As state lawmakers prepared to debate a measure that would cleave Atlanta and the Buckhead neighborhood into two separate cities, Mayor Andre Dickens was outside the Capitol on a MARTA bus with a very different audience: A group of school children.
The first-term mayor was packed into the bus full of third graders from the Heritage Academy, an elementary school on the southwest side of Atlanta. The unusual group of passengers was celebrating reading and talking about their favorite books as they cruised through city streets.
But while Dickens was getting to know the next generation of Atlanta residents, state legislators who live outside the city were leading an initiative to pull it apart.
An effort by a group of disgruntled Buckhead residents to secede from the city of Atlanta was given new life this legislative session. The two related bills are spearheaded by a Republican lawmaker who represents an area of the state more than 100 miles away.
Stymying the Buckhead cityhood movement last year was one of Dickens’ first obstacles and a success story of his time so far in office. Well before the bills were introduced this year, his administration focused on bolstering city support — particularly public safety — in the wealthy neighborhood.
Credit: Riley Bunch
Credit: Riley Bunch
Dickens, himself an Atlanta native, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution early Thursday that he hoped the two Buckhead cityhood bills up for debate in the Senate get quashed.
“That will send a strong signal to those individuals that don’t live in Atlanta, that are trying to separate Atlantans from each other, that they need to stop,” he said.
The measure was ultimately voted down, by both Democrats and Republicans who said they believed that it would do more harm than good.
Once a city council member, Dickens worked hard when he was elected as mayor to repair the once-fractured relationship between GOP state leaders and Democratic city officials.
His effort came to fruition this week when Gov. Brian Kemp’s administration came to Atlanta’s aide and issued a memo questioning the validity of the Buckhead cityhood measures.
Dickens said he appreciated the governor weighing in on the secession effort that could potentially have ripple effects across the state.
“I thought that was wise of Governor Kemp to really make the legislators aware of how difficult this would be to go forward,” Dickens said. “...So that they see that it will have implications across the whole state and the governor nor I want that.”
The pro-cityhood supporters saw minor victories this session when the bills — S.B. 113 and S.B. 114 — made it out of committee and to the Senate floor. Last session, the cityhood measure wasn’t debated at all.
Dickens isn’t blind to the fact that the Buckhead secession effort will likely be a challenge he faces well beyond the final gavel of the legislature this year.
That’s why, he said, he’ll continue to dedicate his time to cultivating Atlanta’s future even if it means hopping on a MARTA bus crowded with elementary students on a rainy day.
“How we’ll defeat it in the future is how we’re defeating it now: through our actions,” he said.
Credit: Riley Bunch
Credit: Riley Bunch
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