When customers visited Videodrome over the summer, they could do a lot more than just rent a movie from the old-school video store on North Highland Avenue.
Patrons were also invited to take a stand on what is, arguably, the most controversial subject in the city — the proposed public safety training facility to be built in an urban forest for $90 million.
Videodrome’s owners agreed to put out petition signature forms, in support of the effort to force the project onto ballots for the public to decide its fate through a referendum.
Store owner Matt Booth told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the decision came down to making sure city residents have a voice on the divisive issue. Booth is one of multiple business owners who aided the referendum drive by allowing the petitioners access to their customers.
“It just seemed like a logical solution,” he said in an email. “We’re always interested in supporting democracy.”
Organizers had a period of about three months to hit the high bar of collecting signatures from 15% of Atlanta’s registered voters, a number that comes out to around 58,000 people. Much of their messaging pushed the idea that voters should have a say, regardless of how they vote on the issue.
The referendum drive set up in other businesses, such as grocery store parking lots and popular pubs like Best End Brewing.
During a comedy show in August at Dynamic El Dorado in Edgewood, several performers took the last moments of their set to promote the petition and offer audience members the chance to sign.
Liv Smith, a stand-up comedian working to gather signatures, said she used the center-stage opportunity during the final push of collecting names before the paperwork was turned in at City Hall.
“It felt like a natural thing to do, to say something when I had the platform to say it,” she said.
The grassroots…
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