BUCKHEAD, Georgia — Georgia General Assembly members have, for this year, written off legislation that would allow Buckhead residents to vote on separating from Atlanta, but members of Buckhead’s city committee aren’t done and announced new priorities Wednesday.
Buckhead City Committee members held a press conference at Buckhead City Headquarters. There, they announced that Bill White will continue to serve as the Buckhead City Committee CEO. Committee members then called on Governor Brian Kemp, Speaker of the House David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge), and other high-ranking GOP legislators to use their clout to push for a vote.
Beth Beskin, who served in the Georgia General Assembly from 2015 to 2019, spoke and posed the following question:
“What good is a Republican majority in the General Assembly if they refuse to take on what has become the best known and most supported issue by Republicans statewide in this legislative session? That issue being giving Buckhead voters the right to determine their future.”
White, meanwhile, direly predicted Georgia legislators’ reluctance to push for a vote this year “will put lives, property, businesses, commerce, and the already vastly diminished quality of life in Buckhead at severe risk.”
“[Atlanta Mayor] Andre Dickens voted to defund police,” White said.
“Buckhead did not want Andre Dickens to be their mayor. Homicides in his first 45 days are up almost 80 percent compared to last year. Andre Dickens does not have the political will to fix crime, plain and simple. We are embarking on a new fundraising campaign to ensure our vote.”
White went on to say that the Buckhead City movement will never die.
Atlanta radio personality MalaniKai also spoke at Wednesday’s press conference, as did Niko Karatassos. Karatassos said his family owns seven restaurants in Buckhead.
Another speaker, State Senator Randy Robertson (R-Cataula) will soon serve on a Buckhead Public Safety Task Force to study crime and other public safety issues.
“This past week, several friends of mine — my peers in the Senate — received mailers from unknown individuals attacking their politics. These are senators who support Buckhead City. But what they have done is make us angry. And I promise you when we are happy we are bad enough to deal with,” Robertson said.
“But if you want to attack me on something then attack me on something that I do wrong. Don’t attack me for standing up for the rights of citizens. But I will say they have not attacked me for some reason. But they have attacked some of my friends. Don’t mess with my friends. Don’t give up the fight.”
Ralston has left the door open to a Buckhead City and said people cannot tolerate Atlanta’s crime and mismanagement forever. Ralston wants to give Dickens at least one year to resolve his city’s problems.
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.
State Senator Brandon Beach (R-Alpharetta) filed the bill, SB 324. Other sponsors include Senator and declared lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Burt Jones (R-Jackson), State Senator Greg Dolezal (R-Cumming), and State Senator Clint Dixon (R-Gwinnett).
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.
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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].
