Buckhead City Committee releases poll showing 62% support for cityhood vote (Atlanta: houses, live)

[equinox63]

Originally Posted by ronricks

Does it matter if it is 'random' or not? Last time I checked murder was murder. Is it even really news anymore if someone gets shot or killed in SW Atlanta? Look from June 1st to today and see how many shootings or murders there have been in SW Atlanta. It would be a workout to copy and paste all the articles here.

https://www.google.com/search?q=sw+a...w=1536&bih=754

First, I notice that several of the articles that you linked are about the same incidents from different news outlets.

Secondly, I think these types of stories would be far more accurate if they named the neighborhoods rather than the quadrant as a blanket "SW Atlanta".

By that logic, one would assume that areas like Bankhead, Center Hill, and Hollywood Rd. (in NW Atlanta) have crime rates similar to Howell Mill or West Paces Ferry (which are also in NW Atlanta). Similarly, crime in Bedford Pines is not the same as crime in Morningside (although they are both in NE Atlanta).

Not saying that the crimes don't happen, but the way in which they are presently IMHO creates an inaccurate view of a large and varied portion of the city. Another poster recently mentioned Cascade Heights, Audubon Forest, Niskey Lake, and the like, which are all in SW Atlanta, but experience little to no crime. These are ironically the same SW neighborhoods that many people on here say that they have never heard of.

One thing that I have noticed is that, aside from Buckhead at the moment, crime is more rampant in more impoverished or lower-income areas anywhere in the city.

Lastly, before you try to argue me down about how bad the SWATS is, I'm not challenging anything you are saying. I'm just making these observations.

[K1404]

Same "lounge" on Roswell Road where a man was shot and killed a few weeks ago (no arrests made): https://www.instagram.com/p/CTFzj2SH...medium=twitter. This sh*t goes on almost every night with no police intervention. Great job, APD!

[aslowdodge]

Originally Posted by K1404

So you believe more wealth equals more crime? Interesting theory.

Well it would mAke sense. The question is the wealth was always there, why the crime spike now?

[K1404]

Originally Posted by aslowdodge

Well it would mAke sense. The question is the wealth was always there, why the crime spike now?

It doesn't make sense because urban districts much wealthier than Buckhead don't have nightly street racing and weekly shootings. The answer to your question is policing, or lack thereof.

[Columbus1984]

Originally Posted by K1404

Same "lounge" on Roswell Road where a man was shot and killed a few weeks ago (no arrests made): https://www.instagram.com/p/CTFzj2SH...medium=twitter. This sh*t goes on almost every night with no police intervention. Great job, APD!

Wish these places would be shut down.

[cparker73]

Originally Posted by equinox63

Not saying that the crimes don't happen, but the way in which they are presently IMHO creates an inaccurate view of a large and varied portion of the city. Another poster recently mentioned Cascade Heights, Audubon Forest, Niskey Lake, and the like, which are all in SW Atlanta, but experience little to no crime. These are ironically the same SW neighborhoods that many people on here say that they have never heard of.

You definitely have a point about generalizing large portions of the city. Large swaths of SW Atlanta has nothing more serious than porch theft, but looking at the local TV news would make you think the whole area is a no-go zone. The same applies to Buckhead. The vast majority of crime is concentrated in a couple of commercial districts, while the neighborhoods of Chastain Park, Tuxedo Park, Pine Hills, Brookwood Hills, Collier Hills, etc. are perfectly quiet areas that feel a world away from the craziness around Lenox, which locals proclaim to never visit anyway the way New Yorkers say they never go to Times Square.

[aslowdodge]

Originally Posted by K1404

It doesn't make sense because urban districts much wealthier than Buckhead don't have nightly street racing and weekly shootings. The answer to your question is policing, or lack thereof.

That’s the point. It makes sense that a wealthy area would be attractive to outsiders to commit crime and should thus have more. But in the past it didn’t. Why? Because whatever deterred the criminal element before now no longer exists. In this case it’s the lower presence of police.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by ronricks

Extreme and high amounts of violent crime in Buckhead is a new phenomenon that isn't true for SW Atlanta.

Originally Posted by aslowdodge

Well it would mAke sense. The question is the wealth was always there, why the crime spike now?

Originally Posted by aslowdodge

That’s the point. It makes sense that a wealthy area would be attractive to outsiders to commit crime and should thus have more. But in the past it didn’t. Why? Because whatever deterred the criminal element before now no longer exists. In this case it’s the lower presence of police.

Buckhead has had a very notable problem with violent crime before.

Let’s not forget the series of shootings and homicides that Buckhead experienced back in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s back when the Buckhead Village area (the area surrounding the 5-point intersection of Peachtree, Roswell, East Paces Ferry and West Paces Ferry roads that makes up the historical center of Buckhead) was a rowdy party district that at the time had one of the highest concentration of bars and nightclubs in the country.

The most high-profile violent crime during that years-long stretch of violent crimes in Buckhead was a double-stabbing homicide in a nightclub that involved legendary NFL linebacker Ray Lewis on Super Bowl weekend in January 2000.

Buckhead leaders seemingly resolved that past violent crime issue by pushing Atlanta city government to roll back bar closing hours to 3am back in the early 2000’s while also partnering with developers to buyout multiple properties where many bars and nightclubs once operated with the intention of eventually redeveloping those properties into upscale commercial developments that have had some mixed results.

What is notable is that (in addition to the extremely high concentration of bars and nightclubs in the area) the late-‘90’s/early-2000’s violent crime wave in Buckhead also seemed to be enabled at least in part by an inadequate police presence in the then-increasingly rowdy Buckhead Village party district.

Buckhead is no longer the national party nexus that it was 2+ decades ago. But Buckhead still has multiple bars and lounges that (along with the district’s massive amount of retail offerings and high national profile) help to attract much criminal activity to the area, particularly during a time when crime has been spiking in large major urban areas all over the country during the pandemic.

[aslowdodge]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

Buckhead has had a very notable problem with violent crime before.

Let’s not forget the series of shootings and homicides that Buckhead experienced back in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s back when the Buckhead Village area (the area surrounding the 5-point intersection of Peachtree, Roswell, East Paces Ferry and West Paces Ferry roads that makes up the historical center of Buckhead) was a rowdy party district that at the time had one of the highest concentration of bars and nightclubs in the country.

The most high-profile violent crime during that years-long stretch of violent crimes in Buckhead was a double-stabbing homicide in a nightclub that involved legendary NFL linebacker Ray Lewis on Super Bowl weekend in January 2000.

Buckhead leaders seemingly resolved that past violent crime issue by pushing Atlanta city government to roll back bar closing hours to 3am back in the early 2000’s while also partnering with developers to buyout multiple properties where many bars and nightclubs once operated with the intention of eventually redeveloping those properties into upscale commercial developments that have had some mixed results.

What is notable is that (in addition to the extremely high concentration of bars and nightclubs in the area) the late-‘90’s/early-2000’s violent crime wave in Buckhead also seemed to be enabled at least in part by an inadequate police presence in the then-increasingly rowdy Buckhead Village party district.

Buckhead is no longer the national party nexus that it was 2+ decades ago. But Buckhead still has multiple bars and lounges that (along with the district’s massive amount of retail offerings and high national profile) help to attract much criminal activity to the area, particularly during a time when crime has been spiking in large major urban areas all over the country during the pandemic.

In the past it looks like it’s been in spurts or waves. What slowed it down before?

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by aslowdodge

In the past it looks like it’s been in spurts or waves. What slowed it down before?

What slowed down the late-‘90’s/early-00’s crime wave was the forced closure of all of the numerous rowdy crowd-generating nightclubs (through the Atlanta city government’s rolling back of bar hours to 3am and the acquisition of former bar/nightclub properties afterwards, both under the pressure and direction of Buckhead civic leadership) in the old Buckhead bar district which centered on the intersection of Peachtree/Roswell/East Paces Ferry/West Paces Ferry in the Buckhead Village neighborhood.

After all of the rowdiest bars closed, the Atlanta Police Department (which had increased staffing at the time compared to today’s severely low staffing levels in the department) was, for the most part, able to tamp down on violent crime in the Buckhead commercial district. Though property crimes (including break-ins and smash-and-grabs at smaller boutiques and retail businesses) did continue to occur in the area at a moderate but noticeable rate for many years.

What will slowdown the current crime wave will be a combination of factors, including a significantly increased and visible police presence in the area along with the closure of the bar and nightclub spots that appear to generate the most violent crime.