Safety Update: Shooting on Alco Street

LMMNA Engaged with City Officials on Response

Hello neighbors -
 
We’re writing this morning to inform our residents about a frightening incident that occurred overnight on Alco Street – and to tell you what the board of the Lindridge-Martin Manor Neighborhood Association is doing as a result.
 
What Happened
 
What we know so far from first-person reports and initial information posted online is that at least one and maybe two shootouts occurred just before 3 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 31, among a group of people parked at the edge of our neighborhood on Alco Street NE.
 
This is the spot where Alco Street meets Melante Drive NE and serves as an entryway into our community. And, as almost all of us know, this is next to the site of Girls Galore LLC, doing business as Allure Gentleman’s Club, which has presented issue after issue to our neighborhood for the past two years.
 
In this latest incident, none of our neighbors were injured or hurt, and we’re still pulling together all the facts. But it appears there was a shootout between two groups of people. Police responded but suspects had already fled. Early evidence indicates multiple rounds were fired and many vehicles and businesses were hit.
 
Our Response

Enough is enough. This club must be closed. The Lindridge-Martin Manor Neighborhood Association has already reached out to the leadership of Atlanta Police Department Zone 2 to demand increased patrols and official police presence at Allure and in our neighborhood during what we are sure will be a busy New Year’s Eve.
 
We’ve also reached out to the mayor’s office, the Atlanta City Council president, and our District 6 council representative to ask for relief and special intervention. In recent days, the mayor has put club owners around the city “on notice” that there will be increased enforcement and citations for breaking club capacity rules and for any club operating after hours.

We’re insisting that Allure be among the top of the list of those clubs under increased scrutiny and enforcement.
 
All of this comes on the heels of months of efforts on the part of LMMNA and our neighbors to engage with police commanders and city licensing officials to address our many, many concerns and issues with this club since it opened.

Recent Security Efforts

Our members should know that we have used special funds from Councilwoman Jennifer Ide to hire off-duty police officers on multiple occasions this year to bolster security.

And Maj. Andrew Senzer, our commander for APD Zone 2, recently delivered a monitoring system to help police track the license plates of vehicles coming and going from Alco and Cheshire Bridge Road.

After we pursued the issue with the License Review Board, Allure was issued a "due cause" citation several weeks ago for operating beyond approved hours. The citation was signed by the mayor just days before Christmas. After two more such citations, the club can lose its "grandfathered" liquor license and be forced to stop operating. 
 
Members of the LMMNA board have been told through official and unofficial channels that the city’s license patrol officers have recorded multiple violations by this club during the past two years, and we of course have months of 911 calls and incident reports on record.

We can safely call Allure Gentleman’s Club a “nuisance club” by any definition used by the City of Atlanta or Fulton County. 
 
Our Ask
 
The LMMNA board will continue to push for a direct response from the city on this latest incident, and insist on increased safety measures for our community. We want this operator closed. 
 
Please stay tuned for specific calls to action for our residents. As for today, we have multiple efforts underway to share the news about what has happened and to get an official response from the city and safety officials.
 
Know that we have pushed and pursued actions against this club and this situation for months, and we will not rest until we can ensure our residents, our families, and our neighborhood are safe.

Sincerely,
The LMMNA Board

NPU-F Report December 2020

NPU-F

December 21, 2020

For questions or comments, send a note to npu@lmmna.org.

APD Zone 2: concentrating on three issues relevant to NPU-F: street racing, homelessness, and clubs (Cheshire Bridge Road); courts issuing fines up to $1,000 for loud mufflers

Atlanta Fire and Rescue: 90% of automatic fire alarms are false alarms, mainly commercial establishments; each 24-hour shift replies to an average of 17 automatic alarms

Department of Watershed Management: reminder to keep grease and oils out of sinks and drains during the holiday season; if you think someone is falsely posing as a DWM employee, contact 911 right away.

Code Enforcement (APD): report suspected violations—call 311; send photo via 311 website after receiving a case number from 311 call

Jennifer Ide (Atlanta City Council): process to audit restaurants to ensure they are operating as restaurants and not as clubs (situation with GOAT?); city conducting an audit of the license review process (liquor licenses)

Stacey Evans (State Representative District 57); contact Olivia Buckner (Chief of Staff) with issues for the upcoming legislative session at olivia@staceyevans.com

City of Atlanta Inspector General (IG)—report by Jerry Neumark: Shannon Manigal newly hired as the city’s first IG; will be able to investigate complaints against any city employee, commission or board member; or elected official; call the Integrity Hot Line at 800-884-0911 to file a complaint

Doug Young (City Planner): report any unpermitted construction activity to codebustersDCP@atlantaga.gov or call 404 865 8550

Georgia Power (GP) will be trimming trees in LMM in 2021; GP has adopted a new protocol for tree trimming that is more biologically sound; LMMNA will be contacted prior to GP’s work in the neighborhood; thanks to Stephanie Coffin of Virginia-Highlands for insisting on GP’s change in tree trimming procedures

LMMNA Report: Highlighted recent conversation with APD and city of Atlanta officials regarding the homeless situation; camps on GDOT property from Piedmont Road to Sydney Marcus/Lenox Road/ Buford Highway will be cleaned up in January/February and the occupants will be offered shelter and services

Miscellaneous Updates:

North Fork Peachtree Creek Pumping Station: Department of Watershed Management officials will discuss the status of the project at the February 15 NPU-F virtual meeting.

Grand Bargain Status: this legislation is on hold until the affected parties work out acceptable language.

Rezoning on Lindbergh: LMMNA at its November meeting affirmed its decision, by a vote of 85% to 15%, not to support the rezoning from R-4 to R4A. No other action has taken place, although the applicant may propose an alternative rezoning to R-5. Neither NPU-F nor LMMNA has seen a rezoning application to that effect.

Short Term Rental (SRT) legislation: the original bill has been amended from a complete ban of SRTs in R-zoned neighborhoods to allowing SRTs under a regulatory program. Expect action on this issue early in 2021 by city council.

Early Voting Details for Runoff Election

Fulton County Early Voting Locations and Schedule Announced

Here are all the details we have so far on early voting for the Special Runoff Election, including U.S. Senate seats and the Public Service Commissioner for our districts.

For more information on voting, registration and other election details, check out the LMMNA Government and Election page. It also includes a running list of all our elected officials.

General Meeting 2020

DATE: 11/11/2020

The General Meeting of the Lindridge-Martin Manor Neighborhood Association was held via Zoom on Nov. 11, 2020. Here are some notes and minutes of the event, below. Contact board@lmmna.org for questions, comments, or future topics of interest.

BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Committee Members: Licenses and Permits, Membership, Parks and Gardens, NPU-F, Communications, Social Media. Also in attendance and presenting were Major Anthony Senzer (APD Zone 2 Commander), Atlanta City Councilor Jennifer Ide, and Bryan Warnock.

1) CALL TO ORDER

• President called the meeting to order, 7pm

• Vice President presented agenda as well as instructions for how things work, Zoom, etc.

2) MAJOR SENZER SPOKE

• This has been a challenging assignment, made more difficult by the chief stepping down and COVID. He thanked LMM for support

• crime is down overall, but we're up in zone 2 for auto theft and aggravated assault.

• courts are closed and have over 45K backlogged cases due to CV

• street racing an issue. APD is outnumbered. They've had success taking intel and using social media to match info and make arrests

• traffic stops have also helped bring arrests

• GDOT cleared homeless encampment near Lenox/85. HOPE offered services but no one agreed to the help, too many restrictions. City is working on a hotel near the old stadium for future housing of the homeless

• clubs are applying for restaurant licenses, then operating as a club, APD working with licensing and compliance department on this issue.

3) JENNIFER IDE SPOKE

• Clubs and licensing. new legislation has been proposed for city to work more closely, checking what licenses are for, and what establishments are actually doing

• homelessness issue, working with GDOT and APD, getting them to work together

• Allure, license review board looking at the Sunday in question when they were open. LRB found them in violation, the matter is now in the mayor's hands, She has not signed off as yet. Courts being closed due to CV is creating a backlog. This would be a first offense for Club Alure, this must be finalized before additional violations can be brought against them. If additional charges brought, they could be closed down for one year

• Goat Club, applied for nightclub permits, but are too close to residential. Then applied for restaurant liquor license, which was granted by LRB. Will need to keep monitoring to make sure they're not operating as a club.

• ZOO, owner of property says the ZOO owners are squatting and trying to get them out

4) ALANTA NEIGHBORHOOD SECURITY COALITION UPDATE

• Communications Lead spoke: We have several LMMNA members working with this group to represent Lindridge-Martin Manor among other neighborhood association around the Cheshire Bridge and Lindbergh Drive area. Coalition is working to get GDOT, APD, city and non-profits working together on the homeless issue, coordinate official camp interventions, and relocate individuals into appropriate housing. Getting GDOT to agree to have trespassing on private property as an arrestable offense will be a big help in this area. There are approximately 15 encampments around our area, working with diverse owners of these properties as well, to address issue. We are on the calendar to meet with GDOT leaders, the city’s Chief Operating Officer, Partners for Home, and APD Community Policing leadership to engage on our neighborhood concerns and offer our partnership on solutions.

5) REZONING PROPOSAL

• Bryan Warnock presented map and background of the property he would like to have rezoned at 910/922/928 Lindbergh. He's asking for these lots to be rezoned to R4A, creating 6 lots in total

• NPU-F Committee Chair spoke to the earlier NPU and Board votes on this issue. Stating that R4A is not compatible with our R4 zoning, lot frontage would not be in line with the rest of LMM. Questions were asked : would this make widening Lingbergh more difficult (no answer), was curb cut legel (yes), if properties remain R4 how many houses could be built (likely 3 new, plus the one exisitng).

• Vote was taken, 15% in favor, 85% apposed. This goes to NPU, then the city

COMMUNITY UPDATES

• Treasurer went over this year's budget, outlines budget for 2021 and asked this to be voted on. 94% approved 6% opposed

MEMBERSHIPS

• Membership Chair went over memberships, we have 136 households and 2 businesses for 2020.

COMMUNICATIONS UPDATE

• Communications Chair went over communications and marketing status for 2020, we have more traffic to our website, will work to cleanup email list, new membership signs will be green and campaign will begin in December.

NPU-F

• NPU-F Committee Chair spoke to NPU issues, street racing is an issue, they're hoping the state can help with this. Zoning for short term rentals/Air BNB. Current zoning may not allow, this will be address

GARDENS AND PARKS

• Garden and Parks Chair spoke, community gardens will be getting more beds, applications will be available in January. Original green space has been planted by Trees Atlanta to create a forested area.

NEW BUSINESS

• LMMNA member and active volunteer with South Fork Conservancy spoke to the new bridge at the confluence. South Fork is waiting on money in order to continue with progress, waiting on bids, etc..

• President offered closing comments and thanks for participation. Open slot on board: Events coordinator, anyone interested was encouraged to reach out to board@lmmna.org to volunteer.

ADJOURNMENT

Area Homelessness Outreach Plan

Join Zoom Call Dec. 9 to Learn About City Homeless Plans

In recent months, the Lindridge-Martin Manor Neighborhood Association and our partners at the Atlanta Neighborhood Security Coalition have been working together to engage state and local leaders on shared concerns around the growth of homelessness.

Limited progress has been made, but much more needs to happen to help the homeless individuals and urban campers who find themselves making temporary homes in and around our neighborhoods. An update on recent initiatives appears below, and a special call has been set up to tell us more.

Please join the Atlanta Neighborhood Security Coalition for a Zoom call at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 9, to learn more about the city’s current efforts and outreach plans to homeless and urban campers in and around Zone 2.

We’ll hear from several people, but two in particular: Major D’Andrea Price, the new commander of the Community Oriented Policing (C.O.P.S.) section for Atlanta Police Department, and Cathryn March, the executive director of Partners for Home.

You may submit questions ahead of the call by sending an email to communications@lmmna.org. There also will be a limited time during the call to ask questions.

Here are instructions for the call and proposed agenda:

ZOOM LINK:

Click this link to join the Zoom meeting.

PROPOSED AGENDA:

• Past efforts to deal with Urban Campers and effectiveness
  APD Maj. D’Andrea Price – 10 minutes

• Review of new Homeless Initiative
  Partners for Home Executive Director Cathyrn Marchman – 20 minutes

• Timeline for addressing the different Urban Camps
  Partners for Home Executive Director Cathryn Marchman – 15 minutes

• Invited: GDOT/City of Atlanta partnership and Status of Memorandum of Understanding
  Atlanta COO Jon Keen/GDOT General Counsel Matt Cline – 10 minutes

RECENT LMMNA/Atlanta Neighborhood Security Coalition ACTIVITY

• LMMNA board members and other members of the ANSC are pushing for the completion of a memorandum of understanding between GDOT and the City of Atlanta/APD to assist with/allow officers to pursue trespassing violations on GDOT property (under overpass bridges and hard-to-see areas). It’s in review with city attorneys at present.

• There have been organizational setbacks due to COVID-19, city shutdown, changes in APD Zone 2 leadership - but now a new group of city, state, and non-profit officials have been identified and re-engaged on critical issues to our neighborhoods.

• Many official and unofficial discussions with city leaders for GDOT District 6 and and APD Zone 2 acknowledge homelessness and urban camps have grown during pandemic. This recent story in the AJC will detail what is happening in the next few months.

• ANSC initiatives are back on track with meetings held with GDOT, Atlanta COO Jon Keen, and non-profits in November and December 2020. We understand a new plan to address homelessness and urban campers is in the works for the areas around I-85 and Cheshire Bridge, as well as other parts of Atlanta.

• The ANSC has completed an extensive data analysis, mapping of more than 15 recurring urban camps. This documentation assists with community engagement and interventions.

• We have asked to coordinate with Major D'Andrea Price, the new commander of the city's Community Oriented Policing Section (C.O.P.S.) and the APD’s Homeless Outreach Proactive Enforcement (H.O.P.E.) team on enhanced outreach and assistance to homeless in our area.

• We also are working with the city’s primary agency addressing homelessness, Partners for Home, as well as area non-profits and faith organizations.

• We spoke directly with Atlanta Chief Operating Officer Jon Keen and are in regular contact with his office on current issues. He has guided us to work with the city’s official efforts around homelessness and urban campers. It’s called the Atlanta Continuum of Care. It formed in 2017 under an official charter and funnels federal funds to address homelessness. We’re still exploring what this means exactly for our neighborhood and Atlanta.

UPDATE FOLLOWING CALL

Thanks to everyone who joined the call on Dec. 9. The session was recorded, and we will offer a video or transcript shortly. A follow-up progress call is in the works for the first week of March 2021.

We are especially thankful to Cathryn Marchman and Maj. D’Andrea Price for their frank discussion with us on Dec. 9 and their careful explanation of their efforts. Please know there are many residents, non-profit agencies, and city officials working diligently to address challenges around homelessness in our city.

For Lindridge-Martin Manor and our area: Multiple parties are working on interventions to help. In particular, our region of the city is now on the GDOT/Partners for Home planning schedule for homeless and urban camper interventions.

Next steps: Interventions and outreach for public assistance is currently planned for recurring camps for unsheltered individuals at the following locations and dates.

• Cheshire Bridge/Sydney Marcus Buford – 1/7/21

• I-85 Viaduct /State Road 13 Viaduct from Piedmont to P'tree Creek – 1/14/21

• Buford Sidney Marcus – In planning for Q1 2021

• Morosgo/Piedmont – 2/25/21

These camps will have trained professionals visit and make assessments of the situation at each location. Then, multiple forms of help are offered, including federal CARES funding set aside to help locate individuals into hotels or temporary housing.

There are multiple moving parts to all this, and we have a long way to go to address this extremely complex and delicate situation. All interventions of any kind must follow Continuum of Care guidelines, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has also issued guidance saying the city cannot "close camps" during the pandemic.

Should you see a camp or or individual who may benefit from public assistance, or you see trash or debris growing from what you suspect is a homeless encampment, please contact ATL311. This is the service that the Atlanta Police Department uses to identify outreach from the H.O.P.E. unit officers.

This is going to be a multi-pronged affair into 2021. You are welcome to send any questions to communications@lmmna.org.

*Photo Credit: This photo was published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and shows urban camp near Pryor Street in Fall 2020. Photographer is Alyssa Pointer.