Atlanta Mayor Reed Supports Druid Hills, Emory and Surrounding Area Annexation
Decatur Metro | November 19, 2014 | 9:00 am
On Tuesday afternoon, a group called “Together in Atlanta” announced on Facebook that they had gotten the support of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed to annex the Briar Vista and Fernbank school zones – which include both Druid Hills and Emory University – into the city of Atlanta. (Yes, you’ve seen this map before) Here’s that announcement…
Together In Atlanta is extremely pleased to have the support of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, and looks forward to working with the Mayor’s office and legislators to make our state’s flagship city bigger and better in 2015.
WABE has an extensive report on this recent news, with reasoning from a Mayor Reed Senior Advisor…
A big factor moving forward is Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has thrown his support behind Together In Atlanta’s annexation plan. Reed Senior Advisor Melissa Mullinax explains why.
“The map includes Emory and the CDC, which we think are prestigious institutions that we think ought to be in the city,” said Mullinax. “The other piece about it is this is a neighborhood that really always has been thought of as in the city so this is just formalizing that.”
Mullinax says annexation makes a lot of sense on both ends. For the city, the fact that the area is affluent and would add to the tax base isn’t lost on Reed.
According to the WABE article, DeKalb Commissioners are not thrilled with the Mayor’s support of the annexation, since any potential annexation would cut into DeKalb County’s tax base.
Misspelling in headline: Surrounding.
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That map includes the Executive Park / Childrens’ Healthcare property area at 85 & N Druid Hills Rd that just petitioned Brookhaven for annexastion. This should all be fun.
Agreed. There are going to be a lot of angry people when all is said and done.
But what does Emory say?
Emory has let it be known they want to be in City of Atlanta. I believe the Briar Vista and Fernbank cluster has said the same. This is just the first the city of Atlanta has spoken of annexatio, to my knowledge.
So for those like JEM below who are in Druid Hills High’s attendance zone but won’t be part of the annexation, does this mean they will be slotted into another zone ( Clarkston HS possibly)?
Druid Hills Civic Association has not made any decisions on this. This is just a private group that seems to be made up mostly of people mad that DCSS rejected the Druid Hills Charter Cluster. I had never even heard of them until just a few weeks ago, so they haven’t done much public outreach and may not have had any public meetings.
Just an observation, but although you may try to minimize the efforts of this “private group”, they appear to be very well organized and connected. They managed to not only get in front of Reed, but they have obtained his endorsement, they have a piece on WABE and their FB page seems to well thought out and managed. Obtaining Reed’s endorsement pushes them to the front of the pack.
Yes, they are well organized and connected.
But they don’t represent the neighborhood and sent in this petition before the neighborhood association survey was officially released. The DHCA survey showed a slight preference for staying unincorporated vs. joining Atlanta among those currently in unincorporated DeKalb and many people strongly opposed to the Atlanta option.
The survey did not show a slight preference for staying unincorporated. In fact there was no head to head question on the survey with which to ask this. If anything the top box scores for “Atlanta” were slightly higher than the top box scores for “Unincorporated”. This is why a referendum is appropriate.
The average ranking in the survey of the option for staying unincorporated was a little higher than the score for becoming part of Atlanta among people living in unincorporated DeKalb County.
The survey did include a number of people whose residences are already in the city of Atlanta. Not surprisingly, those strongly favored Atlanta.
No, Emory has said no such thing. I work there. Emory has always tried to avoid getting entangled in neighborhood politics. Their official position is that they’ll do what their neighbors decide.
Hahahahaha you keep on believing that. Emory has a lot of weight and they have said Atlanta.
Hahaha-I’ve been involved in spats in the Emory neighborhood a couple of times. Each time Emory was very disciplined at standing to the side while the spatants worked it out. Emory hates taking sides because it hates bad publicity or being the target of something more than it loves being a great university.
I suppose what Emory (and the CDC) really wants right now more than even no bad publicity is light rail. If they’ve calculated that being in Atlanta can make that happen, you could be right.
I live in Forrest Hills. The children in the neighborhood finally got into a good high school, Druid Hills, and now this happens. People have moved here so their children can attend DH High. I understand the frustration of the people from DH who continually tried to get the DH Cluster through the Dekalb School Board. Superintendent Thurmond blocked it over and over. He is to blame for this. Now over 1000 children will be without a high school. Fernbank Science Center will be lost to Atlanta. Our neighborhood will lose some families as well as Avondale and the Medlock area. I wonder if Thurmond even cares. Our only hope is to turn the defunct Avondale Middle School into a High School. Presently it is being used by Fernbank Elementary while the new school is being built. It is all so sad and unnecessary that this has happened. Thank you, Mr. Thurmond,
Absolutey agree. If that cluster had been approved this might not be happening. It would have been beneficial for many. I’m really upset about how all this is playing out. We’re in the Avondale district and are happy with how the charter through HS is set up right now. I realize things change, but I was hoping something like this wouldn’t happen. I really don’t want to move from this area, but that’s an option that could play out down the road.
Which high school would they go to if Druid Hills goes to Atlanta?
Either Tower or Columbia, from what I’ve read…neither are considered high-performing schools, currently.
CSD sent some of our developmentally disabled high school students to Columbia High for a few years. Still makes me mad.
This will have a pretty big impact on Avondale then.
That might be the understatement of the year.
I’m sure the mayor of that cesspool known as Atlanta would love the additional tax $ that annexation would bring to its’ coffers. $.25 of every tax dollar in the City of Atlanta goes to paying pensions and insurance for former employees. It’s the jobs works program that keeps on giving in perpetuity!
Really? Cesspool? Atlanta was my home for 8 great years before moving to Decatur. You might enjoy the AJC comment section more than Decatur Metro.
You need to lighten up. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I lived in Atlanta for 10 years before moving to the C.O.D.
I lived in Atlanta for 11 years before moving to the COD, spending 14 years there before happily moving back to Atlanta. Characterizing the municipality next door as a “cesspool” is a variety of name-calling. Have at it, but know that some perfectly reasonable people will find it aggravating (and/or discrediting).
You mad bro?
Bye-bye section A of Decatur Annexation proposal. Sadly, that was one of the more palatable suggestions….
Actually the residential part of section A only makes sense long-term with Decatur. The RR tracks are a barrier that could present a safety issue.
I heard the folks along E.Lake Rd between Paden Cir and the RR tracks had the chance to be in the West Parkwood annexation to Decatur and turned it down. Now it looks like they will be part of Atlanta.
Hey bob, you write:
“The RR tracks are a barrier that could present a safety issue.”
I don’t get it. Can you explain? Thx!
Some of the areas are most easily accessed by Coventry Road which is crossed by RR tracks. From Decatur, emergency vehicles such as fire trucks would not have to cross railroad tracks. From the west, you would have to take a circuitous route to get to those places if the RR tracks were blocked by a train.
Can anyone tell me if all of area A is proposed to be annexed into the City of Atlanta? I looked at the map, but I couldn’t tell exactly. Area A has a Decatur address. The Publix at Emory Commons has a Decatur address. Right next to Area A across the tracks towards Emory, has an Atlanta address.
OK, I have a question. Atlanta annexes Druid Hills, Emory, et al. Now, there are three schools owned by the taxpayers of DeKalb County (one still UC). If DH gets annexed, those schools are not immediately City of Atlanta property. The City/APS will have to purchase them. My question is, at what price? Will DCSD refuse to sell them? Can DHHS survive with only two elementary feeders? There sure is a lot of conjecture out there.
I agree that Michael Thurmond and the DCSD are to blame for this development. Amazing that Druid Hills, happy as a clam being partially unincorporated for 103 years (age of the oldest house there) would actually WANT to join the City of Atlanta? Can you imagine this in 1980? 1990? 2000? Wow.
https://druidhills.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/druid-hills-survey-preliminary-report.pdf