Newspaper Page Text
Homeowners, builder at odds
mCity ordinance
leaves many residents
frustrated.
By Eileen Rivers
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
During the past year John Jack
son, a resident of Quail Ridge, a
predominantlyblack subdivision,
has seen his neighborhood turned
upsidedown atthehands ofalocal
construction company he says is
turning it into a slum.
OnTuesday, during thelast city
council meeting, Augusta com
missioners approved anordinance
stipulating that developers build
ing in one subdivision must com
ply with the covenants of any ad
joining subdivisions. This ordi
nance basically allows construc
tion in Quail Ridge to continue,
but forces builders to increase the
size of any further homes they
build.
Residents that attended
Tuesday’s meeting are still not
The Augustans are reaching for the youth
From page one
Charles. “It wasn’t that long ago.
So our goal is to teach them the
power and importance of that.”
The two young leaders hope to
show ordinary citizens they have
the power to make extraordinary
decisionsthatcan ultimately force
political changes. Theyboth agree
thereisatremendouslackofquali
fied young candidates running for
TICK. -
TOCK. ’
TICK.
TOCK.
TIME IS RUNNING OUT TO CHOOSE
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satisfied. They see the passing of
the ordinance as a loss for them
and a win for big business, and
think the building project should
be completely terminated.
“I don’t think they passed an
ordinance that’s going to help the
people in my neighborhood,” con
tinued Mr. Jackson. “This ordi
nance follows the trend of how
they havebeen treating thisneigh
borhood from the beginning.
When you move into an area you
expect its property value to go up,
not go down or even stay the
same.” ;
Others say the actions on the
part of the developers were ra
cially motivated.
“They wouldn’t think of doing
this in a larger, more expensive,
predominately white neighbor
hood of West Augusta,” said Willy
Walden Sr., a Quail Ridge resi
dent. :
Developers say this ordinance
is unconstitutional.
“This ordinance infringes upon
our right to build homes the way
we see fit,” said Nathan
office in Augusta.
“We hope this organization can
help groom potential candidates,”
explained Marlow. “We want to be
able to introduce them to the right
people, so they can get a career in
politics started if that's what they
want.”
He says they also want to call
attention to the importance of issues
like the census, which determines
how much federal money the state
receives, and neighborhood housing
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- (770-955-7322)
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Phelts Natural Gas Associates
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All of Georgia except
Valdosta
City/Region
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Will this new $75,000 home lower the value of existing older
homes? Some residents feel it will. Photo by Eileen Rivers
Youngblood of Nordahl Homes Inc.
“We have already invested
$700,000 in this land. When we
started there was nothing said
about following previous cov
enants.”
Before the ordinance was
passed, Nordahl Homes Inc., the
latest developer in this neighbor
hood, was building homes in the
newer phase of the neighborhood
upto 100 square feet smaller than
development. However this organi
zation is not just for the African-
Americancommunity. Organization
leaders emphasize complete com
munity involvement. :
During the past few months, orga
nizers have been running a press
campaign togain membership; plan
ning voter registration drives, ban
quets with political guest speakers;
working with youth organizations;
and gaining support from other com
munityorganizationsliketheNAACP
Reliant Energy Retail, Inc.
(formerly NorAm Energy Management, Inc.)
1-888-299-8661
(residential & commercial)
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SCANA Energy Marketing
(residential and commercial)
1-877-GO SCANA
(1-877-467-2262)
(industrial and interruptible)
1-800-472-1051
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Shell Energy Services
1-888-350-7435
wwwi.shellenergy.com
SONAT Energy Inc.
1-800-315-0580
Southeastern States Energy
1-877-4SS-ENRG
(1-877-477-3674)
United Gas Management of GA
1-888-GAS-4-USA
(1-888-427-4872)
www.unitedgas.com
Utilicorp Energy Solutions
1-800-860-2764
www.uesenergy.com
those in other areas, causing Mr.
Jackson and many of his neigh
bors to protest.
Residents went to a city com
missioners’ meeting several
months ago and asked commis
sioners to deny platt approval for
this phase of the subdivision. They
said smaller homes, that don’t
coincide with their subdivision’s
See CITY LAW, page 13A
and local churches.
They have meetings on the sec
ond Monday of every month and
the next one is scheduled for Au
gust 9, at 6 p.m., at the Wallace
Branch Library.
They also need volunteers for
voter registrations they are plan
ning to hold at Gurley’s on Laney-
Walker Boulevard and Walton
Way, and Kroger on 15th Street.
Formoreinformationcall(7o6)724-
4539.
{ THE DEADLINE TO CHOOSE IS AUGUST 11TH }
B
Hundreds of thousands of Atlanta Gas Light customers have already chosen a new
gas marketer. Hopefully, you’re one of them. But if you haven’t, well, we need to
talk. You see, there’s a deadline of August 11th. And it’s the last day to decide
who your new gas marketer will be. If you don’t choose by August 11th, the
Georgia Public Service Commission will assign one to you. Of course, you can
still change marketers if the one assigned to you doesn’t meet your needs, but it
would be even easier to just go ahead and choose one yourself.
Now, do you really want someone else to make that decision for you? Of course
not. That’s why we’ve made it so easy. All you need to do is check out the list of
marketers and their phone numbers. Then call, find out the facts about their
prices and services, and make a smart choice. Because yoil’re the best person to
choose your gas marketer. Aren’t you?
A message from A
Atlanta Gas Light Company
For more information about deregulation in the gas industry, call AGLC at
: 1.877-GAS-CHOICE (1-877-427-2464) or visit us at www.aglc.com
, Se habla Espafiol
AUGUSTA FOCUS
Business & minorities
From page one
nority business enterprise, or a
certified minority subcontractor
and then register with the Georgia
Department of Administrative Ser
vices (DOAS). Once a business is
registered with DOAS, it is up to
individual state agencies to search
for these businesses within the
computer system and notify them
of any contracts they believe that
particular business can handle.
The minority business then gets
a chance to bid for the contract
against other larger companies.
Unfortunately, this system has
not always worked in the past.
“Just because your name is in
the system doesn’t mean you will
get a chance to bid,” says Angela
R.Davis,owner of A & D Distribu
torsand Co. “State agencies have
to contact you first. There seems
tohavebeen alack of effort on the
part of state officials. We can’t
bid on a contract we don’t know is
out there.”
The small business advocates
are part of a state wide publicity
tour promoting the 1999
Governor’s Small Business Con
ference later this year. The con
ference is designed to call atten
tion to this problem. The tour
started Monday in Augusta and
will run for about a week. The
objective is to identify small and
minority owned companies that
are ready to compete on a state
level and make them aware of the
Governor’s conference. The con
ference in turn will give them a
forum in which to network and
make contacts with state run agen
cies that will ultimately expand
their business. The conference
has been held in Atlanta for the
past 16 years but this is the first
time any governor has imple
AUGUST 5, 1999
mented a state tour to promoteit. . .
“If you're a state-run agency in ;.
Augusta and no one at the top .
tells you todo business with small -
and minority companies, then
what’s your motivation to do it,”
Lee asked. “The governor’s em-. -
phasis and commitment to it has -
raised awareness of buyersin Au
gusta, in Columbus, and Savan- -
nah so they can say ‘Hey when I -
buy this I've got to think ... are -
there minority companies that -
can supply this for me as well?”” -
This year, the conference will -,
be held on September 8 and 9with
Governor Barnes delivering the
- address. It will also in
clude a networking reception of
more than 100 state, local and
federal agencies. At this time,
businesses will be able to set up
20 minute interviews with what
ever agency they feel may have
an interest in their product or
company.
Conferees will have the oppor
tunity to attend workshops de
signed to teach businesses how to
sell products -and services and
how best to develop business pro
posals.
In addition to this years promo
tion tour, Barnes also created a
new position within his adminis
tration —the director of business
development. Irving Mitchell
holds thistitle and hisjobistoact
as a go between for the governor
and other government officials
that run business administration
for the state of Georgia.
“The idea of having small busi
nesses compete actually is some
thing that is good for the whole
economy,” says Mitchell. “The
small business community is
where the jobs are, its what en
sures our prosperity. Whensmall
businesses prosper the whole
economy prospers.”
3A