Yes, I attended my first protest yesterday. Someone said it would be the first of many since I'm moving to the West End. The mayor announced on Friday that, as part of budget cuts, Fire Station #7 would be closing, effective immediately (aka Monday.) This is the oldest operating fire station in the city of Atlanta (100 years old in 2010) and the 4th busiest in the city. The neighborhood has had a huge push recently to work with the fire station to help repair the aging building and make it a pleasant place for our fire workers, but then the city turned around and basically pulled the rug out from under us. In talking to one of the firemen yesterday, he said it was a purely political move as there is no reason to close this particular fire station. We residents are angry and we're not taking this lightly. We're already paying inflated property taxes due to mortgage fraud that falsely inflated our home values and we've only seen our public services go southward. And I can guarantee that the city wouldn't get away with this in the more affluent areas of town. If you live in the city of Atlanta, please e-mail Mayor Shirley Franklin (mayorfranklin@atlantaga.gov) and let her know that you are disappointed with this decision which will adversely affect the public safety of several Southwest Atlanta neighborhoods. It's not our fault that the city has a budget crisis - why should our safety be put at risk?
And here are the photos of the protest on AJC.com - I'm in picture #4 (above). Here's a link to one of our news stories (scroll down and click on the video) - it was the top story on every local news show last night. It was an invigorating experience and it made me proud of my community. SAVE FIRE STATION #7!
9 comments:
that is so AWESOME. You're famous now! I can't believe your kid, and husband are too. We saw the footage man. I am so impressed! Power to the people
Oh and it was great, we had several people that were also at civil rights protests in the 1960s, so they knew how to do it up right and even what protest songs to sing.
You go girl!! :P
you are simply inspiring.
Way to go! I didn't realize your picture was in the news. I hope things improve.
i think it's great you took part in that. sometimes just knowing you tried to change things makes it better. i really hope that the fire station stays.
Oh I saw that protest on the news!
I also saw Shirley Franklin's interview regarding the closing of that station. I could just tell it was all political. She completely dodged the issue.
Go Mary! I'm so sick of crappy politics! Keep fighting!
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