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Expected: at least 9 hours of public commentlinks to watch:
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TOTAL TALLYSupport the Atlanta Community Press Collective!part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFyYqk1-Pts&ab_channel=atlcouncil-AtlantaCityCouncil
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For Cop City:0part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UVo9V9fvIQ&ab_channel=atlcouncil-AtlantaCityCouncil
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Against Cop City:136Note: an estimated 100 people (at least) were in line to sign up and were not allowed to, despite standing in line for hours, because the public comment period began; part 3 (might have missed one): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UVo9V9fvIQ&ab_channel=atlcouncil-AtlantaCityCouncil
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Unrelated:0Note: many people's names were called but were no longer at city hall, because comment went on for so long
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RATIO OF AGAINST TO FOR:100.00%Note: there are fewer comments than commenters signed up, because some individuals "ceded" their speaking time to another speaker.
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For Cop CityAgainst Cop City UnrelatedNotes
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1Emory student
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1"The people of Atlanta don't want this"
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1longtime atlanta resident, 35 years here, raised children, family here - "I'm here on behalf of my DeKalb based family"
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1"cop city is an environmental nightmare" "Destroying this land is dystopian, a line to never be crossed"
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1"No amount of tree planting will make up for destroying established, incredibly complex ecosystems"; "atlanta did its job raising me, and now I'm trying to do my job to protect it"
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1first generation america, local business owner, part time COA resident; "Cop City will be the single determining factor of me moving my company out of the state"
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1"I'm concerned about the apparent priorization of police over the people of atlanta"
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1lifelong georgia resident, "Use the money toward thigns that aactually matter": homelessness, jail system with horrendous conditions, roads, schools"
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1from Gwinnett County, lived in atlanta for four years. "Money could be better spend to improve quality of living for residents instead" - public school funding, teachers are forced to buy supplies using their own money. funding community service projects, housing, more.
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1District 5, 10 minutes from prison farm. "it is a great shame on the entire city and city goernment who voted on this project".
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1born and raised in Southeast Atlanta, have lived on Flat Shoals Rd, calls out Andre Dicken's statements on the trees not being important. "They give us refuge from a noisy and hot city". "One day I want to be able to take my kids to the forest I grew up by"
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120 year old Atlanta native who lives in gates of bouldercrest (next to forest) - Dickens and Chief of Police came to her neighborhood, but only gave lip service to small issues while ignoring quesitons about environmental impact
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1Emory student, Councilmember Farokhi would come to his highschool and talk about civic engagement. Couple weeks ago had atlanta police called on them for protesting. City workers are sleeping in their cars, anti trans legislation being passed, protester has been killed; police will be used to enforce anti-trans, anti-abortion legislation
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1student at Georgia Tech, held a protest shutting down campus green. There's better use of this money; police do not reduce crime. Names Alex Wan for saying we should make every day earth day.
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1early childhood educator, child advocate, member of community and weelaunee coalition. Naming the many victims of police murders. "What is our vision for the city? How can we imagine new ways of living together?"
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1Child. "Please save weelaunee, stop cop city" - read a poem.
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1District 5, mother and member of weelaunee coalition. discussing south river forest vision from 2017, naming the members of council who voted for it then. List of things people want instead: deescalation, community safety training, paid maternal/paternal family leave, daycare programs, afterschool programs, more bus shelters, equally resourced and safer schools, public wifi, ADA accessibilkity, public housing, food security, outdoor eduation for kids, camping areas, peace, no more gun shots and sirens"

"APF is making villains out of all of you"
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1"These are life and death concerns," father of Jimmy Atchinson speaking. have been coming for four years, wondering if anyone has heard him. Has seen many proclmations and speeches about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, but doesn't seem like council knows what he was about bsed on actions. Talking about parallels between murder of Jimmy Atchinson and Tortuguita. Accepted a proclamation on May 1st for families of police brutality; is returning it today, won't accept it.
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1Indigenous woman, here in solidarity with Stop Cop City. "Are you going to care? I came to speak against Cop City, absolutely." "If the earth isn't here, we would not be here...We need to be able to breathe what's clean in this earth every day"
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1Came to ask a simple question: "Is this the best you can think of?" Calls Cop City a fundamental failure of imagination. "Now you are given the oppotunity to imagine and choose a better path. These tens of millinos of dollars can be spent on" so many other things mentioned today - lunches for children, afforadble housing, pay for public sector employees
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1Kirkwood neighborhood, licensed social worker. 33.5 million for Cop City should be invested in more effective ways in our communities
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1libertarian against funding of cop city
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1district 8, disabled veteran, holistic wellness professional, queer, calls out those who listened to 17 hours of public comment in sept 2021 and voted for it anyway
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1"i came here to help the young people. I'm raising a child who is the same age as many of the students here today. I feel awful that we're building Cop City rather than helping out with homelessness, mental health, or any other possible use for $33.5 million"
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1Names Tortuguita, "shot by police 57 times, defending indigenous stolen land, the weelaunee forest on January 18th"
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1Singing "This could all be so simple, but you'd rather make it hard. Loving you is like a battle." naming victims of police brutality. 33.5 million should be used to house the homeless; create police accountability task force;
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1Need to dadress Atlanta's wage gap, names Lashawn Thompson being eaten alive by bed bugs, cop city is not the way to reimagine atlanta. "We are all forest defenders and wwe want you to join us"
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1atlanta resident, say an unequivocal no to cop city. asks councilmembers to put their cell phones down.
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1distrixt 1 showing up for your neighbors , represent citizens not money, queer liberation is tied to stop cop city
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1deklabd yound democrats resident of unincorporated dekalb call to reject funds, black queer young woman impacted by these issues, cops dont help marginalized groups
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1northest atlanta dekalb county cop city hurts black atlantans and the forest , money would be better used for black atlantans eslewhere such as fighting poverty, atlanta schools alum and teacher
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1midtown area resident upset by bomb threat and shooting in area as well as hyper policing of neighborhood after the events as a black man
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1honor lives of those killed by police in atlanta area, would like to see money spent elsewhere, training does not work
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1unincorporated dekalb need to be active because police do niot protect and serve they kill and need accountability not funding
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1atlanta resident public debt is a burden so is overpolicing and cop city would never be built in buckhead
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1distruct 5 resident and parent of a child speaks out against indigenous land theft and violence on it, apf knows they can get money from city council because they have already started cutting the trees
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1district 2 resident wants money spent elsewhere not on environmetal and racial harm
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1jackie eckles from south river watershed alliance has wroked on environemtal racism and south river watershed issues for 25 years including the harmful siting of toxic projects in black communities that dnt get parks and green spaces, cop city would not be built anywhere else , quotes micah herskind
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1georgia resident lifelong resident and gerogia state sudent calls on council to remain open to not destroy forest and address homelessness instead
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1calls out city council for hypocraasy invoking civil rights and workers rights
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1matthew johnson says policing doesnt keep us safe and is a waste of money. GA incarcerates higher percentage of citizens than any democracy on earth. Story of lack of police accountability. cop who killed brooks got paid leave, AUC students beat by cops. domestic terrorism charges are hyperpolicing and sham of justice. incentive system incentivizes arrests. black atlanta does not want cop city because it is funded by white money
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1student at georgia tech abd atlanta metro native from near the forest and active against policing since middle school, wants atlanta to not support policing, corporations, or climate devestation, calls on mayor at georgia tech grad
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1keana jones from faith coalition and community movement builders. opposes deforestation and corporate run APF. community land has been commodified and turned into police violence training facility, cover up of tort's murder. domestic terrorism charges for first ammendement rights as supporession of movement. cancel the lease and free all incarcerated protesters and dropping of charges. statement from desmond tutu's daughter.
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1key road in unincorporated dekalb within feets of forest and sits on neighborhood advisory committee in neighborhood where residents oppose facility overwhelmingly. let the people vote on if they want to build cop city and spend their money that way. cop city can be built on less land in wasted space.
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1longtime atlanta resident in farokhi's district, son went to atlanta public schools, professor at emory university in religion. speaking on behlaf of large number of emory faculty who oppose cop city. read open letter by emory faculty.
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1District 5, 10 minutes from Weelaunee People's Forest. "Where are the people who support Cop City? I don't see any here. I haven't met anyone out in the city."
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1DeKalb County resident, Philipino American, cops will be enforcing anti trans laws, abortion laws
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1"Cop City is a collosal drain on public resources...these funds should be channeled to other pressing needs"
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1Fulton County resident; speaking against militarization of policing, police violence during the 2020 protests, calling in national guard, polce kettling protesters - Cop City will further eescalate militariation of police; evidence from Tortuguita's murder suggests they were unarmed, that the officer shot was hit by friendly fire
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1statement from represenative of International Union of Painters and Allied Trades
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1someone playing music for a dance break for stop cop city commenters!
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1SPeaking about a friend who called the police in a mental health emergency, and was killed by police.
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1Indigenous individual, quotes Michael Julian Bond's father, notes that the roots of policing are slave patrols, naming the trail of tears that displaced Muscogee people; campaigned for some of these people to get turnout
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1"The same way you listen to praise, you need to listen when people are complaining"; making connections between Ferguson and Atlanta police departments. black mayor is a puppet for the APF.
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1"has there ever been such a one sided public comment in atlanta history?" asks Marci Overstreet, who agrees there has never been this one sided of comment. notes hundreds of people forced off the list of public comment.
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1"I like in DeKalb County, and I'm not an outside agitator"; police have killed 254 people so far this year. "We do not need a school for assassins"
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1atlanta policing is already brutal--ive suffered it and it shouldnt be further militarized
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1christian trans pastor from deactur told story of amos about harmind land by rich
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1lorraine fontana in dekalnd county atlanta in farookhi's district. "corporate sponsored destruction iof south river forest." anger at police brutality in 2020 led to city response of giving cops cop city thanks to apf lobbying and corporate greed and gentrification. cancel the lease. cried seeing pictures of forest destruction. john lewis would be ashamed by atlanta today and its eledted oficials. used state patrol to clear forest without body cams.
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1vine city and west end have homelessness but no help from city council same wtith no help for senior citizens living check to check. why no money for housing but millions for cop city?
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1district 2 resident and works in midtown. protesting is an american activity. cops are dangerous violent and corrupt. flooding will escalate with cop city. APD trains with israeli army. cops will enforce antiabortion laws. you have murderers representing the city, this shoudl alarm you.
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1work with fire and police as an emt. why so much money for militarized police project when roads in atlanta make emt jobs harder to serve patients. fascism is what cop city is. people over profits.
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1district 12 resident and lifelong georgia resident. why fund things we dont need on not into the community. year of the youth means fund children not cops. city workers nit cops need fudning.
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1nursing student as an advocate for poeples lives and health. deforestation and racist police harm public health and safety. atlanta needs netter healthcare--only oine level one trauam center in atlanta after hospital closing post-pandemic.
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1GA tech student and district 4 resident. dont fund cop city. AAPI community member demands safety that cant be met through policing. education, housing, healthcare, public scape, etc. not policing
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1georgia tech student. diversity of people commenting today--age, race, ability...we are atlanta. We care about safety nd health of atlanta. police funding relies on underfunding of everything else.
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1district 11 resident and black doctor. worked in a shelter at peachtree and pine that was closed. cops get 1/3 of city budget in a city with homelessness crisis and wants even more. housing crisis for affordable units and public housing. defund police and invest in housing.
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1"THIS is what real terrorism looks like" regarding Cop City
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1"The people of Atlanta did not vote for this. The people of DeKalb County did not vote for this" "You've had hours of public comment and we're not even halfway through"
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118 year SE Atlanta resident, works in area close to proposed Cop City site; "we don't feel safer because of our proximity; quite the opposite, we feel endangered" "have we learned nothing in the three years since the murder of George Floyd?"
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1Reproductive justice advocate reading statement against Cop City
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1Telling the story of Cop City. Andre Dickens sold out and partnered with police to push this through. Fulton County is considering 2 billion dollar jail. this is an american horror story. Andre in 2019 spnosroed legislation to close the city jail in 2019, but in 2022 decided to lease it to Fulton Sheriff Labat; names LaShawn Thompson, eaten alive by bed bugs and lice. "Some of you all need to stop believing everything you hear from this administration" "You're gonna lose. We're gonna win, cause we're standing on the freedom side."
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1Atlanta native, mother, friend to Amy St. Pierre who was tragically killed recently; "we're living rhough an unimaginable time of overlapping crises", they mayor is only offering us bread crumbs while offering the full loaf to the systems causing the demise. "my kids have so much anxiety about the climate and rightfully so"
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1Overview of the stop cop city movement, the many different forms of opposition, why they should not support
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1District 12 resident; student, former atlanta public school teacher, classrooms are already surveilled by operation shield which is run by atlanta police foundationsorry for delay, they just tried to kick us out with cops lol. people are staying.
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1"Cops don't need a practice city to get better at brutalizing and killing us" "Police don't need better training to kill us, they're doing just fine right now"
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1speaking about the many different species in that area, recounts fishing on the lake in the area; notes that APF is in violation of MOU for environmental requirements
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1lived in atlanta for five years, originally from NOLA then Mississippi. speaking against cop City
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1"There's a false idea that the city can push this through and put an end to the social unrest." that's wrong
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1District 2, member of protect the vote GA, echo words of Keyana Jones, also advocating for free Lyft rides for seniors, graduate booker t wash HS; callling them liars, problem with filthy and unnusable bathrooms in train stations
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1weelaunee coalition member, problem with language of outside agitators to justify incarcerating young protestors here; council is complicent in tortuguita's murder; atlanta police is harassing and intimidating the food volunteers w weelaunee distro, neighbors are going hungry while the budget is spent policing; food insecurity needs to be addressed
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1"it's going to be hard to get to your car from this place", the rich of atlanta are controlling this council; buckhead wouldn't host cop city so they're putting it in southeast atlanta; the clapping thing was hypocritical, "the bible says you'll reap what you sow so that means a lie can't live forever"
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1doesn't believe in arguing or fighting so appealing to their conscious, resident of south fulton and student at kenisaw state, not to undermine the needs of security but to defend our rights, need to show us respect by listening to us, no one deserves to be shot 57 times, crisis of trust in government after police brutality
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17 years fighting for the south river, sewage discharge rates are high and asthma rates, carcinogenic rates, etc; the most significant resource is the river which has been threatened by development; primary responsibility of government is to address inequity, need to focus resources in the south river watershed, street trees have a really high mortality rate, the forest is an old growth forest it's not replacable; knows can't meet the requirements for green spaces which is why that task has been taken from them, but this is worse; calling to cancel the lease, bernice king agrees, your vote today will determine if property is more important than people, issue w police militarizatoin which is an indicator for fascism, major corporations fear that prpotest infringes on profits
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1"What is proposed is foolhardy"
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1naming 57 gunshot wounds in body of Tortuguita, with an autopsy report of over 30 pages; naming Atlanta design to convert the cop city land into the South River FOrest vision; Manuel Teran was protecting what you would not protect; naming the various letters fro university faculty, students, and emory doctors, Walter Rodney Foundation.
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1Atlanta needs to stop cop city; hold murderous cops accountable; knocked doors for Dustin Hillis' campaign and is opposed to Cop City. Dustin Hillis refuses to look at her while she speaks.
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1"It makes me uncomfortable to live in a city assocaited with Cop City. I shouldn't be the only one uncomfortable."
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1"It's in your hands to decide whether 33.5 million goes to this training center." "Cop City would greatly exacerbate the current public health problems facing our city" the forest mitigaes flooding and keeps the city cooler
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1Pictures on internet are showing sediment flowing into the river, klling plant and river life; will further militarize an already racist police force
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1Son went to McNair Highschool, a walk away from Weelaunee Forest. "I'm terrified as a mother." police killed Deaundre Phillips because they "smelled marijuana"; Anthony Hill was shot down because he was having a mental health crisis. Jimmy Atchinson who was killed. "So many names" Oscar Cain, shot in the back. "I'm worried because my son plays basketball at Gresham Park. We live in this neighborhood. We don't want it in our neighborhood" "It makes me terrified to find out that this is gonna be in our neighborhood...in my backyard where my children live and play, where my grandchildren are going to be going to school. That should terrify the hell out of you all. Black, white, red, yellow, that should terrify the hell out of you all."
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1District 5, urging to vote no on the funding. "I haven't met anyone in the city who thinks that what Atlanta needs is to spend valuable resources on" Cop City. More focus on addressing root causes of problems that make people feel more anxious and less secure.