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Jun 26, 21

Resistance to “Cop City” Project that Would Destroy Forest Continues to Expand in Atlanta

photos via: Defend the Forest and Nathan Sapp

Resistance is heating up to plans by the City of Atlanta to build a mass, “Cop City” training facility, a development that would destroy hundreds of acres of woodland and green space, while an LA based Hollywood company also seeks to expand an existing movie production area.

Last week, as Fox News reports:

Environmental activists and supporters of the defund the police movement have been protesting the new facility for weeks, but Sheperd said they took things too far when they came on her property Wednesday.

“People have a right to come out and say whether they are for or against it. I have no problem with that. I’ve been doing this for years and I know people have that right,” Shepherd said Wednesday, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.

“But what they don’t have a right to do is come up on my private property, knock on my door, protest on my lawn and on my porch. They don’t have that right. So I’m saying tonight that I’m still supporting the academy and I’m not scared.”

Dozens of Atlanta residents also called into a City Council finance meeting on Wednesday and made hours of public comments that were mostly in opposition to the new training facility.

“We don’t need more policing in our community. We need more resources, we need more mental health services, not more cops,” one such caller said on Wednesday. “We need to not only protect our people, we need to protect the forest and the environment.”

A recent report sent to It’s Going Down anonymously discussed a flyering campaign:

Last night a group of community members concerned with the destruction of the Atlanta forest paid a visit to places Ryan Millsap is know to frequent. These included his home in Social Circle, his second home in Tuxedo Park, the UPS he frequents in Edgewood, and the town nearest his social circle home. Fliers were distributed to all of his neighbors mailboxes as well as plastered on his front gate and the streets that he frequents. The fliers let fellow concerned community members know the harm he is responsible for and nicely provided the address to his 100 acre farm so that grievances could be addressed there.

Ryan Millsap is the CEO of Blackhall Studios, the company responsible for bulldozing 24 acres of the forest in intrenchment creek park, and that now wants to expand this destruction to another 200 acres to create the largest sound stage in the English speaking world. While Millsap recently sold the company to an LA based private equity firm Commonwealth Group, he is still deeply involved with the destruction of the forest. He stated recently in a meeting with DeKalb County commissioners on may 4th that he still personally controls the 40 acres of forest located in intrenchment creek park which was acquired through a shady land swap with the county, a swap that is currently the focus of a lawsuit. He also still owns a number of other properties surrounding intrenchment creek park, the rights to the Blackhall Studio name, and a large number of shares in the company.

We hope that this small action inspires others to research and take the fight to those directly responsible for the destruction of the forest.

There is also currently a week of action happening in the Atlanta area, with everything from militant marches, to concerts, to educational events being organized. On Friday, June 25th, over 50 people took to the streets against the project, marching on the Atlanta Police Foundation’s building, breaking out the glass on the front windows, before dispersing.

For more information follow Defend the Forest on Twitter and Telegram.

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In search of new forms of life. It's Going Down is a digital community center and media platform featuring news, opinion, podcasts, and reporting on autonomous social movements and revolt across so-called North America from an anarchist perspective.

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