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2007 W REVIEW™,*™,
hell seek the Democratic nomination in the 10th Congressional
District to 7008. As the year drew to a dose, he still seemed to be
the only Democrat seriously interested in the race.
SEPTEMBER
Si* months after receiving a set of alcohol-ordinance revisions
from county staff, ACC Commissioners finally voted on them. It
was a painful, tedious, confusing process—and it drew downtown
bar owners out to City Had several times, worried about a total
crackdown —but in the end. it worked out well enough for the
parties involved. Commissioner Clton Dodson complained point
edty. though, that the Commission had lost a lot of good time that
could have been used proactively on other issues. Such are the
vicissitudes of local politics.
The 24/7 outdoor watering ban took effect in mid-September,
despite vehement protest from local landscapers and garden-nurs
ery owners who attended the City Hall meeting at which the ban
was approved. It was several weeks oefore locally-owned Castside
nursery CharMar announced that it would be closing permanently,
its hand forced by the watering ban, owner Chm Butts said. How
long the outdoor watering ban will last is. of course, anybody's
guess.
Set* 70 was the date of the big public 'scoping' meeting
on the NBAf proposal (it is still unclear who scoped whom that
night). Public comments ran the futi spectrum, and the meeting
ran late into the night; since then, things have been quiet on the
NBAf front.
OCTOBER
On Oct. 4, the Middle Oconee River - Athens' main water
sown*, especially since the August fhh kilt on the North Oconee-
hit an all-time record low flow of 1.4 cubic feet per second. That
was an extreme instance, but river flows have remained low all
autumn Oespfte those low flows, an emergency waiver from the
Georgia environmental Protection Division has allowed Athens and
the authority that rum the Bear (reek Reservoir to continue with
drawing from the river. There were other low points, literally, in
October, but the Oct. 4 measurement was the very worst of it.
A few weeks later, it was the big Oct. work session that saw
the unveiling of the plan for “Step T of the local Drought/ Water
Shortage Management flan ' Step f was eventually adopted »n
early December with tittle changed hom its original form.
NOVEMBER
ftopple get a makeover starting with its Nov 7 (70th anni
versary) edition and City Dope ro emerged after a hiatus of a
few years On the 'hack page' that week, total artist/ writer Greg
if men jokingly guessed ahead to TOtiB and a took at tow and
order in an era of more severe water restrictions, hone of that stuff
has come to be fact, but then again, there's a lot of 7008 still
ahead of us.
On top of the drought, 7007 just wouldn't let our local leaders
off easy. Tricky issues for the ACC Commission this fall included
the overcrowded jail, the rapidly-filling landfill (it wilt likely be
expanded; look for a vote in 7008). and the plans for a new down
town parking deck (the Mayor and Commission didn't particularly
like what they saw). They also passed a ban on dog tethers after
hearing, apparently, from a high number of citizens about the
issue. The loudest citizen voices may have been on the issue of
neighborhood noise from home construction, an issue that once
this year was dead but has been resurrected. A long-awaited pro
C amyui mm fnday Afternoon m Newmktr
petal to close a perceived loophole in the local mass-grading pro
hibition was abo resuscitated, look for more action on that m 08,
too. And Comrnnstoner David Lynn's proposal to allow case by case
exemptions to the rules keeping restaurant alcohol tales at a dta
tance from schools and churches was finally approved in November.
The good news’ Athens Clarke handily met Gov. Mrrdue'i
ID-percent water withdrawal reduction mandate (while other com
munities. especially in Atlanta struggled with it), and has become
a model city for Georgia water shortage policy.
DECEMBER
A stormy 7007 had a silver lining for the Sexual Assault Center
of Northeast Georgia (see June above); a new board of directors
hired a new executive director who started full-time at the begin
ning of the month. In other local news, GPS systems on Athens
Transit buses and new signage at the Multi-Modal*Transportation
Center (plus high-tech help on Google Transit) were getting their
kinks worked out. and might be ready for the public some time in
January.
Tom Crawford pointed out in Flaqpob s first issue of the last
month of the year that Georgia's senior U.S. Senator, Saxby
Chambliss—no matter how much he screws up—wilt have a cake
walk to reelection in 7008. Georgia Democrats have appeared
incapable of fielding a challenger with any promise. Tom did pretty
wed with political predictions to ‘07 Will he be proved right this
election year? Probably so. and it will be worth keeping an eye
out; there wdl be much morn than just Saxby's Senate seat on the
line.
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