Buckhead Reporter Archives - Reporter Newspapers

Board chair of Buckhead’s HUB404 park effort fired from company for ‘personal behavior’

by John Ruch | Jan 22, 2020 | Buckhead Reporter, Perimeter Business, Top Stories | 0

The chair of Buckhead’s “HUB404 Atlanta GA” park board has been fired by his company for “personal behavior” right as the green space’s fundraising effort gears up. Jay Gould, the president and CEO of Midtown-based flooring company Interface, was named to the HUB404 board last year in a move seen as significantly raising the profile of the effort to build a park over Ga. 400 in central Buckhead. In a Jan. 20 press release, Interface said Gould recently “was terminated after an investigation concluded that he engaged in personal behavior that violated company policy and core values.” “We’re trying...

Atlanta City Council moves closer to creating inspector general position

by John Ruch | Jan 22, 2020 | Buckhead Reporter, Politics | 0

The Atlanta City Council moved forward with legislation Jan. 21 in a 15-0 vote to amend the city’s charter to create an Office of Inspector General, an independent investigator. The council is expected to consider final adoption during its meeting Feb. 3. The proposal comes in the wake of a City Hall procurement corruption scandal involving the administration of former Mayor Kasim Reed. City Councilmember J.P. Matzigkeit of Buckhead’s District 8 said that given the strong council support, the measure is likely to pass next month. “This is my number one goal for the entire year,” he said. “We...

Photos: Atlanta History Center visitors learn history, make art for MLK Day

by John Ruch | Jan 21, 2020 | Arts & Entertainment, Buckhead Reporter | 0

Visitors to the Atlanta History Center learned history and made art as they observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 20. Among the programming at the museum on West Paces Ferry Road in Buckhead were Civil Rights-related art-making and immersive role-playing as the “Freedom Riders” who challenged segregated bus service in the 1960s. Photos by Phil...

New GDOT maps show properties that could be impacted or demolished by I-285 top-end toll lanes project

by Dyana Bagby | Jan 21, 2020 | Brookhaven Reporter, Buckhead Reporter, Dunwoody Reporter, Perimeter Business, Sandy Springs Reporter, Slideshow, Top Stories | 0

Approximately 155 properties in Brookhaven, Dunwoody and Sandy Springs could be affected or demolished by Georgia Department of Transportation right of way acquisition for the I-285 top-end toll lanes project, according to new maps unveiled during a Jan. 21 open house. The draft plans show the project razing several residential and commercial structures, including some or all the Chateau Club Townhomes and possibly the swimming pool of the Georgetown Recreation Center, both in Dunwoody. Also marked for displacement are three to four buildings in the Dunwoody Village apartment complex, and two buildings in the Sierra Place apartments in Sandy...

GBI releases new details in Lenox Square police shooting of suspect

by John Ruch | Jan 20, 2020 | Buckhead Reporter, Public Safety, Top Stories | 0

The Jan. 18 police shooting of a suspect at Buckhead’s Lenox Square mall, originally described by authorities as an armed robbery, is looking more complicated due to details released by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The GBI says the victim was charged with robbery, and according to media reports that authorities have not confirmed, a rapper says the man shot was a friend who was helping him recover a stolen chain. According to the GBI, which is investigating the Atlanta Police shooting, an officer confronted a man who was pointing a gun at another man in a parking deck...

Officer shoots robbery suspect at Buckhead’s Lenox Square mall, police say

by John Ruch | Jan 19, 2020 | Buckhead Reporter, Public Safety, Top Stories | 0

An officer shot and wounded a suspect who was in the midst of an armed robbery at Buckhead’s Lenox Square mall Jan. 18, according to the Atlanta Police Department. Police said in a written statement that the officer was “alerted” to an armed robbery around 8:15 p.m. in the parking deck of the mall at 3393 Peachtree Road. The officer found an unidentified male robbing a victim at gunpoint, then shot and wounded the suspect twice when he refused to drop the weapon, according to the statement. The robbery victim was unharmed, police said. The wounded suspect was taken...

Man arrested on murder charge in Buckhead fatal stabbing

by John Ruch | Jan 19, 2020 | Buckhead Reporter, Public Safety, Top Stories | 0

A man is in custody on a murder charge in a fatal stabbing in Buckhead Jan. 18. The Atlanta Police Department said that officers responded around 3:30 a.m. to 28 Irby Ave. for a call about a dispute involving several males. They say the victim, identified as Jermaine Stephenson, was stabbed and pronounced dead at Piedmont Hospital. Israel K. Whittle, 25, was arrested later that day on a murder warrant and was taken to the Fulton County Jail, according to...

Wrong-way driver killed in Ga. 400 collision in Buckhead

by John Ruch | Jan 19, 2020 | Buckhead Reporter, Public Safety, Top Stories | 0

A wrong-way driver was killed in a head-on collision on Ga. 400 in Buckhead Jan. 18, according to the Atlanta Police Department. Police said the unidentified male driver’s vehicle was traveling south in the northbound lanes of the highway at Sidney Marcus Boulevard when it hit another vehicle at around 5 a.m. The wrong-way driver was dead at the scene, according to police, while the driver of the vehicle he hit was taken to a hospital for injuries described as...

Atlanta delays solid waste collection for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

by John Ruch | Jan 19, 2020 | Buckhead Reporter | 0

The city of Atlanta will not collect solid wastes — including garbage, recycling and yard waste — on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 20, and will delay all curbside pickups by one day for the rest of that week. Residents who are on a Friday collection schedule will receive service on Saturday, Jan. 25. For more information, contact ATL311 by dialing 3-1-1 or 404-546-0311, or...

Firefighters extinguish blaze behind Buckhead Goodwill store

by John Ruch | Jan 18, 2020 | Buckhead Reporter, Public Safety | 0

Firefighters extinguished a blaze behind a Goodwill store in Buckhead on Jan. 17. Firefighters responding to the store at 2135 Piedmont Road reported “debris from a possible homeless encampment on fire,” according to Sgt. Cortez Stafford, a spokesperson for the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department. No injuries were reported and there was no determination of the fire’s cause, he said. The fire was near the spot where a 2017 blaze that collapsed part of I-85 over Piedmont Road. Authorities alleged, but never proved in court, that the notorious blaze was started by homeless people and spread to flammable materials stored...

Buckhead’s Garden Hills house dispute could head to court

by Reporter Newspapers | Jan 18, 2020 | Buckhead Reporter, Top Stories | 0

An empty corner lot in the leafy Garden Hills neighborhood of Buckhead continues to agitate nearby residents who fear a redevelopment plan will change the neighborhood’s character. Now the dispute may head to an appeal in court. Plans for a 5,000-square-foot house at the intersection of Pine Tree Drive and North Hills Drive have been the subject of complaints since builders applied for a variance from the City of Atlanta’s Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) last year. At issue is a request for a 17.5-foot front-yard setback instead of the traditional 35 feet. Additionally, the BZA had determined that...

Police reveal one suspect in custody for Lenox Square shooting; another sought

by John Ruch | Jan 17, 2020 | Buckhead Reporter, Public Safety, Top Stories | 0

One of two suspects in the robbery and shooting of a woman at Buckhead’s Lenox Square mall Dec. 21 is in custody, the Atlanta Police Department has revealed. The second suspect is still being sought. D’Vonte Dean, 24, was arrested Dec. 30, the police department said in a written statement. He is being held in the Fulton County Jail while facing charges of aggravated assault with intent to rob, armed robbery, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. The victim, a Conyers resident who works at the 3393 Peachtree Road mall, told police...