Buckhead Has Been 'No-Cruising' For Years

Atlanta leaders may expand the no cruising hours in Midtown to create a 12-hour period from 7 p.m. though 7 a.m. when people are banned from slowly circling the area in their cars.

The idea is to tamp down on prostitution in several Midtown neighborhoods.

Buckhead was one of the first communities to embrace no-cruising laws, according to Buckhead Coalition President Sam Massell, but for different reasons.

"[Central Atlanta Progress President) A.J. Robinson and I were among the first to bring these to our communities," Massell said. "The Buckhead Coalition would support any extension of the no-cruising bans."

The Atlanta City Council returned from recess Monday afternoon with Midtown Councilman Kwanza Hall set to propose extending Midtown's no-cruising zone ordinance.

Hall said he wants to extend the reach local law enforcement officials have in their efforts to combat the persistent prostitution issue around residences and businesses in Midtown.

Massell said when Buckhead endorsed no-cruising zones, the goal was to decrease noise pollution coming from loud, booming radios, and accidents.

"We really didn't correlate it with crime issues," Massell said. "To us it was a lifestyle issue, so residents and businesses wouldn't have to endure loud music coming from boom boxes in vehicles driving through communities at five miles per hour."

Hall also has an ally in the Buckhead Business Association. President Catherine Cattles issued a statement to Patch, saying, "The Buckhead Business Association supports the efforts of the Midtown Security Alliance and the Midtown Neighborhood Association to reduce criminal activity within their neighborhood."

Midtown has been plagued with pockets of prostitution for decades. There are times when the Atlanta Police Vice Unit teams with APD Zone 5 officers to produce successful undercover prostitution stings, such as the one late last month that resulted in 35 arrests.

But the lack of resources makes such stings too infrequent, and an extended struggling economy has led to an “increase in activity” for Midtown prostitution according to Hall.

“We are trying to figure out a strategy to address the concerns that the citizens have had for quite a long time in Midtown,” Hall said. "That’s the late-night activity that is primary related to prostitution, a little bit of drugs, but really prostitution.”

The current no-cruising zone ordinance – which make it illegal to pass a control point more than twice within a two-hour period – is from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m.

The city is also working on establishing anti-prostitution areas that has been utilized with success in other cities. A “Stay Out of Area of Prostitution” (SOAP) order would essentially ban convicted prostitutes from returning to specific areas in neighborhoods for any reason whatsoever.

“I do think extending the no-cruise hours could be very, very beneficial,’’ Hall said. “All of the night they would not be allowed to cruise. We’re trying to keep our city safe day and night - 24 hours.”

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The definition of the current no-cruising ordinance SEC. 150-296 in Midtown:

(1) Cruise or cruising means to operate a motor vehicle, or to permit the operation of a motor vehicle under one's care, custody, or control, so as to pass the same traffic points within a no cruising zone more than twice within any two-hour period.

(2) No cruising zone means the area bounded by and includes the following streets or portions of streets and any other area as designated by city council:

· Cypress Street 5th Street to Peachtree Place // Cypress Street Peachtree Street to West Peachtree Street // Seventh Street West Peachtree Street to Peachtree Street

· Piedmont Park - 10th Street Monroe and Piedmont Avenue // Piedmont Avenue 10th to Monroe

· Midtown - 4th Street // 5th Street // 6th Street // Charles Allen Drive // Vedado Way // Lakeview Avenue // St. Charles Avenue // St. Charles Way // Ponce De Leon Court // Greenwood Avenue // Monroe Circle // Ponce De Leon Avenue // Durant Place // Argonne Avenue // Myrtle Street

(3) Traffic control point means any point established by the chief of police within a no cruising zone for the purpose of monitoring cruising.

a. A person commits an offense if, between 7:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. on any day of the week, he or she cruises in an area marked in accordance with this section as a no cruising zone. A citation will be issued under this section any time after the two passages of the vehicle by the traffic control point.

b. The department of public works shall mark a no cruising zone by conspicuously posting appropriate signs at each entrance to the zone.