Atlanta City Council meeting on Cop City protesters expected

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ATLANTA — After Atlanta's City Hall announced it will close for operations ahead of the meeting for funding for the public safety training center, 11Alive asked the City Council if this will change the meeting process.

City Council President Doug Shipman goes into more detail.

"Non-essential employees are not going to be coming to City Hall [Monday] and a lot of the regular business essential personnel for the meeting," Shipman said.

The council will hold its regular meeting in person at 1 p.m. in the Marvin S. Arrington, Sr. Council Chamber, as City Hall closes for other services "due to increased security concerns." City services will instead be available online.

11Alive will stream the meeting on our YouTube channel. The council also streams its meetings here.

Protesters plan to rally Monday afternoon. Atlanta City Councilmember Michael J. Bond said he's a former activist and understands what protesters are trying to do.

"I love protests. I love to see this in action," Bond said.

Organizer Keyanna Jones said they plan to show up in record numbers.

"What they can expect is for us to stay at the council meeting until there is a vote," Jones said.

Shipman explained that the decision to close City Hall for normal services was a safety precaution. Jones said she isn't buying that.

"I do believe that it was done intentionally to confuse people, to discourage people from showing up for the meeting and for public comment," Jones said.

Shipman said the closure will not affect the public's ability to speak.

"Public comment will be whoever's on the list," Shipman said. "And then, the chamber, itself, will have as many as we can, given fire code issues."

At the meeting, Bond said you can expect an extended period, public comments, then several motions to either table the legislation or send it back to the committee.

He has openly supported funding the training center and expects the $30 million construction funding to pass. The ordinance the council will vote on also includes a "lease-back" agreement that would see Atlanta make $1.2 million yearly payments for 30 years to the Atlanta Police Foundation - roughly doubling the city's contribution to the project, 11Alive's Doug Richards reported this week.

Bond said doesn't expect these same restrictions to apply to future council meetings.

"Hopefully, no," Bond said. "I think the concerns are there because of the violence and property destruction that has been associated with the movement."

There has been opposition since the inception of the training center, especially after a protester was killed in January during a clearing operation of protest encampments where it is to be built.

Bond offers this advice to protesters.

"You have to engage people that disagree with you," he said. "You have to communicate, communicate beyond just your demonstration."

Shipman said if the funding is passed, the next step is to secure the loan from the Atlanta Police Foundation, which is primarily driving the fundraising and construction efforts for the project.

And then, construction could start as early as this summer.