A resolution to impose an 180-day moratorium on new alcohol licenses along Edgewood Avenue was permanently shelved by the Atlanta City Council Public Safety Committee at its July 13 meeting.
First introduced in January by Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari, the resolution asked the mayor and the Atlanta City Council to impose a moratorium on accepting any new alcohol license applications on the corridor.
The resolution had been held in committee for nearly seven months, but was “permanently filed” by a unanimous vote of the committee at Monday’s meeting.
A spokesman from Bakhtiari’s office said the moratorium did not have the necessary votes to pass in the Atlanta City Council.
“This was true when the proposal was introduced in January. It remained true two weeks ago, despite a series of news stories to the contrary, and it remains true today,” the spokesman told Rough Draft.
“Yesterday, the Public Safety Committee voted to permanently remove this legislation from its docket,” the spokesman said. “Given the confusion and unnecessary consternation that the proposal had already generated, permanently filing the legislation was the right decision, and concerned business owners can rest assured that this is a settled matter.”
Residents from Old Fourth Ward and Sweet Auburn urged the Atlanta City Council to take action due to an increase in shootings on Edgewood Avenue. One of those actions was the alcohol license moratorium for the nightlife district, which was recommended last year in the Edgewood Corridor Public Safety Task Force report.
Since the report was issued in December 2025, four shootings have occurred along Edgewood Avenue.
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In other committee action:
• The Atlanta City Council Zoning Committee voted to hold an ordinance that would allow data centers to operate in the Adair Park and West End neighborhoods. The vote came after community backlash to the proposal introduced by Councilmember Antonio Lewis to alter a city ordinance that bans data centers near transit hubs and the Atlanta Beltline.
• The zoning committee also unanimously approved referring an ordinance to designate Peachtree Circle in Ansley Park as a historic district to the Zoning Review Board. Residents have been pushing for the designation for decades, but renewed their push after one of Peachtree Circle’s oldest homes was razed earlier this year.
Editor’s Note: This story was corrected to accurately report the Atlanta City Council Public Safety Committee’s vote on the Edgewood alcohol license moratorium. We apologize for the error.
