In Atlanta, GA, an 85-acre public safety training center is being built.
The building process would be further along, but developers have encountered a few obstacles. One being the death of a protester at the South River forest site.
Manuel Paez Teran died after sustaining at least 57 gun shots to his entire body in a violent January protest. The police believe he was armed and returned fire after he shot and injured a Georgia state trooper. In March, nearly three dozen protestors were detained by police after what was presented to be a peaceful protest turned violent. Flaming bottles and rocks were thrown and construction equipment was damaged.
The training center is being protested by organizations such as the South River Watershed Alliance because of its’ threat to Atlanta’s beloved tree canopy. The threat is not just about the look of the land without the trees, it is about the health of the environment once the trees are gone. An acre is about 75% of an American football field. Imagine that 85 times and you will have a good picture of the size of the $9 million center that has come to be known as “Cop City”.
“Atlanta is in the process of cutting every tree,” Jacqueline Echols, Board President of the South River Watershed Alliance Echols said. “Development is rampant in this city and it has been for a while. And with development trees are destroyed. And so it’s this piece of green space it’s called ‘the fourth lung of Atlanta’ because of its ability to filter the air and slow stormwater that reaches the creek and cleaning pollution from the water. Just innumerable benefits to the environment and to the community.”
Pathogens like West Nile virus are less likely to spread if there is a preserved forest and a diverse species of birds.
“So in a way, the healthier the forest, the lower the chances that if people go in them, they will get exposed and bitten by mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus,” said Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Emory University.
Another issue with the facility is it being built close to predominantly black neighborhoods.
“There’s no place else that the city owns, or is within the city limits, that would be a mile in every direction from any residence other than this particular location,” said Michael Julian Bond, a member of Atlanta’s City Council.
He says that the space and convenience of the location is the only reason it was chosen. He also argues that not many more trees will be cleared because the land had previously been in use as a prison.
Currently, there is no end in sight for the protests, or the developing “Cop City”.