About Buckhead reporter. (Sandy Springs, GA) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 2020)
OCTOBER 2020 • VOL. 14 — NO. 10 reporternewspapers.net Buckhead Reporter AROUND TOWN Oglethorpe professor brings ghosts to life P19 COMMENTARY Presidential campaigns appeal to suburban fears P16 WORTH KNOWING A pastor’s quest for racial The Buckhead Reporter is mail delivered to homes on selected carrier routes in ZIPs 30305,30327 and 30342 For information: delivery@reporternewspapers.net SL# uuxied VO ‘eojuo|A| aivd e6eisod sn SSMy03 aislysyd yaiAioisno ivisod PHIL MOSIER Ailyn Bisogno; daughter Fiorella, 4; and their dog Toddy enjoy a new, sculpture-style swing at Mountain Way Common on Sept. 26. The swing is part of an improvement project wrapping up this month at the 9-acre park at North Ivy Road and Mountain Way beneath Ga. 400. The project, done by the park’s friends group and Livable Buckhead, turns part of roadway into a multiuse path featuring decorative panels and planters. For more information see MountainWayCommon.net. Call for short-term rental ban sparks talk of other rules BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net Atlanta City Councilmember Howard Shook’s newly filed legislation to ban short term rentals in all single-family neighbor hoods may be short-term itself after lawyers and fellow elected officials are through with it. But it’s having the intended effect as a shot across the bow, drawing reactions from the industry giant Airbnb and reviving long- stalled talks about a possible registration system and tighter ban on “party houses.” “Diplomacy is the greatest weapon here,” said Pam O’Dell, executive director of the Short Term Rental Owners Association of Georgia, saying her group wants a seat at the table with residents and officials to talk See CALL on page 20 ‘Buckhead Blue’ private police patrol pitched as solution to crime BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net Amid an increase in shootings and qual- ity-of-life crimes like street racing, political momentum is building for a neighborhood wide private police force of off-duty officers already dubbed “Buckhead Blue.” Howev er, the leader of two groups likely to operate such a program is expressing caution about it. Envisioned as a larger version of a Mid town program called “Midtown Blue,” the Buckhead concept was proposed at a Sep tember community meeting by Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts, who recently moved to Peachtree Road and got an earful of street-racing noise. The idea was greeted with interest from leaders of neighborhood and business groups and such elected officials as City Councilmem ber J.P. Matzigkeit. “We’re at war against crime and we need to act like it,” Matzigkeit said he told attend ees at a private Sept. 24 virtual meeting that included interim Atlanta Police Chief Rod ney Bryant and officials with the Atlanta Police Foundation, the Buckhead Coalition and the Buckhead Community Improve ment District. “I don’t get the sense of urgen cy... from people that I would like to get that sense of urgency from,” he said. Jim Durrett, who is both executive direc tor of the Buckhead Community Improve- See BUCKHEAD on page 30 www.Lauderhills.com 1 Il\ \ Fmt&1
