Atlanta residents protest crime-ridden gas station ahead of court hearing to shut it down
Councilwoman heads effort to shut down nuisance gas station
Dozens of residents joined community leaders and elected officials in an effort to shut down a southwest Atlanta gas station for good. Police have responded to the Citgo on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive more than 100 times already this year.
ATLANTA - Adamsville residents will head to court Thursday morning to make their case in shutting down a southwest Atlanta gas station they say has been a center of crime in the community for years.
Dozens of residents and community leaders took part in a demonstration in the parking lot of the convenience store Wednesday to voice their frustration and concern for neighborhood safety.
"Shut them down! Shut them down!" community members chanted in the parking lot of the service station Wednesday afternoon.
Those residents lead by Atlanta City Councilwoman Andrea Boone said they’ve had enough of the rampant crime they’ve seen at that Citgo gas station on MLK Jr. Drive.
"This is MLK—a place of peace—and that’s what it’s gonna return to in this community," resident Arleshia McMichael told FOX 5.
"We’re not going to ask and we’re not going to ask nicely that you do something about it…we’re going to demand it," said resident Ricky Brown.
The convenience store has been the scene of a number of violent crimes over the years and accounted for nearly 100 calls to Atlanta Police this year.
"We’ve had over 98 calls at this one location of violence of drugs of prostitution at this one location," Bishop Donald Bolton of Emmanuel Christian Fellowship Church said.
"When you look at our stats and our data, this location is the one that utilizes the most of our resources," Zone 1 Commander Major Reginald Moore told reporters on Wednesday.
City leaders said they’ve tried to work with tenants of the gas station to make it more safe, but it took a court order to get them to hire security.
McMichael is one of dozens of residents planning to attend the court hearing Thursday morning petitioning to get it shut down for good.
"The gas station here has had chance after chance to show us what they’re going to bring to our community and it has been nothing but negative things," she explained.
But just on the other side of that same building, Meme’s Restaurant owner Cynthia Douglas told FOX 5 she’s anxious about the outcome of that hearing and what it’ll mean for her business.
"She says she wants the whole building shut down— not just the gas station. The gas station is the focus. She knows if the gas station go, I have to go…so what do I do? Is anyone concerned about me?" Douglas said.
She told FOX 5 she wants to meet with city leaders to discuss other solutions to curbing crime that don’t put small black businesses like hers in harm’s way.
Residents will meet at the CT Martin Recreational Center Thursday at 8 a.m. Councilwoman Boone said they plan to take two buses to the Atlanta Municipal Court building where the proceedings will take place starting at 9 a.m.