The Atlanta City Council approved legislation Monday to authorize the city to donate $500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to the Atlanta Police Foundation to support the Community Safety Housing program for police, fire, and corrections personnel.
As part of the legislation, the city would provide a housing subsidy administered by the foundation to encourage and allow for officers to live in apartment homes in their assigned police zones or in proximity to the fire stations or corrections facilities where they work.
The council also approved a resolution to honor the life and legacy of former President Jimmy Carter. A Georgia native who served as president from 1977 to 1981, Carter has decided to forego further medical treatment and has entered home hospice care. This item was an immediate consideration.
There has been an outpouring of messages of peace and comfort to Carter locally and from around the world after it was announced over the weekend the former president was receiving hospice care at his home in Plains.
Other items approved include:
• A resolution authorizing the mayor to apply for a Fiscal Year 2023 U.S. Department of Transportation Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) discretionary planning grant in an amount not to exceed $16.8 million for preliminary engineering for downtown’s highway capping project known as “The Stitch” using Eastside Tax Allocation District funds. This item was an immediate consideration.
• A resolution to encourage Atlanta Public Schools to develop a new state-approved course, entitled “Atlanta History,” which will satisfy a unit of social science education. The resolution notes that Atlanta is the “cradle of the civil rights movement,” and that the course work should teaching about leaders and organizations that “may not continuously receive national recognition,” including C.T. Vivian, Julian Bond, Rev. Joseph E. Boone, William B. Hartsfield, Sam Massell, Samuel Inman, Ivan Allen Jr., Margaret Mitchell, Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson, Lonnie King Jr., the Atlanta Student Movement, the Rev. James, Cleo and Jamida Orange as well as “understanding the more difficult and bleak times of the past” that can help add greater context and understanding of the present and the future such as the Atlanta Race Massacre of 1906 and the Atlanta child murders of 1979-1981.
• An ordinance to authorize a master lease agreement with J.P. Morgan Chase Bank for the acquisition of 100 Dodge Chargers and 100 Dodge Durangos with police packages for the Atlanta Police Department (APD) and three Chevy Tahoes and one GMC Yukon XL with police packages for mayoral protection detail and to execute special procurement agreements in an amount not to exceed approximately $12.1 million.
• A resolution authorizing acceptance of a donation of four 2022 Dodge Chargers and three 2022 Ford Explorers from the Atlanta Police Foundation on behalf of APD. The donation is valued at approximately $281,000 and the vehicles will be used as additional patrol vehicles.
• An ordinance to create the Chattahoochee Brick Company Memorial, Greenspace, and Park Board to advise the City on how best to reuse the former site of the Chattahoochee Brick Company as a memorial, greenspace, and park.
• A resolution expressing support for the Chattahoochee River Greenway Study to promote ecological efforts and conservation and create a safe public space along the river.
• A resolution to authorize the Atlanta-Fulton County Recreation Authority on behalf of the Stadium Neighborhoods Community Trust Fund Committee to award grants in a total amount not to exceed $200,000 to fund various community service projects to benefit the Atlanta neighborhoods of Mechanicsville, Peoplestown, Pittsburgh, Summerhill, and a portion of Grant Park. The trust fund committee voted in November 2022 to approve grant funding for two community projects. Following the committee’s creation in 2017, 75 grants have been made for a total of approximately $4.4 million.
• An ordinance authorizing the acceptance of a Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Dislocated Worker Grant for rapid response activities from the Technical College System of Georgia’s Office of Workforce Development in the amount of $100,000.
• A resolution authorizing a $75,000 donation from the city to HouseProud to support emergency home repairs for legacy residents to help prevent displacement.
• A resolution to authorize a $75,000 donation from the city to Neighbor in Need, a nonprofit that provides emergency home repairs to low-income senior residents in the East Lake, Kirkwood, and Edgewood communities.
• A resolution supporting legislation in the Georgia General Assembly to establish a public safety stadium surcharge for events with at least 9,500 tickets to provide additional revenue for local public safety efforts.
• A resolution to denounce the government of Iran for its continued violence against the Iranian people, denounce any and all entities that have not taken action against or support the oppressive regime, and to call for instating a democratically elected government for the Iranian people.
Items introduced to be considered in committee include:
• A resolution urging the 2023-2024 regular session of the Georgia General Assembly to support Georgia House Bill 404, better known as the “Safe at Home Act.”
• An ordinance to amend the Bill of Rights of the City Charter for the purposes of prohibiting discrimination based on criminal history. The Charter currently prohibits discriminating among persons because of race, color, creed, religion, sex, domestic relationship status, parental status, familial status, sexual orientation, national origin, political affiliation, gender identity or racial profiling.
• An ordinance to waive Chapter 2, Article X, Section 2-1332(A) of the Procurement and Real estate Code to authorize the police department to donate 140 Motorola radios to the Atlanta Police Foundation.
• An ordinance authorizing the City of Atlanta to donate funds to the Atlanta Fire Rescue Foundation to support improvements and upgrades in fire stations across Atlanta.