Will the anger and energy from critics of the proposed Atlanta public safety center have staying power?
That’s the question that supporters of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and City Councilmembers are asking themselves amid a marathon session featuring overwhelming opposition to the project.
The complex, known to critics as “cop city,” wasn’t a focus of Dickens’ winning 2021 election campaign. He’d much rather focus on his “Year of the Youth” initiative than the fraught debate over the center. But it might prove a defining theme of his bid for another term in 2025.
Likewise for councilmembers, who also face a 2025 vote. In a preview of the backlash, opponents of the project at City Hall have pointedly turned their backs on Councilman Michael Julian Bond, an at-large member, since he made clear he’ll back the plan.
In politics, of course, a few months might as well be a lifetime. And by 2025, an entirely new set of issues could shape the vote. But many of the speakers vowed Monday they will find ways to stay mobilized.
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