A man found dead in Buckhead on the morning of June 17 was apparently killed by a gunshot, according to the Atlanta Police Department. The victim, who has not been named, was found around 8:30 a.m. in the area of Peachtree Road and Bennett Street, according to APD. The victim was “the apparent victim of a gunshot wound,” said an APD spokesperson. The Homicide Unit is...
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Sandy Springs Councilmember Andy Bauman is proposing a hate crimes law that would create stronger penalties for local crimes based on race, sexual orientation, gender identity and religion, among others. The proposal, which is up for discussion in the council’s non-voting work session June 18, would also require the Sandy Springs Police Department track and report hate crimes through the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Federal Bureau of Investigation reporting systems. The ordinance is needed in part of because the state hate crimes law was not passed by the General Assembly in the last session, making it one of...
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Buckhead will have significant MARTA bus service improvements in place, and rail connections to the Atlanta BeltLine and Emory University in design stages, by 2025 under a tentative “sequencing” plan approved by the transit agency’s board June 13. The roughly five-and-a-half-year timeline is general and subject to change, but shows that MARTA wants to get a relatively fast start on its long-awaited “More MARTA” expansion plan. Focused on transit projects within the city of Atlanta, “More MARTA” is funded by a half-penny sales tax approved by voters in 2016 and expected to raise $2.5 billion over the next 40...
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A new Dunwoody mixed-use development on 10 acres in the heart of Perimeter Center is expected to break ground early next year, anchored by a grocery store and including restaurants, retail space, a bank and a gas station. A stormwater detention pond popular with migrating Canada geese will be paved over for a parking lot as part of the redevelopment. The Dunwoody City Council voted 6-1 at its June 10 meeting to approve the Branch Properties’ “Perimeter Marketplace” project to be built at the former dining hub at the intersection of Ashford-Dunwoody and Meadow Lane roads, where now only...
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Sandy Springs is considering adding three ambulances to its next contract with provider American Medical Response to keep up with demand and continue meeting response time targets. Fire Chief Keith Sanders encouraged other cities that have problems with response times to take up its strategy of paying more for additional ambulances. AMR is the same provider that has been criticized by the city of Dunwoody for being slow to respond. Officials in that city have said they would not pay for additional ambulances to ensure response times are met. The contract is expected to be voted on by the...
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Alarm ordinances changes in Sandy Springs have led to confusion in Brookhaven, where one alarm company sent letters to residents inaccurately saying the city will no longer respond to security alarm calls, officials said. “In short, Brookhaven is responding to all security alarm calls, and statements to the contrary [are] false,” city spokesperson Burke Brennan said. Brookhaven has implemented some similar requirements to Sandy Springs’ controversial alarm ordinance. Alarm companies register users and pay the false alarm fines, but evidence of an intruder is not required. But in Sandy Springs, video, audio or in-person verification must be submitted along...
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A developer is seeking to build a mixed-use development on nearly 4 acres of undeveloped land in Dunwoody at the intersection of Ravinia Parkway and Ashford-Dunwoody Road, between the I-285 interchange and Perimeter Center’s Crowne Plaza hotel. The proposed development would include a 42,500-square-foot restaurant and retail space that would be 1 to 2 stories tall and a maximum 10-story hotel catering to business travelers, according to the rezoning application filed with the city. The hotel is planned to be built at the rear of the development, near I-285. A 3-story parking deck would be built in the internal...
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The Northridge Shopping Center in Sandy Springs has a new owner who expects to fill the vacant anchor space left by Kroger soon. Rafat Shaikh, the president and CEO of Safeway Group, Inc., the new owner, said he is negotiating with “several” potential tenants. He did not provide more details. Kroger operated a supermarket at 8331 Roswell Road in the Northridge Shopping Center for more than 35 years before announcing a surprise closure in 2017. The closure was seen by city officials at the time as an opportunity to bring in higher-end retail and fueled their effort to promote...
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Los Vecinos de Buford Highway, an organization that advocates for immigrants and tenants, is asking the Brookhaven Police Department to publicly apologize for assisting federal immigration agents in a recent arrest at a Buford Highway apartment complex. The apology is needed “rebuild the trust” between the police and those living along Buford Highway, according to the organization. Brookhaven Police Deputy Chief Brandon Gurley said officers were only serving as backup for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency agents during their June 6 operation to arrest a suspect at the Terraces at Brookhaven apartments at 3510 Buford Highway. Plans are...
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Kevin Abel, a Sandy Springs resident and State Transportation Board member, has spoken out in support of the planned toll lanes on I-285 and Ga. 400 and building bus rapid transit on those lanes. In a Facebook post, Abel said that “Atlanta’s transit future will be reborn with BRT on express lanes.” Leaving BRT out of the toll lanes would be a “devastating missed opportunity,” he said. Abel represents the 6th Congressional District on the State Transportation Board, which oversees the Georgia Department of Transportation. His district includes parts of Brookhaven, Dunwoody, Sandy Springs and areas of Cobb and...
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Rachael Kates stood at the podium during public comment at the June 10 Dunwoody City Council and praised the council’s decision to pass a nondiscrimination ordinance that prohibits local, privately-owned businesses from discriminating against minority groups, including LGBTQ people. “I wanted you guys to know that living in a place where someone who comes at me as a queer person or a Jewish person, that I will be able to go to the city [for help] and something can be done … it’s everything to me,” Kates said, adding the ordinance also allows LGBTQ people to “feel safe.” Kates...
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U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath stressed the importance of bipartisanship in Washington, D.C., at her June 8 town hall at Dunwoody High School, on everything from gun control to climate change. But she was forced to tackle a very partisan issue when a woman who described herself as a “staunch” McBath supporter asked her why she was not calling for impeachment proceedings against President Trump. “It troubles me to have to stand up and say that I’m concerned about that with you,” the woman said in the second question of the town hall. “All these children dying at the...
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