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 […]
Tag: public safety training center
Posted inLatest News
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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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 […]
Posted inColumns
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 […]
Posted inColumns
‘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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‘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 […]
Posted inColumns
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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Training center funding ordinance continues errors and mysteries, may run afoul of state laws
The Atlanta City Council’s controversial legislation funding a new public safety training center repeats errors about green space, leaves unanswered questions about the center’s features, and has elements that may run afoul of two state laws — one on spending and another attempting to limit the facility’s size. Key City officials did not respond to […]
Posted inColumns, John Ruch
Amid training center debate, huge properties at other police and fire academies have unclear fate
As the Atlanta City Council deliberates on approving millions for the controversial and under-vetted public safety training center, also under-examined is the future of other police and fire academy sites where the City has already amassed hundreds of acres of land – more than enough for the training center itself. The former police academy on […]
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Authorities arrest training center protest support leaders, paint movement as criminal organization
Leaders of a legal support organization for protesters against Atlanta’s public safety training center were arrested on fraud and money laundering charges on May 31 as Gov. Brian Kemp and other authorities painted the entire protest movement as a “criminal organization” of terrorists. Protesters called it an attack on free speech and planned a rally […]
Posted inColumns
Georgia Tech emails about ‘Cop City’ post censorship read like an unfunny sitcom
Concern about the “inflammatory” use of the term “Cop City” was one reason behind Georgia Tech’s censorship last month of a student journalist’s first-person account of critical reporting on Atlanta’s controversial public safety training center, internal emails reveal. The emails read like a script for a sitcom about self-important bureaucrats and butt-covering bosses screwing up […]
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Lawsuit threatened over claims public safety training center work began without runoff-control ponds
A DeKalb County commissioner and an environmental group are threatening to sue over claims that site-clearing for Atlanta’s public safety training center began without required runoff-prevention ponds, causing nearby stream pollution. District 6 Commissioner Ted Terry and the South River Watershed Alliance (SRWA) made the claim – rooted in an alleged lack of sediment-capturing ponds […]
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Journalist files federal lawsuit over police interrogation at public safety training center site
A journalist who was detained and pressured to delete video by police at Atlanta’s public safety training center site has filed a federal lawsuit alleging civil rights violations that are part of a pattern of retaliation against free speech. The detention last year of Michael Watchulonis while covering the “Defend the Atlanta Forest” protests was […]
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U.S. agency quietly shuts down monitoring device key to training center pollution debate, sewage control
A stream sediment monitoring device that gathers data key to a pollution dispute about the Atlanta public safety training center’s permit was quietly shut down by a federal agency 10 days after an appeal filing in a move that may also affect a consent decree on sewage problems. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said the […]
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City Council quietly changes training center committee’s membership and meetings
The Atlanta City Council has quietly approved legislation that appears to reform the membership and appointments of the public safety training center’s controversial advisory committee and allow it to meet much less frequently. Approved May 1 after three meetings where it had no discussion or explanation, the resolution’s immediate effect on the Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee (CSAC) is […]
Posted inColumns, John Ruch
DeKalb commissioner and petition call for reopening park shuttered in protest crackdown
A DeKalb County commissioner and an online petition are calling for the reopening of a public park shuttered in March to evict “Defend the Atlanta Forest” protesters – a move that could have deep legal and political consequences.
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Officials investigate training center pollution complaints as permit dispute heads to court
Facility planners say it is passing inspections and that protesters are to blame for one instance of damaged erosion controls.
