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Athens News and Views
What’s Up in New Development
Another Election: We’ve got a Dopeful of announcements to make this week, so let’s get right to it: At 9:15 a.m. Saturday, July 24 at the ACC Library, the Clarke County Democratic Committee will hold a caucus election for three delegates and two alternates to the Democratic Party of Georgia State Convention. You must be a resident of Clarke County and a registered voter to be part of the delegation; each elected delegate is also asked to contribute a voluntary fee of $50. Contact CCDC Vice Chair for Communications Karen Solheim at (706) 202-7515 or ksolheim @hotmail.com for more information. Speaking of the above, said convention will be held in Athens at the Classic Center Aug. 14. Something tells the Dope the bars downtown will get a better bump from the Democrats than they did from the Methodists. Got Talent?: Also coming soon to the Classic Center is Athens’ Got Talent, a music and dance competition to benefit Women to the World (international) and PALS, two nonprofit
Do Something Good: Everyone in Athens should know about the amazing work Project Safe does fighting domestic abuse and advocating for its victims. If you’d like to be a part of the organization’s efforts, here’s a very easy way: volunteer at the Project Safe Thrift Store. Gwenn Carter, the thrift store’s volunteer coordinator, says the store can use help “in a million little ways”—and the hours you work can count towards court-sanctioned community service time, too. Download an application at www.project-safe.org, email Gwenn at gwenn@project-safe.org or drop in and talk to her between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. at the store at 995 Hawthorne Ave. Musical Principals: The Clarke County School District announced leadership changes at several schools last week, and the biggest news was that Tad MacMillan, the enormously popular principal at Barrow Elementary School for the past eight years, will replace Kelley Castilin-Gacutan as principal of Clarke Middle School. Castilin-Gacutan was reassigned to the
Apart from the obvious, this long-running bit of campus commentary suggests that cuts at UGA may have taken their toll on the university’s sign-maintenance budget. organizations based in Athens whose missions are “to rescue women from poverty, dependency and abuse.” The talent show isn’t until October 2, but the first round of auditions is July 29 and 30 at Buffalo’s Southwest Café. That should give you plenty of time to get your act together, but if not, don’t worry: there’s another round of auditions Aug. 19 and 20. There’s a $10 entry fee for each act; go to www.athensgottalent.com for more information. Dunking for Darius: As mentioned elsewhere in this issue, Saturday, July 24 is the Sixth Annual Darius Goes West Day. But what the schlub who writes Film Notebook doesn’t tell you is that the DGW gang will be hosting a “Family Fun Night” from five to nine the evening before that at the old farmers’ market pavilion at 2152 W. Broad St. (just east of the Alps/Hawthorne intersection). The highlight of the carnival will unquestionably be a dunking booth containing (not all at once, presumably) all five candidates for Athens-Clarke County Mayor and the woman one of them will succeed, Mayor Heidi Davison. Will Gwen need galoshes? Will Spencer get soaked? You can make it happen—check out www.dariusgoes west.org to find out more.
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FLAGPOLE.COM ∙ JULY 21, 2010
central office of the school district after a year of challenging relations with Clarke Middle faculty and parents; MacMillan will be replaced by Barrow Assistant Principal Ellen Sabatini. Also of note was the news that ACC District 9 Commissioner Kelly Girtz, a teacher at Classic City High School since it opened in 2003, was named that school’s acting director, replacing Dan Hunter, who is taking a teaching job in Savannah. The position of director at Classic City is akin to that of a principal; a permanent director will be named later, but Girtz will clearly have the inside track for the job. Congratulate him when you see him. Judged Worthy: After being passed over as a finalist for a seat on the federal bench in the Middle District of Georgia earlier this year, Athens Superior Court Judge Steve Jones was nominated by President Obama last week for a judgeship in the state’s Northern District. That’s good news for the Northern District, which includes Atlanta, Rome, Newnan and Gainesville but not, unfortunately for us, Athens. Jones has been a great judge and a great citizen in this community, and he deserves all of our thanks and best wishes. Dave Marr news@flagpole.com
The burgeoning little suburban edge city be reserved for a future and as yet undeout on GA 316 has always intrigued me. A signed residential phase. As Nichols puts it, phalanx of large office buildings lines the “Our problem is with what is not shown.” highway, recently joined by a large hotel, all While the plans for the lake parcel do just outside of the bypass. What would it look call for a 14-acre protected zone around the like if that square footage had been placed lake, most of that is in the unbuildable riparsomewhere more urban, perhaps on the edge ian buffer; it still leaves pockets of land in of downtown Athens, rather than out among Moss Siders’ backyards open for development. the pastures and parking lots of Oconee Nichols points out that the woods around the County? It might have made for an attractive lake are home to rare native vegetation, and and bustling little district. neighbors would hate to see that swapped out A recently proposed project on Jefferson in exchange for an unattractive subdivision. Road just outside the loop could presage a The Jefferson Road area already has several wave of growth coming to that part of Athens, unfinished developments as it is. stirred up partially by the forthcoming Medical College of Georgia campus, which will soon take up residence at the current site of the Navy Supply Corps School a mile or so closer into town. The new home of the Northeast Georgia Cancer Care Center would be a 180,000-squarefoot medical facility, three to four stories tall fronting the road. Other, older proposals on Prince Avenue come to mind in thinking about this one, such as a four-story building for the former Allen’s Hamburgers site, and a controversial proposal for a large medical office building on a vacant lot currently used as parking for Athens Regional Medical Center. Could this entire corridor one day be a large medical district anchored by the hospital and the new medical college? How much of a stretch is it to imagine a Prince Avenue lined with office buildings from the complex at The borders of this lake adjacent to the Moss Side neighborhood could be Chase Street west to the encroached upon if nearby development plans aren’t well managed. bypass in the next 10 to 15 years? While the economic potential of such a Nearby residents aren’t unreasonably asking future district is exciting to consider, what’s for the whole property to remain as it is; the more important for the moment is where this real concern is having a plan for the greenparticular project is proposed. With the site space that is legally binding. “The neighborlocated on a controversial piece of property hood is willing to sacrifice some of the land in backing up to the Moss Side neighborhood, return for the promise that all of the remainthe developers have their PR work cut out for ing property will be protected in perpetuity by them. The property is home to an attractive giving it to either the neighborhood or, better, pond and woodlands used by Moss Side resito one of the local land trusts,” says Nichols. dents as a neighborhood greenspace. The origThis is a good project that would coninal plans for the neighborhood (circa 1970s) tribute economically to the entire community called for a multi-family development on this and build on local ambitions of a homegrown parcel, but that phase was never built out. biotech/health care industry. It also would Most recently, a suburban shopping center attractively improve the Jefferson Road anchored by a Publix grocery store was prostreetscape. Likewise, the idea of a 14-plusposed for the site, with dense housing along acre woodland being permanently set aside for the lake. That plan was rejected unanimously the public (the owner acquiescing, of course) by the ACC Planning Commission. would be a great amenity for the Westside. The David Nichols, a Moss Side resident who only thing preventing this win-win scenario recently met with the developer and design is the compulsion to slam some more houses team, didn’t have any major objections to the onto a vacant piece of land—an impulse that medical complex. However, the current proought to have ended with the real estate posal calls for splitting the land for the medicrash. Hopefully, a reasonable compromise can cal complex and the lake into two separate emerge before people start digging in. parcels. The parcel that contains the lake, and most directly affects the neighborhood, would Kevan Williams athensrising@flagpole.com