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AT HENS
MARCH 3 rd 3pm
CITY HALL
DOWNTOWN ATHENS CAN DO BETTER THAN A
94,000 SQ FT WAL-MART
PeopieForABetterAthens.org
SPEAKERS FROM THROUGHOUT THE COMMUNITY
AND PERFORMANCES FROM:
Bettor Athens String Band, Circus Athena and Timi Coniey
Going Soft: The Dope is really loving the line
of reasoning, first pitched by Charlie Maddo*
at the Feb. 7 Mayor and Commission meeting,
that says Athens community members with
out jobs should be thankful for the coming
opportunity to develop "soft skills" like
showing up for work on time and combjng
one's hair—an opportunity so rare and pre-
dous that it will surely be argued in the
weeks to come, we must grant major exemp
tions from our city's meticulously and pur
posefully developed planning laws to embrace
it. Mayor Nancy Denson tossed it out to a
crowd of UGA students last week,.according to
a story in the Red and Black, at her "Nachos
with Nancy" nosh, between bites of cheesy
chips from Willy's Mexicana Grill. (How hard
would it have been to choose one of the many
locally owned restaurants that sell nachos—or
any food that begins with an "n"—and make
an easy point to all those impressionable
young Athens residents about how important
that is?) And the line was thrown again by
one of several discussion groups of ubiquitous
local players at a'public input session" for
the mayor's new Economic Development Task
Force—only this time with
the novel observation that
many of those intrepid
souls seeking entry to the
lower niddle class would %
benefit greatly from the
development of "smiling"
skills... which of course,
we infer, will be doled
out in heaps at our down
town Walmart. Hear that,
40,000 Athens ritizens
living in poverty, includ
ing 38 percent of fami-
* lies with children under
five? SmiL! '
Ya Can't Win: The low
attendance by the public
at large at the above-ref
erenced meeting was fully
unsurprising to the Athens Banner-HeralcTs
Jim Thompson, but it did occasion the most
venomous of his recent series of rebukes -
to the hirsute hordes who dare to address the
Mayor and Commission at their monthly voting
sessions. "They'll walk up to the microphone"
after the taskforce has completed its work,
Thompson seethed, "and ramble on for their
three minutes about a plan they'll know noth-
. ing about, and will accomplish absolutely
nothing, except to impress themselves with
their 'stickin' it to the man.' Frankly, its time
for the devotees of this 'politics of the cool' to
* stop wasting everybody's time."
Damn, Jim! So, lets get this straight: this
was a meeting for serious people with serious
ideas about what Athens needs to do to boost
its economy: things like "expand training
and infrastructure" and "make the permitting
process more business-friendly." So, if some
of whomever it is you think are devoted to a
."politics of the cool," whatever that means,
had shown up and written down some buzz
words and catchphrases, like "ombudsman"
and "soft skills," for the Vinson Institute folks
to pick up off the banquet tables, would they
then be qualified to speak to the commission
for three minutes without being called ass
holes in the daily paper? You promise?
It's hard to see why rambling comments by
concerned citizens at commission meetings
are deserving of such bitter and sustained
harping. Is this a real problem? Not for those
of us who actually go to the meetings. Even
the unruly outcry over the Selig development,
which seems to have put you in this mood,
Jim, has consisted of fewer than 25 com
ments, for and against, over three meetings,
"wasting" a grand total of about one hour of
"everybody's time." Barely a handful of those
comments could fairly be called uninformed.
If 10 people—experts and fools—line up to
comment on this task force's strategic plan
when it's voted on in October, you can have a
signed City Dope t-shirt. But in the meantime,
no one's contributing more to an atmosphere
of. antagonism and misinformation around here
than you.
While We're on the Subject: If anybody out
there is looking for some really well-reasoned,
non-contentious scrutiny of the Selig project,
check out the new "FAQs" page at www.pro-
tectdowntownathens.com. It’s a collection of
straightforward and unemotional responses to
pretty much every dig you've heard at people
who aren't comfortable just waving the devel
opment through.
Now, if emotion and dramatic public dis
plays of advocacy are what you're into, there's
a place for that, too. People for a Better
Athens, the group that has gathered more
than 18,700 online signatures to a petition
against Selig's 94,000-square-foot Walmart,
is holding a "Rally for a Better Athens" this
Saturday, Mar. 3 at 3 p.m. at City Hall. There's
something hard to ignore about an argu
ment that's backed up with a serious mass of
humanity, so get on out there and let 'em see
you. Check out the PFBA Facebook group for
more information.
Last Things Last: Remember the speculation
last week that our legislative delegation was
ready to waive its unanimity rule and drop
a bill radically realigning ACCs commission
districts despite the lack of support for that
idea from Rep. Chuck Williams? Yeah, that
happened. Senators Bill Cowsert and Frank
Ginn have put their names atop Senate Bill
494, which redraws the Athens map into 10
geographical districts instead of eight and
eliminates the two "superdistricts." No map
was available at press time, but it sounds like
the Republicans and Keith Heard just went
along with exactly what Doug McKillip
wanted. This is obviously a developing story;
stay tuned for more next week.
Dave Marr news@flagpole.com
The Megabus shuttle will begin thrice-daily commuter service between
Athens and Atlanta Feb. 29, with some fares as low as $1 each way. It’s no
train, but it’ll help for now—go to www.us.megabus.com and play around
with the schedule.
4 FlAGPOLE.COM • FEBRUARY 29,2012
AOAM E. MOREIRA