In a world of unprecedented climate destruction, we need more than ever to protect Tennessee's native trees, habitats, and ecosystems, not raze 800 acres of Tennessee's Cumberland River Palustrine to erect a facility to further militarise policing and corrections, of which state governments already spend over $200 billion annually on. Rather than allocating even more funding to weaponising police, I would like to reallocate that funding toward land preservation acts. I am signing this petition to make my voice heard, as this project will greatly affect Nashvillians, Tennesseans, and our native flora and fauna.

Governor Bill Lee has initiated the construction of a Multi-Agency Law Enforcement Training Academy (MALETA) at Cockrill Bend in Nashville. This new 800-acre housing, dining, and joint-agency administrative campus for the Tennessee Department of Law Enforcement, Tennessee Department of Corrections, and the Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security will cost $415 million to construct, with an additional allocation of $60 million for recruitment and retention bonuses and a $150 million Violent Crime Intervention Fund.

The Tennessee Government has authored $625 million dollars to be spent on destroying 800-acres of its own invaluable ecosystem. We live at a critical juncture in the history of life on this planet. The United Nations has reported that as many as 150 species go extinct every day, over 1,000 times the natural rate, due to the human toll on the environment. In the Cumberland River Palustrine, we have been entrusted with a globally significant, immeasurably rich, and irreplaceable natural heritage of native flora and fauna that the Governor plans to mow down to build his militarised policing headquarters. Say no to MALETA.