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Proponents of converting Atlanta’s high-end Buckhead neighborhood into a separate city — a plan that would have left schools with over 5,000 students in limbo — won’t get a chance to vote on the proposal this fall.
On Friday, Georgia House Speaker David Ralston joined other Republicans in opposing legislation that would have paved the way for Buckhead to split from Atlanta.
“It takes two chambers to pass a law. The Senate has been very clear and I respect their decision,” he said, citing the lack of support from Lt. gov. Geoff Duncan for the plan. But he added that he would look to Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens for “strong, forceful measures” to reduce crime — the main problem driving the secessionist movement. “If nothing has changed, we’ll be back next year.”
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Bill White, the New York transplant spearheading the breakaway effort, is not giving up. Its Buckhead City Committee issued a statement Saturday saying it’s not uncommon for founding efforts to last more than a year.
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“We are not stopping or slowing down at all,” said the emailed statement, which urged supporters and their families to attend a morning press conference on the issue during school hours on Wednesday. “We’re going to make a big announcement that Buckhead City will never go away, and we’re going to keep going until we get our vote.”
The secession effort is one of several in the Atlanta metropolitan area this term, but the others in Cobb County would not affect where students attend school. Those bills are pulled out of committee, but Ralston’s decision effectively kills Buckhead City’s efforts for this year. Atlanta Public Schools opposed the effort from the start, saying it would undermine the district’s tax base and offered no clarity about what would happen to students at Buckhead schools, which are part of the Atlanta District. One possibility is that they would have been incorporated into the larger Fulton County district surrounding Atlanta because Georgia law does not allow new towns to establish their own school systems.
Caren Solomon Bharwani, a district parent and organizer of an anti-city life group, believes that White’s recent social media posts have been the final straw for many lawmakers who support secession efforts. White questioned whether a $200 million funding discrepancy led to the recent suicide of the respected city transit executive. A councilman called the proposal “sick”.
“This was an easy exit for the state officials who were on the fence anyway,” Bharwani said.
White also faced backlash in early January for retweeting a post by VDARE, a far-right, anti-immigration group associated with white supremacy. The group’s contribution blamed crime in Atlanta on the predominantly black population. White later deleted the retweet, saying it offended him.
Since the start of the legislative period in January, resistance to secession efforts has built up. Atlanta Public Schools reiterated their position last week, passing a resolution that said the creation of a new city “without the financial, student enrollment, legal, operational, and governance issues created by the deannexation of Buckhead.” Atlanta Public is irresponsible for Buckhead, Atlanta and Atlanta Public Schools.”
Leading Buckhead companies also wrote to lawmakers on February 1, citing “public school chaos” as one of the reasons they should let the bills die.
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