By 1973, the political consensus that had supported public housing in Atlanta had broken down. Criticism from the left, such as from the underground newspaper The Great Speckled Bird, focused on the shoddy construction of recent projects, and the lack of funding for basic maintenance. The "moderate" coalition of businessmen and wealthy elites that dominated Atlanta politics had realized that they could continue slum clearance and urban renewal without needing to build adequate replacement housing. And when Maynard Jackson, Atlanta's first black mayor, was elected by a coalition between blacks and progressive whites, he went on a tour of public housing in the city that focused on their deteriorating conditions. With rising crime rates city-wide and several high-profile crime stories that involved the projects, the Atlantan public began to see public housing as a new version of the slums. East Lake Meadows in particular became known as "Little Vietnam" due to the high number of shooting deaths.