders.
After purchasing the property from an absentee overseas owner, Marjy Stagmeier and her partners methodically tackled the crisis festering inside the gated 244-unit apartment property. Two years of relentless work later, Stagmeier reveals how the team that she led built community from chaos. Through on-the-ground, in-the-moment interviews with a wide range of stakeholders, Stagmeier demonstrates how marginalized housing perpetuates intergenerational poverty and the collapse of nearby public schools while showing the multifaceted challenges of improving dire living conditions.
Blighted offers a unique insider perspective of the political, human, and economic challenges of delivering equitable housing in a market fueled by inflationary prices, insatiable demand, and competing and often dubious agendas. Summerdale's success is a bright model of how affordable housing, education, healthcare, and social capital can interconnect to build vibrant, sustainable communities-affordable housing communities, nearby schools, and the community at large. From there, kids, families, working people, and neighborhoods can thrive.
After purchasing the property from an absentee overseas owner, Marjy Stagmeier and her partners methodically tackled the crisis festering inside the gated 244-unit apartment property. Two years of relentless work later, Stagmeier reveals how the team that she led built community from chaos. Through on-the-ground, in-the-moment interviews with a wide range of stakeholders, Stagmeier demonstrates how marginalized housing perpetuates intergenerational poverty and the collapse of nearby public schools while showing the multifaceted challenges of improving dire living conditions.
Blighted offers a unique insider perspective of the political, human, and economic challenges of delivering equitable housing in a market fueled by inflationary prices, insatiable demand, and competing and often dubious agendas. Summerdale's success is a bright model of how affordable housing, education, healthcare, and social capital can interconnect to build vibrant, sustainable communities-affordable housing communities, nearby schools, and the community at large. From there, kids, families, working people, and neighborhoods can thrive.
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Reviews
"Blighted is a gripping tale of the transformation of a low-income apartment community from a place of decay and disorder to one of stability and safety. With insights from tenants, educators, staff, and the landlord herself, the book details the long, arduous process undertaken by the innovative Margaret Stagmeier of gaining trust and rebuilding community, disrupting criminal activity, and helping Summerdale's renters manage the unbelievably difficult task of living in poverty. It is a book that should be read by academics, city planners and developers, and anyone interested in understanding societal barriers to accessing affordable housing."
Jessica Trounstine,
"Blighted tells the extraordinary tale of how change was made possible in the lives of families at the Summerdale Apartments. Marjy Stagmeier saw a problem, created a plan, and had the courage to execute it. No more significant contribution has been made to reverse years of neglect and disinvestment in this blighted community. This book should inspire others to action. It offers a template for what we must do to realize American dream for all."
Shirley Franklin, former mayor, City of Atlanta,
"Meet Marjy Stagmeier, a modern-day urban warrior who took on the most pervasive and devastating elements of urban decay in an inner-city apartment complex and transformed it. Her book Blighted is a startling tour through the lives of economically and socially disadvantaged families, eking out existences in an impoverished, substandard, drug-infested, crime-ridden Atlanta neighborhood. It documents how her innovative template for community building can become a lifeline to such forgotten families and their communities. This is a story that needs to be told and retold and which cities need to learn from."
Lonnie Ali, vice-chair, The Muhammad Ali Center,