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ATHENS NEWS AND VIEWS
After All That: At first, it was kind of anti-
climactic. The news came in from the AP
on Wednesday, Dec. 3 that NBAF—the bio
defense lab—is going to Kansas. Then came
the honest reckoning among local officials:
research coordination was something of a
weak spot, the memo said, though we can't
know how big a role it played; yes, opposi
tion by locals played a role, too—again, hard
to say how big; and then there was the matter
of the incentives ponied up by the state, and
the fact that the Kansas state house promised
a lot more money in incentives toward that
state's bid for the lab. Everybody in Athens
was content with a certain level of ambiguity
about all those factors, and nobody—from
City Hall to the Chamber of Commerce to the
UGA President's office on down—sought to
pin the blame on just one.of them.
Then Came Sonny: Then, at the end of the
day on Friday, came a classically transparent,
blame-deflecting, straight-up equivocat
ing statement from Gov. Perdue. The guv
had talked to the decider, Homeland Security
Under Secretary Jay
Cohen, and wrote
afterwards, "I was
extremely disap
pointed to learn that
despite strong support
from UGA and our
elected officials, a
small activist minority
of the local commu
nity has effectively
taken away a great
opportunity for the
Athens area."
That's not all-
Sonny said that Cohen
"made it clear that we
had a strong techni
cal proposal that met
the criteria DHS laid
out for this facility."
This, despite the
DHS memo's state
ment that in Athens,
"there is no clear evidence of integration with
the biomedical research community and the
research focus tends to be on poultry." Not
only that, but the Athens site's rating "was
further weakened because the offset pack
age offered by the consortium offset only a
small percentage of the project cost"—unlike
in Kansas, where the offset package was
"substantial."
No, no, says Sonny—none of it's his fault!
"When I specifically asked Under Secretary
Cohen about the qualifications for the facil
ity," the guv concluded his eloquent state
ment, "he quickly pointed out that opposition
by a tiny contingent was the definitive reason
Athens was not selected." Definitive. Right.
Looking Ahead: The good news in the wake
of the NBAF decision is that seemingly all the
locals who were part of Athens' year-and-a-
half-long debate over the biolab are looking
toward the future with a better-than-ever
sense of the kind of community conversations
we need to have on the road to successful
economic development. That goes for Chamber
Prez Doc Eldridge (see his commentary in
Sunday's Banner-Herald) as well as FAQ's Kathy
Prescott and Grady Thrasher (who, by the way,
were flattered to hear how important their
"tiny" organization was, in the Governor's
estimation). City Dope brings this point up
only to say this: no matter who you are or
what direction you think Athens ought to
go—and no matter where you came down (or
didn't) on NBAF—now's a good time to take
part in the discussion.
The Real Bad News: Long-term goals aside,
Athens' short-term economic outlook has
been brought into sharp focus lately with
rough news from both the public and private
sectors. For notes on the former, see the
UGA news in City Pages. As for the latter,
folks have been unsettled by the news that
Pilgrim's Pride—which owns the two chicken
plants in town—is going into bankruptcy.
There's no word as of press time what that
will mean for the company's Athens operations j
and their employees, but there is at least a
whisper on the street that if the plants should j
close—which is not necessarily likely, it
should be noted—smaller companies might be
in line to try to take over operations. Even if
you find factory-style meat processing (and/or
its attendant odors) an unappealing economic
enterprise, trouble
at the chicken plants
would mean trouble
for the local economy.
The Big Bright Spot:
Almost lost in the
shuffle of a rough-
and-tumble week was
the Dec. 4 announce
ment that Athens
won a $3.1 million
state grant to go
toward creation of the
Athens Community
Career Academy, a
partnership between
the Clarke County
schools and Athens
Tech which was born
out of the OneAthens
process. You might
recall that Athens
applied for this grant
last year, but failed to win it then. Receiving
the grant this time around is a big accom
plishment in the OneAthens goal set, and
also a big step forward in better long-term
planning for a better-educated workforce and,
hopefully, a sturdier local economy.
Comic Relief: Thanks go out to those who
related the news about outgoing ACC
Commissioner Carl Jordan's dramatic finish
at this year's holiday Parade of Lights down
town. Riding on an ACC Fire Department ladder
truck, Jordan stood up a moment too soon at
parade's end, as the truck passed through the
intersection of College and Hancock avenues
right by City Hall. In so doing, he conked his
head on a traffic light, avoiding serious injury
by virtue of the padded material in his Santa
hat but—it's said—putting a dent in the traf
fic light and thereby damaging city property.
The final bout in the running battle between
Commissioner Jordan and the ACC Department
of Transportation and Public Works? The
beginning of a lawsuit, Athens-Clarke v.
Jordan? No one knows, but Jordan reports that
he's just glad to be so hard-headed.
Ben Emanuel
Send your city dope to ben@flagpole.com.
In September, it was Richt for President. Now this?!
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DECEMBER 10, 2008 ■ FLAGPOLE.COM