The Fate of Atlanta’s Cop City Could Be in the Hands of Voters

There were cops everywhere…. There’s a big, open atrium in the middle [of City Hall]. The cops were on the second and third floors, looking down on all of us assembled.

Mariah Parker: I was there from the start until almost the bitter end. I left and went home around 4:00 a.m.

TV: The referendum campaign was announced right after that meeting concluded. How far in advance was it planned?

Brittney Whaley: I would say after the [May] public comment meeting, I think there were some rumblings about it then. Not knowing how real it could be, but understanding that we weren’t going to stop trying to figure out what was the next step — one where people could engage in more direct democracy if our voices weren’t heard.

SM: People [suggested] the idea of doing a no-confidence vote; however, we decided that wasn’t strategically wise. Then [our] lawyers were like, “Well, there’s this thing that Camden County did….”

The Camden County referendum is a bit different because it applies to counties, and Atlanta is a municipality. But the skeleton of the argument and the legal process were there. The Georgia Supreme Court had ruled and affirmed the decision in Camden County. That was kind of our green light.

MP: I became aware of the possibility a couple of days before [the announcement]. I was the one that turned in the application to have the referendum filed.

Also, I was the plaintiff in a lawsuit against the municipal clerk for not approving the [Cop City referendum] petition in a timely manner. We had to resubmit [the petition] thrice for it to be accepted.

TV: What was the initial strategy for the campaign when it launched?

AC: We had a very big meeting that lasted all day. We had mapped out, in broad strokes, how we were going to go about this. It was exciting, but it also felt a little bit like base jumping. We had a small group of very committed, very smart people, but it was a little scary.

In the weeks that followed, we were able to create systems, like a tracking system for the petitions.

BW: We created a whole field-team structure and thought about all the ways people can collect signatures. We have neighborhood captains calling in for their block crews and they are committed to collecting signatures in their neighborhood. We created a process in which we would train them and get them everywhere — from grocery stores, to the bus stations, to farmers markets.

TV: On July 6, four citizens of DeKalb County filed a lawsuit arguing that one of the statutes of the petition, which held that only residents of the City of Atlanta could collect signatures, was unconstitutional. Can you elaborate on that?

SM: When we launched the referendum campaign, a part of our strategy was that there are so many people around the [construction site] that do not want it, we will have so much volunteer power. And then we get handed the petition and those people are explicitly excluded. That’s how the lawsuit came about.