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Athens Housing Authority and Athens Land
Trust to conduct a feasibility study to deter
mine which sites within the area—namely
the Hancock Corridor and Rocksprings
neighborhoods—have the potential to be
improved.
“We’re not necessarily saying this is
what’s going to be done,” project manager
Robert Begle said, referring to the multiply
ing number of ideas residents had written
on a map. “We are looking at individual
sites in the neighborhood and the neigh
borhood as a whole to see how they can be
improved.”
Traffic safety and pedestrian/cyclist
pathways were among the most popular
sticky-note topics. “Clarke Middle stu
dents... use Baxter
Street sidewalks a
lot, so any widening
of Baxter would have
to include pedes
trian safety as top
priority,” one said.
Another mentioned
the difficulty of crossing West Broad on
foot, and was tagged with scrawled affirma
tions of “I agree!!!” and “Yes!!”
One resident, Mary Bette Smith, has
been living on Billups Street for 58 years,
and said the use of her neighborhood as a
cut-through for UGA buses is not only dis
ruptive, but a broken promise. “The buses
go up Dearing Street to Broad, instead of
Rocksprings like they promised us,” she
said.
Comments about the West Broad Market
Garden were the most lengthy, especially
demands to see the garden and farmers
market remain unchanged. (School district
administrators are planning to move into
the vacant West Broad School and pave
over the Athens Land Trust’s community
garden.) “The building should be renovated
to host local businesses, training facilities,
educational kitchen resources for youth,”
one said, while another suggested “a beauti
ful and thoughtful renovation of the school,
preservation of the garden, and I’d love
to see the building to house an African-
American historical museum with stories/
recordings of local Athenians.”
Begle added his own notes to the map,
including one emphasizing the challenge
zoning poses to preserving the “historic
fabric, African-American history” of the
Hancock Corridor.
The firm is using a 2013 UGA neighbor
hood study on the Rocksprings area as a
point of reference, but because it’s three
years old, some of the community’s priori
ties may have changed. “It’s a matter of
determining which issues are still valid and
need to be looked into right away, or asking,
‘Do these issues still exist?”’ Begle said.
Organizers also asked for potential
new names for the neighborhood. “East
of Brooklyn,” “West Broad Rockers” and
“Jesus Community” were some of the more
creative titles, while the majority stuck with
“West Broad Neighborhood.” (“Why change
the name at all?” one note read.)
Begle said the firm will continue to
receive public comment over the next
month, and he proj
ects the feasibility
study will be con
cluded by the end
of the year or early
2017. As of right
now, he said, “this
is not a full plan—
there are options and priorities we will
look at further,” but many of the common
themes that are standing out to him are “a
lot of the real basic, simple, unsexy things
like new sidewalks, neighborhood lighting
and new open spaces.” [Martha Michael]
FIREWORKS OVER FIREWORKS: The Athens
Downtown Development Authority’s last-
minute Fourth (or rather, First) of July fire
works show at the Classic Center was widely
deemed a success, but ADDA officials are
unsure whether they can do their patriotic
duty again next year.
“I agree it was a
great event for down
town,” ADDA Executive
Director Pamela
Thompson said at a
Sept. 13 board meeting.
But “it taxed our office...
This is all we did for six
weeks.”
The ADDA met a
number of unforeseen
challenges when it
agreed to take on the
fireworks celebration
after Georgia Square
Mall canceled its show,
from raising funds to
securing permits to
moving 200 concrete
barriers into place. “If
I had to do again what
I did on the Fourth, I’d
give you my resigna
tion today,” said ADDA
Parking Director Chuck
Horton, who warned
that costs will rise next year because the
organization will need more personnel. “We
just didn’t have the people to pull it off,” he
said.
To take the load off, Commissioner Mike
Hamby suggested that next year the ADDA
partner with a nonprofit that could use the
event as a fundraiser.
But board member Regina Quick argued
that the ADDA shouldn’t be in the fire
works business, while Hamby countered
that events that draw crowds downtown
are economic development, which is part of
the group’s mission. Meanwhile, new board
member Shayne Jordan McBride wondered
whether downtown is “accessible” to all
citizens. “A lot of voices aren’t being heard,”
she said. [BA] ©
We are looking at individual
sites in the neighborhood
and the neighborhood as a whole
to see how they can be improved.
Ashley Block, the cyclist who was killed by an allegedly impaired driver.
Fall is a great time to get fit! With football
season in full swing and cooler weather,
Athenians are ready to be active!
flagpole's Oct. 5th issue will include our
Fit Athens: flagpole’s Directory of
Fitness and Health Businesses.
This directory will include information and ideas on how
you can get fit, have fun and be healthy. Our Fitness
and Health Directory will be published on Oct. 5th
and be on the streets during the AthHalf
Half Marathon and available at the^^-^^
AthHalf Health and Fitness
Expo (Oct. 8th at the
Classic Center).
Have your business included
by advertising your healthy
products and services or by
purchasing a listing in our
Business Directory.
W' fgT
*#*£*** 6
1 fH>
Directory Listings:
You get up to 60 words to tell our
readers what your business has to
offer to help get them in shape and
keep them healthy + logo, address,
phone number and website listed
under a category heading that best fits
your business.
Deadline:
Submit your Directory listing by Sept. 28th to be included
in the Oct. 5th issue.
flagpole
Contact the Advertising Dept:
706-549-0301 or ads@flagpole.com
SEPTEMBER 21, 2016-FLAGPOLE.COM 7