Members of a task force created to offer community guidance over Atlanta’s public safety training center say the $90 million project needs more transparency.
Driving the news: City and DeKalb County officials are pressing forward with plans to build the police and fire training center. Earlier this week, DeKalb closed a nearby park to the public after police say they found “several dangerous items” such as nailed boards and Molotov cocktails.
State of play: Law enforcement on Monday cleared the forest again. Officers encountered five people in the woods and arrested two, according to the AJC.
- But in the face of mounting criticism, Mayor Andre Dickens created a task force to try to incorporate even more community input along the way. The group’s process and goals are still unclear, Saporta Report said.
- The 40-member group of nonprofit leaders, activists and residents will make recommendations on sustainability, parks and recreation and public safety training curriculum. It will also recommend how to memorialize the property’s past life as a prison farm.
What’s happening: Axios spoke to two members of the task force formed earlier this month to see why they joined and what they hope it will accomplish. Some of the members include people who represent organizations that oppose the training center.
- Christopher Bruce, policy and advocacy director at the ACLU of Georgia, which is against the project, told Axios the organization has a history of joining task forces on issues they oppose.
Gerald Griggs, president of Georgia’s branch of the NAACP, which opposes the plan, joined the task force to insist the city focus on police accountability and relocate any new facility away from the South River Forest.
- “We want to be clear, both publicly and privately, that the community needs a robust voice in this,” he told Axios. “Because ultimately the community are the ones that vote and their communities are the ones that have the final say.”
While serving on the task force, Bruce told…
Read the full article here
