As 2023 comes to a close, we wanted to highlight a few headlines that caught our readers’ attention this year in Brookhaven, where we publish the monthly Brookhaven Reporter.

🗳️ Our top Brookhaven story was the election of candidates John Park, Michael Diaz, and Jen Owens. John Park, with his Dec. 5 runoff win, became the first Asian American mayor in Georgia.

🛍️ In July, readers were interested in the city’s announcement that its application to annex 462 acres of privately owned land in unincorporated DeKalb County had been withdrawn.

🌉 In November, Brookhaven announced that it would build three new bridges – two vehicular and one pedestrian – to ease traffic near I-85.

🌾 In more recent news, readers were intrigued by the city’s $9 million purchase of seven acres of former farmland on Osborne Road. The purchase of the property is for “public purposes,” according to the agreement.

🏛️ Our readers were also engaged by the announcement of the $78 million Brookhaven City Hall project that began construction in a MARTA parking lot in October.

🍽️ Finally, readers were drawn to the story of Michel Arnette’s HAVEN celebrating its 20th anniversary in October. 

Alexandra Kent is an editorial intern for Rough Draft Atlanta. She is the 2023-24 Editor-in-Chief of The Westminster Bi-Line, the student paper of The Westminster Schools.