#The Atlanta Public Safety Training Center
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Imagine looking for your son and finding 215 bodies.
It wasn’t until 172 excruciating days after his disappearance that Bettersten learned the truth: Dexter had been killed less than an hour after he’d left home, struck by a Jackson police car as he crossed a nearby interstate highway. Police had known Dexter’s name, and hers, but failed to contact her, instead letting his body go unclaimed for months in the county morgue.
Now it was early October, and Bettersten had finally been told where she could find her son.
She pulled up to the gates of the Hinds County penal farm, her sister in the passenger seat. A sheriff’s deputy and two jumpsuited inmates in a pickup told her to follow them.
They bounced down the road and curved into the woods, crawling past clearings where rows of small signs jutted from the earth, each marked with a number.
“Girl, look at this,” Bettersten, 65, said to her sister. “Would you believe they would bury someone out here?”
The caravan came to the end of the road, at another clearing with more markers. The deputy took one of Bettersten’s hands, her daughter the other, and they walked to the mounds of loosely packed dirt. They stopped at grave No. 672.
“Really?” Bettersten said.
She bent over, hands on her knees. She cried out, her voice echoing off the surrounding trees. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m so sorry.”
Also I know Tumblr doesn't exist in a vacuum so I wanted to share this as well:
Dec.18.2023
Blame for these botched cases has fallen primarily on the Hinds County coroner’s office and the Jackson Police Department. Each agency points a finger at the other.
Meanwhile, other families are left wondering if their missing loved ones were also given pauper’s burials in that desolate stretch of land, beyond a horse stable and scrapyard.
In an effort to help families find answers, NBC News is publishing a list of pauper’s burials in Hinds County since 2016. The list was provided by the county coroner’s office in response to a public records request. The office said in an email that it did not have a list of those buried earlier: "Records before 2016 could not be located. "
#jackson#Missouri#justice#equality#police brutality#acab#jackson police#usa#police#The Atlanta Public Safety Training Center#cop city#police violence#state violence#abolish the police
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Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a State of Emergency Thursday and activated 1,000 National Guard troops in response to ongoing violent protests in downtown Atlanta following a shooting last week near a controversial future law enforcement training site in which a Georgia state trooper was wounded and a man was killed.
The State of Emergency is in effect until Feb. 9, according to the document, unless renewed by the Governor.
The Atlanta protests center around the building of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, nicknamed "Cop City." Protestors have been at the site for months, but on Jan. 18, a protestor identified as Manuel Esteban Paez Teran was shot and killed by law enforcement after authorities said he shot and wounded a Georgia state trooper during a planned multi-agency operation to remove protestors from the area. The trooper was hospitalized and survived.
On Jan. 21, six people were arrested after protests at "Cop City" led to property damage and a police vehicle being set ablaze. Some of the arrested protestors were found with "explosives," Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said. No one was injured.
Kemp specifically referenced the burnt car in his declaration of the state of emergency.
"Masked activists threw rocks, launched fireworks and burned a police vehicle in front of the Atlanta Police Foundation office building," the declaration read, in part. "Georgians respect peaceful protests, but do not tolerate acts of violence against persons or property."
The State of Emergency declaration authorizes the Georgia National Guard to be used in response to continued protests. Activated troops will have "the same powers of arrest and apprehension as do law enforcement officers."
The Atlanta Police Department also told CBS News in a statement that it is monitoring events in Memphis, and protests related to the death of Tyre Nichols, who died on Jan. 10, three days after a violent traffic stop. The five officers involved in the arrest were charged with second-degree murder Thursday. Video footage of the arrest is expected to be released Friday afternoon, officials said.
"We are closely monitoring the events in Memphis and are prepared to support peaceful protests in our city," Atlanta Police said. "We understand and share in the outrage surrounding the death of Tyre Nichols. Police officers are expected to conduct themselves in a compassionate, competent, and constitutional manner and these officers failed Tyre, their communities and their profession. We ask that demonstrations be safe and peaceful."
#us politics#news#cop city#2023#atlanta#georgia#georgia national guard#Gov. Brian Kemp#state of emergency#Atlanta Public Safety Training Center#Manuel Esteban Paez Teran#riots and protests#Mayor Andre Dickens#Atlanta Police Department#cbs news#tyre nichols
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CONTENT WARNING: police, violence
Some Stop Cop City TikToks caught my attention
and got me interested in learning more about Cop City. I thought I would share some of the information I found.
from Police Foundations. These are not necessarily corporations that donated to Cop City, but they are to show that donating to police is something corporations regularly do.
Cop City is another name for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center in Atlanta, Georgia.
Funded with $90,000,000 in taxes and donations.
Largest police training facility in the United States.
Located in the densest black populated area in Georgia.
Cop City is being built in one of Atlanta’s last forests.
Stop Cop City protester and environmentalist activist Manuel Esteban Paez Terán was shot “12 or 13” times by a police officer despite Terán not firing at the police. The cop did not face charges because the killing was “objectively reasonable under the circumstances of this case”.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr described Defend Atlanta Forest as “an anarchist, anti-police, and anti-business extremist organization” and 61 activists have been charged with domestic terrorism.
The Israel Defense Force (IDF) directly shares strategies with the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE). “The Atlanta Police Department and Fulton County SWAT teams had conducted training exercises in an abandoned hotel to remove “Hamas terrorists’.”
Corporations like Dunkin Donuts parent corporation Inspire Brands, Coca-Cola, Chic-Fil-A, Bank of America, UPS, Norfolk Southern, and more help fund Cop City with multimillion-dollar donations. Coca-Cola, UPS, Chic-Fil-A, and more made statements during the murder of George Floyd with things like “…end the cycle of systemic racism”, “creating social impact, advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion”, and “building stronger communities.” Corporations often donate to police foundations.
Articles sourced:
https://prismreports.org/2023/11/14/stop-cop-city-gilee-palestinian-genocide/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/morgansimon/2023/03/14/cops-and-donuts-go-together-more-than-you-thought-the-corporations-funding-cop-city-in-atlanta/
I’m not a professional or even a hobbyist journalist, so if I have wrong information here, please let me know.
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Sad but hardly shocking.
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instagram
Two Stop Cop City activists hold a press conference at the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center construction site.
Via: @saveweelaunee and @stopcopcity on Instagram
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Fuck the police, and fuck cop city in particular
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A federal court judge has ruled in favor of DeKalb County residents, allowing them and others living outside of Atlanta to begin collecting signatures for a referendum petition aimed at putting the planned Atlanta public safety training center on the ballot.
The ruling restarts the 60-day timeline in which opponents of the facility must collect about 70,000 signatures.
Released Thursday, U.S. District Judge Mark Cohen’s order temporarily blocks Atlanta from enforcing its requirement that those collecting signatures must swear they are Atlanta residents. Cohen also wrote that the city’s requirement “imposes a severe burden on core political speech.” And he added that Atlanta failed “to present any argument that the requirement is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling government interest.”
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Climate strike week 238. STOP COP CITY | DEFEND THE FOREST EVERYWHERE ✊❤️🔥🙏🌎✊ “New Yorkers demand Chase terminate all associations with police foundations, and condemn the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center project #StopCopCity. Chase has a long history of racist business activities: In 2011, it gave $4.6 mil to militarize the NYPD; former and current employees treated poorly because of the color of their skin, customers from marginalized communities denied service at branches and are given limited access to credit. Chase is the largest financier of fossil fuels in the world. Chase continues to fund fossil fuel expansion proiects that devastate the environment and violate human rights, particularly Indigenous Rights From Lenapehoking to the Weelaunee Forest, we stand in solidarity with forest defenders. We must hold the major corporations that are funding #StopCopCity to account. • Read the open letter to Chase. See link in bio ➡️ @xr_nyc • #RickFraustoFineArt Expect Resistance Drawing, 2021 #OriginalDrawing on archival paper Dimensions: 6 X 9 inches • #FridaysForFuture #ClimateStrike #TomorrowlsTooLate #StandWithSápmi #StopAlICopCities #FundCommunityNotCops #CopsProtectCapitalNotPeople #StopCopCity #DefendWeelaunee #JusticeForTort #SayTheirName #JusticeForTyreNicols #EnvironmentalJustice #RacialJustice #StopStateRepression (at The Forest) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cpn2VSvv-cy/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
#stopcopcity#rickfraustofineart#originaldrawing#fridaysforfuture#climatestrike#tomorrowlstoolate#standwithsápmi#stopalicopcities#fundcommunitynotcops#copsprotectcapitalnotpeople#defendweelaunee#justicefortort#saytheirname#justicefortyrenicols#environmentaljustice#racialjustice#stopstaterepression
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They present themselves as rebels against the system, fighting to preserve a piece of local woodland.
Yet many of the terrorist suspects arrested and charged over occupying government property and the violent attack in downtown Atlanta on Saturday are children of pampered privilege from out of state.
Hundreds of far-left activists, including Antifa, had gathered on Saturday evening at the Five Points neighborhood in downtown Atlanta to protest the death of their comrade who died in a shootout with police earlier in the week at an occupation south of the city.
On Jan. 18, Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, of Tallahasse, Fla., shot and severely injured a Georgia State Patrol trooper at the so-called “autonomous zone” before being killed by returning fire from police. The year-and-a-half long occupation is at the heart of the “Stop Cop City” movement to shut down the construction of the future Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, a proposed training site for law enforcement and first responders. They hate it because it’s a police center, but also claim that they are protecting a forest.
At Saturday’s gathering, masked militants dressed head to toe in black marched in the streets, shouting: “If you build it, we will burn it.”
They then smashed up businesses, cars and the Atlanta Police Foundation building. An Atlanta police cruiser was set on fire with an explosive. Livestream videos recorded at the scene showed the violent extremists working in an organized manner, such as using a large vigil banner to hide the rioters who torched the vehicle and grabbing large rocks from a shared bag to use as projectiles.
Some of those arrested represent the sort of professional leftist agitator who have popped up across the country after George Floyd’s death:
Francis Carroll is the son of a yacht-sailing, multi-millionaire family.
Carroll was already out on bail for a domestic terrorism arrest at the Atlanta autonomous zone last month. He is the son of a yacht-sailing, multi-millionaire family and hails from the wealthy Maine city of Kennebunkport, also home to former president George W. Bush.
Carroll, who lived in his parent’s mansion before going to Atlanta, was among six people arrested and charged with domestic terrorism, aggravated assault and other crimes on Dec. 13 following a string of property attacks around the area, a carjacking and assaults on officers. They were all bailed out by activists who crowdfunded their legal defense using Twitter.
Madeleine “Henri” Feola is orginally from the wealthy Portland, Ore., suburb of Happy Valley.
Feola is a trans nonbinary activist and 2022 alumna of Oberlin College, where they studied archaeological studies with a focus on decolonization. They’re from the wealthy Portland, Ore., suburb of Happy Valley before relocating to Spokane, Wash. Feola authored a February 2022 blog post on the American Scientist titled, “It’s Time to Stop Gatekeeping Medical Transition.”
Emily Kathryn Murphy says her own family “doesn’t fully understand what being vegan means.”
Murphy is a middle-class vegan activist who previously served as the at-large chair for the Chicago chapter of Al Gore’s “Climate Reality Project” organization before becoming further radicalized into eco-ideology. “I have been vegan five and a half years now, and, no matter how much explaining I do, my own family still doesn’t fully understand what being vegan means,” Murphy complained once in a blog post for the group.
Ivan James Ferguson is an award-winning classically trained clarinet player.
Ferguson is a 23-year-old award-winning classically trained clarinettist from Henderson, Nev. who studied at the prestigious San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Before becoming radicalized, Ferguson regularly performed in classical concerts in California and Nevada.
They’ve each been charged with: felony domestic terrorism, felony interference with government property, felony first-degree arson, felony second-degree criminal damage, riot, unlawful assembly, willful obstruction of a law enforcement officer and pedestrian in roadway.
At an emergency press conference following the riot, Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens revealed a shocking discovery: “Some of them were found with explosives on them. You heard that correctly, explosives.”
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies have tried multiple times to end the violent occupation of the woods. Yet militants have regrouped and continued to occupy the area, heeding the call shared on anarchist sites for comrades to “defend the Atlanta forest.” At the first police raid in May 2022, police were met with Molotov cocktails. The GBI also said it found gas masks and edged weapons at the raid.
During the protest, an Atlanta police cruiser was set on fire with an explosive.FOX 5
Among the previous arrests were more privileged protesters:
* Teresa Yue Shen, a Brooklyn woman arrested on Jan. 18 who graduated from Barnard College before working at Reuters and CNN, according to her LinkedIn. She is charged with domestic terrorism.
* Abigail Elizabeth Skapyak, of Minneapolis. Skapyak is a former Justice Department intern who graduated from American University. She was arrested on May 17.
* Marianna Hoitt-Lange, a violinist who graduated from New York University. She was arrested on May 17.
* Madeleine “Matthias” Gunther Kodat, of Philadelphia, is the daughter of the former provost and dean of faculty at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis. who was arrested on May 17.
Protesters torch police car, damage businesses in Atlanta after activist killed
In November, rioters tried to set a man on fire who drove into the area.
“It seemed to me like they were going to burn the truck with me in it,” Richard Porter told 11Alive News at the time. He was forced to flee for his life as his truck was torched. In early December, two under-construction homes next to the occupation were burned to the ground. The same month, another raid resulted in six being arrested and charged with domestic terrorism.
Serena Hertal, of Sun Valley, Idaho, was one of the militants charged with domestic terrorism, aggravated assault and criminal trespass. She graduated from Pitzer College, a private liberal arts university in Claremont, Calif. where yearly costs are over $82,000.In addition to the weekend violence in Atlanta over the shooting death of the gunman, far-left sympathizers from around the country have held solidarity direct actions and urged retributive violence. “Scenes from the Atlanta Forest,” a collective that represents the autonomous zone, called for “reciprocal violence” against police in a heavily shared post on Twitter.
In solidarity with the Atlanta occupation, the trans child of Democratic House Minority Whip Katherine Clark was arrested for alleged vandalism and assault of an officer. Jared “Riley” Dowell, 23, was charged with assault by means of a dangerous weapon, destruction of injury of personal property and damage of property by graffiti.
In Lansing, militants attacked a bank, writing, “Stop cop city.” Six were arrested. A Portland UPS center was also purportedly set on fire, with a claim of responsibility posted online saying it was retribution over their comrade’s death.
“We call for more actions directly toward the companies that are donating to and funding the Cop City project in Atlanta. Forest defenders have a right to stay in the forest, and groups will continue to retaliate until the Cop City Project is canceled,” reads the anonymous statement.
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23 ANTIFA terrorists arrested in the attack on the Public Safety Training Center near Atlanta, GA. 5 MAR 2023.
ANTIFA asshats are notorious for not wanting their photos shown. Please share this.
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elsewhere on the internet: stop cop city
Atlanta’s “Stop Cop City” Movement Is Youth-Led Democracy in Action (Nov 2023, The Nation)
In July, the Georgia State University Student Government Association passed a resolution opposing Atlanta’s proposed “Public Safety Training Center”—also known as Cop City—to be constructed on 85-acres of land outside of city limits.
According to Ramirez, the ties between the university and the Atlanta Police Foundation further pushed students to act. “Approximately 20 faculty members and GSUPD personnel were identified as APF donors. Notably, GSU’s non-profit entity, The Georgia State Foundation, was also listed as a donor,” said Ramirez, citing documents obtained under the Georgia Open Records Act. “As an institution that prides itself on high Black student graduation rates and one of the most diverse student bodies in the country,” reads a statement from the GSU Student Coalition Against Policing & Militarism, “GSU’s participation in prison industrial complex expansion raises concerns.”
Mutual Aid and the movement to Stop Cop City (Oct 2023, Shareable)
On August 29, 2023, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr filed an indictment against 61 members of the movement to Defend the Atlanta Forest and Stop Cop City. The indictment alleges a vast criminal conspiracy on the part of the activists, weaving them together in a legal scheme so fantastical that one of the accused is cited for being reimbursed for Elmer’s Glue.
It’s a patchwork case with Carr — the announced 2026 Georgia gubernatorial candidate — creating a veritable Charlotte’s Web; scrawling words in the web in a desperate ploy for attention. Unfortunately, it also represents a brazen assault on social justice organizers reminiscent of the FBI’s surveillance and attacks on the Civil Rights and Black Power movements in the 1960s and 70s.
In order to justify the harsh charges, each carrying up to 25 years in prison, Carr attempts to link the protestors together based on their shared commitments to collective welfare and mutual aid. In other words, the State of Georgia is currently arguing that participation in mutual aid projects and practicing solidarity constitutes furthering a criminal conspiracy.
If Carr is going to try to make a twisted image of mutual aid tantamount to terrorism, we should all get clear on what mutual aid really is.
How We’ll Know if Stop Cop City Won (Summer 2023, Hammer & Hope)
After the Atlanta City Council coldly rejected 15 hours of public comment against Cop City on June 6, a coalition of electoral groups and abolitionist mainstays announced a referendum campaign to bring the question of Cop City to the ballot citywide. Theoretically, if we are able to collect 58,203 verified signatures from Atlanta residents (representing 15 percent of registered voters), the people of Atlanta will get to decide whether or not the Atlanta Police Foundation can keep its lease for the South River Forest. On August 21, the coalition announced that it had collected 104,000 signatures — for scale, current Mayor Andre Dickens garnered only a little over 50,000 votes in the last election — but would continue the signature drive through September to ensure that the city’s onerous signature verification process does not invalidate so many that the threshold isn’t met. Still, it’s a risky strategy: the city could stall the vote long enough to build the facility. We could make it on the ballot and lose. And if we lose in these ways, what will endure?
A Weapon by the State to Silence Our Voices (Apr 2023, Bolts Mag)
The Cop City arrests near Atlanta show how a buildup of "critical infrastructure" laws across the country threatens to quell protests for environmental justice and police accountability.
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Despite 14+ hours of comments, huge community backlash, and already fascist practices by police including the murder of a protestor, Atlanta approved Cop City.
They have blood on their hands.
Stop Cop City.
Recall these council members.
And then cancel the contract.
One of the most disgusting pieces of this act?
Council also decided to allow [Mayor] Dickens to enter into a lease-back agreement with the APF [Atlanta Police Foundation] for the center. That’s another $36 million over the next 30 years — though the city says it would be saving money by not having to rent a different facility.
This state sponsored violence training center, built in forest just outside historically Black and Brown communities, on land worked by slaves year ago, is getting $30 million from tax payers. The APF, the “non-profit” Atlanta Police Foundation is footing the rest of the bill, but the city is then paying to lease it back! So these fuckers are giving the APF the people’s tax money, free and clear to build, then they agreed to pay the APF on top of that to lease the space!
They claim it will be cheaper because they can stop paying for the leases of current training facilities, but you know damn well they won’t. They’ll turned into some other pro-cop garbage and still be paying leases on that.
I’m hoping agencies file lawsuits galore to slow this shit down until a new council can be voted in to cancel this.
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Atlanta’s big urbanism stories of 2022
DARIN GIVENS | JANUARY 22, 2023
Thanks to everyone who answered our call for the biggest stories in Atlanta urbanism from the last year, both good and bad! Below are some of the responses:
The growth of opposition to transit on the Atlanta Beltline
If you’ve lived in Atlanta for the last 20 years and attended some of the many public meetings about the plans for rail on the Beltline, the vocal opposition that’s emerged over the past year likely seems to come out of nowhere. Is it just some loud noise made by a small faction? Possibly. It’ll be interesting to see if it dies away or gains steam in 2023.
For now, take a look at Ryan Gravel’s good writeup on the reasons why transit is essential for the Beltline.
Westside Beltline: progress and delay
The Urbanize Atlanta site says it well: the construction of the Westside trail is very exciting (will it end up being a development magnet like the Eastside trail has been?), but the timeline for the full build-out has been frustrating for people in those neighborhoods who are looking forward to a fully connected path:
“First, the good news for Atlanta BeltLine patrons and proponents: Another section of the 22-mile loop is making concrete strides toward becoming a reality. Less encouraging news: The Westside Trail’s Segment 4, spanning a crucial 1.3 miles, isn’t expected to open for public use until deep into 2025.”
The ongoing fallout from Cop City / South River Forest
There was a controversial land swap that resulted in loss of trees, a fight for the forest that garnered national attention from activists, and generally a lot of ill feelings on the local stage about this public safety facility that’s poised to be built in a forest that was previously slated as public green space.
ThreadATL wrote about it a couple of years ago. The fallout from the city’s awful decision to ignore the Atlanta City Design concept for the park has been terrible to watch.
Above: lake at the Prison Farm in the forest now slated to become a training facility; source: Atlanta City Design
Atlanta Medical Center closing
AMC in Old Fourth Ward became the latest in a string of hospital closures in Georgia, most of them (like AMC) are expected to have an outsized negative effect on lower-income patients in Black communities. As the AJC article about it notes: “Patients and doctors interviewed over the past two months repeated the expectation that the lower-income and Black communities would be the most harmed by the closures. They worry many will drop regular visits or never find a new doctor.”
Another major concern is access: AMC was served by three different MARTA bus routes, which made it accessible to staff and patients who need that transit option. Will the new offices they have to go to be as accessible?
The failure of the Edgewood neighborhood to support gentle density
The proposed rezoning of 90 and 98 Whitefoord Avenue in the Edgewood neighborhood would have produced 48 new housing units, including 25% of them priced for lower-income households at 60% of Area Median Income (AMI). The property is 4 blocks from a MARTA station and 3 blocks from Edgewood Retail (a regional jobs center) — great for walkable access.
Sadly, it got shut down down before it ever left the zoning committee of the neighborhood. The proposal is still up at edgewoodforeveryone.com
Progress with parking reform
Planning pros tell us that several low-parking housing developments have been announced for the first time in ages for Atlanta. This is a huge change from a few years ago, when anything less than a ratio of one parking space per bedroom was unheard of.
Also, thanks to the leadership of Councilmember Jason Dozier, Atlanta is putting a lower cap on the number of parking spaces that can be built for new real estate projects. At the end of 2022, City Council made an amendment to the zoning ordinance that lowers the maximums parking spaces allowed to be built for new developments in Midtown and Downtown, the most walkable and transit-accessible parts of the city.
Two Peachtree tower in Downtown set to become affordable homes
Invest Atlanta approved $39 million to purchase the massive Two Peachtree office tower in Downtown with the intention of converting it into affordable housing! This 44-story building dates to 1968. Invest Atlanta will hold onto the building until a redevelopment partner is selected. Funding for the purchase is coming from the Eastside Tax Allocation District.
Converting office buildings to housing seems to be a trend in Downtown. Another 1960s tower at 100 Edgewood Avenue (across from Hurt Park) is being converted to 268 new housing units, likely for students. And not far away, work has begun on the conversion of another office building to residential at 41 Marietta Street, where it intersects with Forsyth.
Trolley line Trail finally happening
Eastside Trolley Trail between Kirkwood and the BeltLine is happening. The PATH Foundation has started work to link existing stretches of trail. Urbanize Atlanta reports that the trail will “start on-street in Reynoldstown near the Eastside Trail, run eastward through Edgewood, and connect with existing PATH sections that were installed prior to the 1996 Olympics as the project’s first phase. The finished project will provide a nearly two-mile route for non-drivers from the doorstep of Kirkwood’s downtown back to the BeltLine.”
Krog Street Market district
The construction of new office space next to Krog Street Market — one from Asana and one from Portman — is helping to fulfill the promise of the Beltline as not just a nice place to live, but a nice place to work. The variety of destinations on the Beltline help to emphasize that Atlantans are ready to live and work in places that aren’t served by highways for driving, but that are served by routes for alternative transportation.
The sudden removal of Peachtree Shared Space
This one really hurt. The Peachtree Shared Space, one of the most exciting projects from the Tim Keane era of Atlanta’s planning department, was dismantled at the order of Mayor Dickens. The roadway was returned to its sad former status as, essentially, a four lane car sewer.
According to the website for the project, it was supposed to shift directly into a Phase Two at the end of this Phase One, and add more features such as seating.
https://www.sharepeachtree.com/demo
It’s a safe assumption that the pushback on the shared street from powerful voices in Downtown — ones who didn’t like the idea of car lanes being turned into shared spaces with slower traffic — has succeeded. On Twitter, Councilmember Amir Farokhi wrote that he tried to change this decision about dismantling the shared space, but hasn’t been able to. Which is particularly disappointing since he’s the Council’s Transportation Committee Chair.
A developer was found for the Civic Center site
After a couple of disappointing false starts with other developers, Atlanta Housing has selected the team of Tishman Speyer and H.J. Russell & Co. as master developers for the 14-acre site, which has sat vacant for eight years. Atlanta Civic Circle has the story. Fingers crossed: so far, the developers haven’t pulled out. Though there’s some major concern over the amount of affordable housing that might be provided here (it should be a high amount, including deep affordability for lower-income households).
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This was reposted from ThreadATL.org
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ILPS US resolutely stands in solidarity with the people of Atlanta as they fight to prevent the construction of the so called Atlanta Public Safety Training Center (aka Cop City)–an ecocidal racist, and anti-people project spearheaded by corporate interests under the aegis of the Atlanta Police Foundation–meant to develop the counterinsurgency capabilities of police departments in Atlanta and beyond as they crackdown on popular movements worldwide. Our unwavering support lies with the black working class community of south Atlanta that will disproportionately be affected by the flooding, deforestation and pollution construction will cause. Moreover we specifically condemn the numerous acts of violence and terror the Atlanta Police Department has enacted against activists, community members, and land defenders, from the execution of Manuel “Tortuguita” Teran, to the arrest of 40 protesters and concert goers on Sunday March 5th (23 of whom are facing domestic terrorism charges). The APD and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s actions are an affront to the dignity of all who wish to live free of police terror in homes fit for human habitation and in communities of love and care.
As of today, 22 of these arrestees (excluding the SPLC legal observer, Thomas Jurgens) are being held without bond and all 23, if convicted, will face prison sentences as long as 35 years. These charges are one part of a vast campaign of political repression taking place on the state and federal level that justifies itself through the specter of “terrorism”. Thanks to the Biden administration’s Countering Domestic Terrorism (CDT) initiative, domestic terrorism prosecutions are 500% higher than they were five years ago, while convictions have risen 300%. This initiative, developed in the aftermath of the white supremacist and pro-fascist January 6th riots to falsely appear progressive and anti-racist on the surface, specifically targets “anarchist violent extremists, who violently oppose all forms of capitalism, corporate globalization, and governing institutions.” In the wake of indigenous land struggles such as No Dakota Access Pipeline, the 2020 George Floyd Uprisings, militant anti-fascist organizing, and the reawakening of the labor movement, the US government has recognized the need to maintain a tradition of surveillance, harassment, false arrests, and assassination that dates back to the COINTELPRO program of 70s and perhaps farther.
Stop Cop City is a crucial moment in a broader struggle against the militarization of police, the surveillance state, racialized violence, and environmental degradation–and because of this, the APD, Atlanta’s ruling coalition, and corporate interests in Georgia and beyond will stop at nothing to destroy the movement. The Black community of South Atlanta’s heroic defense of their life, land, and dignity is not a local struggle. The architects of the project have made clear their intention to have Cop City serve as a place where security forces throughout the world may come and perfect anti-riot tactics and urban warfare for the purpose of political repression. Moreover, many of the project’s corporate donors are multinational corporations with offices, plants, and warehouses in all of our communities. This much is clear: we are all human rights and forest defenders and it is imperative that we not only fight to have the trumped up domestic terrorism charges against the 23 dropped, but uplift the work of the movement in our own cities in whatever way we can and identify targets in every city we can. CDT and every initiative and entity targeting activists under the pretense of anti-terrorism and public safety must be called out, opposed and defeated. It is our responsibility to assert and defend the rights of all oppressed people who struggle for liberation.
No to Cop City! Drop the charges! Justice for Tortuguita! Defend People’s Struggle!
-- “Drop the Charges! Activism is Not a Crime! ILPS US Stands in Solidarity with Stop Cop City,” from International League of Peoples’ Struggle US, 10 Apr 2023
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If Paywalled And Where to Sign:
A federal court judge has ruled in favor of DeKalb County residents, allowing them and others living outside of Atlanta to begin collecting signatures for a referendum petition aimed at putting the planned Atlanta public safety training center on the ballot.
The ruling restarts the 60-day timeline in which opponents of the facility must collect about 70,000 signatures.
Released Thursday, U.S. District Judge Mark Cohen’s order temporarily blocks Atlanta from enforcing its requirement that those collecting signatures must swear they are Atlanta residents. Cohen also wrote that the city’s requirement “imposes a severe burden on core political speech.” And he added that Atlanta failed “to present any argument that the requirement is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling government interest.”
“But requiring signature gatherers to be residents of the city imposes a severe burden on core political speech and does little to protect the city’s interest in self-governance,” Cohen wrote. “Because this court finds that plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their First Amendment claim, plaintiffs have established irreparable harm.”
He added: “The city has offered no specifics as to why permitting nonresident plaintiffs to gather signatures on a petition that must be signed by residents of the city will cause any disruption to the political process.”
The order was issued in response to a lawsuit filed by DeKalb residents seeking to collect signatures for the referendum petition.
“We are thrilled by Judge Cohen’s ruling, and the expansion of democracy to include our DeKalb neighbors, and levels the playing field for our coalition,” Mary Hooks, tactical lead for the referendum coalition, said in a statement. “Cop City has been marred time and time again by the silencing of democratic input and repression of community participation, and since the launch of this campaign, we have been playing on a field tilted in the City of Atlanta’s favor.”
The judge also ordered Atlanta’s municipal clerk to issue official copies of the referendum petition without the requirement that those collecting signatures be Atlanta residents. A 60-day period for collecting the signatures, according to the judge’s order, will be restarted once the clerk issues the new copies.
In his decision, Cohen wrote that “all properly collected and valid signatures that have been obtained since the Municipal Clerk’s distribution of the petition to repeal” the city ordinance on June 21, “shall be counted with the properly collected and valid signatures on the referendum petition.”
“Today, a very clear message was sent to Mayor Andre Dickens and all opposing direct democracy that their attempts to suppress free speech are not welcome in Georgia,” Plaintiff Keyanna Jones, a DeKalb resident, said in a statement through her attorneys Brian Spears and Jeff Filipovits.
The city and state argued in filings that the referendum is “invalid.” In his order, Cohen wrote that “the issue of the ultimate validity of the proposed referendum” to repeal the city ordinance authorizing the lease agreement “is not ripe for decision by this Court”.
City argues training center referendum ‘invalid’ in federal court filing The judge does address the city’s contention that if the court strikes down the residence requirement for the collection of signatures, the city petition ordinance would need to be stricken in its entirety.
Cohen wrote that striking only part of the petition ordinance which contains the residence requirement “does not prevent the enforcement of the remainder of the ordinance nor are the remaining provisions dependent upon the excised provision.”
Organizers of the petition drive announced Tuesday the group had already collected more than 30,000 signatures.
https://www.copcityvote.com/petition
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