ATLANTA — Those opposed to the building of Atlanta's new public safety training center are feeling more optimistic in halting construction after the city clerk's office approved their referendum petition Wednesday.
Protesters now hope to take their concerns to voters. A revised referendum petition was submitted Tuesday, after the clerk's office initially denied the request because it left off a place for a witness to sign the petition.
The clerk's office released a statement, stating in part:
This approval as to form does not reflect any judgment or agreement by anyone at the City as to the lawfulness or substantive validity of the petition itself.
Those behind the petition efforts, which were announced earlier this month, expect to receive it by 2 p.m. Thursday. Paul Glaze, an organizer with Cop City Vote Coalition, said more than 3,000 volunteers have signed up to canvass the city and collect signatures, after weeks of protests inside and outside Atlanta City Hall.
Protesters said they had until mid-August to get the necessary signatures in order to put a referendum on the November ballot this year. Only Atlanta residents who voted in the 2021 election are eligible to sign the petition.
Glaze said it would take just more than 70,000 signatures, or 15% of Atlanta's registered voters, to be able to put the referendum on the ballot. There were concerns of delays potentially pushing back the referendum push to the presidential primary election next spring.
"The mayor says the people of Atlanta want Cop City, that this is a thing the people want, and if that's true, no one should be afraid of a vote," Glaze said. "We are committed to this and we believe in this."
Glaze said in spite of construction set to pick up on the site in DeKalb County this summer, protesters would try everything in their power to stop it. He brought up possibly filing an injunction on construction while they gather signatures.
A week of action is planned to kick off this weekend, which could intensify protests of the $90 million public safety training center, largely funded by the City of Atlanta and the Atlanta Police Foundation.
The status of a lawsuit filed against the City of Atlanta for its alleged stonewalling of the petition process remains unclear at this point. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens's office declined to comment on the referendum petition and the process.