BUCKHEAD, Georgia — Buckhead City Committee CEO Bill White announced Monday that his group has a new Political Action Committee (PAC), effective February 1.
White announced the news at a fundraiser at Buckhead’s Bistro Niko restaurant. Monday night’s fundraiser had a sell-out crowd. Almost 300 people attended, White said. The event had a minimum ticket donation requirement of $250 per person.
“We have $1 million pledged to that PAC once it is set up,” White told the audience.
“It will do two things. It will support the intrepid elected officials who stand up to this corruption in Atlanta and give us the opportunity to simply vote.”
Buckhead residents said last year that they wish to break off from the City of Atlanta and form their own law enforcement agency. This, after a dramatic increase in crime.
Buckhead is an upscale commercial and residential district.
White said Monday that the number of carjackings and shootings within the boundaries of Buckhead had risen, although he did not provide exact numbers.
Vernon Jones, who attended Monday night’s event, told The Georgia Star News that frustrated Buckhead residents proposed forming their own city to preserve public safety — and their actions had nothing to do with politics.
White told the assembled audience members on Monday that more than 30 volunteers — all of whom have professional experience — are writing ordinances for the proposed city.
“We have a great plan, it is battle-tested, iron clad and can withstand B.S. coming from Atlanta any day of the week,” White said.
Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan (R-Cumming) last week assigned legislation that could help Buckhead incorporate into its own city to a state senate committee seated entirely by Democrats, who are likely to oppose the effort.
Five of the six members of this committee, Urban Affairs, did not reply to requests for comment. Senator Sheikh Rahman (D-Lawrenceville) said committee members intend to hold a fair hearing.
Senator Brandon Beach (R-Alpharetta), who attended Monday night’s event, filed the bill, SB 324. The bill proposes letting Buckhead voters decide Buckhead’s fate on November 8 of this year.
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].
Photo by Chris Butler.
