About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (July 20, 2011)
ATHENS CANINE RESCUE’S ADOPTION DAY SATURDAY, JULY 23 10:30am-l 2pm AT PAWTROPOLIS 130 Whitetail Way Are you concerned about the way Social Security benefits are headed? Do you want the Social Security Program to continue for years to come? Join us for a Lunch and Learn Advocacy Training Educational Workshop July 27, 1 1:30-1:00 pm July 29, 12:30-1:30 pm ACCA Harris Room 133 Hoyt Street chance for community members to gather and discuss the issues affecting our community and the South as a whole. Voices of the S*A>uth ent 'O', T> o> c 0, ACCA o C %o n . R.S.V.P. to KaDec Holt or Jessica Bankston 706-549-4850 kholt@accaging.org * Lunch will be served. Those traveling by bus to the event are eligible for reimbursement, www. accaging. org/nasi.php ATHENS NEWS AND VIEWS Missing Report Accounted For: A feasibility study ordered months ago by the Athens- Clarke County Mayor and Commission for a proposed river district adjacent to downtown has, it turns out, been complete since early June, awaiting an opportunity for its authors at Bleakly Advisory Group to present it to the M&C and the Athens Economic Development Foundation. That presentation is now sched uled for the M&C's Aug. 9 work session, a timeframe which, it must be noted, doesn't do much to acknowledge the haste with which the report urges this community to proceed with the development initiative. "(T]ime is of the essence," consultant Ken Bleakly writes in comments attached to the report. "If the city is going to seize this opportunity, we believe it is necessary to complete the due diligence process by early October of this year... [W]e would strongly encourage getting the due diligence process underway by early July" in order to make a "go/ no go" decision in time to close on necessary property acquisitions before currently held options on the proper ties expire at the end of this year. That due diligence, Bleakly estimates, will cost $70,000-$80,000. Mayor Nancy Denson is proceeding cautiously, and says she's "not really interested in putting more county money into it" before a funding source for the overall project can be iden tified (the plan calls for a public contribution of about $25-33 million, to be paid back over 25 years through an as yet undetermined combination of specially allocated sales and property taxes, parking fees, land sales and other potential revenue sources). She says she won't take any action to fund further progress on the plan before Bleakly presents his report in August. The slow movement of this urgent eco nomic development initiative has been due in part to somewhat mystifyingly poor communication among Denson, the EDF and commissioners over the past two months or more. But now that the report is in hand and apparently ready for action, isn't now a time for someone to undertake some leadership—or at least some more aggressive communication? EDF President Matt Forshee doesn't think we're risking anything by letting Bleakly's deadlines slip by, but shouldn't there at least be some sense of urgency apparent here? The feasibility study was commissioned to offer guidance as to whether to run with an ambitious, if risky, plan to bring jobs, money and vitality to downtown and Athens in gen eral. That guidance is clear: go for it, and quickly. The Bleakly report has lined us up in the blocks and handed us a starter's pistol. Who's going to pull the trigger? Meanwhile, Back at Last Week's Controversy: Six of the 10 ACC commissioners say it's important to them to have at least one com mission member appointed to the EDF board in a full voting capacity. The current board voted last week to grant one commissioner—the mayor pro tern—ex-officio status, participat ing in all meetings but not voting unless the mayor (now the commission's only representa- A soccer goal mysteriously appeared in Dudley Park at the corner of Poplar and Mulberry last Saturday morning; it did not go unused. rive on the EDF) is absent. Denson told the rest of the board she didn't think a majority of the commission was requesting a voting seat, but that seems to be precisely the case. ACC's portion of the EDF's funding for the rest of the fiscal year—almost three-quarters of its total budget—will be on the M&C's agenda this coming month, but it doesn't appear the conditions the commission is attaching to that money have been met. That would require another vote by the EDF. Whether the commission is ready to go to the wall for the representation on the board they say they want remains to be seen, but there's Drobably more drama in store either way. Dave Marr news@flagpole.com IlfeoiJUIfensib g&’s Krazy Korner ■j If you’re like me, theocracies scare the shit out of you. "Theocracy” means, of course, rule by God, as opposed to our democracy, or rule by the people. Think of places like Saudi Arabia and Iran: those nightmare states where a team of clerics runs the show, decides who needs a good stoning. Oh, and it seems to always mean that men are in total control, with women entirely subjugated. Because of God and all that. One of those theocratic clerics might say something like this.- “(T)here are folks that want to destroy us from inside.. . who want to make this nation a nation that's no longer under you, under God, but a nation that's ruled by man." Except that Congressman Paul Broun, Jr. said it. A democratically elected repre sentative in a representative democracy, he said that rule by man (i.e., democracy) is a problem. In fact, it's a threat. It would “destroy" America. Explain to me how that's not the speech of a theocrat. Explain how that's not how Iran’s clerical regime feels.- that the will of the people must be subordinated to what a select few assume God to will. Surely, this is not hov' an American congressman feels. Inshallah. (Matthew PulverJ 4 FLAGPOLE.COM JULY 20,2011
