Work Session Summary: I-20 @ J.E. Lowery

West End Work Session
I-20 / Joseph E. Lowery Blvd & Lucile St. Corridor

January 22, 2026, 6:30-8:00pm

Purpose

Align city departments, community partners, Fulton County, faith-based organizations, and neighborhood leadership on coordinated near-term actions and long-term strategies to address safety, encampment activity, and ongoing maintenance challenges along the corridor.

In Attendance

Elected Representatives
Representative Park Cannon – GA House District 58
Councilmember Jason Dozier – Atlanta City Council District 4 Council Member
Councilmember Eshé Collins – Atlanta Post 3 At-Large Council Member
Kesha Ferguson – Director of Constituent Services for Fulton District 4 Commissioner Mo Ivory (Online)
Porchse Mitchell-Miller  – Chief of Community Affairs for Representative Park Cannon (Online)

City Representatives
Major Antonio Clay – APD Zone 4 Commander
Captain Rodney Jones – Zone 1 Assistant Commander
Nargis I. Fontaine – Main Street Project Manager for the City of Atlanta’s Department of City Planning

Community Partners
Cathryn Vassell – CEO of Partners for Home
Cody Wallace – Homeless Services Case Mgr. w/ Intown Cares
Darci Jaret – Policing Alternatives and Diversion (PAD)
Nicole McGhee Hall – West End Community Improvement District Administrator
Tamia Hill – West End Community Improvement District
Quandra McKenzie – West End Merchants Coalition Board Member

West End Neighborhood Development, Inc.
Tony McNeal – WEND President
John Mitchell – WEND 1st VP
Kimberly Carlisle – WEND 2nd VP (Online)
Dave Mardis – WEND Secretary
Melba Furlow – WEND Recording Secretary
Larry Frazer – WEND Zoning Chair
Brooks Payne – WEND Membership Committee Chair (Online)

(Note: There may have been additional attendees online, not listed here)

 

 

Welcome & Framing
Tony McNeal – WEND President

This is a solutions-oriented gathering of community stakeholders.

Greetings
Jason Dozier – Atlanta City Council District 4

There has been much ebb and flow with regard to nature and intensity of the challenges at the I-20 entrance/exit at Joseph E Lowery, with much overlap between jurisdictions and involved parties: 

• The ramps and the bridge fall under GDOT. 
• City of Atlanta maintains the street
• Georgia Power maintains the lights under the bridges
• Atlanta Dept of Public Works responds to issues affecting the public right of way. 
• APD Code Enforcement responds to issues involving private property. 
• The Chevron station is also part of the equation.
• I-20 itself is the separating line between APD Zone 1 and APD Zone 4, which requires additional coordination.

There have been multiple public safety walks, the most recent of which for this area having been in November 2025, which included the Atlanta COO, City Commissioners, Department Directors, and representatives from GA Power and GDOT. There was a lot of alignment across departments, with different projects being at different labels of completion. 

• In November, GA Power installed new lights under I-20, but many of them don’t light up yet due to a breaker issue that still needs to be addressed.
• ATLDOT is in the process of installing new street lights on Lucile. 
• Complaints for many of the properties with encampments have been filed and are working their way to resolution, but all of those have to go before a judge, and due process is a slow process. 

District 4 has implemented a unique program in the City of Atlanta whereby a Homeless services case manager from Intown Cares named Cody Wallace conducts homeless outreach in partnership with Zone 4. It was pioneered by Councilmember Bakthiari in EAV. 

While Atlanta has many housing products in the pipeline. Access to affordable housing is less plentiful than it has been historically. It doesn’t seem like it, but the city is succeeding in getting people off the street. Unfortunately the need continues to grow. New housing facilities such as The Melody and the expanded Salvation Army shelter downtown, and 405 Cooper St. in Mechanicsville.

Finally, this is a citywide issue. For example, a fellow council member will be taking part in this same conversation in his district next week. Additional City Reps wanted to come tonight but couldn’t due to the need to prepare the city for the winter storm. CM Dozier wants an open line of communication between the various levels and to make sure that people are aware of all that’s being done.

Community Context & Corridor Overview
John Mitchell – WEND 1st VP 

As a community we’ve had some concerns raised to WEND leadership and our partners regarding what’s happening in the community. We are not insensitive to the plight of the unhoused and we understand that the challenge is not unique to our community. We are concerned, however, that where we’re seeing the highest visibility and concentration of unhoused is at the entrance to our community, as it portrays our community in a bad light and creates other problems. 

While we understand that there are no easy solutions and that successful resolution requires intricate coordination between multiple agencies, our concern is that the issue is getting worse and that the current strategy doesn’t seem to be bearing fruit. There is a sense among neighbors that the individuals who have set up at I-20 and Joseph E Lowery seem to be getting comfortable, having recognized that the city’s intermittent interventions to disperse them are only temporary actions and that they can return shortly afterwards to set back up. In other words, they disappear but they come back. There’s furniture. We’d love to hear feedback regarding potential solutions and ways that we can contribute

This isn’t a gripe session. We’re not here to dwell on the past. We’re here to come up with solutions and to see how WEND as a community can be part of the solution and support the efforts by the city and other partners

Community Partner Updates

Representative Park Cannon – GA House District 58

• This week is budget week at the capitol. Representative Cannon spoke with the Deputy Commissioner of DOT regarding a project list related to this area. He let her know that Paul Denard and Stacy Key have an updated project list and that they would share it with us tonight. (The list was not shared before the meeting’s end). Representative Cannon stated that she has good channels of communication with GDOT. 

Nicole McGhee Hall – West End Community Improvement District Administrator 

• WECID worked with Atlanta Police through the APD foundation to implement a security patrol, but the CID later moved in a different direction. 

Cody Wallace – Homeless Services Case Mgr. w/ Intown Cares

• Cody also participates in West End Interfaith Council meetings. 
• The partnership between Atlanta City Council District 4 and Intown Cares started in West End in late 2024. Cody built his case load based off of locations provided by CM Dozier. 
• His work includes helping people replace documents and get into the City of Atlanta housing queue, which is long. He connects people with medical services and helps them with whatever it is they need to progress to greater stability. He worked hard to build connections with people at the encampment behind the Atrium, but since that encampment was decommissioned he lost contact with 90% of the people he was helping, despite having provided them with his contact information. Using space provided by members of the West End Interfaith Council, he wants to experiment with holding regular office hours, in an attempt to provide a reliable meeting place to connect with unhoused neighbors who need his assistance. 
• It is his experience that the  average number of people at an encampment can vary greatly. Fulton County’s annual point-in-time count is this week, and it will help to inform his work.

Cathryn Vassell – CEO of Partners for Home

• When organizing the decommissioning of an encampment, everyone is getting assessed and moving toward housing in coordination that is done by Partners for Home. If someone cannot be offered housing, they’re offered a place at a shelter. Not everyone accepts housing. That said, there are times when various stakeholders – with short notice – will instruct that an encampment must close. In such instances, there is inadequate time to fully work the decommissioning process, so often people will scatter. What happens after the decommissioning varies by location – the city may look to see if there’s a physical change that can be made to discourage future encampments. If that’s not possible, the city will work to find ways to ensure that they are consistently engaging in that area. Then once it is officially closed and cleaned, they will tell people who show up there that the area is closed and that they can’t sleep here anymore. 
• The Lowery bridge, given all of the other activity that happens there and around the bridge, is not just a homeless encampment – there are many other factors at play. For example, not all of the people who congregate there are unhoused – there are some who live around the corner and come to hang out. Multiple factors affect the nature of an encampment and the sorts of associated behaviors that can come with it.

Major Antonio Clay – APD Zone 4 Commander

• The fact that this area is along the Zone 1/Zone 4 boundary is not an impediment. There is much crime in that area and APD makes many arrests. Last year there were 2,704 arrests in Zone 4, of which 367 were made in West End. Of those, 142 involved narcotics. APD is arresting the same people over and over, because they are only detained for a few days. With this in mind, they are pursuing alternative approaches. APD made 1300 diversions citywide last year, 72 of which were in Zone 4. Most of those 72 diversions happened in West End. Zone 4 has a Diversion Officer. Warming shelter at James Orange Park. Captain Clay agrees that many of the people frequenting the area of concern are not unhoused and anticipates that next week’s point-in-time count will help us know if our homeless numbers are up or down from last year. Zone 4’s goal this year is to conduct 100 diversions in this area. 

Captain Rodney “RJ” Jones – APD Zone 1 Assistant Zone Commander

• In 2025, there were 212 arrests in this area of Zone 1. Zone 1 is using Diversion Officers and issuing PAD referrals. It will take a holistic approach to resolve this issue in this area. 
• Per CM Dozier, there was a meeting at the Atrium in November. Zone 1 leadership committed at that time to move the special camera back to this location. CM Dozier requests that they now do so. Acknowledging that it’s really about increasing visibility, he also requests that a special camera gets placed on the Zone 4 side as well, as a deterrent, but acknowledges that that will be a heavy lift since there is already a permanent camera located there.. CM Dozier will reach out to COO Burks to get blue lights put on the cameras that are already in place.

Long Term Strategies and Prevention

Clay: Part of the solution requires addressing the drug dealing.

Dozier: New lighting, which is in the pipeline, and coordination with GDOT for improved securement of underpasses.

Vassell: This location requires a unique solution. Maybe GDOT can install something to bar access to the eaves. Recommends a semi-permanent presence of law enforcement for a defined period of time. 

Hall: A clear course of action for responding to threats and/or resistance by encampment members when GAWorks employees come to pick up trash and debris. 

Captain Clay’s response: In such instances, call 911 to resolve the issue and generate data. However, if the incident happens on private property, it’s the responsibility of the property owner or their representative to make the call. Calling 311 to access PAD services when appropriate is also an option. However, PAD representative Darci Jaret confirmed that PAD only responds to calls involving two or less individuals, as more than that constitutes an encampment (and PAD doesn’t respond to encampments).

Mitchell Question:  Do we understand what it is that we need to solve the problem? Is the issue resources? If it’s a cost issue, how do we close the gap from a resource perspective?

Vassell’s Response:  Homelessness is currently funded sporadically, which is not an effective strategy. For example, imagine funding a hospital’s ER initially but not providing sustained funding to maintain operations – the ER would become inoperational. Partners for Home maintains a 96% housing retention rate, which proves that when the housing is provided, people rarely return to the street. Financial modeling suggests that $46M in additional funding is needed in order to successfully address the issue, and while the Governor has announced $50M for homelessness services, it’s unclear how this will be earmarked for Atlanta. Also, it’s just a one-time disbursement. 

Many of the people experiencing homelessness in West End likely have roots and some connection to West End. Maybe they used to live here and were priced out by gentrification. Maybe they have family or friends who live here. In those instances, part of the solution could involve recognizing and leveraging those connections to the neighborhood. 

Dozier’s response: Fulton County isn’t taxing commercial property owners the full value of their properties. If they did, there would be increased revenues that could be put into funding housing and homelessness services.

Mardis response:  The undervaluation of commercial properties is in part due to the fact that, unlike many states, Georgia does not require commercial property owners to disclose the purchase price of their properties to the county, so the county cannot prove the property’s fair market value. State legislators have tried and failed to correct this and that the problem is likely to persist until they do. 

Quandra McKenzie:  A big activation of the area is one of the things that can shift the patterns. (Vassell seconded this).

 

WEND Role and Next Steps

• Continue making the 311 calls. 
• Request quarterly reports at WEND meetings by stakeholders and partners.

Adjourned – 1951

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Suggested Additional Follow Up
(Not discussed at meeting, but will be presented by Secretary to WEND Board)

• Learn more from county and state elected representatives around potential legislative advocacy aimed at addressing commercial property undervaluations in Georgia counties.
• Check back with Representative Cannon’s office for GDOT’s promised project list.
• Find out which properties near the intersection are under review by code enforcement, and their status.
• Ask West End CID for lessons learned regarding their former security patrol.
• Review the numbers from the 2026 Fulton County point-in-time count and compare to prior years.
• Keep track of monthly diversion numbers for Zones 1 & 4.
• Brainstorm with partners possible ways to activate this specific area.