#saveweelauneeforest — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

#Atlanta community members warn of #environmental damage from ‘#CopCity’

The police training facility will harm the endangered South River and further contribute to #EnvironmentalRacism

by Ray Levy Uyeda June 15th, 2022

“Jacqueline Echols loves to take Atlanta residents kayaking on the South River, which begins at the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport and flows 63 miles into Lake Jackson. Echols says that it’s fun to bring people out on the river who have never paddled before. The river is shallow and bordered by undergrowth and native trees, rich soil, and the occasional deer, making it an unintimidating classroom for those new to the water.

“‘The South River and the green space around it have a lot to offer,' Echols says. 'If you’re going to invest in a community, the first thing you invest in is green space.'

“But in Atlanta, a privately funded police foundation is working double-time to expand the police’s reach at the cost of the community’s access to the city’s rich environment. The river and its surrounding forest have become the site of a major battle playing out in Atlanta between the city’s police department, backed by many members of the city council and county leaders, and the residents of the neighborhood adjacent to the #SouthRiverForest. At issue is whether or not nearly 400 acres of the #forest will be handed over to the police department to construct a new training facility, which activists have renamed 'Cop City' because of the proposal to build a mock city on the grounds for training. The facility will be constructed on 85 acres of the Old Atlanta Prison Farm, where incarcerated people once grew food for those detained in the city’s jail.

‘’’#Green space holds value more than any other land, and [when] the environment goes, so does the community,' said Echols, who is also board president of the South River Watershed Alliance, an advocacy organization for the fourth-most endangered river in the U.S. 'What’s going on with the prison farm … is just devaluing people, devaluing communities, devaluing the #environment, and they’re doing it because these are very vulnerable communities, marginalized people, and they can get away with it. You know, they can’t get away with it in [a wealthy white area like] #Buckhead.’”

#SaveWeelauneeForest #StopCopCity