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JOHN PAUL GALLAGHER
ATHENS NEWS AND VIEWS
The Battle Is Joined: Anyone who thought
we were still waiting to see the beginning of
the PR blit2 to sell Selig Enterprises' colossal
Walmart shopping center on the eastern edge
of downtown—which actually began about a
month ago when Selig reps met privately with
Athens-Clarke County commissioners and staff
to install the mantra that the development is
very, very good, and there's nothing anybody
can do to stop it—must have been finally
disabused of that notion by a story that tan
in last Thursday's Athens Banner-Herald. The
article paraphrased Selig VP Jo Ann Chitty as
claiming that public reaction to the proposed
development, including the 100,000-square-
foot Walmart that would likely anchor it, "has
been mixed but mostly positive."
Well, that's almost certainly true, assum
ing Selig has heard "positive" responses from
more than the 16,000-plus people who have
signed a petition stating their opposition to
the project's incursion of Walmart. But, wait!
Brian Brodrick of Jackson Spaulding, the local
PR fi?m Selig has hired to pimp its project to
us, says analysis of the petition shows that
40 percent of those who signed it don't even
live in Athens, and that furthermore, some of
the names on it are fake! As for the remain
ing eight or ten thousand signees who may
therefore be assumed both to live here and
to be real people, "It's not a big chunk of the
community," says Brodrick. "It’s a small, vocal
group."
How true, Brian: almost as small as the
group that elected our current mayor last year,
if indeed a little more vocal. Hot even a tenth
of the local population, just farting around
on the Internet and weighing in on a zoning
issue, like so many people always do. Just a
silly 10,000 Athens residents, and another few
thousand non-locals, who have intentionally
gone on record to emphatically oppose this
development in its currently proposed form.
As ridiculously laughable as this kind of
spin may be. it's worth considering what
Selig's tortured manipulation of the facts
about the opposition to its project may say
about the reliability of its claims about the
project in qeneral. (Hint: it's all PR.) And
while we re at it. let's also consider the fact
that Brodrick. the chair elect of the Athens
Area Chamber of Commerce and a member of
the Athens Downtown Development Authority
board, is shilling for the world's most powerful
enemy of local business by denying the exis
tence of passionate support for the same—and
what that may indicate about the priorities of
our "local business leaders."
The point is that we can't expect anything
like fair or honest interactions with Selig or
anyone who has signed on to help them shove
this project through the local vetting process.
And that process must still play out, no
matter how loudly the PR machine drums the
refrain of "It's a done deal." No traffic studies
have been completed. No site-specific designs
have been produced. No plans have been sub
mitted to zoning officials. And until that full
process has been undertaken, we need to keep
calling and writing to
Selig, the mayor and
our commissioners, and
insisting on our right
to help determine what
our laws will and will
not allow.
Then There's All This
Nonsense: If you
haven’t already read
Pete McCommons' Pub
Notes in this issue,
please do so now. All
finished? Good. Now,
we can talk about the
fact that Doug McKillip
now reveals he called
a meeting back in May
with Sen. Frank Ginn,
Rep. Keith Heard and
Mayor Nancy Denson to
talk about ACC's local
redistricting, at which he says he raised his
concerns about superdistricts. Neither Denson
nor McKillip recalls discussing minority rep
resentation, the linchpin of thp Republican
delegation's current "concerns." Nor, oddly,
does Denson recall advising any ACC com
missioners of the keen interest in our local
redistricting—and in the "legality" of the
superdistricts, as McKillip remembers it—on
the part of the legislators who would eventu
ally be required to sign off on whatever plan
the commissioners approved.
And there you have it: yet another inter
esting bit of information that yet fails to
illuminate what in the world these guys are
doing monkeying around with Athens' local
districts now... except monkeying around with
Athens' local districts.
Take Your Enlightenment. And...: Last
Thursday, CNN ran a report about Freedom
University, the quasi-covert initiative by UGA
professors to offer free university-level courses
to qualified students prevented from attend
ing the state's top universities by the Board
of Regents' ban on undocumented immigrants
(see also Melissa Hovanes' Oct. 28 Flagpole
article). It's a truly inspiring and heartbreak
ing TV news story; you can find it by searching
"freedom University" at www.cnn.com.
Tha same day. The University Council,
UGA's h ghost-level faculty organization, voted
to ask the ’egents to repeal the ban. essen
tially on the grounds that it disastrously
shames the university in the eyes of civi
lized people everywhere. The regents imme
diately sent word that they wouldn't even
consider a repeal, so if any of you stubborn
optimists were starting to get the idea that
Georgia's benighting veil of ignorance and
hatred might soon begin to part... sorry, no.
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Opponents of the Board of Regents ban on undocumented students attend last
week s meeting of the University Council
Local Delegation Still
Keen on Redistricting
A tug-of-war between Athens-Clarke com
missioners and the state legislators who
represent Athens appeared unresolved last
week—but at least not inflamed—as the two
groups met together to discuss local commis
sion districts. Commissioners have proposed
a map that would make minimal changes to
Athens-Clarke County's current districts to
reflect population changes; but some of the
legislators want broader changes, perhaps to
give Republicans a leg up in local election.
The final decision is the Legislature's.
The current county districts "are gerryman
dered to elect Democrats," Rep. Doug McKillip
to'.d Flagpole in October. State Senatoi trank
Ginn told commissioners last week he hoped
they would "look at the type of government
that you've got—the form of government"
and not just tweak the districts. But "I'm a
big proponent of local control," he added, and
"unless theie's something wrong" with the
local olan, "I won't seek to change it."
The district map is only one of a number of
item* the ACC commission asked the legisla
tors to bring forward at the Capitol, but the
legislators have given redistricting far more of
their attention than the commission's other
concerns—about the costs of state-mandated
assessment freezes, for example, or underfund
ing of the Environmental Protection Division,
or a state Department of Transportation
that ignores local concerns. The legislators
requested last week's meeting (which was
also attended by members of the committee
appointed by Mayor Nancy Denson that came
up with the proposed redistricting map).
"This thing's gotten stirred up a lot," said
Ginn. Newbie legislator Chuck Williams agreed.
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citing "insinuations (in the press] that posi
tions have already been taken... My mind
is still very much wide open on this entire
matter." he said. State Senator Bill Cowsert
agreed. McKillip appeared more critical, press
ing the point that ACC's two at-large "super
districts" dilute minority voting strength.
(McKillip himself had lobbied the redistricting
committee for a third map. which he submit
ted after the committee had concluded its
three public input sessions and which was
rejected.)
As the only African-American and the only
Democrat among the legislators. Rep. Keith
Heard has scoffed at his colleagues' newfound
concerns about minority voting strength.
And Commissioner Harry Sims (who chaired
the redistricting committee, and who is also
black) said that the map reflects the desires
of citizens who spoke at three public hearings
and who overwhelmingly asked that changes
be kept to a minimum.
As for black voters, they are far more
widely spread out in Clarke County than
they once were, said redistricting consultant
Linda Meggars, who advised the committee.
"Things have changed," she said. "It's being
gentrified. The younger blacks are dispeised
throughout." And while Georgia redistrict
ing still must be reviewed by the U.S. Justice
Department for adherence to the Voting
Rights Act, race cannot legally be the only
consideration in drawing district boundaries,
she added. Other considerations, like clear
boundaries such as streets and geographical
features, must also be considered.
But both black and white commission
ers said last month they don't think race is
a huge factor anymore in how people vote.
"I think we have moved beyond that," said
Commissioner George Maxwell.
John Huie
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4 FLAGPOLE COM DECEMBER 7.2011