An Overview of Public Engagement on ‘Cop City’
The City of Atlanta owns about 381 acres in unincorporated DeKalb County — the site of an old prison farm that was built on Indigenous Muscogee land, part of what is now called South River Forest.
Surrounded by Black-majority neighborhoods, this land was envisioned as a community park for decades — then the City decided to build a new $90M police, fire, and corrections training center.
For decades, the community was led to believe that Atlanta’s old prison farm would become a public park.
In the 1990s, Save the Old Atlanta Prison Farm and South River Watershed Alliance formed to advocate for environmental clean-up and green space at the site.
In 2002, Mayor Shirley Franklin created a Parks and Green Space Task Force that included community leaders. They advised that this land be prioritized as green space.
In 2017, under Mayor Reed, the Atlanta City Design — our City’s strategic plan for growth and development created with input from residents — called for this land to be part of a 1,200+ acre South River Park.
In 2021, the Atlanta Regional Commission began working with area advocates and stakeholders on a community-led plan for the South River Forest’s future.
In 2017, the Atlanta Police Foundation — a corporate-led, multi-million dollar nonprofit — published their own plan that envisioned the old prison farm as a solution to address “the poor conditions of existing facilities.” A City report in 2008 had also identified this land as an option for a needed “consolidated public safety training facility.”
For years, the Foundation worked in private with the Police Department on plans for new training facilities at the old prison farm site.
In January 2021, Mayor Bottoms created an advisory council to make recommendations on a new public safety training center. The council included representatives from the Atlanta Police Foundation, the Atlanta Fire Rescue Foundation, and the City. The advisory council was supposed to include community members; it did not.
Their recommendations mirrored the Foundation’s vision.
On April 1, 2021, Mayor Bottoms publicly announced a plan — through an Atlanta Journal-Constitution story — to lease the old prison farm property to the Atlanta Police Foundation for a new training center.
The very same day, the Atlanta Committee for Progress (ACP) — a coalition of corporate leaders that advise the Mayor — voiced their support for the Mayor’s plan. They also shared that their chairman, Alex Taylor, will lead private fundraising. Taylor is the CEO of Cox Enterprises, which owns the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The training facility is announced as a $90M project. $30M will come from taxpayers; it is still unclear where public dollars will come from.
The proposed cost for this facility in 2008 was $28M.
In June 2021, legislation was introduced in City Council to authorize a 50-year lease with the Police Foundation.
In August, after being held in committee for weeks, the City Council delayed a final vote to September to allow for more community outreach and engagement. Many council members, including Andre Dickens, felt this had not been done appropriately from the beginning.
In September, the Atlanta City Council received 17 hours of public comment, mainly in opposition. They voted 10–4 to approve the lease with the Atlanta Police Foundation.
Prior to adoption, the legislation was amended to:
- reduce the size of the land lease from 381 to 85 acres,
- require the replacement of hardwood trees, and
- create a Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee.
The lease agreement is between the City of Atlanta and the Atlanta Police Foundation. City Council authorized the Mayor to sign the lease on behalf of the City.
The approved legislation does not take away the City Council’s power to adopt new legislation that could amend or terminate the lease.
While the City Charter gives the Mayor power to veto legislation, Council can override a veto with 10 votes.
The City may terminate the lease at any time, with or without cause, with at least 180 days’ written notice. The Atlanta Police Foundation may terminate the lease if it determines it is unlikely to get all necessary approvals and funding commitments in a timely fashion.
The lease — only public after open records requests — is still missing information, including key dates and exhibits.
The proposed training facility includes educational classrooms, a shooting range, an emergency vehicle driving course, and a “mock village” — with a fake convenience store, a fake nightclub, fake houses, fake apartments, and a fake park.
Activists refer to the plan as “Cop City,” concerned the site will be used for “urban warfare” training and “police militarization.”
Social justice, environmental, and Indigenous organizers have warned that this facility will lead to increased police brutality and surveillance, as well as increase the potential for flooding and erosion in the area.
These issues have historically had a disproportionate impact on Black communities in Atlanta, especially in the neighborhoods immediately surrounding the site.
Activism about this specific land is not new, but it has escalated.
In addition to the collectives that long advocated for green space, current protests and solidarity efforts to prevent a new training facility are led by local groups such as Community Movement Builders, Defend the Atlanta Forest, and the Atlanta Solidarity Fund.
On January 18, 2023, activist Manuel “Tortuguita” Esteban Paez Terán was shot at least 13 times and killed while law enforcement conducted a “clearing operation.” A Georgia State Patrol officer was injured. Terán’s family has questioned the State’s narrative of what happened, so they are conducting their own investigation and continue to demand bodycam footage. The situation gained national concern.
Demonstrations and protests have increased since. Dozens of protestors have been arrested and charged with criminal trespass and “domestic terrorism” by the State of Georgia.
Hundreds of activists, faith leaders, Indigenous leaders, students, medical professionals, academics (e.g., an open letter from Spelman faculty), and others have called on the City to terminate the lease.
Members of the Atlanta Police Foundation’s Board of Trustees and the City Council-created Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee have resigned.
Mayor Dickens recently announced yet another task force focused on green space, sustainability, the training curriculum, and memorializing the site’s history.
The Mayor’s Office has stated that construction of the training facility will proceed.
Atlanta Police Foundation CEO, Dave Wilkinson, said they are moving “full steam ahead.”
Your voice still matters!
Whether you firmly support or oppose this plan, you should share your thoughts with City Council.
Council President – Doug Shipman
Post 1 — Michael Julian Bond
Post 2 — Matt Westmoreland
Post 3 — Keisha Sean Waites
District 1 – Jason Winston
District 2 – Amir R. Farokhi
District 3 – Byron Amos
District 4 – Jason Dozier
District 5 – Liliana Bakhtiari
District 6 – Alex Wan
District 7 – Howard Shook
District 8 – Mary Norwood
District 9 – Dustin R. Hillis
District 10 – Andrea L. Boone
District 11 – Marci Collier Overstreet
District 12 – Antonio Lewis
Our small yet mighty team at CCI has spent weeks doing research and filing open records requests to paint a picture of public participation in the development of Atlanta’s public safety training center known as ‘Cop City’ by opponents. While we aimed to make sure our primer is clear and accurate, we want to know if we missed anything and would appreciate your feedback.
And if you found this explainer informative, please consider supporting more work like this by donating to CCI.
