News of yet another violent crime in Buckhead apparently won’t nudge Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and other high-ranking GOP legislators to push for legislation to allow Buckhead residents to vote on separating from crime-plagued Atlanta.
Members of the Atlanta Police Department (APD) reported a violent carjacking in Buckhead on Sunday.
Buckhead City Committee members have urged Kemp, Speaker of the House David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge), and Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan (R-Cumming) to use their political clout to push for a vote.
APD officials said in a statement that the alleged carjacking occurred at the 3000 block of Peachtree Road Northwest.
“Upon arrival, the female victim advised while driving her white Nissan Sentra, she was stopped at the traffic light at West Paces Ferry Rd. when a dark-colored vehicle pulled up behind her. She advised two black males exited the vehicle and approached her and attempted to gain entry into her vehicle via her passenger door,” the APD reported.
“The victim drove away from the scene and while doing so, shots were fired by the suspects. The victim, uninjured, then got out of her vehicle and fled the scene on foot to safety. The two males then jumped into her vehicle and fled the scene along with the suspect vehicle.”
The Georgia Star News on Monday contacted Kemp’s, Ralston’s, and Duncan’s respective communications teams and specifically asked them about Buckhead.
Kemp spokeswoman Katie Byrd said the governor “has taken a tough-on-crime stance from his very first day in office.”
“Per the Constitution and laws of the State of Georgia, a measure like the Buckhead City proposal must be passed through the state legislature,” Byrd said.
“The governor does not have the legal authority to place a local cityhood referendum on the ballot.”
Members of Ralston’s and Duncan’s respective communications teams did not respond to requests for comment before Monday’s stated deadline.
Former President Donald Trump on Saturday endorsed a movement to establish Buckhead as a city separate from Atlanta.
Buckhead City Committee members held a press conference at Buckhead City Headquarters last month.
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 that 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.”
Duncan in January 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.
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].
Photo “Brian Kemp” by Governor Brian Kemp. Photo “David Ralston” by David Ralston. Photo “Geoff Duncan” by Geoff Duncan. Photo “Buckhead Skyline” by Kburkha2. CC BY-SA 4.0.
