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CITY PA GES
COMMISSIONERS MAY
NOT ATTEND HEARINGS
During a July 11 work session on Athens-
Clarke County’s new development ordi
nance, Mayor Doc Eldridge and the ACC
Commission decided to delay a vote on the
regulations from August until September. At
that time, some Commissioners said they
would like to use the extra month for at least
one more public hearing before they vote.
A vote on the regulations—intended to
back up Athens-Clarke’s new comprehensive
land use plan—was originally scheduled for
April. The Commission has since postponed
a decision several times, citing the concerns
of rural property owners and developers,
among others, who fear the regulations will
hurt them economically.
Two major issues yet to be resolved by
the Commission are: housing densities in the
UPCOMING LAND USE PLAN EVENTS:
Monday, August 7: Public input session,
5 p.m.-9 p.m., ACC Public Library, 2025
Baxter Street.
Wednesday, August 9: Public input ses
sion, 1 p.m.-4 p.m., ACC Public Library,
2025 Baxter Street.
Monday, August 14: Mayor and
Commission work session, 7 p.m., ACC
Planning Department building, 120W.
Dougherty Street. No public input
accepted.
Tuesday, August 15: Mayor and
Commission agenda setting session, 7
p.m., City Hall, downtown. Public may
address the Commission on the devel
opment ordinance (providing it is still
on the agenda).
Tuesday, September 5: Mayor and
Commission work session, 7 p.m., City
Hall, downtown. Scheduled
Commission vote on the ordinance.
Public comments accepted.
rural “greenbelt” and development buffers
on waterways and other environmentally
sensitive areas. Critics say the Commission
has watered do\ f n what was once a sound
development pian by catering to a f mall con
tingent of its constituents at the expense of
the majority.
Public input sessions have been set for
August 7 and August 9 at the ACC Library on
Baxter Street, where the latest versions of
the ordinance and land use maps will be
available for viewing. ACC Planning Staff will
also be on hand to answer questions.
Athenians hoping to talk with the
Commissioners themselves could be out of
luck, however, because the Commission, in
its official capacity, won’t be there.
“Their attendance is optional, and some
of them will probably be dropping in here
and there," says ACC Clerk of Commission
Jean Spratlin. “But they felt like it would give
a better opportunity to get technical ques
tions answered and spend more time looking
at the map, and then let people see if they
actually have questions after they talk to
staff."
Statements from the public will be taken
at the sessions, then summarized and pre
sented to the Commission. The Commission
will discuss them during a work session—
open for observation but closed to public
comment—on August 14.
Aside from personal phone calls, letters,
or e-mails, the only direct contact the
Commission will have with the public
regarding the ordinance before it comes to a
vote will be at the August 15 agenda setting
session—if the ordinance is still on the
agenda at that time— and on the night the
Commission votes on the ordinance. As of
this writing, the ordinance is scheduled to
be voted on at the Mayor and Commission’s
September 5 work session. (Brad Aaron)
GREEN PARTY KEPT
OFF GEORGIA BALLOT
The Georgia Green Party Caine up short
in its effort to gather enough signatures to
get Presidential candidate Ralph Nader on
the November ballot.
Relying solely on volunteer petitioners,
state Greens had until 12 noon on July 11 to
gather the signatures of over 39,000 regis
tered voters. At the end of their months-long
drive, they submitted about 10,000 signa
tures, according to Georgia Green Party
Secretary Hugh Esco.
Georgia currently has one of the most
restrictive ballot access barriers in the
United States. Earlier this year, the state leg
islature—led by House Speaker Tom Murphy
(D-Bremen)—killed the Georgia Voter Choice
and Election Access Reform Act. which
would have reduced the number of signa
tures required for local, state and federal
elections. The bill would have made parties
which had met the petition requirement
automatically eligible for future races.
Democrats and Republicans do not have
to petition to appear on ballots.
Even if the Voter Choice Act had passed,
Georgia Greens would not have met its
15,000 signature threshold. The low signa
ture count could be attributed to the fact
that the party did not hire professional peti
tioners. Nader 2000 spokesperson Laura
Jones says Nader hires a state coordinator
to lead a grassroots campaign in each of the
50 states, and that petition drives are only a
part of that effort.
There were other factors. At the national
Green Party convention on June 26 in
Denver, CO, just before a Georgia delegate
announced her state party’s support for
Nader, she informed conveners that earlier
in the day Georgia Green Party petitioners
had been arrested while collecting signa
tures in a public park.
Nader has filed a lawsuit in North
Carolina challenging the ballot access
requirements in that state. Hugh Esco says
Georgia Greens are “exploring litigation”
while they launch a write-in campaign.
Jones says Nader is on the ballot in 16
states (including South Carolina and Florida)
and has 15 additional petitions pending veri
fication. Signatures are being gathered in
another 15 states, and Nader “still has a
shot” at getting on all 50 ballots, she says.
Nationwide, Nader support has reached
eight percent in some polls; a university-
sponsored poll showed him at 11 percent in
Connecticut, making that the first state poll
to show Nader receiving more than 10 per
cent of the vote. (BA)
Work on SPLOST-funded infrastructure improvements moves to Broad Street, just in time for fall semeseter.
cAthens^QQjCenter
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546-4200
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Ongoing Ijevel 1 and Intermediate, Drop-in Classes also Available.
ATHENS; Super Mcdo. Los Compadres-1380 Prince Ave. 706.543.6777
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B FLAGPOLE AUGUST 2, 2000