ATLANTA — A bill introduced in the legislature this could prevent the Buckhead community from becoming its own city. It is a bill that would prevent new cities from grabbing property out of existing cities.
That’s essentially what would happen if the Buckhead community on Atlanta’s north side formed a separate city.
Talk of a new city heated up in recent weeks as concern has grown about crime. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who opposes Buckhead splitting off, said Atlanta is equipped to handle crime issues.
With Lenox Square and Phipps plaza anchoring commerce that spreads to restaurants and boutiques in the surrounding neighborhoods, Buckhead is Atlanta’s longtime financial hotspot.
Its withdrawal from Atlanta would create a void, says State Rep. El-Mahdi Holly.
"I think what we’re seeing in the state, unfortunately, is that when communities begin to change -- people are taking their ball and running with it rather than playing in the game, the shared game of community power," Holly told 11Alive News Friday.
Holly is a Democrat from Stockbridge – a city which recently resisted a similar effort from Eagles Landing to form its own city.
In 2018, Stockbridge’s city limits sprawled through Henry County – with a mostly African American population of modest income. Eagles Landing would have picked off some of Stockbridge’s pricier communities and created a richer, majority white city.
That cityhood effort failed when voters turned it down in late 2018. Holly’s bill would prevent a similar effort in Atlanta’s Buckhead community - or anywhere else in Georgia.