reporternewspapers.net
NOVEMBER 2019 • VOL. 13 — NO. 11
Buckhead Reporter APS chief, facing ouster, finds support in Buckhead
Perimeter Business
Old-school bowling rolls on at Funtime Bowl P5
BY JOHN RUCH AND KEVIN C. MADIGAN
AROUND TOWN
Meet Troop 398, where girls take charge in what used to be Boy Scouts P18
Check out our podcasts and Facebook Live Streams
The Buckhead Reporter is mail delivered to homes on selected carrier routes in ZIPs 30305, 30327 and 30342 For information: delivery@reporternewspapers.net
The tour on Peachtree Road, where those joining included at center rear, City Council President Felicia Moore. Story on page 20 ►
JOHN RUCH
Businesses, residents find unity in common foe: traffic BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net
It’s not unheard of for the head of a business district group to update the Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods about a project or two. But something different was in the air at on Oct. 10 meeting where Jim Durrett, executive director of the Buckhead Commu-
nity Improvement District, broadly offered the BCN “just an intention to work with you and really nail down solutions and get them activated” on commuter traffic, an issue that has often divided the business and residential advocates. A new era of unity on transportation and transit is dawning between Buckhead’s maSee BUSINESS on page 31
As Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Meria Carstarphen faces her impending, and still mysterious, ouster by the Board of Education, she is finding support from Buckhead-area residents, parents, teachers and officials. At an Oct. 24 meeting at Bolton Academy about the search for a new superintendent, school board members faced hard questions from parents and teachers who said they already have the one they want. Many in the audience demanded, but did not get, answers about why Carstarphen’s contract will not be renewed in 2020 after five years on the job. And Carstarphen herself made it clear she wants to keep the job, saying after an Oct. 10 appearance before the Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods that she was “called here by God” to run APS and that she knows “the work isn’t done.” The school board confirmed in September that it would not renew Carstarphen’s contract, but has not given a detailed explanation.
Stumping for the job
Carstarphen came to the BCN to discuss tax breaks on massive real estate deals and how that reduces APS’s revenues. But conversation quickly turned to her contract, with support for her to remain in the job. One audience member suggested Buckhead could end local tax abatements by becoming its own city, adding, “You could be the superintendent of Buckhead.” Carstarphen, who was hired in 2014 to clean up APS after its test-cheating scandal, See ATLANTA on page 15
POSTAL CUSTOMER
PRSRT STD ECRWSS US Postage PAID Monroe, GA Permit #15