Newspaper Page Text
CONTACT US AT P.O. BOX 1027, ATHENS, GA 30603 OR MAIL@FLAGPOLE.COM
LETTERS MAY BE EDITED FOR STYLE, CLARITY AND SPACE CONSIDERATIONS
OUT OF THE BOX
I agree with Jacob Lindsey in his letter, that
we're subsidizing the Wal-Mart and other "big
box" retailers in many ways. But in order to
address the problems they create, I think we ha«e
to look at what made them in the first place (as
we've started to do he»e, in Athens).
Big box stores have become profitable because
of how we've spread ourselves out. Yup, sprawl
changed our economy. If more people could make
the choice to live in a densely packed, diverse
community with a rich street life, you bet your
boots those profiteers such as Wal-Mart would
change their development practices to take
advantage of it
Throughout the end of the 20th Century our
city planners (partly under the pressure of devel
opers, of course) forgot the differences between
city, suburb and rural—their purposes, benefits
and downfalls in terms of diversity and mix of
uses. We started to use a "one-size-fits-all-com-
munities" land use policy that spreads us out into
sidewalk-free, storeless suburban pockets. This
allowed corporations like Wal-Mart to profit from
their one-size-fits-all retail model (big box). If
more of us were walking distance to stores, we'd
frequent more specialist stores instead of one
department store a drive away. (It's not the big
box stores that killed our small businesses, it's
land use policies that wouldn't allow mixed use
and shunned density.)
We have to deflate the myth that density is
bad, that cities are crime-ridden. Re-direct the
American dream, which has changed over the
years: we used to crave the house with the white
picket fence in the suburbs. Now the dream
involves a patch of frontier as far away from
other people as possible.
We need our governments to do more than
build roads. We need them to re-examine policies
that keep workplaces, residences and shopping
miles apart. If we create, through policies, the
kinds of communities we want to live in, those
big, bad, big box stores will have to change their
tune to fit it.
Kieron Gr'Xaqher
Athens
MORATORIUM
Thank you for your coverage of the Garden
Springs issue. I write to correct a few minor
points.
First, your "Pub Notes" (Oct. 10) states that I
am "unrepentant and unforgiving" of those who
professed sympathy with the cause of the resi
dents but were unable to vote for a moratorium
that would stop that development long enough
for us to decide whether or not to change the
zoning on the land where they live.
“Unrepentant"? I guess so. But "unforgiving"?
Hardly I need as least as much forgiveness as the
next guy, so who am I not to forgive? Besides,
those of us on the Commission who care about
issues that have been ignored for too long now
can't afford to fall out over this (or any other)
issue. We ve got to meet and vote every month
whether want to or not, and we can't afford
the luxury of letting spite spill over into our han
dling of the next item on the agenda.
That said, there's plenty of room for the
severest expression of honest opinion, and those
who can't stand the heat, etc., etc. Thus, even
though it's easy enough for me to forgive those
who couldn't see their way to help these people
out, we all need to remember that these aren't
OUR homes that are being bulldozed just so our
community can have yet another heapin' helpin'
of the one type of development of which most
people in this community now realize we have
more than enough.
On a different tack, Mr. Winfield J. Abbe
writes in his letter to the Editor that the morato
rium was a "sham all along" because "not one
Commissioner even proposed (the) simple,
obvious, remedy" of rezoning the Garden Springs
land, which 'single act would likely have solved
the problem for the residents of Garden Springs."
On the contrary, a rezoning of the Garden Springs
land—and of other tracts of land similarly situ
ated throughout the county—is EXACTLY what I
was proposing. However, for reasons that Mr.
Abbe may not be aware of, a moratorium was the
only way that a rezoning could stop this develop
ment.
The problem at Garden Springs is this: The
developer's plans under the current zoning have
already been filed but not yet approved. Once
they are approved, no change in the zoning can
prevent the developer from building the plans
approved under the "old" zoning. Therefore,
unless we call a "time out" on building that kind
of development—and apply that "time out" to
developments that are still pending approval—no
changes in the zoning that we could agree on
later on would apply to this development.
What Mr. Abbe doesn't seem to realize is that
state law requires that a "simple" rezoning go
through a process that can take months to com
plete, by which time the pending plans will have
already been approved. However, a building mora
torium for the purpose of considering the adop
tion of new zoning rules can be adopted right
away. (This is actually a fairly recent development
in state law, and was the catalyst for the morato
rium initiative to begin with.)
So Mr. Abbe is simply wrong when he claims
that I wasn't proposing a rezoning of the land.
He just doesn't understand that we had to adopt
a moratorium if we wanted any new zoning to do
any good.
As for the kind of new zoning rules that we
could have adopted white a building moratorium
was in effect, I urged the Commission to consider
the full range of options—all the way from those
that would have merely made it more difficult for
developers to flatten this kind of community to
those that would have made it practically impos
sible for them to uo so.
As you point out, most of the Commissioners
refused to explain their vote, and so it's impos
sible for us to know whether they dismissed a
moratorium because they mistakenly assumed
(like Mr. Abbe) that a moratorium didn't go far
enough, or because they understood all too well
that it went farther than they were prepared to
go because they wouldn't vote for any kind of
rezoning no matter what.
John Barrow
District 4 Commissioner
PROTECT OCONEE
We need to protect the North Oconee River
from any power company sucking it dry.
A paddler (or a walker on the Greenway) can
almost imagine what the river might have looked
like before sediment run-off buried the rocks and
clouded the water. In the middle of Athens, we
still have long stretches of green from Sandy
Creek Nature Center down through Whitehall and
on into Oconee County where a quiet visitor can
watch beaver (thank goodness they eat that alien
privet) or slip up on the wondrously colored wood
ducks. A truly lucky person might see an otter
family or a golden prothonotary warbler.
However, all these creatures (including the
paddler and the walker) need water in the North
Oconee River. The drought has already exposed
the floor of the North Oconee River and in many
places its rocky skeleton. Please, let's not allow a
power company to withdraw four million gallons
of water daily from the river. The river is already
down to its bones; it doesn't need to be starv-
just to generate a little more electricity to be
sold some place else to provide a little more tax
revenue for Clarke County. We need to take care
of our river because we drink it. However, even if
it didn't profit us. now more than ever we need
"the peace of wild things/ who do not tax their
lives with forethought/ of grief." We need to
"come into the presence of still water... (and]
rest in the grace of the world." (from Wendell
Berry's "The Peace of Wild Things").
Maggie Nettles
Athens
BLISS IN AUGUSTA
Hey—as long as the early '90s bands are re
uniting, I want BLISS!
Mark H.
Augusta
Tilt M«IIH W*IL»
A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM THE
WAR INFORMATION COUNCIL.
YOU KNOW, THERE S SOME FELLAS
OYER THERE IN THE MIDDLE east
WHO DON'T HAVE MUCH RESPECT
Fo« our BASK AMERICAN
VALUES! But are WE gonna
LET A BUNCH Of RIGHT WING
FUNDAMENTALIST WACKOS TELL US
DISSENT IS NOT TOLERATED IN
THEIR SOCIETY* LETS SHOW THEM
HOW FREE MEN AND WOMEN
LIVE--BY EXERCISING OUR RIGHT
to SPEAK OUR MINOS Art)
QUESTION OUR LEAPERS'.
GEORGE BuSH ^MTHAT"S the
STILL SEEMS H |SPIRIT, SON*
LIKE A DoofUSr™
TO ME.
by TOM TOMORROW
WOMEN MAKE THEIR
OWN CHOICES IN
THIS DEMOCRACY*
TON* TAKE
THAT,
OSAMA.*
BMP
1 OW -
w
liln
[XL
Bftr ■
1
• •
1
Bjf
THEY DON'T THINK MUCH Of WOMEN S
RIGHTS, EITHER—SO LETS PULL
TOGETHER AND SHOW THOSE NEAN
DERTHALS OUR COMMITMENT TO
6000 OLD FASHIONED AMERICAN
FEMINISM i
AND SINCE THEY SURE Don't
APPROVE of OUR SOCIETY'S OPEN-
MINDED ArmUDES, YOU GAYS AND
LESBIANS HAVE A SPECIAL PUTT
TO CELEBRATE TOUR LIFESTYLES
OPENLT AND WITH PRlPE
Finally, it goes without SAVIN6
THAT OSAMA Bin LADEN HATES
UNBELIEVERS...WHICH IS WHY
NO ONE REPRESENTS THE VALUES
WE'RE FIGHTING FOR MORE THAN
OUR FREE THINKING AMERICAN
ATHEISTS and A6NOSTKS!
YESSI* the only WHY TO BEAT
THESE TERRORISTS IS TO STAND UP
For TOLERANCE and PIVERSlTt
AND EVERYTHING £*.££ THEY HATE
ABOUT OUR FREE Society! ARE
YOU WITH ME. AMERICANS?
Ao+gC&CI,
A Tttie Italian Experience
Now offering two lunch specials
between 11 am-4pm
• PASTA BAR w/Salad Bar,
Bread A Soft Drink. $5.SO
k * PIMA SLICE (Thick or
Thin Cruat) with One Topping,
Salad Bar A Soft Drink. $175
l FREE REFILLS j
Open Seven l)ay§ A Week
275 E. Clayton Street • 549-2228
flRING
SHOOTING RANGE
%
If you knock on our door
wearing a mask we re not
handing out CANDY.
546-6111 • www.ftringUws4.cotn
Aothren * the other white powder
We will lie moving to a new location at
429 f . Broad Street in November.
Our original location is now
closed for the move.
IIt'inr nl llir ill.my l\i+^ M.ulini
4 FLAGPOU.COM.• OCTOBER 24. 2001 ,
w * Ulv 4 H jd * Ju
tfqi'MMM ’** • OOtOM^^WiluN-