Buckhead City Movement Warns Atlanta 'Don't Quick Claim' Assets

ATLANTA — Atlanta City Council. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Check your mail.

The Buckhead City Committee wants to deliver a message to Atlanta’s city government asking what’s what in the area they hope to wrest away from the city.

“The Buckhead City Committee is working to identify all properties owned or managed by the City of Atlanta that may be affected by the legal creation of Buckhead City, but we need participation from Atlanta city leaders,” the BCC’s Twitter declared Monday.

A handful of Buckhead residents and business owners disgruntled with rising crime in Atlanta and what they consider a disproportionate tax burden formed the BCC with the goal of pulling away from the City of Atlanta and grew from the group's inception in summer 2020.

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Despite vigorous fundraising efforts, a favorable feasibility study and state lawmakers — none, mind you, with Atlanta addresses, let alone Buckhead’s zip codes — flocking to sign on to a bill to make de-annexation and cityhood a November 2022 ballot measure, this latest moves seems to be somewhat of an acknowledgment of rough roads ahead for the crusade.

Cityhood opponents have pointed out that carving Buckhead away from Atlanta would require intricate work to divvy up property owned and operated by the existing municipality lying within the proposed new boundaries. That includes schools, libraries, firehouses and police stations, to name a few assets.

Beyond that are questions of settling and/or splitting city debt and the impact de-annexation would have on what is left of Atlanta.

But when asked why he was presenting this letter to the City of Atlanta in such a grand fashion, Bill White, CEO of the Buckhead City Committee and the face of the movement, told Patch this had a specific purpose.

“To warn them if they think to quick claim a property that’s ours they better not or we’ll claw it back,” White said in an email.

See Also:

• Why Buckhead's State Senators Oppose Cityhood: Patch Q&A
• Buckhead Cityhood Could Cost Atlanta Schools $332 Million
• Dueling 'Studies' Punctuate Differences In Buckhead City Debate
• Buckhead City A Viable Proposition, Feasibility Study Says
• Buckhead City Committee Wants 'Divorce' From Atlanta: CEO