ATLANTA — Hundreds of people signed up to let their voices be heard about the future Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.
The Atlanta City Council is prepared to vote Monday on a $67 million funding bill for the controversial center.
Ultimately the breakdown of the funds comes to $31 million in direct funding plus $1.4 million a year in a lease-back agreement with the Atlanta Police Foundation.
City Council President Doug Shipman spoke with Channel 2′s Richard Elliot right before the marathon meeting began.
“My understanding is if it passes, the funds that would be enabled would be given to the Atlanta Police Foundation,” Shipman said.
He believes protests over the training facility are fueled by intentional disinformation and by people who don’t know the truth about the center.
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“I’m going to continue to do those things no matter what happens today, to make sure that project is one that is good and delivered in a way that everybody can be proud,” Shipman said.
City Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari is one of the project’s most vocal critics.
“I plan on voting no,” she told Elliot.
Her reasoning includes, she says, that she didn’t know about the lease-back plan until only recently.
“I believe we should clarify that before voting it through and win back some of the community trust because asking them to trust us to do the right thing for those who are against this is a big ask when they don’t feel heard,” Bakhtiari said.
When will the vote happen? It’s hard to tell.
There were 357 people signed up to speak originally but the council opened it up to everyone, so public comment will likely go well into the night.
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