Atlanta

We recently attended a wedding in Atlanta, and we and some inlaws stayed at a Vrbo rental. One of the guests lost their balance and ripped the toilet paper holder off the wall. It was fasted with drywall anchors, and the damage is contained to the area under and immediately beside the holder base, less than a 3" circle. The holder is not damaged. We took pictures and sent them to the owner, telling them to let us know what the repair cost. They responded today that they had a quote for $500.

I am from a much less metropolitan area in a midwestern state, so maybe I'm out of touch with contractor prices there, but that seems very high. Any locals with insight?

I’ve got a frustrating yard and not enough time, thinking about paying someone to help me get it into shape.

Does anyone have any recommendations for companies that can help me take back my yard?

Atlanta! Let’s keep the momentum going. There can be no peace in our city, no peace in our state, no peace ANYWHERE until Palestine is free!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/17136474

The lawsuit’s claims highlight how “over the last decade, the failure of police foundations nationwide to provide basic levels of transparency raises questions about their motives, and whether or not they have the public interest at heart”, said Alex Vitale, the author of The End of Policing. “If you have nothing to hide, then why are you hiding?” Vitale said.

Last week’s lawsuit draws attention to the center’s driving force, the APF – the nation’s largest police foundations, and one of the most well-funded among hundreds, with support from corporate donors such as Delta, Wells Fargo and Home Depot. Its CEO, Dave Wilkinson, is also the highest-paid among police foundation CEOs nationwide, with a 2022 salary of $500,000.

Corporate funding, coupled with their non-profit status, have allowed police foundations to escape public scrutiny, said Vitale. “Police have relied on these slush funds to provide them with levels of independence from government oversight unheard of in any other agency,” Vitale said.

Mine is Radio Roasters. Anyone got their favorite roaster/blend native to the metro that will make me forget Vice & Virtue in Memphis?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/5593026

Atlanta, GA – On Monday morning, a bold and joyful procession of roughly 500 people marched along a public road to the proposed Cop City construction site. Holding banners and giant puppets, and accompanied by drummers and a brass band, Block Cop City activists reclaimed Atlanta’s rich civil rights legacy from politicians who continue to tarnish it with every voter disenfranchised and each tear gas canister thrown. Despite the violent response by police, activists minimized arrests and harm through careful planning, extensive preparation, and close attention to lessons learned from generations of revolutionary struggles against repression and authoritarianism.

The march began with a festive gathering in Gresham Park where participants adopted an explicit commitment to nonviolence and heard from Kamau Franklin (Executive Director of Atlanta-based Community Movement Builders) and Joel Paez (father of Tortuguita, a forest defender murdered by police in the forest in January).

“Now is not a time for cowardice. You are either with the oppressed or with the oppressors. You are either with the people or the pigs. You cannot stand in the middle. You cannot be on both sides. You cannot close your eyes to the terror of policing that happens in this world,” stated Kamau Franklin. “We are going to continue defending the forest. We are going to continue defending the legacy of Tortuguita. We are family. You are my family,” said Joel Paez.

Once the march was underway it took less than an hour for the police to declare it illegal, just as they did in 1965 during the March from Selma to Montgomery. Despite numerous stated commitments from religious leaders and city officials to honor the right to protest, armed riot police terrorized the crowd with tear gas grenades, attack dogs, clubs and ballistic shields.

“We just witnessed overt violations of our civil rights on a road named after the U.S. Constitution. Atlanta claims itself to be a civil rights hub, but it erases its own legacy when protests arise that confront the power of politicians and police. The police’s violence against protestors today affirms our belief that Cop City must never be built,” said Mary Hooks, field secretary for the Movement for Black Lives

As other protestors took to planting tree saplings in the Weelaunee Forest, journalists were forcibly separated from the crowd and threatened with arrest by police. We condemn this infringement of these journalists’ rights as well as the arrest of protestors including the Indigenous activists arrested while visiting Tortuguita’s altar in the Weelaunee Forest over the weekend.

The movement to Stop Cop City and Defend the Atlanta Forest is undeterred by today’s police aggression and is planning a press conference and vigil at the Dekalb County Jail at 8PM. Additional vigils were also held at the Atlanta City Detention Center and Rice Street Fulton County Jail where arraigned RICO defendants are expected to be released on Monday.

Sam Beard, Block Cop City spokesperson stated, “The City of Atlanta’s actions against this movement under the leadership of Andre Dickens have been draconian but we remain committed to the opposite: building a world free of police violence and repression where all of us can thrive.”

link: https://itsgoingdown.org/police-attack-protesters-as-hundreds-march-against-cop-city-in-atlanta-halt-construction/

There's a few different taxi apps out there. Any suggestions on which is the best? What do you all use?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/4976666

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The ridiculousness of these charges is evident from a cursory review of the indictment. In fact, the vast majority of acts alleged by the state—reimbursing protestors for food and supplies, signing one’s name on a form as “ACAB” ("all cops are bastards," a common chant at protests)—would not constitute crimes on their own. This is why the prosecutors are utilizing RICO: The state is attempting to criminalize constitutionally protected activities by putting them under the same umbrella as alleged criminal acts. And yet even the alleged criminal acts are unlikely to be proven in court, as every warrant to date has contained a stunning lack of any evidence against individuals charged.

The indictment itself is not a surprise. In fact, the Atlanta Solidarity Fund and other organizations had warned it was coming as early as February of this year. And in June 2023, DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston made the high-profile decision to remove her office from the Cop City prosecutions, indicating her doubt in the evidence behind the charges. But the content of the indictment is nonetheless jarring in its clear purpose: to intimidate, silence, and disappear activists.

The indictment is first and foremost an attack on the 61 people currently charged. Prosecutors know that even if they cannot secure convictions, they can attempt to ruin people’s lives in the process. Charges do not have to stick in order for the state to inflict damage on someone’s life, whether through traumatic and potentially deadly time spent in pretrial detention, or the many collateral consequences of the prosecutions. Already, various #StopCopCity defendants have lost jobs, been banned from their campuses, had their bank accounts closed, faced discrimination at airports, and more. The mark of domestic terrorism is intended to hang over defendants’ heads for as long as possible.