The February beating death of 22-year-old Athens nursing student Laken Riley on a running trail near the University of Georgia’s Lake Herrick, allegedly at the hands of an undocumented Venezuelan immigrant, was at the top of Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz’s 2024 State of the Community address released Friday on the local government’s website.
Also receiving mention in the early sentences of Girtz’s annual address, which has been released on video for at least the last three years, were the fatal February shooting of 48-year-old Willie Antonio Jewell of Winterville, and the apparently gang-related shooting death of 3-year-old Kyron Zarco Smith at an Athens-Clarke County mobile home community.
The death of Riley, a student at the Augusta University College of Nursing in Athens, who was a UGA student in 2023, touched off loud criticism in some quarters of the community, and became a focus of national news coverage.
More:Bill requiring law enforcement to report undocumented immigrants to ICE passes on final day
In the wake of the shooting, for which 26-year-old Jose Ibarra has been charged with murder and other offenses, Girtz faced calls for resignation from people who saw a 2019 resolution approved by county commissioners and signed by the mayor as a de facto admission that Athens-Clarke County is a sanctuary city.
Subsequently, a recall effort targeting Girtz, District 2 Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Melissa Link, District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez, and Clarke County Sheriff John Q. Williams was begun. Recall organizers had until Thursday to collect the several dozen signatures needed to begin the recall process. When enough signatures are verified, organizers can begin the process of collecting the thousands of signatures that will be needed to set up a recall election.
“(W)e mourn these losses and ask ourselves how such a set of tragedies can find a response on the local level,” Girtz said as he addressed the recent violent deaths. “As we wrap our arms around each other in love and support, here in the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government we will continue to lean into making this an ever-safer community through every means necessary. While we cannot account for all national, global and cultural forces pushing against our desire for healthy lives, we will continue to enable our community through high quality support.”
More:In response to Laken Riley’s death, rally and vigil precede Athens commission meeting
Girtz also used his address to briefly respond to critics of the community serving as a refugee resettlement site, seen as more evidence in some quarters that Athens-Clarke County functions as a “sanctuary city,” a term for which there is no precise legal definition.
“… (W)e find dignity in the work of the U.S. State Department as they support a few dozen international refugee families in Athens,” Girtz said near the end of the 15-minute speech.
As he did in a news conference in the days after Riley’s death, Girtz used his address to point out an array of investments in public safety improvements made in the months before the fatal beating, which were followed up at a February commission meeting by approvals of expenditures for more than a half-million dollars in new investments in public safety. Those new investments include expedited development of the county’s Real-Time Crime Center, additional investments in surveillance cameras, and the purchase of all-terrain vehicles for patrolling the community’s various recreational paths.
“If you inflict damage on our residents, we will capture you, and we will do this quickly,” Girtz said in the speech.
From there, the mayor focused on the county government’s proactive efforts against crime, designed to “… prevent trauma and pain in the first place by ensuring that healthy, supportive systems are put into place.” Among those efforts, Girtz said, are the Neighborhood Leaders program, which leverages $9 million in federal nutrition funds.
“Hungry families are desperate families,” the mayor said, “and eliminating hunger is an important public safety contributor.”
Girtz also cited the county’s participation in youth recreational programs, and in local Boys & Girls Clubs, whose programming includes a violence prevention focus.
In other comments in the Friday-released video and transcript of his annual address, Girtz noted the county’s focus, along with community partners like Habitat for Humanity and the Athens Land Trust, in revitalizing and developing affordable housing. Girtz also pointed out the county government’s involvement with local nonprofit organizations in addressing homelessness.
From there, Girtz used his yearly address to note ongoing work to update the county’s land use plan. The aim of that and related initiatives is, Girtz said, to “…ensure that we are creating a city that is built to last, for basic human needs, for fiscal responsibility, and for the long-term support of our natural environment.”
Moving on, Girtz touted the community’s infrastructure investments in transportation, fiber-based data transmission and water and sewer systems. Those investments, the mayor asserted, are allowing the county’s economic development professionals to pursue high-wage jobs, particularly in the biotech industry, which has been a focus of local economic development for some time.
The new medical college coming to the University of Georgia will, Girtz added, bring in research and development that will “spin off additional private businesses that will thrive in this community.”
Moving forward, Girtz said, another aspect of spreading the benefits of economic development across the community will be a revamped contracting and procurement system that will strengthen “efforts to support minority-owned and woman-owned firms through local public expenditures.”
In closing his State of the Community address, Girtz noted the “… giving and wonderful group of residents … sharing the community each day as we continue to strive to be the place where our work meets the quality of our spirit.”
