Newspaper Page Text
Commissioning: The June 5 meeting of the
Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission
was notable mainly for the commission's
approvat of the county's FY13 budget, which,
it was agreed among the several commis
sioners who remarked upon it, was the most •
difficult in recent memory. Notable, too, was
its unanimous passage, since Commissioner
Doug Lowry was in attendance. Lowry has
made a point of recording "no" votes on
recent county budgets to reflect his displea
sure with with the size of ACCs government,
but said he had promised Commissioner Kathy
Hoard he'd sign on to this year's out of appre
ciation for his colleagues' willingness to rein
state a fire department ladder company that
had been cut from earlier drafts of the FY13
ledger. Another M&C voting session, another
fascinating civics lesson! /
More than 200 people ran in the 5K Race for a Bette# Athens last
Saturday, June 9 to benefit Athens Area Habitat for Humanity. Tim course
was designed to give runners an intimate view of the area that would be
affected by Seiig Enterprises’ proposed development of a large parcel of
land on the eastern edge of downtown.
Also of interest was the appointment of
local attorney and Republican state House
candidate Regina Quick to the Athens
Downtown Development Authority. Quick
has been an outspoken critic of the ADDA's
enforcement of paid onstreet parking in areas
outside of downtown, which she has held is
beyond the authority's legal purview. But she's
also a downtown business and property owner
with some very strong opinions about how
Athens' central district could function better.
She'll be an active presence on the authority,
as she is in every arena in which she partici
pates, and if she beats Doug McKillip in the
July 31 District 117 Republican primary, the
ADDA will have a voice in our legislative del
egation, which has sometimes bent over back
wards to find reasons to dismiss its requests.
Moving Forward: While we're on the subject,
it looks like the ADDA will be having a spe
cial called meeting sometime in the next
week or so to talk about possible opportuni
ties for creating a downtown master plan.
That task, identified as a heavy priority by
commissioners over the past year in light of
possible and imminent major development
downtown-including, but not limited to,
Seiig Enterprises' highly controversial proposal
for a self-contained shopping mall on the
Armstrong & Dobbs property possibly anchored
by a 90,000-square-foot Walmart (see
photo)—was nonetheless left unfunded in the
aforementioned difficult FY13 budget
If someone's figured out a way to get a
serious master plan done in a way that we
can afford, more power to them—provided,
that is, whatever is produced actually has
the authority to guide polky and won't just
be regarded as a quaint artifact of a fleeting
moment when a few people professed to give
a damn. If you happen to be
one of those people at this
moment you can probably get
up to date on this by keeping
an eye on the ADDA website
(www.downtownathensga.
com). We'U give you another
heads-up here next week.
Up and at 'Em: You know
how the elections for the
ACC Commission seats that
turn over in January 2013 are
now on July 31 instead of in
November? (No? Well, yeah,
they are. Thanks again, Georgia
Legislature!) OK, so get this:
they're pretty much right on
top of us. Absentee ballots
are going out this month,
and thanks to the hot mess
dropped in their laps by the
state Republicans, our local
elections office will be gener
ating over 100 different ballots
to be mailed on request. More
dates to keep in mind and pass
along are the voter registra
tion deadline on July 2 and
the beginning of the early in-
person voting period on July 9.
As mentioned above, this is
also the legislative primary, in
which District 117 voters will
have the opportunity to choose
between McKillip and Quick.
District 118 incumbent Keith
Heard is being challenged by
Spencer Frye on the Democratic ticket, with
Christopher Pertera and Carter Kessler run
ning on the Republican side. Chuck Williams is
unchallenged in District 119.
Personal and Public: After a little more than
two-and-a-half years on the beat, your
friendly neighborhood City Dope is moving on
to another assignment next month. More on
that some other time, but for now the busi
ness at hand is finding the next tenant of
the city editor's office at Flagpole. The fact
that you're reading this column means you're
interested in local news and politics, one of
the primary qualifications for the job. If you
think you've got the writing and editing chops
to be the next Dope (after alt the bar's cur
rently set pretty low), send a cover letter,
resume and samples of published writing to
editor@flagpole.com.
Dive Marr news@ftegpole.com
Candidates fox ACC
Commission Present
Their Views at Forum
Candidates vying for the seats of two
retiring Athens-Ctarke County commissioners
faced the public last week at a well attended
Federation of Neighborhoods forum, offering
at least a glimpse of their differences and
intentions. David Ellison and Allison Wright
both hope to replace Five Points Commissioner
Alice Kinman, while Ron Winders and Jerry
NeSmith are running in Ed Robinson's district
straddling the Atlanta Highway. The races
will be derided July
31 (along with ref-
erendums on Sunday
alcohol sales and a pro
posed transportation •
sales tax).
All candidates saw
economic development
as a top priority, yet
offered few specifics
on how to bring in new
jobs. NeSmith, the director of UGA's Office of
Research Services and a current ACC planning
commissioner, said "the light bulbs went off"
when ground was broken recentty for a new
shopping center in Oconee County—one that
might draw retailers away from Athens, he
said.
"The economic engine of Athens is Atlanta
Highway" he said, even more-than down
town—and losing retailers there would cost
the county in taxes. He attacked the state's
derision to build an expensive new road "into
the woods, so that a shopping center can be
built"
Winders, NeSmith's opponent in District
6, is an executive search consultant with
a UGA social work
degree who wants to
bring "real-world busi
ness experience" to
county government.
He, too, saw "an alarm
ing situation with
Oconee County" that
threatens local retailers
(although no such shift
has become apparent
yet, according to ACC
Finance Director John
Culpepper). Addressing
poverty and bringing new jobs are priorities,
Winders said, though he added that that's
mostly the job of the county's Economic
Development Foundation. But county govern
ment needs to keep citizens better informed .
about upcoming projects, he said. Citizens
"don't know what's going on. They don't know
what the project is [until] derisions have
already been made."
NeSmith agreed, though he noted that .
commissioners "did change their mind" about
a Bishop Park tennis center when neighbors
opposed it
Running for Kinman's District 4 seat
Wright a medical illustrator and eight-
year Clarke County School Board veteran, is
opposed by Ellison, an attorney and legal clerk
who also serves on the local hearings board.
The current ACC commissioners, Wright told
the audience at the forum, "are going in the
right direction," as evidenced by the fact that
Athens’ bus system “could
grow and get to where it’s
self-sufficient” if routes were
rewotked “to get people to
jobs, not just to shopping.”
Ellison feared bike lanes
could have “unintended
consequences” on some
streets, like Prince Avenue.
“I’m concerned about
people getting hit by a
bike,” he said.
the ones up for reelection who are not retiring
are running unopposed. She believes Athens'
bus system, which, as are most systems, is
heavily subsidized by taxes, "could grow and
get to where it's self-suffirient" if routes were
reworked "to get people to jobs, not just to
shopping."
■ Wright said she supports additional bike
lanes "for health and safety reasons," while
Ellison feared bike lanes could have "unin
tended consequences" on some streets, like
Prince Avenue. "I'm concerned about people
getting hit by a bike," he said. And although
he didn't specify how, parking problems in
Five Points need to be solved, he said: "The
commercial district is getting strangled by
success."
Asked where cuts
might be made in the
county's tightening
budget, the candidates
were mostly noncom
mittal. "I don't know,"
NeSmith said; fewer
new vehicles, perhaps.
"It's difficult to
name one or two
things," agreed
Winders. "Zero-based budgeting" is the way -
to go, suggested Wright. Ellison expressed
the opinion that SPLOST projects should be
cut, but those budgets, in fact, are fixed by
referendum.
The candidates were more forthcoming on
the question of legalizing backyard chickens.
"I'd be interested in looking into how it would
work," Wright said, but she wouldn't support
allowing roosters.
"We need to have more local, healthy
food," said NeSmith, who co-founded the
Athens Farmers Market. Ellison said he would
be "very cautious" about legalizing chick
ens, especially in Five Points, while Winders
seemed open to the idea.
And a Walmart down
town? "I don't think
it's government's place
to pick and choose who
builds in the dcwntown
area," Winders said.
To NeSmith, "what's
important is that we
maintain our plans for
downtown"—including
expanding the downtown
street grid.
"Walkability is
prime," said Wright,
adding, "I don't want that to be a new empty
'box' down the road." Ellison said he wants
to see a traffic study for the shopping center,
and would like to "turn that corridor into
something beautiful" by funding a planning
study via a tax allocation district
Ellison, whose position on the hearings
board means that he helps decide local zoning
appeals, claimed that the county government
discourages new businesses. Only out-of-town
companies with extensive resources can afford
to open in the county, he said, because "it's
too hard to do business here... It can take six
months to a year, and cost tens of thousands
of dollars, just to find out if you can build
something."
NeSmith agreed that Athens must "tackle"
the perception that it is unfriendly to
business.
John Hule
4 FLA6POLE.COM JUNE 13,2012