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PUSHBACK ON PRINCE AVENUE
SEUG FILES: As this issue was going to
press, Selig Enterprises finally filed plans for
its proposed downtown development, with
some changes from previous iterations. Visit
Flagpole.com for details.
PRINCE AVENUE: Just when you thought it
was safe to speed down Prince Avenue how
ever fast you want to, neighborhood residents
are renewing a push to make the corridor safer
for bicyclists and pedestrians.
Athens-Clarke planners completed a Prince
Avenue corridor study in 2011, and for the
past several months a committee appointed
by Mayor Nancy Denson has been meeting
to go over it. Its main recommendation is
a new zoning category—variously known
as Commercial Neighborhood-Established,
Commercial-Main Street and Commercial-
Traditional—for parts of the corridor between
downtown and Normaltown that would cap the
size of medical offices and require less parking
than the current zoning.
The study doesn't really deal with traffic
on Prince Avenue, though. Three-laning was
never considered, and it would do little to
make the notoriously scary street safer.
"I've been working on issues related to
Prince for over 10 years, and doing nothing
would be better than what (planners are)
proposing here," Tony Eubanks, the driving
force behind Community Approach to Planning
Prince Avenue, said on the Boulevard neigh
borhood listserv last week.
Six committee members—BikeAthens
Chairman Elliot Caldwell, Bob Carson,
Boulevard Neighborhood Association President
Dan Lorentz, Jessica Nickelsen, Peter Norris
and Rachel Watkins—wrote a letter to ACC
planning commissioners with similar concerns:
• Zoning should be addressed comprehen
sively, not in a vacuum independently from
traffic, tree canopy and historic resources.
• Streetscape design should be the prior
ity, since zoning changes could make traffic
problems worse.
• The new CN-E zoning should be extended
further into Normaltown. That's the area where
a gigantic proposed medical office originally
sparked CAPPA in 2003, after all.
• Upzoning the area near the bypass to a
more permissive commercial category should
be reconsidered, because it could turn that
stretch into another Atlanta Highway.
The planning commission just discussed
the study for the first time last Thursday, so
it's very early in the process. The next step is
a public hearing at 7 p.m. Monday, May 20,
in George Hall on the University of Georgia
Health Sciences Campus.
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FIVE POINTS FROGGER: Across town, a S
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UGA student raised concerns about the S
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safety of the Milledge Avenue-Lumpkin
Street intersection at the commission
meeting Apr. 2, asking for a left-turn
arrow. Commissioner Allison Wright
followed up and found that the state
Department of Transportation, which
owns Milledge, doesn't think it's busy
enough or has enough crashes to
enough to warrant one. But improve
ments are planned as part of the Safe
Routes to School program, including a
countdown pedestrian timer, stamped
crosswalk and improved signage.
SHOULD A QUARTER MILL APPEAR TOO
SMALL: Property taxes on a $150,000
house would go up $12.50 next year
under the budget Mayor Nancy Denson
released last week. "There was no way to bal
ance the budget without cutting services" or
raising taxes, Denson said.
Denson proposed the tax hike in part to
give ACC's approximately 1,500 employees 2
percent raises—their first in five years, other
than a $500 bonus last year. The $106 million
budget, up 1.6 percent over this year, also
includes $500,000 for the new Department
of Economic Development and $437,000 to
staff SPL0ST projects, including the expanded
Clarke County Jail.
The budget also includes $488,000 in cuts,
among them staff-led tours of the Lyndon
House ($8,200) and field trips during ACC's
popular summer camps ($7,800). "It's not
something I liked to do," Denson said. "You're
just looking for things that have the least
impact on the community."
At least night buses are safe this year.
"I, personally, as mayor, still think the cost
per rider of that service is not a good invest
ment," Denson said. But "it's obvious that's a
priority for the commission."
The full budget is available at athen-
sclarkecounty.com/budget. To throw in your
two cents (haha), public hearings are 5:30
p.m. Tuesday, May 14 at the Dougherty Street
government building, 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, May
21 at City Hall and 7 p.m. Thursday, May 23 at
City Hall.
KINGSTON TOWN: He may be a Republican, but
Jack Kingston's an Athens kind of guy. The
Savannah congressman rides his bike to work,
keeps a rock encyclopedia at his bedside and
cut the ribbon on the Allman Brothers' reno
vated Big House museum in Macon.
A rally at the Five Points fire sta
tion Saturday, May 4 was the last stop on
Kingston's statewide tour after announcing his
Senate candidacy the previous Thursday. He
was introduced by former mayor Doc Eldridge,
who was two years ahead of the 58-year-old
at Clarke Central High School—and even
back then wore saddle shoes and schmoozed
with the teachers, according to Kingston. His
mother was involved in the Athens GOP "when
it was a tiny, fledgling organization. I'm not
sure it's grown much since," Kingston joked.
He moved to Savannah to sell insurance
after graduating from UGA, but he still has
ties to Athens. He frequently speaks at UGA,
and his daughter, Betsy, is a local singer. "He's
been my go-to guy in Washington for years,"
Eldridge said. (His endorsement is personal,
not as president of the Athens Area Chamber
of Commerce.)
Of course, a common complaint about
another Senate candidate, Rep. Paul Broun
(R-Athens) is that he's more interested in
grandstanding than getting anything done.
Kingston didn't take any swipes at Broun
or another opponent, Rep. Phil Gingrey
(R-Marietta), but he emphasized his effective
ness and experience in the private sector,
working on agriculture issues and representing
five major military bases.
As chairman of the House Appropriations
Committee's agriculture and food subcom
mittee, he said he cut spending 14
percent. He also said he returned $1
million in taxpayer funds for office
expenses to the treasury. (Broun
once blew through most of his office
budget mailing thinly-veiled cam
paign literature to constituents.)
Make no mistake: Kingston is
conservative, maybe more conserva
tive than Sens. Johnny Isakson and
Saxby Chambliss, who is retiring. He
voted against TARP, the Wall Street
bailout, for example. And whereas
Isakson and Chambliss both voted
to allow debate on the gun control
bill before helping to vote it down,
Kingston said he would not have
voted for cloture. "The concern I
have about background checks is it
leads to registration," he said.
He is not as severely conserva
tive, though, as Broun and Gingrey,
both of whom voted against the draconian
Ryan budget because it didn't cut spending
enough. "It balances the budget," Kingston
said. "It's a solid budget that works."
The conventional wisdom is that Kingston
isn't well-known enough in Republican North
Georgia strongholds to win. He'll have plenty
of money to change that, though, having
already raised nearly $2 million.
"Whether you go to work on a John Deere
tractor or you're on the 44th floor of an office
building in Atlanta, you still want the same
thing," he said.
Blake Aued news@flagpole.com
Athens Regional Medical Center
Mind Body Institute
mBb - s
$ Ctffd /xccMJx.
Free Tai Chi in the Park
on Talmadge Drive
e
Saturday, May 11
9:30-10:30 am
Beginners are welcome • No need to register
No charge for parking
(Meet in the Mind Body Institute
in case of inclement weather)
Call (706) 475-5285 for more information
For a complete listing of
our educational programs, visit
athenshealth.org/ mbi
LOCAL!
FARM FRESH GOODIES
Local eggs from 5 different local farms
Seasonal Veggies (and fruit soon!) from 10 local farms
Missed the Farmer’s Market? IL
Daily’s got your back.
Daily is your community grocery store,
specializing in local, organic, & natural food.
523 Prince Ave
706-548-1732
dailygroceries.org
4 FLAGPOLE.COM • MAY 8, 2013