How it Started & How it Ended…
Around noon today, a dedicated contingent of Atlanta Residents petitioning against the Adair Park / West End Data Center arrived to City Hall, swarming in shades of yellow and gold. What they found upon their arrival simply shocked them…
A sea of people wearing matching neon yellow construction vests crowded the entry to the City Council Chambers, all of them carrying pro-data center signs! A few individuals wearing business clothes circulated among the group, lists in hand, distributing vests.
Still in shock, the anti-data center group quickly realized that the property owners had shrewdly coopted their yellow color scheme in order to undermine their efforts! These property owners really meant business…
Nevertheless, as ingenious as the property owners’ play was, it simply couldn’t overcome the community’s ground game, which had been in the works for months, and which culminated in their submission this morning of a petition containing the names, addresses, and phone numbers of 567 ATLANTA RESIDENTS who oppose the data center.
Furthermore, in addition to sending it to every Council Member, the group sent the petition to the Mayor’s Office, along with a final written plea from the Adair Park Neighborhood Association. The letter was endorsed by NPU-T, NPU-V, Westview Community Organization, West End Neighborhood Development, and the Oakland City Community Organization.
Just a couple of hours later, while the City Council was still conveying proclamations, the sea of yellow construction vests suddenly started to file out of the room. The Mayor’s Office had just released a letter asking the Council to vote NO on the Data Center Ordinance!
The Data Center’s sponsoring Council Member, Antonio Lewis, acknowledged its defeat during public comment, and just like that the data center was finished. The community’s campaign was victorious.
No doubt property owners and their agents will have taken note: the community stands ready to hold them to a higher standard when it comes to such legislation moving forward.