Atlanta’s wealthiest suburb is inches away from breaking away from the crime-ridden city

The possibility of a secession from the city of Atlanta became a bit more likely this week, as the prosperous Buckhead area continues its bid to separate itself from the crime-ridden downtown area.

Two bills that would allow Buckhead to secede from the city passed a Georgia Senate committee on Monday and could go to a floor vote as early as Wednesday (tomorrow).

If both houses of the legislature pass the bills and they are then signed by Gov. Brian Kemp, residents of Buckhead, the 24-square-mile area outside Atlanta, could vote in the November 2024 election on whether to let Atlanta and form your own city.

The controversial measure faced initial opposition last year, when former Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan killed the effort last year, sending the secession bill to a committee made up solely of urban Democrats who opposed the effort.

However, the state’s new lieutenant governor, Burt Jones, supports the measure. The effort is still expected to face resistance in the House.

Crime in Atlanta has increased in recent years, prompting the Buckhead population to seriously consider breaking away from the troubled downtown area.

According FortuneA spokesman for Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said the city “will continue to work with the Senate to end this legislation before it has disastrous consequences.”

In 2021, Bill White, the CEO of Buckhead City, pushed for the suburb to be “divorced” from Atlanta.

We live in a war zone in Buckhead. Shooting and killing, it just never ends,” he told Bloomberg.

BUCKHEAD, GEORGIA: ONE OF THE RICHEST ZIP CODES IN THE COUNTRY

Buckhead is known as the residential and commercial district of Atlanta, famous for its high-rise buildings and shopping malls, hotels, and mansions.

The neighborhood is a historically wealthy district and was once ranked as the 9th wealthiest ZIP code in the country with a median home price of $1,460,595, according to Forbes.

American suburban luxury home in Buckhead, Atlanta

Bloomberg named Buckhead the 20th-richest ZIP code in the nation in 2011, when the median household net worth there was $1,353,189.

The median household income was $280,631.

Because of this, Buckhead is often called the ‘Beverly Hills of the Southeast’, referring to the upscale city in California.

Buckhead is also known to have some notable residents, including Georgia Republican Kelly Loeffler.

Loeffler was among the richest members of Congress until she lost her seat in January 2021. In 2009, she and her husband spent more than $10 million on a European-style mansion called Descante in the Buckhead neighborhood.

Source: Bloomberg

White, who officially petitioned to secede from the city in June, previously criticized Atlanta city leaders, including former mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, accusing her of ignoring rising crime in Buckhead and presiding over a demoralized and ungoverned police department. underfunded.

White hopes the suburb, where the average home costs $1.4 million, can break away to take public safety into its own hands.

The break would mean Atlanta proper would have about 90,000 fewer citizens, a population decline of one-fifth. It would also mean a loss of approximately 38% of your tax revenue, which in turn could affect Atlanta’s credit rating.

Wealthy Buckhead residents have grown tired of seeing members of their own community suffer gunshot wounds, home invasions and murder.

Although rumors of a potential Atlanta split have raged for years, the Buckhead split has gained momentum in recent years amid ongoing crime concerns.

The murder rate in Atlanta scaled last year to 161, the highest number since 1996. That number increased from 157 in 2020 and 99 in 2019.

Robberies, shoplifting and car thefts also increased in numbers in the southern city.

The secession proposal, like all divorces, would take assets into account.

Under the introduced legislation, Buckhead City could acquire Atlanta park land within its boundaries for just $100,000 an acre, even though an acre in the neighborhood is more than 10 times that amount.

Atlanta would also be required to split all assets outside of the city limits with the proposed Buckhead City limits or sell them and split the proceeds.

Historically, the Georgia legislature has allowed unincorporated areas around Atlanta to vote for their own cities for approximately 20 years.

Yet in that time, it has allowed only one vote to leave: the small, wealthy town of Stockbridge, and the subdivision’s residents rejected secession in 2018.

In 2021, the last time the proposal to leave the city was sent to the state legislature, approximately 80 percent of the community planned to vote to separate.

Buckhead’s population is 73.5 percent white and 23.9 percent black. This compares to Atlanta’s broader population, which is 50.7 percent black and 38 percent white, according to census data.

The suburb spans 24 square miles and White says the Atlanta Police Department isn’t cutting it off. After the recent murder of Kenon Jennings on August 7, Buckhead citizens are pushing harder to separate their suburb.

If the suburb is successful, it will be the first city in Georgia to secede from an existing one. An estimated 54 to 62 percent of Buckhead citizens were in favor of the annex in 2021

Violence problem persists in Atlanta: High school pallbearers carry the coffin of young shooting victim Lloyd LeVon Foster III, 16, during her funeral at Greater Springfield Baptist Church in the Vine City neighborhood from Atlanta, Georgia, USA, February 18, 2023