Hundreds want Atlanta to reject public safety training center funding
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Hundreds of people packed Atlanta City Hall Monday to express opposition to a plan to construct the controversial public safety training center in the South River Forest.
Driving the news: 289 people signed up for public comment at the City Council meeting because legislation was introduced yesterday to provide an additional about $30 million toward the $90 million project.
- That legislation has to go through committee before it could be approved by the full Council.
Why it matters: The meeting, by most accounts, drew the most people who rallied against a topic since 2021 when the Council heard 17 hours of public comment related to the training center.
- It took about seven hours for the Council to hear all the speakers who signed up to talk at Monday's meeting. No one spoke in favor of the project.
Be smart: The remaining $60 million is expected to come from private philanthropy through the Atlanta Police Foundation.
What happened: Before public comment started, attendees chanted "Stop Cop City" before Council President Doug Shipman told participants they would be removed from the chambers if they clapped and shouted.
- Some people also chanted "Stop Cop City" in the lobby while speakers were sharing their thoughts.
- One person used their time to speak to play the spoken-word song, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" Gil Scott-Heron.
What they're saying: Most of the people who spoke lived in the city limits, but a few were from surrounding metro Atlanta communities.
- Yonasda Lonewolf, who identified herself as a Lakota and Black woman who lives in Atlanta, told council members that "there's no one here that has said they want" the training center to be built.
One person who spoke noted that many of the opponents and the speakers were from Atlanta, but the corporations that are supporting the training center are the real "outside agitators."
Chase Oliver, a metro Atlanta resident, pointed out that he was a Libertarian who was opposed to the project. (Oliver ran for Senate in 2022.)
- "The reason why I'm saying that is because I think you need to understand that this is not a left versus right issue," he said. "This is a right versus wrong issue that we're dealing with with Cop City."
Maya Nahor said Atlanta is known for its forested terrain and if the training center is constructed, "no amount of tree planting will make up for destroying established, incredibly complex ecosystems."
Jimmy Hill, the father of Jimmy Atchison, a 21-year-old father who in 2019 was shot and killed by Atlanta officer Sung Kim, also called on the Council to reject funding for the training center.
- Kim, who retired from the Atlanta Police Department after the shooting, was indicted in December 2022 by a grand jury on felony murder and other charges in connection with the shooting, according to the AJC.
- Hill said every time he thinks about the Jan. 18 fatal shooting of Manuel Esteban "Tortuguita" Paez Terán during a clearing operation at the site of the center, "I think about my son because he was unarmed and surrendering."
One woman said she was angry at Mayor Andre Dickens' administration and the Council for their "lack of courage."
- "We're living through an unimaginable time of overlapping crises… but in the face of these realities, this council and this mayor offer us breadcrumbs in harm reduction, while you simultaneously offer the full loaf to the systems that are causing our demise," she said.
Editor's note: The charitable foundation of Cox Enterprises and its leadership have financially supported the project. Cox owns Axios.