Atlanta APPROVES funding for 'Cop City' after hundreds of activists packed City ... trends now
The city of Atlanta has approved funding for a controversial new police training center deemed 'Cop City' by opponents.
The 11-4 vote happened on Tuesday after hundreds of activists packed City Hall and spoke for hours in fierce opposition to the project, which they say will destroy the local environment and strengthen the police.
For about 14 hours, residents took to the podium to slam the $90 million project, saying it would be a gross misuse of public funds to build the huge facility in a large urban forest in a poor, majority-Black area southeast of Atlanta.
Six hours into the meeting, Emory University religion professor Sara McClintock took to the podium and pleaded with councilmembers to reject, or at least rethink, the training center.
'We don´t want it,' McClintock said. 'We don´t want it because it doesn´t contribute to life. It´s not an institution of peace. It´s not a way forward for our city that we love.'
Atlanta's City Council approved funding for a new police training center deemed 'Cop City' by opponents. Hundreds of activists packed City Hall on Tuesday before the vote
Opponents of the project say it would be a gross misuse of public funds to build the huge facility in a large urban forest in a poor, majority-Black area
For about 14 hours, residents again and again took to the podium to slam the project
Protestors gather in the atrium of Atlanta City Hall to protest the planned police training center
Still, councilmembers agreed to approve $31 million in public funds for the site´s construction, as well as a provision that requires the city to pay $36 million - $1.2 million a year over 30 years - for using the facility.
The rest of the funding for the project would come from private donations to the Atlanta Police Foundation.
The project has faced passionate opposition since it was announced, with the decentralized 'Stop Cop City' movement galvanizing protesters from across the country, especially in the wake of the January fatal police shooting of Manuel Paez Terán, a 26-year-old activist known as 'Tortuguita' who had been camping in the woods of the proposed project.
In a sign of the security concerns Monday, dozens of police officers were posted throughout City Hall and officials temporarily added 'liquids, aerosols, gels, creams and pastes' to the list of things prohibited inside the building.
The highly scrutinized vote occurred in the wake of the arrests Wednesday of three organizers who lead the
