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Atlanta floats new historic preservation rules, offers public survey
BY JOHN RUCH
jchnruch@reportemewspapers.net
Should Atlanta review the proposed
demolition of any building dating back
40 years or more? Could city hotel taxes
be directed to saving local history? Those
were some of the possible new histor
ic preservation rules floated in a Feb. 27
meeting in Buckhead. And residents who
couldn’t make it can weigh in through an
online survey.
Officials also said they plan to do infor
mal, drive-through reviews of areas of the
city where they lack historic site informa
tion, including three significant sections
of Buckhead: Peachtree Hills, North Buck-
head and the Chastain Park area. Under
wood Hills in Northwest Atlanta is on the
list, too, along with many other neighbor
hoods citywide.
Under the name “Future Places Proj
ect,” the city is revamping its Historic
Preservation Ordinance, which is rough
ly three decades old. The update eventu
ally will part of a new city zoning code.
Currently, the city’s Urban Design Com
mission reviews zoning-related pro
tections for 23 historic districts and 63
structures or other landmarks. But it’s
considering broader ways to save history,
and more popular definitions of “histor
ic” to include sites that shape “communi
ty identity.”
The Feb. 27 meeting at the Cathedral of
St. Philip, which drew about 25 residents,
was part of a second round of public in
put, following an initial round last fall.
Doug Young, the city’s assistant director
of Historic Preservation and executive di
rector of the Urban Design Commission,
said the final recommendations were to
be unveiled May 19 at the High Museum
during the commission’s Design Awards
ceremony. That was before the coronavi-
rus pandemic hit the nation, so that time
line may change.
Young presented an overview of rec
ommendations for possible new rules and
methods borrowed from practices in oth
er cities considered similar to Atlanta, in
cluding Denver, Tampa, New Orleans and
Austin, Texas. Some of the recommenda
tions were the following:
■ A “Structure of Merit” list, giving
certain sites an informal designation as
important. Proposed demolition or ma
jor alteration could trigger a review for
possible formal historic status designa
tion.
■ Directing part of the hotel tax to his
toric preservation.
■ Better public engagement through
social media and other formats.
■ Letting anyone submit a nomina
tion for historic designation.
■ Review of the proposed demolition
or major alternation of any structure
aged 40 years or older.
■ Tighter regulation of “demolition by
neglect,” meaning a structure that is al
lowed to decay.
■ Regulation of how properties are de
molished, such as requiring the salvage
of some materials.
The city is already attempting to be in
novative in its public engagement on the
“Future Places Project,” with feedback
methods at the meeting including both
sticky notes on boards and surveys on
tablet computers. The process also a has a
promotional branding element, with give
aways of stickers and T-shirts.
Beyond rules and regulations, the
city has several other approaches for re
thinking and reviewing historic protec
tions. One is an extensive survey of the
city’s parks and an inventory of histor
ic resources within them. That work is
done, Young said. Another is to establish
“The Story of Atlanta” - a set of generally
agreed themes of what makes the city spe
cial and though which historic sites can be
considered and identified. Young said the
themes are boiling down to “Struggle and
Imperfection,” “Hustle and Hard Work,”
“Legacy of Inclusion/Creating Opportu
nity” and “Upward Movement,” meaning
transportation, mobility and accessibility.
Yet another part of the review is special
consideration of restricting the size of in
fill housing as a way to preserve the char
acter of neighborhoods. That idea was
a big topic of discussion at the first local
meeting in October. At the Feb. 27 meet
ing, Young provided no material updates,
just an overview of some public com
ments about it.
For more information about the “Fu
ture Places Project” and to take the survey,
see the city’s website at bitly/FuturePlac-
esProject.
Former KGB spy talks about his switch to the American Dream
BY HANNAH GRECO
hannah@reporternewspapers.net
Jack Barslcy, 70, was born in East Germany and recruited to
be a KGB agent at just 23 years old. Now, he resides in Covington
with his wife and daughter and is living out what he considers
the American Dream.
“Just because you were in the KGB doesn’t mean you were Su
perman,” Barslcy said at a Feb. 10 Rotary Club of Sandy Springs
meeting. “I’m one of the best-trained agents that they ever sent
out into the world and I’m just quite normal.”
The KGB was a security and secret-police agency of the Soviet
Union from 1954 until the country’s collapse in 1991.
“Jack Barslcy” is not his given name - it’s one he started using
as a false identity but now has become his own.
Barslcy was recruited by the KBG to gather political intelli
gence on the U.S. government at the age of 23 when he was teach
ing chemistry at a university in Germany. He says his childhood
shaped the “lone wolf” mentality the agency looked for in re
cruiters.
“The KGB was really looking for people like me,” Barslcy said.
“They were looking for people in the ages of 20 to 30 who had
certain character traits that would qualify somebody to do this
kind of work.”
Some of the traits included focus, hardiness to stress, intel
ligence, adaptation, emotional stability and bravery, according
to Barlcsy.
“I own that list. That’s me,” Barlcsy said. “These traits are some of the tools you can
use for good or for bad.”
Among the parts of his background that were useful for KGB service, he said, were a
tough-love childhood and a breakup that left him heartbroken in his teen years.
“I started to develop this idea that I’m going to be pretty much on my own,” Barslcy
said. “That is how I got put into the attention of the KGB.”
The decision to join the KGB was an obvious choice, Barslcy said.
“I needed to have a bigger purpose. I needed to be attached to a bigger cause,” Barslcy
said. “When people grow up, at a certain age, they need to attach themselves to some
thing bigger than them, and to me, it was the communist cause. There was no doubt.”
In 1978, Barslcy began his new career of spying in New York. He left his hometown
and birthname behind and picked up the name Jack Barslcy,
which was on his new birth certificate.
“Jack Barslcy was a young man who passed away at the age of
11,” Barslcy said. “This is how KGB stole identities - from people
who passed away at a young age.”
Barslcy never met with his bosses, known as handlers, on U.S.
ground. All communication was done by handwritten letters and
decoding Morse code through shortwave radio. He did not say
who he spied on.
After a decade-long career with the agency, Barslcy resigned
from the KBG in 1988 because his first daughter was born. Grad
ually, he converted to the American way of life.
“I just didn’t want to do the spying anymore,” Barlcsy said. “I
just wanted to stay here, so I did.”
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation tracked down Barslcy
in 1995 after he had been trying to integrate into American soci
ety for the last seven years.
“I was just going to live out my life undetected and start work
ing on my version of the American Dream,” Barslcy said. “But
somehow the FBI eventually got wind of me and 9 years later,
they introduced themselves.”
He said the FBI let him stay in the U.S.
“I cooperated with the FBI. I told them everything I knew, and
at that time I had no loyalties and I had fundamentally pretty
much become an American in many ways,” Barslcy said.
In 2008, Barslcy was baptized at a Baptist church and in 2015,
he received his U.S. citizenship.
After he resigned from the KGB, Barslcy worked in several upper-management roles
for large corporations such as United Healthcare, Prudential and NRG Energy. Barslcy
attributes his success in these roles to the skills he acquired during his time as an agent.
“The ability to make decisions in high-pressure situations without second-guessing
yourself,” Barslcy said. “I had to do this during my spy career and I operated in corpo
rate America primarily to fix crisis situations.”
Now, Barslcy and his wife have a second daughter, 9, and are settled into American
life.
“I am legally, intellectually and emotionally an American more so than I am a Ger
man,” Barslcy said. “I’ve lived here for 40 years...and I really like it here.”
HANNAH GRECO
Jack Barslcy, a former KGB spy, speaks to
the Rotary Club of Sandy Springs Feb. 10.
BH
