Luke Gardner
Atlanta, Ga – On October 12, members of Atlanta City Council’s Public Safety & Legal Administration Committee listened for almost two hours as dozens of citizens discussed possible ways to deal with the problem of street racers in the city.
“My major concern is the lawlessness with people driving and the speed people are driving,” said Buckhead resident Lelea Valastro.
Councilmembers discussed how street racing in Atlanta disturbs hundreds of the city’s residents throughout several days of the week, and also discussed citizens’ ideas for possible measures to address the problem. Some of the callers made suggestions that the council provide more funding for Atlanta police and implement an aggressive ticketing and car impounding campaign.
City councilman Michael Bond brought up the concern that many street racers who were being arrested were able to immediately bail out.
Chief Judge of Atlanta Christopher Portis suggested to Councilman Bond that the city council can declare street racing a public emergency.
“This way [arrestees] can see a judge at the time of the arrest instead of waiting months,” Portis said.
Doing this and requiring street racers to go before a judge could allow a judge to set a bond stipulation that the racer can’t drive for a certain period of time.
Members of several Atlanta communities called in to the city councils public comment number to discuss their concerns about street racing in the city. While most of the callers were from Buckhead, large swaths of the city were represented by the people who chose to make a public comment.
“There are people on the freeway driving 100 miles per hour, darting in and out of cars, putting others at risk … and it’s the innocent people who are being taken out in body bags,” Valastro said.
Several concerned citizens addressed a recent wreck that took the life of two individuals, one being a toddler, as an example of the deadliness of street racing.
This came after Atlanta City Council President Felicia Moore shared a post about the wreck suggesting it was caused by “an alleged street racer.”
An AJC article about the wreck directly addressed this claim:
“Atlanta police said the crash was not the result of street racing as was widely suggested on social media.”
Still, many callers seemed unaware of this.
“There have been several deaths because of street racing, one of which just happened last evening,” said citizen Lisa Vaughan. “This has to stop. This has gotten out of control.”
The KSU Beat 