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Hey reader, it's Matt. This is the Rising Report.
I'm doing my best this week to pitch you on the idea of attending your local NPU meetings.
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- NPUs celebrate their 50th anniversary.
- Georgia's prison death crisis is exacerbated by climate change, and the Georgia Department of Corrections is withholding information.
- For the first time since 2000, multiple third-party presidential candidates qualify for Georgia's November ballot.
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A Golden Anniversary for Atlanta's Neighborhood Planning Units
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It's the 50th anniversary of Atlanta's Neighborhood Planning Units (NPUs).
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Maynard Jackson, Atlanta's first Black mayor, signed legislation creating NPUs on Aug. 13, 1974. Today, the NPU system divides the city into 25 areas, each designated with a letter of the alphabet (there is no NPU-U).
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At their best, NPUs allow neighborhood residents to decide how to shape the future of their neighborhoods and are the point of contact between neighbors and the city's government. NPUs meet monthly, and representatives from various city departments—like Public Works, ATL311, ATLDOT, and Code Enforcement—attend meetings to provide updates, allowing neighbors to interact directly with and respond to these agencies. Fulton County and City of Atlanta elected officials may also attend NPU meetings to update their constituents and receive feedback. Campaigning at NPU meetings is forbidden.
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The only requirement for NPU membership is residency within the NPU's geographic boundaries. Business owners and community organizations within an NPU are also encouraged to attend meetings. NPUs can set limits on who is allowed to vote on issues. For example, my NPU (NPU-T) restricts voting to members who have attended three of the past six meetings. This attendance requirement is common across many NPUs; however, every resident and business owner within an NPU can vote on bylaws and amendments, regardless of past attendance.
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At their worst, NPUs could become personal kingdoms. For many years, NPU-R was the subject of controversy. NPU-R banned two members with a history of disrupting meetings in 2015, raising legal questions about whether that violated Georgia's Open Meeting Act. In 2022, NPU-R saw competing coup attempts between its chair and the rest of the leadership committee. (Today, NPU-R is doing better, as Capital B's Chauncey Alcorn wrote about last year.)
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To address problems like those displayed in NPU-R and other deficiencies, the Center for Civic Innovation began a multi-year study of the NPU system in 2018. The study resulted in 10 recommendations to reform and strengthen the NPU system. In 2022, the City adopted some of these ideas into legislation establishing "Best Practices" for NPUs.
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These best practices have made the NPU system more transparent and inclusive. Still, attendance remains low. Only a few dozen residents attended the most recent NPU-T meeting in my neighborhood despite the NPU's population of over 16,000. Of course, not everyone can show up; it takes a certain level of privilege to be able to take an evening to attend NPU meetings regularly. But for those of us who can make the time, NPUs are a perfect example of the ethos of this newsletter: get plugged in somewhere and make a difference.
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If you aren't already, now is a perfect time to start attending meetings, as the NPUs will vote on their annual bylaws in September.
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Juan Carlos Ramirez Bibiano died from heat-induced cardiac arrest after being held in an outdoor cage without water, shade, or ice at Telfair State Prison in Georgia. His family is suing for negligence.
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Three independent and third-party candidates got one step closer to appearing on Georgia’s presidential ballot on Tuesday. But legal challenges still loom.
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Note: This article does not mention that Atlanta resident and Libertarian party candidate for President Chase Oliver also qualified to be on Georgia's general election ballot in November. The Libertarian party candidate for President has been on Georgia's ballot each cycle for decades. This is the first time since 2000 that other third-party candidates have qualified.
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Got something you want me to write about? You can reply to this email with any leads or stories you think ACPC should cover.
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Stories from our friends
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Some of the Project 2025 proposals mirror laws that passed in the Georgia legislature’s last session, like Senate Bill 332, which revived a prosecutorial oversight commission. The move was interpreted as a way to target Fulton County DA Fani Willis, who indicted Trump and a number of his associates on racketeering charges last year.
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In a special-called meeting last Friday, the council voted to censure Broom in a nearly empty auditorium after College Park Police chief Connie Rogers ordered the public to clear the room...
..."We've reached a crisis in College Park," [City attorney Winston] Denmark said Friday before urging the council again to suspend the meeting. "Some would say we reached it a long time ago. We've certainly reached it now.
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Where to plug in: The City of College Park City Council meets on the First and Third Mondays of each month. The workshop begins at 6:00 p.m., followed by the Regular Session at 7:30 p.m. at 3667 Main Street, College Park, Georgia, 30337. Public Comment sign up concludes at 7:30 p.m.
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During the conversation, Dickens doubled-down on Beltline transit support but also said he’s skeptical of cost estimates for a light rail system to circle the whole path.
“Am I in favor? Yes. Am I committed to pushing it? Yes. But am I sober and fiscally responsible, and somebody who takes every job, every decision I make, very seriously?” he said. “I’ve got to live with the situation of yes, go for it — and we can’t pay for it. Yes, go for it — we can’t operate it.”
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