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BUSINESS AS USUAL
Former commissioner and mayor Doc Eldridge told me
once that there is a culture within the Athens-Clarke County
Commission, as in any group, that you don't understand until
you're a member. Regardless of your politics, once you're
elected, you begin to develop a loyalty to the commission as
an institution, according to Doc. That's easy to understand,
since commissioners are under pressures that only they experi
ence: up there together in front of the public and the press,
always at the beck and call of constituents, never knowing how
long a phone call or a trip to the grocery store will take. We
can understand how a camaraderie develops among people who
share a common set of pressures unique to them, a way of life
that can only be understood by other commissioners, and this
creates a bond, an insider mentality.
And then there's the mayor, who herself is a part of the
commission but is not on the commission. The mayor, by the
requirements of her office, is an outsider on the commission
but an insider in the institution known as "the mayor and com
mission," the local government. The mayor has just enough
power that the commissioners have to work with her but not
enough to force her policies through the commission. More
than any commissioner, the mayor is the public face of the
government, because she is elected by all the voters instead of
Mayor Nancy Denson presides (on TV) at the November regular session of
the ACC Mayor and Commission.
those in just one district. She sets the tone, and the commis
sioners are inevitably influenced by her vision for the govern
ment, even if they disagree with it.
Much has been written over the years about our "progres
sive" local government, and many election battles have been
fought to assure that progressive candidates were elected.
Gradually, over the years, citizens came on the commission
who understood the importance of our built environment to
the beauty and charm of our community, who understood the
importance of downtown and local business, the university as
a partner, a decent transportation system???adequate roads for
cars, buses and bikes and sidewalks for pedestrians. Even these
progressive commissioners, though, couldn't do much about
the endemic poverty, the devastation of public school budgets
by state government, the tsunami of downtown student hous
ing, the influx of corporate chains forcing local businesses out.
The election of Mayor Nancy Denson brought a kind of
"it's all good" attitude toward the lessening of progressive
concerns on the commission, a kind of "business as usual"
outlook. Instead of fighting the mayor, the commissioners
by and large have settled in and contented themselves with
seeing that the buses run on time, with no large initiatives
that call for a change in the status quo. The Republican state
legislature redrew commission districts under the banner of
opening up more seats for African Americans, but the reality,
of course, will be fewer African Americans. Fewer progressives,
too, probably. Districts 5 and 7 could very well elect, under
the Republican redistricting, candidates more in line with the
mayor than with the progressives still on the commission. This
election year could bring us, along with the re-election of the
mayor, another shift away from progressive government toward
more of a culture of middle-of-the-road mediocrity, negating
all those past struggles to elect candidates who understand
what Athens can be.
Does anybody care?
Pete McCommons editor@flagpole.com
ON FLAGPOLE.COM
from the blogs
SB IN THE LOOP: Find out whether the Athens-Clarke
County Commission voted to raise bus fares Tuesday.
X GRUB NOTES: Viva! Argentine Cuisine moved into
its new location, and Hi-Lo is open in Normaltown.
M IN THE LOOP: An Urban Outfitters is opening
downtown.
ATHENS POWER RAHKIHGjSf
1. Jason Carter
2. Todd Gurley X
3. Prince Avenue
4. Herb Gilmore, Dave Hudgins^
Melissa Link & Rachel Watkinsl
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VOLUME 27
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