More on Atlanta

The neighborhood of Buckhead, in north Atlanta, by some measures the wealthiest (although it is definitely inferior to Druid Hills, a much older neighborhood designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, now merely the ninth richest). I have walked through Buckhead many times though it wasn't really my kind of place. I once saw Concrete Blonde at the Roxy theater there.  

It's full of restaurants and very expensive hotels, the city's wealthiest shopping district, a few very rich churches, and the kind of trendy nightclubs that you normally wouldn't see in the South. 

And now it's trying to secede from Atlanta over sky-high murder rates.

Homicides were up 63 percent across Atlanta from January 1 through May 23 and rape rates increased 108 percent.

Shooting incidents rose 45 percent, robberies were up 2 percent and aggravated assaults jumped 29 percent.

Adjusting for population, a person living in Atlanta is more likely to be a victim of a serious crime, including murder and aggravated assault, than in Chicago, where crime rates are higher, reported 11Alive....

The sharp increase in crime rates has prompted residents in the wealthy Buckhead neighborhood to form the Buckhead Exploratory Committee to create its own police force and look into the possibility of breaking away from Atlanta, after around 200 officers left the city's police force in the wake of the shooting death of black man Rayshard Brooks by a white cop in June 2020.  

There are now two bills in the Georgia State Legislature to have Buckhead secede from the city, but city officials have opposed the idea of separating the wealthy, largely white neighborhood from the rest of Atlanta, which is predominantly black, arguing it would siphon away much of the city's tax base.

Rich people are going to have their police, one way or another. The rest of the city might not be able to pay for as many services, but I suppose they can cut the police budget to make up the shortfall.