Group forms to oppose Buckhead cityhood (Atlanta, Denton: crime, attorneys, house)

[arjay57]

Looks like the anti-secession folks are getting organized.

Two prominent local attorneys are heading a group that has formed to oppose the Buckhead cityhood movement.

The Committee for a United Atlanta was announced in a May 20 press release that said the group “intends to reach out directly to neighborhoods in Buckhead and create a dialogue on how best to address issues like crime, zoning and infrastructure while educating residents on the realities of tearing our city apart.”

The CUA’s co-chairs are Linda Klein and Edward Lindsey. A shareholder at the legal and lobbying firm Baker Donelson and former American Bar Association president, Klein recently squared off against cityhood supporters at a Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods forum. Lindsey is an attorney at another power-house law and lobbying firm, Dentons, and formerly served Buckhead as a Republican state representative during previous cityhood discussions, where he similarly was a skeptical voice.

Full story....https://reporternewspapers.net/2021/...head-cityhood/

[Gulch]

Whatever happens, this whole thing is going to get ugly.

[Born 2 Roll]

It’s probably about time that the anti Buckhead de-annexation/cityhood side formed some of advocacy group if they want to have any chance of at least slowing down what in many respects has been looking more and more like a runaway train in recent weeks and months on the pro Buckhead de-annexation/cityhood side.

This group potentially might be at least a little late in attempting to slow down the momentum that the pro Buckhead de-annexation/cityhood side has been experiencing until now.

I have been hearing that the Buckhead cityhood movement appears to enjoy its most support amongst the Republican majority caucus in the Georgia state Senate where most members of that caucus are huge critics of the ongoing ethical challenges that Atlanta city government has experienced historically.

That state senate GOP majority caucus (which is increasingly dominated by rural and exurban conservatives that have long been down on and resentful of Atlanta) believes that the ethical issues that the CoA government has long experienced and the current police morale and manpower challenges and the current crime wave demonstrate that the left-leaning CoA government is incapable of governing and is unqualified to govern and needs to be brought down to size and under control by Georgia state government with such acts as the de-annexation of Buckhead and a state takeover of the Atlanta Airport.

The only thing that currently seems to be standing in the way of the hardline conservatives in the Georgia state Senate getting their way with finally diminishing a City of Atlanta government that they have long resented is the Atlanta business community and its influence on Georgia House Speaker David Ralston.

The Atlanta business community and Speaker Ralston both understandably think that the de-annexation of Buckhead from Atlanta proper and a hostile state takeover attempt of the Atlanta Airport would be bad for Georgia’s national and international image as a state that is a great place to locate, grow and expand business operations and hence, are not the most gung-ho on the concept of the dismantling of Atlanta city government that so many conservatives seem to increasingly strongly embrace.

The Atlanta business community very likely may be a major hurdle to Buckhead de-annexation and cityhood, but it seems to be getting late in the game to stop it as the Buckhead de-annexation/cityhood drive seems to have already picked up much momentum with Buckhead residents who have long had their frustrations with Atlanta city government and the Buckhead and Atlanta business communities and with OTP conservatives who have long been looking for a way to dismantle an Atlanta city government that they have long despised.