![]() Brian Kemp eased restrictions on businesses earlier than other states on the east coast were willing to. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. (Matthew Pearson/WABE) Cracking down on crime The socioeconomic determinants of crime get left out of the crime prevention conversation when bodies are dropping in front of hookah lounges or strip clubs.īut immediate efforts by the city to reduce crime in Atlanta are facing resistance from those in the nightlife industry, who feel like they’re being unfairly targeted and blamed.Ī security guard stands watch inside of Harold’s Chicken & Ice Bar in Atlanta. “The folks who have a higher tolerance for the potential for violence and understand how to mitigate that, they’re gonna go f***ing party,” he says. But, Chidi says that to some degree, it has shaped who is showing up in these spaces. Now, after seeing a crime wave in 2021, the whole industry is bracing for stronger enforcement that might threaten what’s left of the fragmented industry.Ĭrime itself doesn’t seem to be threatening the viability of the industry in Atlanta. “As the mayor was really just trying to get crime under control for political purposes while she was in office.”īuckhead Village’s fall from glory began with lax enforcement, then a rise in crime linked to nightlife, then a crackdown on nightlife, then erasure of it, followed by developers transforming the space. “There was a lot of … for lack of a better word, repression in Atlanta’s club scene,” Chidi says. ![]() The Atlanta nightlife scene took a hit that it would never fully recover from. The club scene in Buckhead Village is gone now, replaced with mixed-use highrises and no traces of the partying that happened there.Ĭity leadership made an example out of Buckhead. Bad timing on their part, because the 2008 recession pushed back their plans to rebuild. Like, shut Buckhead down,” Chidi says.ĭevelopers swooped in and bought up the property. “Shirley Franklin was mayor at the time … she was looking to make a mark and clamp down and said, ‘Enough.’ And basically shut the whole f****ing street down. The BMF shooting in 2003 accelerated the fall of the club scene in Atlanta. The Super Bowl murders in 2000, when Ray Lewis allegedly stabbed two men to death, was the beginning of the end for Buckhead. Although nobody really thought of it as such,” says George Chidi, a journalist who reports on crime and law enforcement in Atlanta. And it was rowdy and if you look at the crime statistics it was also a lot more violent than it is today. It was like f***ing Ludacris music video on the weekends, particularly in the summer. People were in the street, everybody’s half naked. “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. The emergence of Atlanta hip-hop in the ’90s ushered in a new era of nightlife in the city. The mayor and chief hinted they are taking steps to close down the club.Īnyone with information on the identity of the suspect in this case should contact 911 or Crime Stoppers Atlanta.This is Part 2 of the 3-part series: Nightlife in Atlanta. Police haven’t released the name of the security guard. You will see some developments as it relates to that,” Bryant said.Ĭhannel 2′s Tom Regan spoke with someone Wednesday who answered the door to Encore and asked for the manager but was told that person wasn’t available to comment on the shooting. “The mayor and I spoke this morning as well as yesterday on coming up with a very aggressive plan on what we are doing around nightclubs and night activity. In this case, a young man, just doing his job, is now dead.īryant vows tougher enforcement in and around drinking establishments that stay open late and are often backdrops to violent encounters. In just a week’s time, gunfire has erupted at seven bars or nightclubs in Atlanta leaving several people wounded. “What I’m going to be doing is having a conversation with that particular club, Encore, because they have been a violator a number of times,” Dickens said.
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