ATLANTA — An Atlanta City Council committee approved new money for the proposed public safety training center Wednesday. It will add more than $30 million in funding for the site.
The city council’s finance committee support for the infusion of taxpayer money into the project, which opponents have deemed "Cop City," was in stark contrast to the numerous folks who showed up to speak against it.
"We don’t want 'Cop City' in our backyard. We don’t want 'Cop City' anywhere," Dawn O'Neal told members of the finance committee.
It was a message Atlanta City Council members have grown accustomed to hearing, in street protests, at the DeKalb County site of the public safety training center, and in the Atlanta City Council chamber.
"Atlanta doesn’t need a school for assassins to train foreign police in urban warfare," Gloria Tatum told council members.
About four dozen people in the audience cheered on Tatum and other opponents of the project.
"I am an outsider. And yes, I am agitating this whole system you got going on up here," Keyanna Jones said.
The public safety training center project has become a flashpoint for residents of Atlanta and beyond – who want to push back against police violence by denying a new, upgraded training center.
Backers say the project would fill a training void in the city. Atlanta firefighter Nate Bailey was a lone voice in the audience in support of the project.
"Our citizens and visitors deserve the best fire department. And to be the best, we must have a world-class training center," Bailey told council members.
Backers of the project say police and fire training now takes place irregularly in out-of-state locations.
"Our police officers, many of them have not been on a vehicle obstacle course since they were recruits," Lachandra Burks, Deputy Chief of Staff to Mayor Andre Dickens, told council members.
The finance committee voted five to one with one abstention to provide the new funding for the project – which appears due to go to the full council next month.