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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
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ACCA
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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
