With lines like this he has become the voice and face of the effort to explain that there should be a “divorce” between town and neighborhood, although he no longer likes the divorce metaphor.
“I’m a married guy,” he said.
Lots of complications make it difficult at best to deannex one city and create another, but one of the biggest questions surrounding the Buckhead City movement seems to be, “Who is this Bill White guy?”
I contacted White to find out, and on Tuesday we were sitting in Buckhead’s OK Cafe (his suggestion), literally under a huge money tree.
When I arrived, White was surrounded by a group of Buckhead residents smiling at the huge map of the proposed city he was taking to meetings on the subject.
“Are you on the map?” he asks curious passers-by.
Another couple walks by and the man yells, “I saw you on Fox this morning,” giving White a big thumbs up.
White grew up on Long Island and attended Fordham University in the Bronx, where he worked as a paramedic for the New York Fire Department that summer.
He started several companies and became a well-connected donor for both Hillary Clinton and, later, Donald Trump.
White and husband Bryan Eure moved to Atlanta to be closer to your parents in 2018 after White’s own parents passed away.
The couple bought a house in Buckhead, and White moved their financial services and fundraising businesses to Atlanta.
But why is White going to so much trouble now to change a city he has just moved to?
Is it because of the money? In 2010, White agreed to a $ 1 million settlement in New York in connection with an investigation into an illegal fundraising program. He said he didn’t do anything wrong, wishing he had never settled the case, and wasn’t getting paid for his work on the Buckhead Committee.
Instead, he said he got involved in the Buckhead effort because he doesn’t want his own family to leave Atlanta for fear of crime, the way he and his husband have settled in.
“I want my sister-in-law to be able to refuel in her car with her children and not be afraid of being shot,” he said.
The Buckhead City Committee now consists of White as CEO, dozen of volunteer councils, and a dedicated team of prominent lobbyists and staff working towards a scheduled 2022 vote in the Georgia General Assembly.
Though extremely difficult to secure, success there would lead to the question of a new city being voted on in November 2022 to a referendum that only registered Buckhead voters would decide on.
A poll conducted by Rosetta Stone Communications and paid for by the Buckhead Committee showed that 62% of Buckhead voters are in favor of a referendum on the ballot. The July survey had a 2.7% margin of error.
But how would a new city work? A feasibility study examines everything from the city’s possible tax structure to retention requirements. The future of the parks and schools in Buckhead remains deeply unclear as the City of Atlanta would continue to own the parkland and children in Buckhead will no longer be eligible for Atlanta Public Schools.
On the school question, White insisted that children in Buckhead not only attend APS schools, but that their families would make them better by continuing to pay taxes to attend them.
“Overall, the public schools in Atlanta are on the toilet. They are 165 out of 198. I don’t know how much worse it could be, ”he said. “But I think it would be great if we stayed inside. That is the goal. And I think we would have a stronger voice if we stayed inside. “
White hasn’t spoken to APS about the plan, but said, “I would hope the Atlanta Public School system doesn’t kick our children out of our schools that we pay our taxes on.”
Rep. Todd Jones, a Republican from Cumming, sponsored House Legislation this year that started the process and plans to re-lead efforts there in 2022. He said Buckhead residents should have the right to choose how to govern.
“If there is a question of whether this is just an academic exercise or an actual legislative event, it is absolutely the latter,” he said.
But it is also met with strong opposition, particularly from the Atlanta delegation and MP Betsy Holland, the Democrat who represents Buckhead in the House of Representatives.
“I think this is a complicated and potentially damaging solution to a problem that we can address in another way,” said Holland.
She said she was also concerned about violent crime in Buckhead. But even an attempt to cut off part of a city against the objections of the city officials itself would set a dangerous precedent.
Can you imagine the Republican General Assembly taking an unprecedented measure in an election year the city of Atlanta is opposed to?
Yes. But Kaleb McMichen, Chief of Staff to House Speaker David Ralston, said it was never an easy task for anyone.
“The process is ongoing and will be reviewed in due course by the Government Affairs Committee and is a complex process that cannot be rushed,” he said.
White said he wasn’t interested in rushing the process, although he would start a new town tomorrow if he could.
“I say to those who say no: Listen, have an open heart. We do it for you. I believe it is 100%, ”he said of the referendum. “It’s going to be great here … and you don’t have to go to the gas station with your gun in your pocket.”
