Concerns that crime is going unchecked have inspired a group of neighbors to form the Buckhead City Committee. They want the community to vote on removing themselves from the city of Atlanta, and starting their own city, with their own police force.
ABC News' Steve Osunsami reports on the movement by the Atlanta neighborhood of Buckhead to break off from the rest of the city.Some residents in Atlanta's wealthiest neighborhood say they want to leave the city and start a new one, saying they are concerned with crime. But the idea comes with an increasing number of economic and social concerns as it gains steam.
Bill White is leading the charge to separate the community. He's the chief executive officer of the Buckhead City Committee and has helped raise over $2 million in donations from as far away as Bangladesh and Australia. He's a wealthy political fundraiser who only moved to the neighborhood about three years ago, and says one day thieves showed up to his home.
Police say it's true that they're not sending police officers to most shoplifting calls, saying that by the time those officers arrive, the thieves are gone, and that their time could be better used. But Atlanta police said their current policies do allow for high-speed chases. Some of their policies changed after lawsuits were filed by innocent drivers who were hurt in car wrecks caused by these chases. Even so, Atlanta police will still chase a driver wanted for murder, for example.
"I don't side with ... the politics of any of it. I wanna be a voice ... for victims," Kovitch said."Yes, there are more severe crimes, if you wanna put it that way. But everyone has their own experience and ... is affected in their own way." On the southwest end of the city, Glenda Mack lives in Atlanta's Zone 4, where 32 people were murdered last year. Her 12-year-old grandson was one of them.MORE: How 5 police departments are tackling violent crime surge in US
While residents in the neighborhood make up about 20% of the city's population, their tax bills cover about 40% of the city's expenses.Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said it would leave a significant hole in the city's tax base if Buckhead goes it alone. "In Atlanta, across Georgia and across the nation, if the wealthier parts of a community decide they want to form another city, they will continue to make lines and draw division between those that are affluent and those who aren't," Dickens said."What does that say about our society?"Yard signs supporting the grassroots initiative to incorporate Buckhead, an Atlanta neighborhood plagued by a recent crime wave, as a distinct city have been popping up like mushrooms.
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