Storm Sandy spurs reminder of Fulton’s ‘CodeRED’

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Devastationfrom storm Sandy missed Buckhead, but the community’s unofficial mayor, SamMassell warned in a press release it “emphasizes the importance of beingprepared” to protect persons and property.  

Sam Massell

Thepresident of the Buckhead Coalition took the opportunity to informBuckhead residents that, in addition to keeping on hand a reasonable supply ofemergency products like flashlights, drinking water, food staples, etc., they areable to participate in Fulton County’s “CodeRED” weather alert system.
Thisnew procedure is free to the user, by signing up in advance at www.fultoncountyga.gov/code-red-emergency-notification-system. The program provides automated storm warnings and otheremergency alerts to the citizens’ cell phones, land line phones, or othermobile instruments. 
Inaddition to weather situations, the system will be used for warnings of utilityoutages, major fires, roadway issues, criminal matters, gas leaks, evacuationnotices, and other neighborhood concerns.
Massell,a former Atlanta mayor, added, “the protection could provide a measure ofsafety for the entire community of Buckhead” for a customized situation. By contrast, the boundaries monitored could even be compressed to a singleblock.

Buckhead burglar kicks in front door, steals jewelry

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At approximately 12:30 p.m. Friday,Nov. 2, neighbors in the 1400 Block of Mt. Paran Rd. returned home to findtheir front door had been kicked in and jewelry stolen, according the Mt.Paran-Northside Civic Association’s website.

The homeowner told Atlanta Police detectivesthat before leaving to get some lunch, a white male came to his house and saidhe was working next door.  The subject then talked to the couple as they wereleaving and asked how long they would be gone.
The suspected burglar kicked in thefront door, took a pillow case, stole jewelry and left.
The homeowners are 87 years youngand police believe these criminals are targeting elderly people as of late.
Anyone seeingsomething suspicious should call 911 and Mt. Paran Security (404) 310-7361 immediately.

1 dead, 1 injured in Friday Buckhead traffic accident

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Atlantapolice reported late Friday afternoon that one person was killed and another injuredin a Buckhead traffic accident that shut down Roswell Road between Powers Ferryand Piedmont roads around 3:30 p.m.

Atlanta Police said the driver of a pickup lost control of the vehicle and slammed through a retaining wall into the parking lot of the Walgreen's store on Roswell Road at about 3 p.m.

Police said 59-year-old Calvin Sims, who died as a result of the accident, was walking out of the Walgreen's store and headed back to his car when the truck careened through the retaining wall and hit him. 

The driver of the pickup, police said, had suffered from a medical condition when the truck went out of control. He was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital for treatment. 

Peak performance expert to address BBA Thursday

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Peak performanceexpert Chuck Douglas will be the speaker for the Thursday, Nov. 8, BuckheadBusiness Association Weekly Breakfast meeting at 7:30 a.m. at the City Club ofBuckhead, on the 18 th floor of the Atlanta Financial Center, 3343 PeachtreeRoad.

Chuck Douglas

“Chuck Douglas hasspent many years traveling the country helping top professionals increaseperformance through business building strategies,” notes CatherineCattles, 2012 President of the BBA.  “We look forward to hosting Mr.Douglas at our upcoming BBA Breakfast as he discusses strategies for creatingimmediate and lasting results for personal and professional effectiveness withour members.”
Douglas is one ofAmerica’s leading authorities on the development of sales skills and personaleffectiveness and has been training people for over 25 years.
Douglas is a graduateof the Georgia State University in Atlanta with a Summa Cum Laude 4.0 averagein Corporate Business Strategy, and Finance & Accounting.  He is alsoa Junior Olympic champion in track and cross country.  Today Chuck is aleading authority on sales and business building and has delivered over 5,000presentations and training programs throughout the world including extensivetours with Tony Robbins, Bob Proctor, Les Brown, Mark Victor Hanson, and BrianTracy.
 Upcoming Weekly Breakfast speakers: Nov.15, Carlos Quintero, founder, Sales Effectiveness Incorporated, and Nov. 29, BobLittell, Chief NetWeaver. There will be no breakfast meeting on Nov. 22.  
The Buckhead BusinessAssociation (BBA) Weekly Breakfast Series takes place each Thursday morningfrom 7:30 to 9:00 a.m. at the City Club of Buckhead.  Tickets are $10 forBBA members and $20 for visitors and guests.  Validated self-parking isavailable for all attendees.
For more information, visitthe BBA website at www.buckheadbusiness.org.

GA 400 trail Update: Buckhead CID shown trail experiences planned top to bottom along 4.5 miles

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The Buckhead Community Improvement Districtboard on Oct. 30 unanimously approved acceptance of a $750,000 GeorgiaTransportation Infrastructure Bank grant to go towards construction of the GA400 Greenway Trail, which is still set to begin by 2014.

According to Livable Buckhead Executive Director Denise Starling, whopresented a Power Point presentation to the CID board at its October meeting,35 percent of the funding for the trail has been identified and the traildesign will be completed by April or May.

Denise Starling describes the GA 400 Trail's five
experiences to members of the Buckhead CID board. 

Starling presented a vision of what might be—and what she is hoping willbe the final result—that would include five different trail experiences alongthe 4.5 mile route from Loridans Drive in north Buckhead to I-85 in southBuckhead.
She said 8,175 residents will be within a 10-minute walk to the trail,while the real startling figures is that 44,272 residents will be within a10-minute bike ride of the trail. 

But Starling cautioned that the two most criticalfactors for trail completion are raising the required funds and solidifying publicsupport. The presentation made to the CID board will be used to help with both,but primarily will be used to meet with neighborhood groups to garner residentsupport.
Starling’s presentation literally walked the CID board members along thepath from top to bottom with slides that included actual photos from theproposed trail’s surroundings to architectural renderings of what those areasmight look like after the trail work is completed.

Rendering shows the present sound barrier panels on the
wall over GA 400 replaced with some opaque panels.

She said trail will start with a PATH Foundation typical multi-use trailfor walking, biking, jogging and skateboarding on the north end at LoridansDrive and will run along GA 400 at the back yards of residents who live in thearea. Starling said Livable Buckhead is working with each of these homeownersindividually in terms of screening their properties from the trail.
She also pointed out that the plan is to replace some of the presentsound wall panels in the fencing along GA 400 with opaque panels to create amore pleasing visual experience for those on the trail.

Rendering shows the proposed suspended bridge for the
path in the area of the Mountain View park.

One of the area designs that Starling is most excited about—which alsohappens to be one of the most expensive to produce—is an elevated bridge trailthrough the planned park area at Mountain Way in north Buckhead.
From that visual, Starling took the board members to the second mostexpensive part of the project, which is the route along Lenox Loop Road, wherethe plan is to take a foot out of each traffic lane to widen the path andprovide landscaping.
From there the GA 400 trail would go through the Tower Place commercialdevelopment and then enter into the Peachtree Park neighborhood, where it wouldtake on a very residential corridor experience and would end up behind theEclipse de Luna restaurant at Miami Circle, where there would be a major trailhead.

This graphic shows some of the various environments that would be
created along the GA 400 Trail in open spaces and under rails and roads.

From there it would head south across Sidney Marcus Boulevard, andbehind The Dump furniture store toward a park at Lindbergh Road and then on tothe end at I-85 and the connection to the BeltLine trail in south Buckhead,where there is actually a wetlands with the potential for a park andobservation area for wildlife.
Starling told the CID board that the original cost estimate and budgetfor the trail was $10 million, but with the current plans it had escalated to $16million, mainly due to the cost of the bridge at Mountain View park area andthe improvements along Lenox Loop Road.

Graphic shows the present
proposed route for the
GA 400 Greenway Trail.

She indicated there was going to be some belt tightening necessary tomake the financing feasible.
Editor’s Note: Livable Buckhead has promised to post online the presentationmade to the Buckhead CID board, as well as a narrated video of thepresentation. BuckheadView will bring a link to those to our readers as soon asthey are posted.
Also, Livable Buckhead, the Buckhead CID and the Buckhead BusinessFoundation, a sister organization to the Buckhead Business Association, willhold an auction on the evening of Nov. 15 of the 21 decorated, 8-foot-tallBucks on the Street statues. The proceeds from the evening will go toward funding theGA 400 Trail and other green space initiatives in Buckhead.
The public is invited to attend the event, which will be held at thenewly renovated Estate on Piedmont special event facility (formerly Anthony’srestaurant). The cost is $100 per person, which is tax deductible. Forfurther information about the event and how to register to attend, go here. 

Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods chair proposes County of Buckhead concept; urges it be vetted

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Thecontroversial administrative shakeup at North Atlanta High School a weekearlier so angered Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods Chairman Jim King that heunleashed from his mental closet a proposal he has been thinking of for four tofive years—creating a County of Buckhead.

BCN Chairman Jim King

Kingdoesn’t want to think about becoming a part of a renewed Milton County as somehave proposed. Nor does he want to create a new City of Buckhead. He wants aBuckhead County. 
"Acounty can raise its own police force. ... its' own school district. We cancontrol the schools and they can to be closer to the people," King said."We could end up having the best not only private but public school systemin the state over night…have the safest community in the state over night… andstill support the city of Atlanta." 
King explained, “Buckhead could still be within the citylimits of Atlanta, just like part of Atlanta now is in DeKalb County.”
King told the neighborhood representatives attending themonthly BCN meeting at Peachtree Presbyterian Church, “I think things have gonetoo far. Drastic steps are necessary….Maybe it is time we (Buckhead) demand afull loaf,” King said.
King added that it seemed to him, regarding the way thesituation was handled at North Atlanta High, “Race, politics and class weredriving the school thing that happened. Does that sound like Atlanta? I thoughtwe had gotten beyond that,” he added.
King pointed out that attorney Glenn Delk, who represents theHistoric Brookhaven neighborhood at BCN, suggested a city of Buckhead a coupleof years ago and King admitted he didn’t think that would work at the time. Delk, a supporter of charter schools, presently is representing the North Atlanta High interim principal Mark MyGrant who was abruptly removed from the post last week.
Explaining that he has sat on this idea of a County ofBuckhead for four to five years, King said, “The time has come that I think itneeds to be vetted.”      

BCN representative attorney Glenn  Delk

Takinghis option as chairman of the organization of 28 Buckhead neighborhoods, Kingstated his viewpoint: "The kids are the ones who are being cheated in thiscity. This community is being ignored. ... We have a school board that is notreceptive…After this week, the superintendent probably can't be trusted. ...That’s a lot of stuff to try to grapple with. People supporting Atlanta PublicSchools from Buckhead have had enough and are willing to look at any and allactions that will remedy the situation." 

However, State Rep. Edward Lindsey, whorepresents most of Buckhead, is an attorney and is the Republican majority whip, said there are several constitutional legal issues withKing's idea, on both a federal and state level.
Firstof all, Lindsey said that under the state constitution, in order to “bust acounty apart,” all citizens of the existing county must approve the measure."That's going to be awfully difficult to do," he said. The south part of Fulton County, whichincludes most of the city of Atlanta, is not going to vote for that, heexplained.  

State Rep. Edward Lindsey of Buckhead

Furthermore,Lindsey said, the most recent proposals have been to change law so that only the residents in what would be the new county would vote on the issue instead of all the residents of the existing county. He said that violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Federal law does not allow taking away the voting rights of some people in deciding their future and fate, he added.

And, he added that the state constitution would have to be amended to allow 160 counties instead of theexisting 159 counties.
Lindsey said people outside of Fulton County would notlook favorably on splitting the county. Those in rural counties would fear thesame might happen to them as a result, he explained.

The state representative agreed the idea of a Buckhead County should be vetted. "I think all ideas should be on the table and be fully vetted," he added. 
 On the issue of education, Lindsey he favors “parenttriggers” to take existing traditional schools to a “conversion charterschool.” He said he held off this past session on proposing such legislationand “felt good about that decision until this past week.” He said he will bepresenting that legislation this coming session of the General Assembly.
Lindsey said “conversion charter” has been upheld in otherstates and does have some bipartisan support in Georgia. He said it also caninclude cluster charters, which might include North Atlanta High with SuttonMiddle School and the elementary schools that are part of the feeder cluster.

"Folks in north Atlanta by and large have achoice and most are well off enough to send kids to private schools, Lindseytold the group. “Fortunately, people choose to put them in public schools, andradically they have helped improve them. I don’t want to see us back up, I wantto see us go all in….I think it will require us to have more control of ourschools in the north side of town."

Editor's note: Check back on this story on Friday. We will attempt to advance it with additional information. 

Buckhead a big winner as Carter’s Inc. reported moving headquarters to 8 floors in Phipps Tower

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The news about Atlanta-based Carter’s Inc., the children’sclothing company, has been fast and furious in the past few weeks, and it lookslike Buckhead will be the very big winner.
 In September, the AtlantaBusiness Chronicle announced that Carter’s was looking to move its headquartersfrom Midtown to Buckhead.
Thursday, the BusinessChronicle announced Carter’s will move its retail store, ITand financial operations—and about 200 jobs—from Shelton, Conn. to its Atlantaheadquarters by the end of 2013.

The Phipps Tower office building in Buckhead

Today, the Business Chronicle has announced Carter's hasapparently committed to lease about eight floors at the 20-story Phipps Towerin Buckhead owned by Manulife Financial Corp.
At present, Carter's has more than 100,000 square feet, orseveral floors, in Midtown’s Proscenium building, also owned by Manulife.Manulife could not accommodate the company's expansion at its Prosceniumbuilding.
The Business Chronicle reports the nearly 200,000-square-footheadquarters lease would be one of Buckhead's largest ever, and it could bevalued at more than $70 million over at least a dozen years, excludingconcessions and escalation, according to commercial real estate brokers.
The move would instantly give Carter's headquarters much greatervisibility, the Business Chronicle reports. Phipps Tower rises next to theluxury mall Phipps Plaza and stands over Georgia 400 at Lenox Road.

This map shows the location of Buckhead's  Phipps Tower office building 

It would also mean that all the Buckhead buildings of the lastdevelopment wave would be at least 70 percent leased, according to the BusinessChronicle. Vacancy was almost 30 percent in 2010 after the spec officebuildings 3630 Peachtree, Two Alliance Center, Terminus 200 and Phipps Towerwere completed.
The jobs that would be moving here from Connecticut  as a result of the announced consolidationThursday by Carter  would includepositions in retail merchandising and store operations, finance, andinformation technology. The company, which has long been headquartered in theAtlanta market, currently employs about 1,200 people here.
The consolidation move will cost the kid’s clothing manufacturer$35 million to $40 million, according to the Business Chronicle.

Michael D. Casey

“We have a long and successful history of doing business inGeorgia,” said Michael D. Casey, chairman and CEO of Carter’s, in a statement.“Atlanta is a very compelling place to live and work. We look forward tobringing our Connecticut-based operations to Atlanta, which will strengthen ourcollaboration and ability to provide consumers with the best value andexperience in young children’s apparel.”

Carter's, which has had a presence in Georgia since 1925, alsoopened a 1 million-square-foot distribution center in Braselton, approximately50 miles northeast of Atlanta, this summer. The company will invest more than$50 million over the next three years in its Braselton facility and employ morethan 1,000 full- and part-time employees by 2015.