The Rev. James Costen said the flight of white homeowners from Cascade Heights, a shady neighborhood of well-kept brick homes, is diminishing, but he has seen enough “For Sale’ signs to have nightmares about them.

“I think the white departure is slowing down” said Costen, pastor of the United Presbyterian Church of the Master, “and we will be able to tell more when we see what happens in the area south of Sewell Road.”

The husky, soft-spoken minister, pastor of an integrated church, and Southwest Atlantans For Progress (SWAP) have worked untiringly to persuade white residents to stay when a Negro family moves into their neighborhood.

“We have had some people put up ‘For Sale’ signs and then take them down. Because of SWAP we now have white people trying to get their neighbors to stay.”

Costen said the failure of the Board of Aldermen to pass a ban on “For Sale” signs in the area did not disappoint him too much. “I am sorry that many of the aldermen have failed to recognized that concrete steps must be taken to find a larger solution.”

The minister said some real estate men have been unethical in pressuring white people to leave and in charging Negroes too much for homes. “I’m not anti-real estate even though they have abused me.

“But it is not to the advantage of real estate men to saturate one area. It is time for Negro real estate men to begin to find housing in areas that have not been traditionally open to Negroes.

“It would create open housing and when every section and every income-level neighborhood has Negro residents then we will not have the situation that exists in Cascade Heights. As long as people can run, some of them will do it.”

The minister said a national opening housing law is needed, but he doubts if Congress will pass one.

“Churches could help the situation if they would buy five or six homes in neighborhoods near them and arrange for Negroes to move in. Churches have anemia on this question and it’s an issue for criticism.”

How many white persons live in Costen’s immediate neighborhood. “We have four families. None of them are in SWAP, but I think that two of them definitely will stay.” He said there is no visiting or social relationship between whites and Negroes, “but we do speak.”

Costen said one of the amazing things about the rapid change over in Cascade Heights is the affluence of the Negroes. “Some of the homes have sold for $55,000 and it’s amazing the number of Negroes who are capable of buying these homes.”

He said one of the things that accelerated the saturation was that “prior to the opening of this area, Negroes, who make up 46 per cent of Atlanta’s population, live on 19 per cent of the land. This allowed very little space for middle and upper-income families.”

Why have the whites fled the area? “Fear,” replied Costen. “They have been robbed of the opportunity to know Negroes on a one-to-one ratio.

“But SWAP is beginning to create an atmosphere where people come together and say what they feel. For the first time some executive-types are looking for homes in the area.”