How “Ego, Innuendos, and Lies” Almost Led to the Removal of a Beloved Community Climbing Wall
When professional climber Kai Lightner partnered with Kevin Jorgeson’s 1Climb to secure a $100,000 donation from Adidas three years ago to build a climbing wall in College Park, Georgia, he aimed to provide climbing opportunities for underprivileged Black youth.
“As a Black kid coming up in climbing, I felt like the only way I got here was by the grace of God,” says Lightner. “I don’t want the next person who comes up behind me to come up in the sport by chance—I want it to be by circumstance.”
In January 2021, the donated climbing wall opened in the Tracey Wyatt Recreation Center, a free community center located on Godby Road, an urban area 10 miles south of Atlanta.
“That space was chosen not only because of its physical characteristics, but also its physical location,” says College Park Mayor Bianca Motley Broom. “Some of the kids who live on Godby have the least amount of access to recreational opportunities—and just opportunities in general.”
The wall was open intermittently in spring and summer 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic but saw regular use by fall, hosting various events like holiday gatherings and summer camps. According to College Park Rocks, a site created by local wall users, the wall has seen 15,000 visits.
“To say this program was a success is an understatement,” says Lightner. “The residents of College Park have spoken up in droves about how much of a valued asset they believe this wall is to the community.”
But, in April 2024, city officials began discussing removing the wall, citing safety concerns and underutilization. At a College Park City Council meeting on May 6, the councilmen and women voted to authorize the city manager to investigate the rock wall and remove it at his discretion. What ensued were months of confusing dialogue and communal outcry.
Despite initial votes to investigate the wall’s removal, community support and media attention pressured the council to reverse course. On June 7, the city council voted to keep the wall at the Tracey Wyatt Recreation Center, highlighting the community’s strong advocacy and the impact of grassroots mobilization.
Lightner says there would have been far-reaching implications if the wall came down. “It’s been a lot harder for [my nonprofit foundation] Climbing For Change to push larger scale projects, because, in general, as a culture, there’s been a pushback on DEI work,” he says. Establishing the wall at the Tracey Wyatt Recreation Center at no cost to the city was such a clear win. He just never anticipated he’d have to fight to keep it there.
Removing the Wall
Lightner started Climbing for Change in July 2020 to connect and uplift underserved minorities in the outdoor industry by fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion among athletes, industry leaders, and filmmakers. The wall was his first project.
Motley Broom, who was familiar with Lightner’s climbing success, wanted to help bring the sport to the area and helped expedite the city’s approval process for the wall.
“I’ve had the opportunity to see him develop as an international role model in the sport,” said Motley Broom. “So when he started Climbing for Change and spoke of his desire to bring climbing to underserved, under-resourced, and particularly communities of color, I said we’ve got a wall for you. We can make this happen. So he came to College Park, and we toured around with our staff to try to find the best place to ensure that kids who had no idea about the sport would have access.”
For Lightner, the uncertainty around the future of the climbing wall began on April 5, 2024, when he was copied on an email from Michelle Johnson, director of recreation and cultural arts of College Park, to Derek Slone, project manager at Eldorado Climbing. In the email, Johnson inquired how much it would cost to remove the rock wall at the recreation center and whether it was possible to relocate the wall.
Lightner was shocked and confused. He wrote back: “Is there a specific reason why you are exploring options for having the wall removed?” He asked if there were safety concerns, if kids had lost interest, or if there was anything he could do to help maintain the program.
Johnson directed Lightner to the interim city manager, Dr. Emmanuel Adediran, who did not reply to Lightner until Mayor Motley Broom directed him to do so. His eventual response was brief: The governing body will soon discuss the reason for the potential removal of the climbing wall, there have been no reported safety concerns, and the interest of kids in the sport has not been addressed with him.
Slone replied to Johnson that it was inadvisable to remove and relocate the wall, as it had been custom designed for the space in which it currently resides. Correcting for the “semi-destructive” nature of removal, plus the engineering and design work that would be necessary to retrofit it, would be cost prohibitive. Johnson still wanted a quote for the cost of removal. Slone sent an estimate for $42K.
Lightner flew to Atlanta shortly after discussions to remove the wall were initiated. He tried speaking with the councilmen and women regarding their concerns but says he was “met with silence.” Despite repeated efforts, Climbing also did not get a response from the councilmen and women, Tracie Arnold, Joe Carn, Jamelle McKenzie, and Roderick Gay; Michelle Johnson; Kameron Preston, director of communications and public information; and the interim city manager Dr. Adediran.
Over the ensuing month, Lightner continued trying to contact the councilmen and women, waiting to see if the issue would be brought to the floor in a city meeting. The day came about a month later, on May 6, at the College Park City Council meeting.
Councilwoman Arnold opened with motion to investigate the wall and grant the city manager and staff a budget of $60K to “take the best administrative action.” She opened the discussion on the wall with a statement.
“As some of you may remember, in late February, I participated in a walkthrough tour of the Tracey Wyatt Rec Center with the interim city manager and city staff,” she said. “It was during that time that we learned of staff’s pressing concerns of under utilization, safety, and deferred maintenance of the rock wall to the point where the wall has not been in use since last fall.”
Councilwoman Arnold added that the council should take immediate action if the wall posed a safety threat to its users. “I told the city manager ‘It is not up for discussion or debate,’” she said. Arnold outlined several other concerns: She had not received the waivers of the participants she had requested; the wall had not generated any revenue; the staff wasn’t professionally certified to oversee usage of the autobelays; and the number of users cited for the wall was incorrect—she was, in fact, on the list of users, and she’d never been on the wall.
However, Motley Broom quickly disputed her concerns. “There have been no safety issues with this wall,” she said. “That’s a fact. There have been no injuries on this wall.”
Johnson, director of recreation and cultural arts, confirmed the Mayor’s points and explained that the rock wall had not been open since January because the autobelays had been shipped to the manufacturer for regularly scheduled maintenance. Stone Summit, a large Atlanta climbing gym that partnered with the rec center to help manage the community wall, pays for those repairs. Stone Summit management also trained the staff to operate the wall safely (there are no professional certifications for autobelay training). The wall is in a public rec center, where day passes are free, hence the zero revenue. Johnson added that she could not send the waivers to Arnold because she couldn’t redact the personal information in 15,000 waivers within the requested time frame of one day.
“This seems like an opportunity to bury this,” said Motley Broom at the council meeting. She described how if the city manager were granted authorization to remove the wall at his discretion with $60,000, the public would never see the money again. The wall would simply come down. Motley Broom, who has neither a vote nor veto power, issued a few closing statements in defense of the wall before the councilmen and women moved to a vote.
“We have a responsibility to our kids. […] This is not about whose name is on the building. It’s about the kids that go in the building. […] It is shameful that we would be taking it away from them based upon innuendos, ego, and lies. But go ahead and do it. Go ahead and face the consequences of that. […] Putting it up somewhere else is not a viable option. And we all know that. We know this is smoke and mirrors. […] The wall needs to stay where it is. I hope that we have the courage to do that.”
Before the vote, Councilwoman McKenzie, who later publicly expressed her support for protecting the climbing wall, stepped out because she wasn’t feeling well. The remaining councilmen and women voted to authorize the city manager to make a decision regarding the wall’s removal.
When Motley Broom was asked in a later interview to expand on her comment about “whose name is on the building,” she said, “No one person should dictate access to opportunity for our kids, and it’s really disappointing that it’s shaping up that way.”
When asked to identify that person, Motley Broom said, “There’s a name on the building,” referring to Tracey Wyatt, who served as councilman for Ward III of College Park, where the rec center is located and for whom the building is named.
The Conception of the Climbing Wall at Tracey Wyatt Rec Center
When the wall went in 2021, the Tracey Wyatt Rec Center was identified as the ideal candidate for the wall based on its height and accessibility. “I didn’t want this project to result in a donation to a city that requires memberships or poses logistical impediments,” says Lightner. “I wanted this to truly be a community project.”
Adidas’ $100,000 donation covered all the initial costs, while Stone Summit agreed to cover ongoing costs for maintenance, summer camps, and staff training. The city would pay $32 per year for an add-on insurance policy. Additionally, a sponsorship wall, which displayed the names of community members who donated to make the recreation center possible, was removed to make space for the rock wall. This seemingly innocuous tradeoff would later prove problematic.
“Once the wall was built, we helped keep the climbing wall functioning from a route setting standpoint, and the auto belay maintenance,” says Daniel Luke, former co-owner of Stone Summit (the gym was recently acquired by Central Rock Gym). The approximately 15-foot-long wall hosts six routes. “All in all, we’ve probably put in about $10,000 into the project. But we wouldn’t have gotten involved in the first place if it wasn’t something we believed in and hoped for the community. And so this is incredibly sad. What a waste, if something like that were to be taken away from the children of that area.”
Because the costs to remove and relocate the wall are high, Lightner also received a quote from Eldorado to construct a new wall. The $67K cost was almost exactly the $60K budgeted for removing the existing wall.
Although it’s still unclear how many users the wall has seen, there seems to be clear enthusiasm for the wall among College Park residents. During an April 15 council meeting, nine-year-old Mose James V, who goes by Mosie, took to the podium. “Tonight, I’m supposed to be at my first day of practice for my school’s musical,” he began. But he was there to talk about the rock wall and how much climbing on it had meant to him.
In an open letter to the Mayor and Council, Dr. Shekita James, a resident of College Park, wrote, “The rock climbing wall at the Tracy Wyatt Recreation Center holds value for my family and our community. My son and his friends are engaged in climbing activities, and the wall has been a one of a kind experience in their lives.”
A petition on change.org was created to save the wall. More than 1,000 people signed the petition. One signee, Annabelle Slabbert, wrote, “There has been a clear and overwhelming show of support for the rock wall. Taking it down would be a blatant disregard for the community you stand to represent and protect. The community deserves better.”
Christina Barry-Simmons wrote, “The climbing wall is an important part of the community. Climbing teaches many skills and allows for people to connect with one another.”
Kerry Swift simply wrote, “For the kids.”
“Why was Tracey Wyatt CC’d?”
Lightner requested the email exchanges between the councilmen. What was said within them did not align with how things had been portrayed. They revealed that before Arnold had even requested the information she would later cite in her statement during the May 6 meeting as reasons for the wall’s possible removal, she had sent an email to Dr. Adediran. Within that email, she said: “Please inform your staff that the removal of the rock climbing wall is not up for debate or discussion. Please have it removed immediately. Thank you.” Copied on the email was Tracey Wyatt.
“Why,” asks Lightner, “would she say the wall’s removal was not up for discussion prior to having been given what she later claimed to be her reasoning? And why was Tracey Wyatt CC’d?”
Luke, the former co-founder of Stone Summit, echoed this confusion. “For professional reasons, I think that some people are not fully speaking out on what’s going on. I never really heard much more than this. There’s some political benefits involved with this. And so, you know, a lot of the puzzle pieces aren’t showing up for me.”
A bit of clarity came during the May 22 City Council meeting. The wall was brought back up via an unrelated discussion on the Gateway Center Arena security service. Before the meeting, Councilman Carn was handed a packet by a company representative. The Mayor called it out, asking why a council member would be handed something outside the procurement process. Arnold said she didn’t want to receive packets outside the proper procurement process, adding that she’s “too pretty to go to jail.”
After she said this, Councilman Gay tried to interrupt repeatedly. When Motley Broom granted that it was his turn to speak, he said, “I’m not going to continue to sit up here while one of our council persons wants to play high and almighty, and all it does is support hypocrisy,” he began. Then, he reversed his vote on the investigation of the climbing wall, saying that the wall shouldn’t come down simply because “somebody took somebody’s plaques off the wall.”
“Let’s back it up a little bit and talk about this rock wall. […] The point I’m trying to say, Ma’am (Arnold), is don’t sit up and start talking about jail and how good you look. Because if you want to be high, you want to be the most moral one up here, then stop playing a game about that wall.”
Gay suggested the real issue was that Tracey Wyatt’s plaques were removed from the sponsorship wall to make space for the rock wall, implying that Wyatt was using his influence to get the wall taken down as a personal vendetta.
Despite repeated attempts to reach Wyatt, Climbing has not been able to contact him.
The Motion to Keep the Wall
The final council meeting regarding the wall came late on Friday, June 7. Councilwoman Arnold opened the discussion. “At some point in time, because of the fact that we wanted the best thing, the right thing to uphold our fiduciary duty as a city council, [removing the wall] became political,” she said. “Now that it is political, we need to make sure we have the facts straight.” She said she sought to relocate the wall because her constituents in Ward III (where the wall is currently located) wanted something different. She referenced a survey, which allegedly showed that Godby residents did not intend to use the wall and instead wanted “jobs,” “extension services when it comes to utilizing the computer lab,” and “extension services for educational purposes.”
Councilman Gay also made a brief statement before making a motion to keep the wall at the Tracey Wyatt Recreation Center. “From a recreation point of view, the rock wall is a really low priority. It really is. It’s on the same level as the other attractions,” he said.“But because of the outrage from the city and the media, I’ve decided I’m going to have to make an unpopular decision so that we can move on and focus on other business with the city.” Gay’s motion was also to direct the remaining funds from the investigation into programming for the wall and safety.
When it came time to vote, Gay and McKenzie voted in favor of keeping the wall at the rec center, Arnold opposed it, and Carn abstained from it. The motion passed.
“This entire situation has been a rollercoaster, but I’m happy that members of College Park’s City Council voted with their conscience and did the right thing,” says Lightner. “None of this would have been possible without the adamant support of the climbing community. When we work together, our united voices can make a huge difference.”
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