Members of the Georgia General Assembly are unwilling to move forward with legislation that would allow Buckhead residents to vote later this year on forming an independent city.
But members of the Buckhead City Committee, who have pushed for a vote, said media reports about the matter lack important context.
Buckhead City Committee members said Speaker of the House David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) has left the door open to a Buckhead City and said people cannot tolerate Atlanta’s crime and mismanagement forever. Ralston wants to give Atlanta Mayor Andrew Dickens at least one year to resolve his city’s problems.
“It is not uncommon for incorporation bills to take longer than one year to clear the legislature. Sandy Springs, LaVista Hills, Tucker, East Cobb, Stonecrest, and Mableton all took longer than a two-year term to pass the legislature,” Buckhead City Committee members told supporters in an email Saturday.
“Brookhaven took three years, and Eagles Landing took two years to pass. There are still 38 days left and we hope to convince our legislators to change their minds. They just voted four cities through this week: East Cobb, Vinings, Mableton and Lost Mountain. But they declined to save Buckhead and give us our God-given right to vote. We are not stopping or slowing down at all.”
Buckhead City Committee members then said via email that they will announce major news at a press conference at 11 a.m., Wednesday, February 16, at their headquarters, located at 3002 Peachtree Road. They did not elaborate.
Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan (R-Cumming) last month assigned the legislation that could help Buckhead incorporate into its own city to a Senate committee seated entirely by Democrats.
Senator Brandon Beach (R-Alpharetta) filed the bill, SB 324. Other sponsors include Senator and declared lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Burt Jones (R-Jackson), Senator Greg Dolezal (R-Cumming), Senator Randy Robertson (R-Cataula), and Senator Clint Dixon (R-Gwinnett).
Duncan announced last April that he would not seek reelection in 2022. He said at the time that he would focus his efforts on moving the Republican Party away from former President Donald Trump.
Atlanta made national headlines last year after FOX News host Tucker Carlson described, in sometimes graphic terms, how crime rates in Buckhead have soared. Carlson also said certain of Atlanta’s politicians incited that violence.
Carlson said Atlanta leaders have made too many inflammatory remarks about Buckhead, which is wealthy. He said district residents have endured that abuse in silence. Buckhead residents account for a fifth of Atlanta’s entire budget, he said. Carlson said Buckhead residents shouldn’t have to “send huge sums of money to a city that hates them.” He blamed former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms for motivating hundreds of Atlanta Police Department officers to exit the force.
Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star and The Georgia Star News. Follow Chris on Facebook, Twitter, Parler, and GETTR. Email tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Buckhead” by Kburkha2. CC BY-SA 4.0.
