Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and let me
say to Mayor Dickens and his staff,
I want to compliment them for
their openness, their honesty,
their dedication to working towards,
I think, a compromise of a solution that
will allow the construction of the public
safety training center to move forward,
but more importantly,
particularly from the perspective of the
residents who for decades have been invested.
Their money and their time and
their and their lives in that area,
we will see and we are saying to them
that we will protect the neighborhoods,
the families,
the individuals and most importantly,
we will protect the South River Forest Basin,
which is a unique,
a unique natural resource.
There's nothing else like it inside of
285 and it was our number one priority
along with protecting the residents.
To protect this beautiful,
beautiful forest,
I'm encouraged that Mayor Dickens
and his staff recognized the
importance of doing just that,
not just to protect this natural resource,
but to enhance it as well.
Let me go back for the land
development permitting process.
I want to say this,
the land development permitting process
in DeKalb County is a apolitical process.
I was often asked during this time, Mr.
Mayor, why can't we speed it up?
And some people would ask me,
did you make a call?
My number one priority was to protect
the professionals in our land,
use planning and Sustainability
Department to protect them from any
political interference or public pressure.
These are men and women who are
professionals. They're engineers.
And I just want to thank Mr.
Marcus Robinson.
Who's the director for leading
them in a way that this 11 month
process that they went through by
analyzing the application submitted
to us and making sure that we
protect the adjacent land owners
as well as the South River Forest?
I must also acknowledge,
I think the mayor mentioned the
Citizen Advisory Committee.
These citizens volunteered their time
to advocate on behalf of themselves,
their families.
And the DeKalb County residents
who live within the South River
basin especially want to recognize
Miss Allison Clark,
who chaired that committee.
And they were honest.
They spoke truth to power,
and as a result of that efforts, we.
Believe that the protections and
enhancements are we're really above
and beyond the development policies
and procedures of our county.
I also want to acknowledge Commissioner
Larry Johnson as well as the tier
tier who represent that area,
talked to Commissioner Johnson this morning.
He has been an honest broker and
advocate for this community.
Let me just mention the five
different independent third party.
Reports that were generated by
our planning and sustainability
department that helped and inform
them in this process.
One that was a site plan, study,
grading and drainage plans,
stormwater management, andrology report,
and erosion and sedimentation
and pollution control plan.
A tree protection and a replacement plan,
a stream buffer variance requests a
biological assessment of any critical habitat
and endangered and threatened species,
and a flood study.
This is what informed and
shaped our ultimate decision,
which was to issue the land development plan.
It wasn't politics,
it wasn't political pressure.
It was objective,
professional assessment of the
information that was provided to us.
The mayor mentioned some of the
enhancements that went above and
beyond our land development policy,
very much encouraged by this and very
much encouraged that our partners
will have this training facility.
But we know something.
The most, I think impactful crime deterrent.
Is the opportunity to have
and maintain honest labor.
A major part of the enhancement
will encourage our contractors,
who will be working under the
direction of the City of Atlanta,
to hire residents in the community as
well as to access local businesses.
I'm encouraged that the mayor
and his staff have reached out
to the public school district to
create a cadet training program,
the most effective crime deterrent
ever created. It's honest labor.
Generated by honest men and women.
I believe that by moving
forward with these initiatives,
more protection for the Community,
more support for economic growth,
sustainable growth,
we will be able to accomplish great things.
In the last thing I'll mention that this
agreement that you will have in your
possession will encourage and support.
We've reached out to the Atlanta
Regional Commission CEO,
Anna Roach.
This is a multi jurisdictional
natural resource although.
The proposed training center sits
on city of Atlanta owned property.
The South River Forest actually
sits in the city of Atlanta as
well as in unincorporated DeKalb.
We will be engaging the leadership,
the direction,
the expertise of the Atlanta Regional
Commission to help us develop multi
jurisdictional strategies to manage,
to enhance and protect the
South River Forest.
Once again, I thank the mayor,
I think his staff.
But most importantly, I celebrate
the residents of DeKalb County who,
long before we were called to this moment,
invested in the South River basin.
They bought the houses.
The mold, the lawns,
they planted the trees.
They loved this community.
They were my highest priority
to protect their interests,
to protect their livelihoods,
and to protect this beautiful,
beautiful natural resource.
Thank you.
Thank you, CEO Thurman.
Next you'll hear from our
Atlanta Fire Rescue Department.
Chief Rod Smith will give you
an overview of some of the,
you know, the opportunities that
we will have for the training
Center for our fire department.
And then I'll bring up Chief Shepherd.
Chief. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Atlanta Fire Rescue is the largest fire
department in the state of Georgia
and we employ over 1200 members.
We are in desperate need of a modern
training training facility for the
Atlanta Fire Rescue Department.
In fact, we have.
To operating in a fractured
state for over 30 years.
Many of you may not know that we have
been training our Members classroom
only in an unoccupied elementary
school for a number of years.
Matter of fact, I was trained in this school.
It has since become condemned.
We also do not have a live
facility to train our Members.
The Members have had to be
bussed to DeKalb County.
They've had to be bussed to
Douglasville in order to learn live
fire training this initiative.
We'll set Atlanta Fire Rescue apart
from its counterparts because we will
also gain a public safety driving course.
The heavy vehicles that you see
running up and down the road,
we need places to train and get
our Members up to a point where
they can provide the services that
the citizens of Atlanta deserve.
So Mr.
Mayor,
I want to thank you and your
administration for moving forward
with this initiative.
It is much anticipated and we
look forward to providing the best
services that we can to the citizens of.
Plant, thank you.
Thank you, mayor.
Good afternoon, everyone.
You know, I want to again thank the
mayor for his leadership in this area.
The brave men and women of Atlanta
Fire Department, Police Department.
When they respond to your 911 calls,
the skill that they have to save a life,
to stop a crime, to build Community
Trust does not come with uniform.
It comes through training.
Realistic, repetitive, first class,
21st century training. And right now,
as much as this case with Chief Smith,
our training is disjointed.
We are renting space.
Atlanta metropolitan.
At college, for our classroom,
but for certain aspects
of our driving training,
which is required,
we drive almost one hour South
of the city of Atlanta.
To complete that training,
we must rent or borrow space from
the Fulton County Training Academy.
We must go to neighboring jurisdictions
to ask to use their mock training
facilities and use their resources
that a capital city deserves,
that they're the men and
women who protect the city.
And when citizens call
911 in 2024 and beyond,
they will be reassured that the men and
women that are responding to their emergency.
And only dedicated men and women
that care about that community.
They've been trained and the best
training facilities are possible and
training is the heart blood of what we do.
It does not come with uniform.
It comes with first class
facilities with a dedication to
commitment to serve the city.
So Mayor,
thank you for seeing the importance
of training that it is and we only
have to look to the importance
of law and enforcement and
firefighters to know the success
of the Atlantis tied to that.
And so for us to have these facilities,
it's going to be a boon in our morale.
We will see a boost in our recruitment
and our retention efforts and then
every time a citizen of this city
is is protected by a member of
the fire and Police Department,
they will have been trained in
the best class facilities have
been made available to them.
Thank you.