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that included 40-foot setback requirements for
buildings, a 'very tough' sign ordinance, and ar
chitectural standards. For that road, he said, 'We
started with pretty much a blank sheet of paper
on development issues."
Conflicts with the Georgia Department of
Transportation (GDOT) have come mostly in areas
that are being redeveloped. Wood said—and not
just in Roswell. Grants from the Atlanta Regional
Commission for pedestrian-friendly development
have put GDOT under pressure from other cities
as well. "We've gone into these sort of pedes
trian-friendly communities, and GDOT's not com
patible with that."
Working through conflicts with the agency
is "a slog," Wood said. GDOT, however, is "under
a lot of pressure to change," he added. "They're
trying. You've got to change a corporate culture,
and it's not an easy transition."
John Huie jphuie@speedfadory.net
Interdependence
Progressive Celebration
On Saturday afternoon, July 22, the Common
Ground house at 157 N. Newton St. will be
alive with the buzz of interconnectedness.
Interdependence Day, Common Ground's annual
celebration of grassroots autonomy, is Athens'
opportunity to interact with a cross-section of
the local progressive community.
In its second year, this Interdependence Day
will focus more on promoting the progressive
resource center's affiliate organizations, says
Dean Hardy of Common Ground. But it will retain
the festive feel of last
year's gathering. The
event will offer games,
live music and an om
nivorous selection of
food and drink. Of the
24 groups affiliated
with Common Ground,
10 will be hosting in
formation tables to give attendees information
about their causes and organizations.
"[Interdependence Day] is a chance to tie all
the different affiliate groups together and show
how they are related," Hardy says. "It will help
demonstrate how progressive societal change
happens on many different levels." In essence.
Interdependence Day is a ore-day microcosm
of Common Ground's over-arching purpose: to
help people who may be interested ir. getting
involved in local activist organizations by giv
ing them access to information on a number of
local, regional and national groups at one time
and in one location. The center also helps con
nect organizations to the rest of the progressive
community.
Common Ground was formed to tackle the
problem of high turnover in local organizations
caused by the transient nature of the the Athens
community. Since March 2005, it has been
providing support in
the form of a physical
location for meetings,
access to resources
such as computers,
the Internet, a phone and a fax machine, all at
its Newton Street address. It also maintains a
lending library with information on a number of
subjects in various formats. Everyone is free to
browse the library, but you have to become a
member to check out materials. Common Ground
is also able to accept donations for smaller
groups by virtue of its status as a 501(c)3 non
profit organization.
Possibly the most important resource Common
Ground offers is the years of experience shared
among its volunteers and trustees. For newcom
ers, it is encouraging to work with experienced
people who have influenced change in their
communities. Hardy says. For more information
on Common Ground, any of its affiliate groups or
Interdependence Day, visit www.commongroun-
dathens.org.
Daniel McDonald dmcdonald08@holniail.com
“Partners”
Start to Reach Oat
It has been six months since a small group
launched the local anti-poverty initiative
Partners for a Prosperous Athens (PPA). So far,
the task force has held four public, community
wide monthly meetings, met with existing social
service providers, and begun conversations with
local clergy.
While the monthly meetings have been well-
attended (the first one drew more than 700 peo
ple, and the summer's sessions have all had at
least 300 citizens attend, UGA's Joe Whorton told
PPA steering committee members July 10), many
participants have made the observation that
low-income residents seem to have been absent.
Large-scale advertising and free public transpor
tation to the meetings don't seem to have done
the trick, and a challenge recognized early on by
organizers has remained just that: challenginq.
In the words of Delene Porter, who used to work
with the Georgia Community Loan Fund after
becoming involved in helping residents of the
former Garden Springs mobile home community
on North Avenue, "Not everybody's voices are be
ing heard. Not everybody's at the table."
Porter, whose role with PPA began as sim
ply a citizen attending monthly meetings, is
now helping lead the effort to get more voices
heard. Along with facilitators from UGA's Fanning
Institute and Jim Geiser, a community organizer
who moved to Athens from Baton Rouge, LA, this
year. Porter is helping PPA organize what are be
ing called "community conversations."
The concept behind the conversations is to
go to community members, rather than inviting
them to a meeting, and
learn their thoughts
on what's needed to
alleviate persistent
poverty in Athens. The
idea also had much
of its genesis in work
done by members of
PPA's education com
mittee, who set out before the school year ended
to glean information that had been absent at
their monthly meetings from local public school
teachers.
And while the plan is to reach out to low-
income residents as a crucial part of PPA's ac
tivities—"community conversations" so far are
happening in places like community centers in
low-income neighborhoods and at the Athens
Housing Authority—Jim Geiser and others point
out that any group of citizens, regardless of in
come level, is welcome to participate. Geiser and
Porter are optimistic that the work will not only
broaden the dialogue of PPA. but will also create
connections within the community and start up
long-term conversations that will be useful far
into the future. And although dozens of trained
volunteer facilitators hare signed on to help
conduct 'community conversations," most people
involved recognize that they may encounter dif
ficulties in bridging
social class boundaries
and fostering full par
ticipation from citizens
of all income levels.
"It's challenging," Porter admits, "but at the
c .ame time, this is something that people spend a
lot of time thinking about."
Meanwhile, the PPA steering committee is
forging ahead with a plan for the citizens who've
participated in the large monthly meetings to
compile a set of interim findings from their dis
cussions of dependent care, housing and trans
portation, the local economy, education, health,
and the local workforce. Those findings—which
leaders stress will be preliminary, not recom
mendations for action—are expected late in
August. A volunteer fair is being planned for the
August community-wide meeting, and the steer
ing committee could decide to shift away from
the monthly, large community meeting format as
soon as September.
Ben Enunuel ben@flagpole com
► continued on next fvige
Possibly the most important resource
Common Ground offers is the years
of experience shared among its
volunteers and trustees.
“Not everybody’s voices are being
heard. Not everybody’s at the table.
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