Briarcliff Statement on Cityhood Progress

ATLANTA - Feb. 6, 2014 - PRLog -- The City of Briarcliff Initiative remains confident the Briarcliff cityhood bill will move forward. The group has recently finalized a charter that provides a strong framework for cityhood and is awaiting presentation in the Georgia House within this legislative session. Recently Briarcliff was presented in two meetings of the DeKalb County legislative delegation.

The DeKalb Delegation on January 9th urged Briarcliff, Lakeside and Tucker to resolve its borders together. The DeKalb Delegation suggested a formal mediation process to take place within 10-days. Representatives of each city group committed to do so in response to a direct question from Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver.

Tucker later responded by declining to share in the cost of mediation and let the deadline expire. Lakeside did not respond at all within the deadline.

Allen Venet, President of City of Briarcliff Initiative comments, “Briarcliff followed the DeKalb Delegation’s recommendation to pursue mediation among the three proposed cities. This included Briarcliff presenting dates and an extensive list of unbiased mediators to pick from. Neither Tucker or Lakeside was interested in this path.”

Briarcliff met independently with both Tucker and Lakeside but neither group indicated a willingness to compromise in any significant way.

Venet continues, “We were disappointed an agreement could not be reached with Tucker in the Northlake residential and commercial area around Briarcliff Road in Atlanta. We discussed several alternatives, but did not receive an acceptance or proposal on behalf of the Tucker cityhood group. The result is a Lakeside map progressing in the legislative session that extends far into Tucker’s proposed borders and does not address cityhood for central DeKalb along the southern parts of Briarcliff’s proposed borders.”

The Briarcliff initiative remains committed to cities with logical and fair borders, and are actively pursuing those goals in this legislative session. The group remains open to discussions with other groups to arrive at a solution that makes sense for central DeKalb.

To learn more about Briarcliff visit http://briarcliffga.org/. For immediate cityhood updates visit and like https://www.facebook.com/briarcliffga.

About City of Briarcliff Initiative:
The City of Briarcliff Initiative, Inc. is a non-profit corporation chartered under the laws of the state of Georgia. The group seeks to enable residents to form a new city government in central DeKalb County that would serve all people within the community and promote the health, welfare, and safety of the general public.