Bainbridge City Manager Chris Hobby unleashed a bold vision at this year’s city council retreat on Friday afternoon. Hobby suggested that the city should look at razing its existing public housing developments, and replace them with modern mixed-housing developments that might include townhomes, single-family homes, apartments and condos.

Certainly, there are a lot of questions that would have to be answered. Where would the funding for this project come from? What would happen to the families whose homes are temporarily displaced? How do we know that these new homes wouldn’t have the same problems as the current developments?

However, if done right, such a project can have long lasting effects. Look no further than the city of Atlanta, which turned infamous housing projects like Techwood Homes and Clark Howell Homes into a safer and more modern housing district.

It is probably a long shot that such a project would ever come to fruition, but it’s definitely worthy for the city to at least consider it.