Mary, Mary, why you buggin’?
More cops — not an earlier last call citywide — is the solution to violence in Buckhead
Michael Krohngold, co-owner of Tongue & Groove in Buckhead, wasn’t surprised by the Oct. 5 midnight shooting outside Johnny Rockets restaurant that left a man dead.
Krohngold used to gloss over Buckhead’s troubles, even after the most notorious Buckhead nightclub incident that left two men dead, and Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis on the hook, outside a post-Super Bowl party in January 2000.
But the bar owner admits now that the Buckhead nightlife atmosphere has never been this bad, especially for women, who are routinely groped and subjected to lewd remarks. “It’s like the wild West out there, only there’s no sheriff.”
Notice the words “out there.” Meaning, if you’re in a Buckhead club, many of which are staffed by off-duty Atlanta cops, the worst that can happen is that you’ll be spotted by someone from your office. It’s when you leave the club and head out into the booming cruisefest of late-night Buckhead life that things can get dangerous. Put simply, there just aren’t enough cops around to rein in the revelry, making late-night Buckhead an accident waiting to happen.
In another city, forward-thinking lawmakers would recognize it is a city’s responsibility to keep the streets safe, and provide accordingly by beefing up police presence. But this is Atlanta, where the only reaction worth having is a knee-jerk one. That reaction has been personified best by Mary Norwood, a first-term, at-large councilwoman who has used the latest Buckhead violence to spearhead an effort to close bars two hours earlier — and not just in Buckhead, but citywide! As CL went to press this week, the Atlanta Police Department was unveiling a report on the matter to the City Council’s Public Safety Committee, where Norwood’s legislation is being discussed.
While Norwood’s intentions may be noble, her methods are hopelessly flawed — on at least three counts, according to bar owners and a number of City Council members CL spoke to. First, making last call at 2 a.m. and showing patrons to the door an hour later may only exacerbate the problems the Village experiences with cruising, because everyone will flood into the streets at once. Second, 80 percent of the city’s revenue comes from sales tax collections, and there’s been no economic study to show what impact the shortening of bar hours will have on city revenues. Remember that Norwood wants all bars in the entire city to stop serving two hours earlier. Finally, the council hasn’t connected with bar and restaurant owners who are willing to work with city leaders to solve Buckhead’s problems.
Certainly, these are problems worth some thoughtful solutions. Despite its recent troubles, Buckhead is by far the most racially integrated area of Atlanta nightlife, and that doesn’t just mean white clubs next to black clubs. What’s more, Atlanta, despite the Super Bowls (football and motocross) and revered civil rights history, barely rates as a city compared to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago or Boston. It’s more like an overgrown town. The one thing Atlanta has that all those other cities don’t always have is the opportunity to party to the break of dawn — literally.
Echoing comments he made before the council, Michael Katz, co-owner of the Halo Lounge in Midtown, asks: “Why do people come to Atlanta? It is not for the Cyclorama. They come here to eat at our fine restaurants and experience our wonderful nightlife. This is why I decided to move to Atlanta in 1998.
Changing the bar closing hours will not stop people from partying. They will just change venues and go to illegal operators.”
Norwood and Buckhead civic leaders are right to say that the Village has problems. And Mayor Shirley Franklin is also right that Buckhead pulls precious police manpower from other parts of the city. (Of course, this analysis neglects to mention that the mayor and City Councils of the past helped create the police manpower shortages by freezing department salaries and pension improvements.)
To make matters worse, intentionally or not, the Buckhead issue has been tied to allegations of vote-swapping among council members. Mysteriously, councilmen, such as C.T. Martin, who had previously sided against closing bars early, co-sponsored Norwood’s legislation. The story, which was reported and denied by Norwood in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is that Martin did it to win support for adding former Mayor Maynard Jackson’s name to Hartsfield Airport.
And that’s got a number of council members wondering if their colleagues are considering each issue on its individual merits, whether they’re doing their jobs.
At-large City Councilman H. Lamar Willis says that once the Buckhead vote became associated with the Hartsfield renaming, that there might be some quid pro quo, the bar legislation immediately lost his support. What’s more, there is a council task force that’s been charged with finding solutions to the bar problems.
“I believe the legislation should be held,” Willis says, stressing the need to prepare an economic impact report before making changes that would affect bars and restaurants throughout the city.
“I certainly hope we do something like that before we vote,” says District 9 City Councilwoman Felicia Moore, adding that it was “stupid and disrespectful” to link the Buckhead and Hartsfield issues. “We do not need to cut off our nose to spite our face.”
Time was, City Council was little more than a Politburo for the all-powerful mayor. But this council thinks for itself. District 8 City Councilwoman Clair Muller hopes that wiser heads will prevail, and she says to truly study the issue may take as long as a year.
Krohngold says the city needs to strictly enforce its own laws — such as noise ordinances and anti-cruising measures. And bar owners are willing to do their part. “We’re willing to take responsibility. Let us fund additional police efforts.”