The Atlanta City Council has unanimously approved a more than $2.7 billion fiscal 2025 budget, which officials termed “historic.”
The spending plan, passed as the city grappled with a series of water main breaks, is roughly 8.8% more than the fiscal 2024 budget the council adopted and about 9.2% higher than the actual fiscal 2023 budget.
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Promoting the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center as a way of militarizing the police is a “false narrative,” Gabriel Nadales, national director of Our America, told The Georgia Star News on Tuesday.
The “safety center is about improving all first respondents. This means having better trained firefighters, EMTs, and yes that includes police officers,” Nadales said.
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An Atlanta city council member says she supports a referendum on the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center during this November’s election.
In June, the Atlanta City Council voted to allocate $30 million in uncommitted funds for the training center, which has sparked violent protests.
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The Atlanta City Council signed off on spending $4 million to develop “quick-delivery housing” for the city’s homeless population.
Last month, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens issued an executive order directing the city’s chief financial officer to fund a new “Rapid Housing” initiative. The city plans to repurpose shipping containers that the Georgia Emergency Management Agency used as temporary hospitals amid the COVID-19 pandemic and are now being decommissioned.
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An Atlanta City Council committee has passed a measure to advocate for punishing railroads that block grade crossings for prolonged periods, the latest salvo in an ongoing dispute between railroads and communities nationwide.
The Atlanta measure calls on the Georgia General Assembly and Congress to pass legislation limiting how long freight trains can block a grade crossing.
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An Atlanta City Council committee has signed off on a measure requiring gas stations to have surveillance cameras, a proposal proponents say will keep residents safe.
With the thumbs up from the Public Safety and Legal Administration Committee, the full city council will consider the measure at its Aug. 7 meeting, a city official confirmed to The Center Square.
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The Buckhead Public Safety Task Force (Legislative Reference No. 22-R-3001) issued its final report on Friday, with recommendations and a plan to curb crime in the northernmost Atlanta district, wherein the city stated a new police precinct will open up in June.
“Task Force participants were able to hear from a broad spectrum of public safety stakeholders, and I look forward to seeing that expertise translated into a meaningful action plan,” said District 7 Council member Howard Shook.
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The Atlanta City Council passed a new pilot program that will provide direct, monthly cash payments to certain residents of the city.
The initiative, entitled Income Mobility Program for Atlanta Community Transformation (IMPACT), will award a stipend of $500 per month for up to 12 months to individuals who qualify.
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Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed an executive order Thursday that blocks local governments from mandating COVID-19 restrictions on businesses.
Private sector businesses and sports teams can follow local COVID-19 requirements if they chose, but Kemp’s order stops them from being required to do so.
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