On Monday June 1, Atlanta City Council hosted a remote meeting where they considered legislation to enact new penalties for organizing and participating in street racing across the city.
Following a recent uptick in illegal street races, Councilman Dustin Hillis introduced a new ordinance that would punish drag race organizers and participants with a $1,000 fine and up to six months in prison.
The legislation defined an "organizer" and a "participant" as the following:
"Organizer means any individual who in any manner takes part in the planning, organization, coordination, facilitation, advertising or sharing of the location for any such race, or collect moneys in connection with an illegal street racing exhibition"
"Participant means any individual who is present at an illegal street racing exhibition for the purpose of taking part in the event, by riding in a race vehicle as driver or passenger; assisting or engaging with the organizers and/or drivers in carrying out the event; photographing, filming, recording, and/or broadcasting the event; or who exchanges money or anything of value with any driver, car owner, or other participant in connection with the event"
Prior to voting, hundreds of Atlanta residents called into the City Council public hotline expressing their concerns about the tone deaf and dangerous new ordinance.
Residents did not approve of permitting officers to arrest drag race attendees for simply observing or recording a race, especially given the current climate between police and the community. Many pointed out that cell phone recordings are truly all residents have to hold police accountable for their actions.
Although it was ultimately decided that the legislation would be taken back to the public safety committee for review, Councilman Hillis made it perfectly clear that he stood by his legislation.
"This is a nationwide, citywide, problem that affects every district. Every council member has co-sponsored it and all members of the public safety committee voted for it. So I'm hesitant to send this back to committee for more studying. I'm not really sure what needs to be studied. This is a problem throughout the city. It's lead to death, many injuries, including children, throughout the nation and the state of Georgia. So the blood's not going to be on my hands," Hillis said.
Hillis also voiced his frustration with not being contacted by the Mayor's administration prior to Monday's call.
"I've never received any concerns from the [Mayor's] administration, never received a concern via email, via phone, from any member of the public about this legislation; nor the administration. Actually today, they didn't even have the human decency to pick up the phone and call me and have a conversation about this legislation. They went through someone else."
This week's protests against police brutality were obviously mentioned by several of the residents who called in to voice concern, but Hillis claimed that the protests had nothing to do with his legislation.
"To me, where we are now in this environment and what this paper addresses are unrelated. They're mutually exclusive," Hillis said. "As a matter of fact, I was in my district Saturday night listening to news reports of the protests, both by legitimate protestors which I totally support, and those other groups that were physically damaging property. At the same time I have street racers that neighbors were consistently calling me about. So the groups are mutually exclusive."
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