Friday, July 13, 2007

Impertinent Observations

It appears that Pete over at the Flagpole has decided not to sit out the 10th District runoff altogether, favoring Paul Broun over Jim Whitehead, though holding his nose in order to do so. I cast my advance ballot for Broun Tuesday morning.

Though I disagreed with David Lynn recently over restricting public input at commission voting sessions, I fully concur with him about the utility, or lack thereof, of the downtown surveillance cameras, and have since the issue first came up a few years ago.

The other commissioner who opposed the cameras way back when was Carl Jordan. Apparently, Jordan abruptly resigned (scroll down to find it) from the Athens Public Facilities Authority in protest of its approval of a Wachovia loan to the Regional Development Center. If you are out there Carl, give readers a rundown on how this loan, to be repaid through a per capita fee from member governments, is supposed to work. I am familiar with the workings of the DAUGACC on which I sit, but would appreciate clarification as to this authority and the fee (about which I am not happy, but what else is new?).

Our fair city is one of five finalists for the Department of Homeland Security's National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility. That would be quite a feather in our cap, but landing such facilities is as much an exercise in politics as it is of the site's suitibility, so we shall see. And Richard DeRose just put his house up for sale.

Also, we hear that Belgian durg company Solvay is considering locating a new vaccine manufacturing facility at the Orkin Tract. Again, this would be a great addition to our local economy. However, I will believe it when it happens, as we have been down this road a few times before with other big name manufactures that did not pan out.

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