Even in the creative political wordplay that abounds in the “Defend the Atlanta Forest” and “Cop City” protest controversies, it’s pretty special when the words “park reopening” don’t mean what you think they means. DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond last month announced a $1.8 million “plan to reopen” Intrenchment Creek Park, which he ordered closed […]
Author Archives: John Ruch
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Both sides in ‘Vote to Stop Cop City’ lawsuit state their cases, tease bigger battles
With a federal judge poised to decide whether to extend the clock on the “Vote to Stop Cop City” referendum effort in a lawsuit over who can collect signatures for it, both sides have laid out their initial cases – and teased bigger battles about the vote’s validity that may well end up before the […]
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MARTA’s labor union says it approved a new contract after more than a year of talks
MARTA’s labor union says it has voted to approve a new contract after negotiations that dragged on for over a year. Details of the contract approved by Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 732 in a July 17 ratification vote were not immediately available. “We would like to announce that the contract was ACCEPTED,” wrote ATU […]
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AJC fires top investigative reporter after finding errors in Bulldogs misconduct story
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week fired a top investigative journalist after finding errors in a story that alleged the University of Georgia (UGA) Bulldogs football program protected players accused of sexual misconduct or assault. The firing of Alan Judd was announced deep inside a July 19 AJC story that left some big questions unanswered, including […]
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Cox scion’s defection over ‘Cop City’ shines a light on media conflicts, old-money power
The Cox family’s Marxist black sheep very publicly separating from the flock this month over their support of Atlanta’s public safety training center made for a cartoonish passing amusement in the right-wing press. Here in Atlanta, the defection of Jim “Fergie” Chambers Jr. is a bigger story than that. It’s a rare insider’s view of […]
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DeKalb activists sue for right to collect ‘Vote to Stop Cop City’ signatures, restart clock
Four DeKalb County activists have filed a federal lawsuit seeking the right to collect petition signatures for the “Vote to Stop Cop City” referendum – and restart the 60-day clock on the process. The referendum effort seeks to put the City of Atlanta’s lease of land to the private Atlanta Police Foundation for its controversial […]
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An LGBTQ news site disappears in a warning to all media in the digital age
Project Q Atlanta silently disappeared from the web one day in April, sending 14 years of crucial LGBTQ community journalism into a digital netherworld from which it may or may not return. It joins a long list of digital media – famously including Creative Loafing Atlanta – whose archives have been totally or partially lost […]
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Groundbreaking set for BeltLine trail through Piedmont Park, 10th/Monroe intersection fix
An Aug. 4 groundbreaking is set for the Atlanta BeltLine’s trail through Piedmont Park, a project that also includes long-awaited bicycle and pedestrian safety changes to the intersection of 10th Street and Monroe Drive. Atlanta BeltLine Inc. (ABI), the planner of the trail and transit loop, says it expects to introduce the project’s contractor at […]
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In ‘Vote to Stop Cop City,’ organizers build a democratic challenge to Atlanta’s backroom ways
The “Vote to Stop Cop City” referendum effort may or may not do just that. Either way, its organizers already see the campaign as an unprecedented, history-making challenge to the old “Atlanta Way” of backroom deal-making. The call for direct democracy is coming from a broad coalition of left-wing groups, some with a record of […]
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Legal support group for protesters returns after leaders’ controversial arrests
A legal support organization for protesters against Atlanta’s public safety training center says it returned to operations this week, nearly a month after three of its leaders were controversially charged with money laundering and charity fraud. The Atlanta Solidarity Fund (ASF) announced its return on June 26 on social media, saying it is using the […]
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2023 City of Atlanta Design Awards honor many projects around town
The 2023 edition of the City of Atlanta’s annual Design Awards honored many projects, organizations and people around town June 23. There are two categories of awards whose nominees are voted on by different groups: the Awards of Excellence, chosen by the Atlanta Urban Design Commission, which oversees changes to historic buildings, and the Community […]
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‘Cop City’ policing is ripe for a federal civil rights investigation
The time is ripe for a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) civil rights investigation of “Cop City” protest policing, as Atlanta’s long-burning pattern of retaliatory arrests against protesters and journalists is exploding with the fuel of “domestic terrorism” narratives. For nearly 15 years, the City has proven incapable of policing its own police abuses in […]
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Capitol View, Sylvan Hills groups oppose 1400 Murphy traffic study with truck impact concerns
Two neighborhoods around a Southwest Atlanta warehouse project are opposing its traffic study’s conclusions, saying the City should restrict its truck use and improve – rather than possibly remove – pedestrian access. The Capitol View Neighborhood Association (CVNA) and Sylvan Hills Neighborhood Association (SHNA) expressed their concerns about Prologis’s 1400 Murphy Ave. project in letters […]
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‘Stop Cop City’ referendum petition is approved by Municipal Clerk, attorney says
The Atlanta Municipal Clerk’s office has approved the petition authorizing signature collection for the “Vote to Stop Cop City” referendum effort. Interim Municipal Clerk A. Vanessa Waldon said in an email to an attorney for the referendum organizers, which she provided to SaportaReport, that the petition forms required for signature-gathering likely would be available to […]
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‘Stop Cop City’ referendum organizers gain APAB backing, seek court order on petition effort
“Vote to Stop Cop City,” the attempt to put Atlanta’s controversial public safety training center on the Nov. 7 ballot, has drawn support from an umbrella board of the City’s Neighborhood Planning Units. Meanwhile, organizers of the referendum effort have gone to court with allegations that the Atlanta Municipal Clerk’s office is stalling on approving […]
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How the ‘Cop City’ protests are shifting state and local politics
I get asked a lot by readers and fellow reporters if I think the Atlanta public safety training center protests have any real chance of stopping the project. I’m no Nostradamus, but I’ve seen stranger things happen to even bigger civic steamrollers. And Atlanta’s protests recently took similar turns as populists and rebels ironically are […]
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New and long-term leases suggest Piedmont Park expansion plan is not coming soon
The City of Atlanta’s secretive plan to expand Piedmont Park appears to not be coming soon, according to details of leases and negotiations in a crucial shopping center. Among the tenants of Clear Creek Center at Monroe Drive and Piedmont Avenue is a hair salon that says it is negotiating a new lease and a […]
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‘Cop City’ cases make Atlanta and Georgia buck national trend of declining arrests of journalists
Atlanta and Georgia bucked a national trend of declining arrests of journalists in 2022 with two “Cop City” protest coverage incidents, according to a recent analysis of U.S. Press Freedom Tracker data. The Tracker is a national database operated by the New York-based Freedom of the Press Foundation in partnership with other groups, including the […]
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Railroad company resubmits plan for controversial antenna next to historic Cabbagetown mill
Railroad company CSX has resubmitted a plan for an antenna tower next to a historic Cabbagetown mill after an earlier version criticized by preservationists ran into power problems. CSX last year proposed the 70-foot-tall tower, which would serve internal railroad communications, on a site in the Hulsey Yard freight facility about 220 feet from the […]
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Cell towers rising near Georgia’s historic sites raise questions of bandwidth for review
A plan to erect a 250-foot-tall cell tower on a Civil War battlefield in north Georgia is not the stuff that historic preservationists’ dreams are made of. The battle over the battlefield in Resaca isn’t as simple as it may sound, with an already heavily altered site and a developer willing to compromise on height. […]
