The predominantly black Auburn Avenue area was targeted for this urban redevelopment. In order to unify white business leaders behind the redevelopment, businesses were placed strategically in relation to one another so they didn't compete with one another. To appease the black community, the government set aside land to the areas of the south and west of the city. Black colleges would gain room for expansion. Despite these small concessions, Stone notes that blacks received little in compared to affluent business owners.
Stone notes that many institutions had to coordinate in order to pull off the urban renewal plan.
However, it was the business elites who kept the process on track, lobbying for legal changes and insisting that Hartsfield move quickly. The business interests worked with the Housing Authority, whose members were also involved in the Central Atlanta Association. Although Stone points out that the business elites and middle class blacks had to work together in order to have a peaceful resolution of the housing issue, it is clear from the results of the redevelopment that the business elites benefited the most. Perhaps it had to do with their monetary advantage over the middle class blacks, despite the growing electoral power within the black community. School Desegregation Desegregation in Atlanta was a controversial issue just as it was in the rest of the South during the late 1950s.