Buckhead and Brookhaven residents told legislators ways they would like to see election districts redrawn to strengthen representation of their neighborhoods.
Brad Carver of Buckhead, one a large number of speakers at a public hearing June 30, made two suggestions to legislators that were echoed by many of his neighbors.
“One is to strongly support and endorse the creation of a Sandy Springs/Buckhead legislative district,” Carver said. “And secondly to encourage movement of the Sixth District [of the U.S. House of Representatives] south.”
Buckhead resident Sue Certain said she would like to see Buckhead have more unified representation.
“For Buckhead, we’re represented by three different representatives, but clearly we’re a community of interest,” Certain said. “Communities that fit together should be treated that way.”
But Sen. Vincent Fort, who represents a portion of Buckhead, spoke against the idea of forming a district for Buckhead and Sandy Springs.
“Buckhead/Sandy Springs is not a community of interest,” Fort said. “’Community of interest’ could lead to Balkanization of interest. We need to understand what true communities of interest are.”
Jim Eyre of Ashford Park said his community is currently split between two legislative districts.
“At this point it makes sense to all be condensed in the 81st District,” Eyre said. “We believe it would create a sense of neighborhood.”
The meeting, held at Georgia Tech, was the last of 12 public hearings held around the state. In August, the Legislature will hold a special session to redraw legislative and Congressional districts to reflect population changes recorded in the 2010 Census.