Press Releases
Opposition to Deannexation Efforts Continues to Mount
Mayor’s Office of Communications
55 Trinity Avenue, Suite 2500 • Atlanta, Georgia 30303
Opposition to Deannexation Efforts Continues to Mount
ATLANTA—In case you missed it, an increasing number of organizations are voicing their opposition to the deannexation of the Buckhead community.
March 1, 2023, Statement from the Atlanta Board of Education in the Opposition to the Creation of a City of Buckhead City (Attached)
Excerpt: Formation of a City of Buckhead City will have a disastrous impact on the entire school district, beyond Buckhead and the North Atlanta Cluster. The ABOE and school district Administration will continue to educate legislators on the significant operational, legal, instructional, governance and financial impacts of potentially severing the Buckhead community from our city and school district. Students residing in the proposed City of Buckhead City would lose access to the APS teachers, administrators, instructional programming and extracurricular resources they currently enjoy. With a significantly smaller student population and physical footprint, APS would have to complete a tremendous scaling back of staff across the district.
February 28, 2023, Midtown Alliance Letter (Attached)
Excerpt: If you represented a company looking to plant its flag and invest, how would you score any capital city facing years of litigation within itself; guaranteed higher taxes; downgraded bond market ratings; increased cost of future debt and the national narrative of a State-sanctioned secession of its capital city? Companies and talent want to locate in areas which are stable and predictable. From any reasonable view, this flawed legislation is the opposite of stability and predictability.
We submit that merely advancing these deeply-flawed bills damages the business-friendly reputation our state has worked so hard to establish. Those celebrating the loudest will be Charlotte, Houston, Dallas, Chattanooga, Denver and many other competitor cities and states – as this legislation goes to the top of their talking points.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Kemp administration deals blow to Buckhead cityhood push
Gov. Brian Kemp’s administration raised sharp concerns that the Buckhead cityhood effort could violate a range of Georgia laws, delivering a devastating blow to the secession movement as lawmakers consider a renewed push to split Atlanta into two municipalities.
Kemp executive counsel David Dove outlined nearly a dozen questions about the constitutionality of the two bills that cleared a Senate panel this week, warning in a memo late Tuesday they could reshape local governments in ways that “ripple into a future of unforeseen outcomes.”
February 27, 2023, Council for Quality Growth Letter (Attached)
Excerpt: In years of discussion, advocates of Buckhead cityhood have yet to make a case in sufficient detail that Buckhead city would be financially viable while providing sufficient levels of service to its citizens.
February 27, 2023, Buckhead Coalition Letter (Attached)
Excerpt: In practical terms, SB 113 and SB 114, creating a November 2024 referendum, would sow chaos and set us down a long path of uncertainty.
These bills will choke off economic development because there are significant, practical questions about what deannexation for which we have no answers.
Roughdraft Atlanta: Opinion: Buckhead City proponents are playing with fire
Excerpt: The final, and perhaps most infuriating fact is that this movement is being steered through Georgia’s state legislature by out-of-towners. Not a single bill sponsor resides in Atlanta. Is this how our state government should work?
As Kenyatta Mitchell, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for the city of Atlanta, suggested during the hearings, What stops a different general assembly from agitating to help Columbus’ Riverwalk secede from the rest of the city, or to assist Northwest Norcross in separating from Northeast Norcross, or central Moultrie from splitting from the western regions? Why would anyone want to open this Pandora’s box?
February 2, 2023, Dear Atlanta Letter from Atlanta Committee for Progress (Attached)
Excerpt: Importantly, Mayor Dickens has reenergized the collaboration between state leaders, including Governor Brian Kemp, Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones and Speaker of the House Jon Burns.
We are encouraged that those in the State Capitol and City Hall are working together to address the most serious problems we face. Our public leaders are focused on what unites us, not what divides.
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