Two Madison Companies Complicit in Constructing Georgia’s “Cop City”

TranSmart and Corporation Services Company (CSC), based in Madison, are a couple of the hundreds of subcontractors and institutions nationwide that are contributing to the construction of Atlanta’s Cop City project. We are asking TranSmart and CSC to drop their construction contracts and support of the unjust and immoral Atlanta Public Safety Training Center project.

Atlanta’s Weelaunee Forest, one of the largest urban forests in the country, is the proposed site of the widely opposed Cop City, an international training compound for police to learn militarized tactics. Both Cop City and a proposed entertainment venue threaten to destroy hundreds of acres of the forest. 

From the beginning, Cop City has faced major backlash from the community. The forest became a site of a grassroots encampment and, unfortunately, escalating police violence toward protesters. On January 18th, state patrol officers murdered the 26 year old activist known as Tortuguita, shooting them at least 13 times.

The proposed Cop City is an example of deforestation, unbridled development of public space, and police brutality. In Atlanta as well as Wisconsin and beyond, taxpayer-funded investment in police militarization comes at the expense of access to food, education, childcare, healthcare, affordable housing, and climate justice.

The company contracted to build Cop City, Brasfield & Gorrie, cannot complete this project without their subcontractors. Madison-based TranSmart is a subsidiary of Atlas Technical Consultants, which contracts with Brasfield & Gorrie. TranSmart should break all professional ties to Brasfield & Gorrie as long as they are involved in constructing Cop City.

Another Madison-based company, Corporation Services Company, provides financial and legal services to those involved in further development of the forest. CSC should break all professional ties to Ryan Millsap and Irinda Capital.

Through this letter, we hope to educate TranSmart and CSC about their complicity, and ask them to drop these contracts.

For more information, please see Defend the Atlanta Forest, Stop Cop City Solidarity, Stop Brasfield & Gorrie, and Atlanta Solidarity Fund.

-People’s Green New Deal,

Madison Area Democratic Socialists of America