reporternewspapers.net
MAY 2020 • VOL. 14 — NO. 5
Sandy Springs Reporter TO OUR READERS
This May issue of the Reporter is a digital-only edition. We made the decision not to produce the printed publication with the health and safety of our staff and suppliers foremost in mind. The Reporter will return to print in June, so look for your copy as usual next month.
Perimeter Business ► The big decision of
pandemic reopenings
► Working from home
shows positives PAGE 5-8
In pandemic solidarity
COMMUNITY
Voters Guide to June 9 primary election
BY HANNAH GRECO
P18-19
WORTH KNOWING
Pandemic ‘victory gardens’ P12
AROUND TOWN
Catching up with catchball P13
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The Sandy Springs Reporter is mail delivered to homes on selected carrier routes in ZIPs 30327, 30328, 30342 and 30350 For information: delivery@reporternewspapers.net
City to buy auto repair shop for Cultural Center
PHIL MOSIER
After the pandemic closures, the restaurant Under the Cork Tree in the Prado shopping center transformed into the Solidarity Food Pantry, offering food and personal staples to people in need -- including restaurant workers. See story and photos, p. 2-3. ►
Council seeks refinancing of City Springs bonds to save millions BY WILL WOOLEVER The City Council is seeking to refinance the bonds on its City Springs civic center to save taxpayers millions of dollars — if the volatile market of the pandemic period will cooperate. In 2015, the council and the Public Facilities Authority, the city’s property ownership
organ, issued roughly $159 million in bonds for City Springs, which opened in 2018. Now, with an April 21 vote, the council will allow its financial advisors to seek refinancing of the bonds to lock in a lower interest rate for city taxpayers. “Our recommendation is to basically refinance the bonds to a point where there are See COUNCIL on page 9
The City Council has approved a $1.8 million purchase of an auto repair business with the intention of building a Cultural Center that may include a state Holocaust memorial and offices for various organizations. The approval was made at an April 7 teleconference council meeting, with one council member voting against the purchase because of the price. “Everybody in town has seen the city with deep pockets and has been trying to get better prices out of us,” City Councilmember Tibby DeJulio said. “And our taxpayers are paying the bill.” The city has previously said the Cultural Center would serve as a new home for the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust’s “Anne Frank in the World” exhibit (which is currently housed in a Roswell Road shopping center); the commission’s office and possibly a new Holocaust memorial mandated by state legislation. It has also been said the center would lease office space to the Sandy Springs Perimeter Chamber of Commerce and Visit Sandy Springs, the city’s tourism promotion agency, which would run a visitors center. The property approved for purchase at the April 7 meeting at 151 Hilderbrand Drive is currently a BMW auto repair business called Buckhead Motor Works, owned by Lawrence Burdett, who could not be reached for comment. The property consists See CITY on page 17