Jackie Malcom lives less than a quarter mile from where a 2 million square foot data center project was going to be built in Ellenwood, Georgia, a majority-Black community in DeKalb County. Malcom, 62, opposed the project because she and her neighbors are already dealing with poor air quality as pollution from surrounding industry, including […]
Economic Development
Posted inClimate Change, Criminal Justice, Economic Development, Environmental Justice, Policing, Politics & Policy
Atlanta’s ‘Cop City’ Makes a Black Neighborhood a Testing Lab for AI Policing
This story was published in partnership with Counterstream Media for The AI issue of Peace & Riot. ATLANTA — When he drives through his neighborhood now, Brian Page passes rows of police cars and AI‑powered cameras that track nearly every movement. For most of his life, Page, who goes by “Scapegoat Jones,” felt safest in […]
Posted inEconomic Development, Politics & Policy
Atlanta’s Data Center Surge Meets Resistance in Southwest Communities
Hundreds of residents throughout southwest Atlanta turned out in droves Monday night at the Georgia State University Convocation Center to debate a data center development being planned for their community. The project, which would be built near the West End MARTA station, has led to divisiveness amongst new and legacy residents in the southwest neighborhoods […]
Posted inEconomic Development, Politics & Policy
Community Opposition Was Loud, but South Fulton OK’d a Warehouse Project Anyway
When residents in the South Fulton area learned about a nearly 2 million-square-foot project including three large warehouses being planned for their community, they jumped into action to stop it, gathering 1,000 signatures on a petition. Raising concerns about the development’s environmental impact, residents highlighted that a large forest would be cut down and the […]
Posted inClimate Change, Economic Development, Environmental Justice, Housing, Politics & Policy
The Black Mecca’s Climate Plan Is Costing Black Atlanta Residents Their Homes
This is the first story in a series on “climate gentrification” in Black neighborhoods. Support for this series was provided by The Neal Peirce Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting journalism on ways to make cities and their larger regions work better for all people. ATLANTA — By the time Atlanta hosts a World Cup […]
Posted inEconomic Development, Local Politics, Politics & Policy
Organize, Educate, Win: How Atlanta Residents Are Blocking Data Centers
From DeKalb County to Southwest Atlanta in Fulton County, residents are organizing against the rapid expansion of data centers. Some Atlantans are fighting back and logging small and major wins to protect their communities from what they say are the harmful impacts of the data center boom here in metro Atlanta. “We’ve really been pretty […]
Posted inEconomic Development, Environmental Justice, Gentrification, Politics & Policy
How 20 Years of the Atlanta Beltline Made the City Cleaner and Greener
In the new series From Harm to Healing, Capital B is putting a spotlight on how pollution and environmental dangers are threatening Black communities, and the people who are working to fight back against these threats to health. For longtime resident Tristain O’Donnell, who has lived in the southwest Atlanta neighborhoods of Capitol View and […]
Posted inCommunity, Economic Development, Politics & Policy
For the Love of Atlanta: Connected on the Westside
Last Friday, I headed over to The Gathering Spot for the Transform Westside Summit, hosted by the Westside Future Fund. This month’s theme hit close to home: “Connected on the Westside — Building Pathways to Parks, Jobs, and Opportunity Without Displacement.” Westside Future Fund is a nonprofit committed to helping the historic neighborhoods of Vine […]
Posted inEconomic Development, Environmental Justice, Politics & Policy
Georgia’s Data Centers Are Multiplying Fast — and Largely Untracked
Georgia’s data center expansion is rapidly transforming the state’s economic and physical landscape, from metro Atlanta to rural counties. Major tech companies like Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft are investing heavily in the Peach State, buying up land and building massive server farms to power the digital age. Rising utility bills and environmental impacts caused by […]
Posted inCulture, Economic Development, Politics & Policy
Georgia’s Highest Court Sides With Sapelo Island Residents to Put Land Battle on Ballot
In a win for Black landowners, Georgia’s highest court unanimously sided with Gullah Geechee communities in a long-standing zoning battle on Sapelo Island. On Tuesday, the state Supreme Court reversed a lower court ruling that had stopped a referendum to consider repealing a revised zoning ordinance passed by McIntosh County officials two years ago. A […]
