A Message From Buckhead Coalition Chair Eric Tanenblatt

The new year brings the opportunity to reflect on where we’ve come—the divisiveness we’ve managed to put behind us—and where we hope to go.

For communities, as individuals, it’s a season of new possibilities and resolutions. So here’s mine: claim Buckhead’s mantle as Georgia’s most prosperous boomtown.

A record 107,000 people called Buckhead home this year. That’s more than the downtown populations of Seattle, Austin, Portland, and all but seven cities in Georgia. The explosive population and commercial growth we’ve managed—Buckhead’s compound population growth rate of 2.24 percent far exceeds Atlanta’s still-respectable 1.38 percent—often exposes an uncomfortable tension between density and crime. But the public-private partnerships that make Buckhead so unique have helped its streets become the safest in Atlanta once again.

Buckhead wasn’t immune to the social unrest accompanying the pandemic, leading to higher crime rates in virtually every American city over the last few years. But the Coalition’s uncompromising focus on public safety has produced quantifiable results.

Thanks to the leadership of Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns and the support of Governor Brian Kemp, Buckhead will soon become home to the state’s newest Georgia State Patrol Post.

That important project follows the earlier investment by the Coalition, Buckhead CID and Cousins Properties in the Buckhead Village police precinct, which opened its doors last year.

Thanks to these critical investments and the engagement of neighbors and partners in city, county, and state governments, Buckhead now leads Atlanta in overall crime reduction. Violent crime (crime against persons) is down by 24% year-over-year, and law enforcement has recorded a 10% increase in arrests in the same period.

Of course, this marked increase in safety and enforcement would not be possible without the dedication of local police, and we owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Atlanta Chief of Police Darin Schierbaum and Zone 2 Commander Major Ailen Mitchell.

In parallel to our engagement with government stakeholders, the Buckhead Coalition seeded the launch of the Buckhead Safety Alliance, an exciting new partnership among City Councilmember Mary Norwood, Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods’ Debra Wathen, the APD, and the Atlanta Police Foundation. The Alliance provides privately funded security patrols in our commercial corridors and has already had a positive impact.

We worked closely with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and his senior leadership throughout the year to address various community concerns, including safety, infrastructure, transportation, municipal services, zoning, and land use. I’m delighted to report increased street paving across our community, including the West Paces Ferry Road corridor, as well as significant year-over-year improvements in the delivery of city services.

I’ve been lucky enough to call Buckhead home for thirty years, and I’ve never been more optimistic about our shared future than I am today.