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The Dope likes the new piano-key bus shelter in
front of the Boys & Girls Club on 4th Street, proving
he’s less of a Grinch than Kevan Williams.
District 1 Pot Still Stirring: It was strange
enough two weeks ago, when Farley Jones
announced that she was entering the race for
ACC District 1 Commissioner opposite Sara
Bickerton, who had been unopposed since the
announcement of her campaign in early March.
Strange, because most obser vers expected
Bickerton's eventual opposition to come
from the right side of the political spectrum,
and Jones' credentials suggest she's another
progressive.
But what had become ACC's only con
tested commission race took a series of
even weirder turns last week, starting when
Bickerton announced she was withdrawing
her candidacy and, a day later, Georgia Liberal
blogger Dustin Baker—another progressive-
announced his own. Bickerton's withdrawal
was reported on the Beyond the Trestle blog,
accompanied by quotes expressing her frus
tration with a lack
of straightforward
ness—if not outright
dishonesty—on the
part of unnamed indi
viduals involved, she
implied, in Baker's
fledgling campaign.
Those remarks were
very much in line with
statements Bickerton
made to the Dope in
phone conversations
last week.
Baker said Saturday
that he and Bickerton
are "really good
friends" and that
he notified her that
he was considering
a run for the same
office she was seek
ing out of "profes
sional courtesy"—not
to suggest that she
bow out to make room. "I probably would
be in the race if Sara were still in," he said,
which pointedly raised a question that should
already have been obvious: Who the hell was
driving this train?
Sara Bickerton was a raw candidate who
was going to have a lot to learn about poli
tics on the fly, but she's also a person whose
professional commitment to working on some
of Athens' most difficult problems—education
and poverty, in particular—is absolutely
unimpeachable. That not one, but two other
progressives, neither of whose resumes can
match Bickerton's record of front-line com
munity service or lend themselves to the same
cross-spectrum appeal, saw fit to hop into a
race that would have been tough enough for
a liberal to win in a two-way contest with a ,
right-leaning opponent is simply baffling. A
conservative who was considering a run would
have been crazy not to deride to go for it
once Jones stepped in; once Baker replaced
Bickerton they'd have to have been plain
stupid. ■
Of course, all this was probably rendered
moot by Doug Lowry's revelation Sunday night
that problems obtaining a work visa would
keep him from moving to Canada and that
he would, after all, seek re-election to the
District 1 seat he currently holds. It wasn't
clear at press time how that would affect
Baker and Jones' immediate plans, but it's
reasonably safe to say their long-term pros
pects just got a lot less interesting.
Tennis Strategy: Mayor Heidi Davison has
taken some flak for her decision to hold a dis
cussion on plans for the you-know-what at
the mayor and commission's June 17 meeting
after pulling it from the agenda days earlier.
But while that may not have been the most
elegant way to move forward on the stubborn
issue of where to put the SPLOST-mandated
tennis center, it was certainly efficacious: ACC
Manager Alan Reddish now has instructions to
produce specific plans for what the project's
$2.3 million could buy not only at Bishop
Park, but at Southeast Clarke and Satterfield
parks as well.
That's a significant step in a process
that's been at least somewhat hampered
by the fact that the candidate site plans
presented by Leisure Services are for tennis
centers that would cost between $3.3 and
4.1 million (more witMand acquisition for
the YWCO site). The
agenda item Davison
removed contained
a $3,363 million
"conceptual master
plan" for Bishop Park
that included 15 new
courts and the loss
of about half of the
park's multi-use field,
two elements that are
not currently on the
table.
One more detail
that will have to be
worked out is whether
the 11 existing courts
at Bishop would have
to be refurbished to
bring them up to the
standards necessary to
attract tournaments
(which seems likely)
and, if so, how much
that would cost. That
must be known before the commission can
make an educated derision not only on where
to put the new courts, but how many we can
actually afford if bringing in tournaments is,
in fact, a crucial piece of the plan.
On the Way to the Forum: Erstwhile Dope Ben
Emanuel is on (or at least near) the river as
you read this, riding herd on a passel of par
ticipants in Paddle Georgia 2010. The week-
long, 87-mile odyssey will wind up in Augusta,
where Thursday, June 24 at the Savannah
Rapids Pavilion (actually in Martinez, GA, just
north of Augusta) the Georgia Water Coalition
will host a gubernatorial candidate forum
on water and the environment "Tht. best part
about it* says Emanuel, "is that the audi
ence will include 300 people who have been
on the river for a week." Confirmed guests
include Dubose Porter, Thurbert Baker and
Nathan Deal. Deal recently came out in favor
of interbasin water transfers, which, it's safe
to say, the waterlogged majority of those in
attendance won't support. Get on garivers.org
for more info.
*1.50
AC AND COLD BEER JUST A FEW
STEPS AWAY FROM THE FESTIVAL!
16oz. Pints Bud Light
A Miller Lite
Bloody Marys
All Day Sunday
Select Bottles of Wine
All Day Tuesday & Thursday
UV Vodka Martinis
Every Wednesday
$ 2.00
s 2.00
Athens’ Only In-Town Kayaking!
-k Super Convenient,
——► Park at Big Dog**
► Shuttle Upstream
► Kayak back to Big Dog's
Call for Reservations • 706*353-6002
2525 Atlanta Highway
www.bigdogsontheriver.com
Keepin It Clean and Green!
Some Spaces remain m juiv Kids Camps!
Schedule (mime at www.gnnddirt.nei
A Reminder: BikeAthens is still looking for
a permanent home for its Bicycle Recycling
Program, the requirements for which were
spelled out in a letter printed in the June 16
Flagpole. Ideas? Contact Jason Perry at brp<®
bikeathens.com.
AaAi/k
Ai r po r t Ex press, I n c
.7874 *
;all for res
404.767.200
ervattons
www.aaaairportexpress^c
W pi %
Off
Attiens/UGA
12 Round
coupon Expka* 600/10. $4 S per person, on*
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