In 2017, a report authored by Atlanta’s city planning department which envisioned the prison farm as a key part of a larger effort to protect green spaces around the river was adopted into the city charter. That’s a result of decades of neglect and pollution the area, which is overwhelmingly Black, has endured, local advocates say. It’s also less than half a mile away from a tributary of the South River, which is one of America’s most endangered, according to nonprofit conservation group American Rivers. The site of the proposed project, the Old Atlanta Prison Farm – where graffitied ruins now sit entwined with weeds and vines surrounded by forested land – is a “cultural landscape of memory,” say local advocates, who have long called for it to be turned into a park and memorial. “We knew that (the training facility) was a direct response to the uprisings that took place in 2020,” said Kwame Olufemi, of Community Movement Builders, a Black member-based grassroots organization opposing the project. Prisoners there were subject to harsh punishments and bleak conditions, including poor sanitation and nutrition and overcrowding, according to the Atlanta Community Press Collective, a local group of researchers and writers. In the spring of 2021, following mounting pressure over a demoralized police force, Bottoms announced plans to build a new police training academy in an unincorporated part of neighboring DeKalb County on a controversial parcel of land owned and used as a prison farm by the city for much of the 1900s, sprawling across more than 300 acres. Some locals say the city’s announcement blindsided neighbors and the development process since has largely been a secretive one with limited input from the most affected communities.įor others, the facility poses environmental concerns at a time when the deadly impacts of climate change have become hard to ignore: The training center would carve out a chunk of forested land Atlanta leaders previously seemed to agree to preserve, though the city says officials are committed to replacing trees destroyed in construction.Īctivists determined to stop the project have camped out in the forest’s trees and, despite a permit which could soon signal the start of construction, say they have no plans to leave. Among those sitting on its board of trustees are leaders of UPS, Wells Fargo, The Home Depot, Equifax and Delta Air Lines.īut the plan has been met with fierce resistance from a community still reeling from monthslong demonstrations protesting police brutality and racial injustice. The Atlanta Police Foundation says the center is needed to help boost morale and recruitment efforts, and previous facilities law enforcement has used are substandard, while fire officials now train in “borrowed facilities.” The police foundation, a nonprofit established in 2003, helps fund local policing initiatives through public - private partnerships. The expected $90 million, 85-acre center, announced and approved by the city of Atlanta last year, will include a shooting range, mock city and burn building, among other facilities. Joe Santifer poses for a portrait at Glen Emerald Rock Garden in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 22, 2022. “But if they’re not being good neighbors now, what will give us the confidence that they’ll be good neighbors in the future?” “I absolutely want the police to be well-trained,” said Joe Santifer, who lives in another neighborhood, roughly a mile away from where the facility is slated to be built. Worse, they worry it’s just a glimpse into what could come when local officials begin building a massive police and fire training center in their backyards. It’s unnerving, residents from several nearby neighborhoods told CNN. The sound comes from a nearby Atlanta police firing range. “When I first moved here, it increased my anxiety,” Ram, who did not want her full name used due to privacy concerns, said. When Ram moved to the Boulder Walk neighborhood just southeast of Atlanta five years ago, it felt like finding a hidden gem: It was a diverse, affordable and family-friendly community just steps away from the local high school, bordering a forest but still a short drive from the big city perfect for her family of five.īut she hasn’t been able to get used to hearing the daily sprays of gunfire.
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