What do you get when crime is on the rise, but you defund your police department? It’s not a trick question, you get more crime. Much more crime.
The solution is easy, of course. Increase police funding immediately. Provide cops with the resources to recruit, train, and equip their people. Ensure the safety and prosperity of law-abiding citizens, not criminals.
But in Atlanta, like many other parts of the country, the Democratic leadership has ignored calls to fix the problem. One wealthy neighborhood, Buckhead, pays a large portion of the city’s tax revenue. In return, it has seen a dramatic spike in crime.
And as the city ignores its pleas for help, residents are considering a break.
An affluent neighborhood in Atlanta known as Buckhead has paid taxes for decades that helped keep the rest of the city afloat. Far from getting a thank-you, residents appear to be increasingly targeted by criminals.
They wonder why they should remain part of the city at all, rather than forming their own independent city where they can create their own policies and where their money will be spent protecting their citizens. But Atlanta leaders who they say never seemed to care much about them are demanding that they stay anyway…
Over the last year, aggravated assaults are up 26% in Atlanta but up 52% in Buckhead. Robberies are up 2% across the city but 39% in Buckhead, while car larceny is up 27% across the city but 40% in Buckhead…
Buckhead has 20% of Atlanta’s residents but 40% of the taxable property values that make up the city’s main income source. [Source: Daily Wire]
This once-desirable part of town is now being overrun by violence. Drag racing can be heard from morning til night. Joggers are getting shot, for no reason. The Lenox Square Mall, once a hotspot for locals, is now the scene of frequent shootings.
Why would anyone, who values their home, families, and livelihood, stick around? Democrats have ignored this neighborhood, even as they’ve collected taxes from them.
But now that a movement is spreading to leave Atlanta and form their own city, leaders are panicking. A bill to make Buckhead its own city was filed in March. It could appear on the ballot by November 2022. The mayor of Atlanta is attacking Buckhead residents, claiming creating a new city is “not the answer.”
No, it’s not the answer for you. You’d lose too much tax revenue if that happened. But it might be the only answer for resident who are tired of the city government pretending like they don’t exist.
Imagine if this was a relationship. One person neglects and abuses the other, but expects them to stick around and pay their bills. I don’t think so, buddy. In the same way a woman needs to dump a loser boyfriend, Buckhead just might have to dump failing Atlanta—if it wants to save itself.
Democrats all around the country should be taking notice. If Buckhead goes through with this move (as did Sandy Springs three years ago), then neighborhoods in many cities might do the same. Law-abiding citizens don’t deserve to be ignored by their leaders, who take their taxes and refuse to protect them.
All last year, Democrats celebrated rioters and looters but refused to support the very people who make their cities run.
It’s high time they learned their lesson.
Author: James Smith