A climbing wall at a College Park recreation center might be closed for good.
The wall located at the Tracey Wyatt Recreation Complex has been closed since January for maintenance, says recreation director Michelle Johnson.
But Mayor Bianca Motley Broom said Monday that she believes city council members are moving toward a decision to tear down the wall, and have granted City Manager Emmanuel Adediran $60,000 to “investigate” whether it should be removed — the approximate amount it would cost to raze the wall, according to city officials.
“We know this is smoke and mirrors,” Motley Broom said to councilmembers before the vote. “You just want to get it down.”
The wall was imagined during the pandemic by Kai Lightner, a professional rock climber who raised more than $100,000 for construction through his nonprofit, Climbing for Change. Lightner wanted to build the wall to provide free access to the sport for low income and minority youth. It has had 15,000 visitors since opening in 2021, Motley Broom has said.
Motley Broom said the wall is meant to give children “an opportunity to thrive.”
The recreation center and wall serves children living on nearby Godby Road who have “some of the least amount of access to resources in this community,” Motley Broom said.
While the mayor, the city’s recreation director Michelle Johnson and a staff memo say there have been no injuries or safety issues at the wall, Councilwoman Tracie Arnold has said she is concerned about safety and believes the wall is under-utilized. Arnold said she questions the mayor’s estimate of the number of visitors to the wall.
Last month, Arnold ordered the city manager to have the wall removed, according to an email on the mayor’s website.
Similar to Motley Broom, Lightner say he believes the city will decided to take down the wall.
“It is clear that the decision to remove the rock wall has been made,” Lightner said via email to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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