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As die Olympics approached Athens like a mystery train Keith Hurwitz circulated arounu
town, talking to the people who were getting Athens ready to meet the challenge. In this last
part of his report, written before the predictions became reality, Hurwitz as writer was grappling
with the future that is now die present for the reader of his words. Everybody knows by now, for
instance, that the non-soccer days have been a breeze, with downtown less crowded than usual.
As Flagpole goes to press in the middle of it all, the most accurare remark is probably, "So far, so
good."
What Congestion?
“It’s going to be a problem,” says Steve
Martin, the Athens-Clarke County govern
ment Olympics coordinator. “We know it’s
going to be a problem. We just hope that it’s
not a disaster.... We know it won’t be easy;
we know it won’t be a cakewalk. But, that’s
OK. We’re expecting it to be congested; we’re
expecting heavy traffic. But we also hope to
be able to manage it."
According to Martin, managing the prob
lem includes assigning monitors to direct trr.f-
fic intersections, increasing signs to help guide
traffic to parking areas, broadcasting traffic
reports on the radio, using Variable Message
Boards that will bleep information on traffic
condition changes and what routes and exits
are best to take. These signs will try and dis
tribute people evenly to many different exits
off of 316 and around the Athens Perimeter.
“If you’re coming in from the north, we’ll
try to direct you east. If you’re coming in from
the south, we’ll try to direct you west, that sort
ot thing,” Martin says.
There’s going to be roadway improvements
to on and off ramps at the Perimeter. A new
traffic signal system will be set up at the Col
lege Station-Perimeter intersection. There will
be shuttle buses to the airport and Sandy
Creek, and back in to town. Many sneets will
have restricted access during peak days, includ
ing East Campus Road and Lumpkin, Jackson
and Baldwin streets. The roads will be closed
about six hours before an event, and opened
two to three hours after.
Steve Martin says he is finally excited
about the Olympic Games. For a while, there
was no room for excitement:
“We’ve passed a couple big hurdles that
were worrisome,’’ Martin says. “We had a lot
of anxiety about getting our plans together on
time, and how they were going to look, and
were they going to be complete, and were we
going to have enough money? And that was a
lot of work and worry.
“We’ve done the best we can do with what
we’ve got, and everyone seems to have done a
good job, and it’s well-coordinated.
“It was a good working experience. It was
new, it was broad in scope. It involved dealing
with people, and dealing with new issues I’ve
never dealt with before. I’m glad to have been
a part of it, and I’m looking forward to see how
it goes.”
* * *
Martin says the solid waste department has
boosted up their litter program. There will be
a large number of portable toilet facilities
around town. There will be sidewalk clean
ing, street sweeping, increased trash recep
tacles, more benches, and improvements to
existing broken benches. There will also be
increased bicycle racks.
Martin say: the government has also
worked with the Downtown Development
Authority to coordinate privately owned park
ing lots that might be interested in renting out
spaces.
He says all the government can do is work
with the existing parking opportunities within
a mile and a half of the venues. But the Olym
pics coordinator thinks there are enough
spaces around.
* * *
Art Jackson, the Athens Downtown De
velopment Authority executive director, says
he “can talk parking all day long.
“Physically the number of cars coming
here, neither the University nor us downtown
can handle all of them,” he says. “I just think
we’re going to have an awful lot of cars.”
Jackson says he is really worried about the
congestion. The Downtown Development
Authority has been encouraging people to
come three hours early.
“The people who usually park under an oak
tree on Jackson Street won't be able to get
there,” he says.
The University is issuing pre-purchased
parking permits for $20 a day. They will also
have a park-and-ride shuttle lot at the Col
lege Station-Bamett Shoals intersection for
fae&cUf vV/ie^ YmK Ave
a the street vendors str ggled to pull thir,gs
together over the weekend, Keith Hurwitz was there
to record the last-minute efforts to beat Murphy's Law
and the clock.
Friday, about 3:30 p.m.
“It’s a nightmare," Shane Matteson says as he ham
mers nails into the walls he is building at his vending
spot on College Avenue.
Matteson, who will be selling the artwork of 10 lo
cal artists, says he is upset because at this point on
the hot day, DSU, the company that rented him the
space, has told him to wait on building the walls be
cause the phone lines and the electricity have not been
hooked up yet. Matteson has con ,j nued to build the
walls anyway.
These are not Matteson’s or many other vendors’
only complaints. Many say they were told they could
open up at 10 a.m. Friday morning. Now they say they’re
being told things will be ready at 10 am Saturday
morning. According to vendors, many were originally
told their spaces were going to be bigger than they
ended up being.
Stir many say it’s not a big deal. They're excited
and just happy to be out here. And at least the vendors
on College Square have their tents.
Friday about 4:30 p.m.
The Games Store on East Clayton Street is bus
tling with customers in the front, and scrambling with
employees in the back office, where DSU is handling
vending.
Daniel Hogan, the owner of the Games Store and
a partner in DSU, looks exhausted. "I haven 1 slept in a
while," he says.
Hogan is lacking 75 percent of the tents he had
ordered for the vending spaces his company had
rented out
“We fully expected some bumps in the road, but
But Hogan says he is still pumped: the power has
just been hooked up; the phone lines are in the works,
and the tents are in Madison and on their way.
“We're gonna get it done," Hogan says. “I'll be up
all night tonight, too. But I think we'll be up and r unning
in the morning."
this is just a big one," he says.
Hogan says the tents were supposed to arrive on
Tuesday from Universal Shelters out of Pelham, Ga.
Instead, the company truck showed up with only a third
of the tents at 3 a.m. Wednesday morning. The driver,
according to Hogan, said he was coming right back
with the rest.
About 20 people waited around for them on Thurs
day, but Hogan says all he got was a call ai 2 a.m.
Friday morning explaining that the Universal Shelter
truck rolled into a ditch, damaging the tents. There
was no police report, and when DSU flew two people
to Pelham, DSU's tents were still being built, accord
ing to Hogan.
1:30 p
Jim Pamishe was up all night waiting for the tents
to arrive. He says they finally came at about 5:30 a.m.
Saturday. He came down from Michigan to sell, but
ended up earning some extra money, helping the DSU
guys set up. Parnishe said the group has been work
ing hard all morning: “I've never seen such teamwork."
About half the spaces on Washington Street have
tents. The other half are under con
struction. Boxes, boards, tent mate
rials, hammers, nails, ladders and
trucks clog the scene.
Leah Thompson, who will be
selling items “with a Southern touch,"
says her phone lines still aren't
hooked up.
“It's not coordinated as well as it
should be," she says.
“Peace Frog" vendors Josh
Burns and Mark Rogers, like many
others, have found the tent materi
als on the street somewhere and are
erecting the tent themselves. Even though this was not
supposed to be their responsibility, they say they're just
happy to be here: close to live music and the brewpub,
and they feel bad for Daniel Hogan, who they think is
doing the best he can.
As for Hogan, his truck comes to a screeching halt
at the comer of Washington and Tnomas streets. He
jumps out but can only say, “I don't have time right now "
As he runs off, Hogan yells into his walkie talkie:
“Scott, where are you?"
"The first
week is
for the
Athens
people:
come on
down,
enjoy it."
Monday 3:00 p.m.
Shirts, hats, drinks, watermelons, pizza, smoothies,
soccer balls and other various items are finally set up
on Washington Street. The tents are all up and every
thing seems finally to be working.
It wasn't easy. Many vendors sav they had elect"-
cal problems Sunday. Ruth Cohen says she didn't have
any power until 5 p.m. Sunday. From there, it was spo
radic. Scott Oakley of DSU says someone in the office
wrote down the wrong pager number for the electrician,
who finally made it to Washington Street Monday.
But Cohen says, "If there's going to be kinks, and
bugs, and frustration points, I’d rather get them out in
the first couple days and fix them, so I can just cruise
and do what I came here to do."
Cohen came all the way from Florida to
sell turkey legs. But like many vendors, she
says so far there hasn’t beer, very much busi
ness.
Mel Robinson and Pete Richards, who
are selling artistic artifacts, say it was rough
getting started, but now they're satisfied:
“They're taking good care of us. They even
come by every once in a while and ask how
we're doing.... All we need now are some cus
tomers."
Oakley and Hogan are riding around on
golf carts:
“Now, our biggest challenge is to get the
word out to the people that this festival is a lot of fun,"
Hogan says. “I mean, Scott and I sit here working all
day, and it's a good time. It's fun just to hang out here."
Oakley says a Guinness world record holder for
the largest tree sculpture in history will be joining the
festival any day now, and he'll be finishing "The Wings
of Freedom," his latest work.
"The Athens people are staying in their homes,"
Oakley says. "Tne first week is for the Athens people
Come on down; enjoy it." ^ , .
Kerth Hurwitz
July 24, 1996
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