About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (May 31, 2000)
opment regulations that will back up the county’s comprehensive land use plan. The mayor and commission will meet at 120 Dougherty Street (downtown) on Wednesday, June 7 and Tuesday, July 11, beginning at 12 noon, to try to hammer out their differences in time for a vote, now scheduled for August!. A Commission vote on the ordinance, over two years in the making, was originally set for April. But it has been postponed sev eral times due to last-minute protests from businesses, developers and rural property owners who fear the regulations will infringe upon their property rights. in an April 8 memo to the Commission, Mayor Doc EJdridge laid out his plan to settle what he considers to be eight key issues, including “greenbelt” densities, development buffers on waterways and wet lands, tree conservation areas and canopies, frequency of high level decision-making hearings and notifying property owners of the new zoning codes. The Commission is considering raising greenbelt development densities and low ering development buffers on rivers, streams, and other environmentally sensi tive areas. These suggested changes have upset many Athenians, who say the original intent of the land use plan—to discourage sprawl, protect the environment and pre serve green space—is being ignored. The work sessions are open to citizens, but public comment will not be accepted. Citizen input is allowed at the regularly scheduled Tuesday night meetings of the Mayor and Commission at City Hal!. (BA) Nugrs space prepares A PLACE FOR MUSICIANS Nu$i Phillips was just like many of the familiar faces around Athens. He was a psy chology student at liGA and guitarist for the band Contact. Friends and family knew him as a kind and gentle person, one who always was quick to help other people, sacrificing his time to make sure others were not suffering. Nu^i Phillips, though, was unable to cope with his own suffering. He was plagued by a dark and serious disease: depression. After five years of struggling, Nu$i took his own life on Thanks giving day in 19%, at the age of 22. “Nug absolutely foved music. It was his first love. He would have tried to make his livelihood through music,” says Unda Phillips, Nu?i*s mother. “We are trying to fill a vacuum he left behind. Our family wanted to have a living thing to let him live on” Null's passion for music sjwrked the family’s decision to buy and donate a ware house located on the corners of Williams and Oconee streets in just south of down town Athens and name it Space.” The intent of the non-profit Nuci Phillips Memorial Foundation is to offer low-cost, music rehearsal spaces while also providing access to support groups, counseling and therapy for musicians, •'Hie philosophy behind Null's space is to strengthen the musk community by get ting peopic to work with and support each Other * says Bob Slejjpy, Null’s execu tive director, "Vjije'ne basically trying to be a suj>port center for the music community in several different ways. Even though we’ll be a very broad organization, we never hope to lose our focus on educating people about depression. We really want to be a voice for people who suffer from that. We’re not lim iting ourselves on what we can do.” Furthermore, Sleppy points out, “We’re definitely not a health clinic. We're taking an alternative approach to bringing that disease (depression) into the spotlight. We don’t want to duplicate services other people offer" “It’s not a treatment or medical center," adds Phillips, “it’s a resource center. It’s fore most about music. We find it important to know that it is for musicians run by musi cians." Null’s Space was originally intended to Ire a state-of-the-art complex with ten fully- equipped, affordable rehearsal spaces and numerous offices for counseling and support services. However, the daunting $2 million- plus budget led to a modification of the orig inal goal. “As much as we would have liked it, we had to cut corners to get basic necessities to get the place open,” says Sleppy. “The budget has changed a tot, though we changed the budget to make the dream a reality.” Due to budget constraints, Null’s Space has opted to begin by constructing four soundproof studios, rather than the origi nally conceived ten. Though they will not be equipped with sound systems as intended, systems are included in plans for future expansion. Besides the studios, Null’s Space will boast a performance space, kitchen, lounge, reception area and conference room. The performance space wilt eventually be used for benefit concerts io help raise funds for the complex. After two months of construction, the organization is poised to begin work on the interior of the warehouse. Two major pro jects, re-constructing the roof and rebuilding a damaged wall and foundation, have already been completed. Sleppy is hopeful that enough construction will be completed by AthFest (June 22-25) to allow community members a look at Null’s Space. “I cannot overstress the importance of the arts community to the emotional survival and well-being of musi cians," says Patrick “Tigger" Ferguson, a musician and friend of Nu£i’s.'“Musieians are often marginalized from traditional sup port networks and from low-cost health care. To have a center for this community, and a place to go for help and resources to take advantage of. might do more than just Improve quality of rehearsal space that we have; it might save the life of another gifted person ° “The availability of such services pro vided in a stigma-free environment aimed specifically at musicians will open doors to healthier living and hopefully save some lives in our community," says David Bar be, an Athens musician and music producer. The organization has been busy pro moting itself on the web (micis-spate.ofg); holding benefit concerts at local venues, dis tributing information to the community In hopes of gaining both financial and commiw nity support for the project, “Nu^t was a wonderful person, and he is why we are doing this," hU mother says. “U there was a place like this, Nuufi would have probably wanted to go there and see them for heip,“(GeoH Carr) Fill Your Closet with the Latest Fashions! SHOOTING RANGE Got a gun? Know how to use it? 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