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OCTOBER 2020 • VOL. 14 — NO. 10
Buckhead Reporter AROUND TOWN
Oglethorpe professor brings ghosts to life
HEAD FOR THE HILLS PAGES 21-29
VOTERS GUIDE TO NOV. 3 ELECTION PAGE 12
Got that swing
‘Buckhead Blue’ private police patrol pitched as solution to crime
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COMMENTARY
Presidential campaigns appeal to suburban fears
BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net
the industry giant Airbnb and reviving longstalled 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
Amid an increase in shootings and quality-of-life crimes like street racing, political momentum is building for a neighborhoodwide private police force of off-duty officers already dubbed “Buckhead Blue.” However, the leader of two groups likely to operate such a program is expressing caution about it. Envisioned as a larger version of a Midtown program called “Midtown Blue,” the Buckhead concept was proposed at a September 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 Councilmember J.P. Matzigkeit. “We’re at war against crime and we need to act like it,” Matzigkeit said he told attendees at a private Sept. 24 virtual meeting that included interim Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant and officials with the Atlanta Police Foundation, the Buckhead Coalition and the Buckhead Community Improvement District. “I don’t get the sense of urgency… from people that I would like to get that sense of urgency from,” he said. Jim Durrett, who is both executive director of the Buckhead Community Improve-
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PHIL MOSIER
WORTH KNOWING
A pastor’s quest for racial reconciliation P18
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
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Atlanta City Councilmember Howard Shook’s newly filed legislation to ban shortterm rentals in all single-family neighborhoods 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
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