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Residents urge more cooling centers, shelter resources and improved police oversight during public comments
Summary
Multiple public speakers at the May 12 meeting urged the city to expand cooling centers and shelter capacity, to investigate delays in police oversight reviews and to take action after a recent assault reported at a neighborhood gas station. Speakers requested clearer procedures and faster information sharing from police oversight bodies.
Several residents used the Public Safety and Legal Administration Committee’s public‑comment period on May 12 to press officials for more cooling centers, better shelter access and clearer oversight of police investigations.
Lerone McGee, founder of the nonprofit For Me Unto Unity, urged closure of a neighborhood gas station after a recent assault allegedly involving the store owner, and asked for more transparency about planned utility substations in the Gulch neighborhood.
“I was in talk with community leaders, and they want that location to be closed down due to the fact that it's no benefit that comes from this business and, also, due to the fact that, the owner is a threat to the community and is dangerous by his own actions,” McGee said. He also asked that officials provide clearer information about substations and public‑health safety to ease residents’ concerns.
Aniana Lofton, whose husband was wounded and another man killed in a 2021 officer‑involved shooting, urged action on mental‑health response procedures and said she found it “disturbing” that, in her view, the Atlanta Police Department lacked a standard operating procedure for mental‑health engagements. Lofton asked that the Atlanta Citizens Review Board (ACRB) be allowed to pursue its review once criminal investigative work by the Office of Professional Standards or the district attorney concludes.
Margie McLeod told the committee the city should expand cooling centers for more residents than just seniors, and urged creative temporary shelters (for example, tented areas with generators and cooling) as heat increases and utility costs rise. Another speaker described overcrowding at a women’s shelter on Ethel Street and urged better use of funds meant for homelessness services.
Councilmembers and Chief Sherbaum responded during the later agenda segment. Sherbaum told the committee he would provide written APD policies on mental‑health engagement and said his office is meeting regularly with the ACRB and drafting an MOU to formalize information sharing. Councilmember Byron Amos said his office was already scheduling a larger community meeting with Georgia Power and neighborhood leaders about the substation matter.
Comments did not result in committee votes, but members requested follow‑up on the shelter capacity, cooling‑center planning and status updates on ACRB case information and police policy documents.
