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Sprawl For
Why have pre-fab houses and gated communities usurped tradi
tional images of “The American Dream?" BikeAthens spokesman
Mark Dodson speculates: “People often times don't realize what
else is available; some are okay with it I just want people to know
that there are alternative models for residential development."
To that end, on Saturday, Sept. 9, BikeAthens will launch
Athens' first Tour de Sprawl Starting from the intersection of
College Avenue and Clayton Street, participants will bicycle or
shuttle a ?5-mile circuit around Athens and the surrounding coun
tryside. At various checkpoints along the route, speakers will dis
cuss the impact rapid growth has upon society and environment
alike. Topics will include alternative ideas for transportation, pre
serving green spac?, the economics of sprawl and the subsequent
deterioration of the ecosystem.
The event is the latest in the ongoing efforts of BikeAthens (a
multi-modal transportation advocacy group) as it strives to gain
support and give guidance to resisting the corrosive effects of
“Atlantification," which endangers the cozy small-town feel Athens
currently enjoys.
Even as farmland arid forests in Athens are disappearing and
traffic and commutes are worsening, funding for alternative trans
portation backslides, subdivisions discourage neighborhood fellow
ship, and businesses and shopping areas continue to be segregated
from residential areas. These symptoms are indicative of urban
sprawl
Tour de Sprawl bills itself as a way for the community to bring
together practical ideas for preserving what is most appealing
about the city, and to learn about sprawl's devastating effects on
everything froF.t natural resources to low-income housing.
“Ultimately," says Dodson, “we want to educate and inform the
people, so that they know how their quality of life is directly
affected."
In BikeAthens' view, vitalizing and expanding local business is
unquestionably beneficial to the community. However, paving
Athens with concrete monoliths such as Sam's Club and Wal-Mart
clearly has its repercussions, bure, jumping into an air-conditioned
ca r to drive .4 miles down the construction/traffic ridden street to
get a loaf of bread is convenient, but is it necessarily the way one
would prefer to enjoy Athens?
BikeAthens reminds that the difficulty in addressing sprawl poli
tics is that issues often appear isolated, when "smart growth"
WHAT BikeAthens' -Tour de Sprawl
WHERE College Square, downtown -
WHEN Saturday, Septembers, 9 a.m;
HOW MUCH SrO advance ($15 w/t-shirt), $15 day of
- event ($20 w/t-shirt)
demands a larger perspective. An excellent
example is played out in the controversy over
"road diets." Do additional lanes, in fact provide
safer and more efficient means for transportation?
Research compiled by BikeAthens reveals that
reconfigured roads with lane reductions in many
cases reduce accidents without hindering fiow. A
network of renovated road layouts with bike lanes
and improved bus bays can actually ease conges
tion and reduce hazards for all. But the effective
ness of a road with bike lanes that is discon
nected from other roads with the same features is
undermined.
BikeAthens is committed to growth that caters
to the environment and to the community.
Implicit in the word "growth" is a notion of bet
tering or improving upon. Again Dodson points to
an inherent fixation on the automobile as the
only viable means for transportation in a locality
bom from sprawl growth.
"When I was kid, we all rode our bikes to
school; nowadays that is very rare," he says.
“Most students are dropped off in a minivan. It is
too dangerous to put kid r . on the road."
Fewer and fewer people iemember what it is
like to live in a community that enables pedes
trians and cyclists to move about safely and
freely. Athens has been called one of the few
remaining suburban frontiers that has staved off
urban sprawl, and BikeAthens hope* the Tour de
Sprawl will encourage participants to help pre
serve this reputation.
The initiative to manage urbar sprawl, forged
by BikeAthens and other community activists, focuses on safety,
efficiency and aesthetics. What is most important to those who
support alternative modes of transportation is ensuring that land
use and transportation planning enhance, not hinder, the quality of
life here.
For more information on the Tour de Sprawl, visit bikeathens
.com or call 425-0868.
Drew Courtney
Schedule
8 A M. hgMhi
CoWage Square
• UL tour baton
Deechwooti
Stop 2 Learie Fmriar
Greenspace
Stops Jtaacy Stmpla to
Dm OCA School i
Garnet! Ridge
mnee noTuewoots
stops BmiWM
Greenway
Ftto
1 PH.
tun
toMtapUtovni
I of Social Wert
All Y'all
James Howard Kunstlesr
BEYOND THE NATIONAL CAR SLUM
Friday • Sept 8*7 PM • UGA Chapel • get there early!
TOUR DE SPRAWL 2000
The informational, educational, and INSPIRATIONAL bus.and bike ride!
Featuring James Kunstler • Laurie Fowler
Smith Wilson • Doug Haines • and more!
Saturday • Sept 9 * Register at 8 AM • College Square
free food and drinlcs • music • infomation • exercise • lots of fun!
w w w. b ikeathens.com / to u r
' ■ * . ’ , v
Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation. Inc • UGA Institute of Ecology • UGA School Of Law • UGA School
of Environmental Design • ACC Planning Department • Sierra Club Georgia Challenge To Sprawl Campaign
Georgia River Network • R E M / Athens, LLC • Winburn. Lewis & Barrow. PC • Athens Land Truk
Oconee River Land Trust • Earthfare. Inc • Sandy' Creek Nature Center • Flagpole Magazine
Dixon's Bicycles • Sunshine Bikes • Big City Bread • littery Joe's
Lyndon House Arts Foundation L Lyndon House Arts Center
PRESENT A BENEFIT CONCERT BY
ALSO FEATURING
Common
People Band
MORTON THEATRE
8 p.m..
Friday, September 15
Tickets $20 $25
Available only at
Lyndon House Arts Center
Call 613-3623
Lyndon House Arts Center is a
facility of ACC Leisure Services
Department and receives grant
funding through appropriation from
the Georgia Council for the Arts.
B FLAGPOLE SEPTEMBER 6, 2000