Newspaper Page Text
PUBLISHER'! NOTES
by PETE McCOMMONS
THE LAW'S DELAY,
THE INSOLENCE OF OFFICE
There are good reasons for delaying the land
use vote: there's ai. awful lot of paperwork, for
instance, that has to match the new law - all
the governmental forms having to do with
zoning variances, inspections, various applica
tions. All tltose forms have got to be ready to
go as soon as the land use plan is put into law.
Of course, it does seem that after three years
they could be ready by now.
Mainly, though, the delay in implementing a
plan that has been the focus of an ongoing cit
izen-participation public process makes the
Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission
look bad.
At the last minute, to delay "indefinitely"
the vote on a plan drawn up with so much
effort and expense over so long a time, smacks
inevitably of special-interest politics. The wide
spread public perception is that the process
produced a good plan and now politics is
watering it down.
That perception is heightened by the spec
tacle of Commissioner Logan trying at the last
minute to dismantle key prc nsions of the plan
according to whatever some realtor has whis
pered in his ear.
The Commission appears, again, incapable of
leadership and prone
to sacrificing the
public good for the
private gain.
This is the same
Commission that
brought on the crisis
between the Mayor
and the Manager
because it could not
exercise its Charter-
mandated duty to
oversee the perfor
mance of the Manager
and instead interfered
with his performance.
This is the
Commission that
cannot speak directly
to the public to explain itself, that knows
everything about politics but nothing about
public information. Citizens attend Commission
meetings and express their concerns. The
Commissioners sit silently and listen without
responding. If there's a vote, citizens find out
quickly what the Commissioners are thinking.
But if citizens are speaking cut about the land
use plan, they get little feedback from the
Commission. Three years into the process they
get a straw vote that indicates the
Commissioners haven't been listening to their
concerns or don't care about them.
The Commission can never speak with one
voice, but it must develop ways of telling the
public what its various members are thinking,
what is the status of matters before it and why
individual members think and vote as they do.
The land use plan is the latest and biggest
issue to illustrate this problem of communica
tion between Commission and public. This is
Athens-Clarke's last chance to enact a plan for
a coherent future. Our citizens were told three
years ago that this is our chance to shape our
community, to protect it from urban sprawl,
bad air, bad water, bad traffic, bad design, bad
quality of life. Our government hired consul
tants and planners to guide us in this process,
and the citizens responded, attending meet
ings, serving on steering committees, filling
out surveys, speaking out about our vision of
what our community should be. Major groups
with stakes in the process were included in the
development of the plan: homebuilders, real
tors, neighborhood advocates. Those groups
have signed off on the plan. The Commissioners
unanimously adopted a set of Guiding
Principles that told the public in general but
clear terms what the land use plan should be.
'Tien at the last minute, when it should
have been routinely passing this plan that has
been developed with so much public and spe
cial-interest participation over so long a time,
the Commission has begun to hedge and balk
and tamper. What was ready to be a triumph
for community participation has turned into a
disillusioning travesty of politics as usual and
lack of leadership as usual.
Why couldn't a pobtirian as experienced as
Commissioner Logan say to the realtors who did
not participate in the process, but suddenly
appeared at his store: "Sorry, guys. You've had
three years to bring up these concerns. I share
them, but our citizens have already told us
what they want. Where were you?"
Why couldn't somebody have said the same
thing to our Chamber of Commerce, which
apparently ignored the whole three-year
process and then awoke at the last minute and
started lobbying
against the plar and
urging a delay in the
vote? How utterly
embarrassing!
Why can't the
Mayor, who can lead
the Commission when
he wants to, say,
"Folks, ou* community
has shared its vision
of what it wants our
future to look like. We
owe it to them to pass
this plan, since we
passed a set of
Guiding Principles
that told our citizens
we agree with them."
Why can't Commissioner Carter rise above
his own private interests as a landowner in the
"greenbelt" and understand the pubbc vision
for our small county, or at least work for some
mechanism that would assure fair compensa
tion for those few landowners like him who
would be affected?
Why couldn't this vote on the land use plan
be taken before the November General Election,
so that some of our citizens could registc: in
the voting booth their approval or disapproval
of at least one Commissioner's vote? In District
Six, we've got Commissioner Marilyn Farmer,
who is strongly identified with the watering
down of the land use plan, running against Carl
Jordan, probably the most outspoken environ
mental activist in town. Even though the Mayor
and Commission have protected Marilyn from
taking a stand before the election, everybody
knows where she stands, as everybody knows
where Carl stands. The citizens of District Six
can send a message to the Mayor and
Commission by voting for Carl Jordan. If they
choose Carl over Marilyn, the clear message wilt
be that the citizens in District Six want a
Commissioner who is sensitive to the kinds of
growth and sprawl and water quabty issues rep
resented by the land use plan If they defeat
Marilyn, they will send the kind of message
that Doc and Hugh 'n them understand, and
they'll send that message before the
Commission votes on the land use plan O
The Commission
appears, again,
incapable of
leadership and prone
to sacrificing the
public good for
the private gain.
Broad Street * 353-1218
We Sell Futons
AND Value!
The largest selection in
Athens with over 30 styles
of frames and 1,000s of
fabric choices.
Lifetime warranties
on all futons.
For Home, Apartment
A Dorm.
( J J. Flea says thanks
for your support!
We gave you a real flea market and you
J) made us Georgia's biggest flea market!
Athens, Georgia • Open 8 to 5 Saturday and Sunday
J&J FLEA MARKET
Highway 441 N. (Commerce Road) • 706-613-2410
We welcome you to our new home at the Healing Arts Centre.
834 Prince Avenue (formerly Jittery Joe's) Parking in rear
AUGUST 30, 2000 FLAGPOLE D