I cast an unenthusiastic vote for Nancy Denson in the mayoral runoff, having voted for Charlie Maddox in the general election. Back when John March and I caught the Clarke County School District blatantly breaking the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, Denson buried her head in the sand – just like everyone else – and denied that any problem existed (even though she was presented with chapter and verse of how and why what the CCSD did was in obvious violation of state law and Department of Revenue regulations; it was her responsibility as tax commissioner to verify that all of the legalities were observed before signing off on the property tax digest for the year). Even so, I found the prospect of a Denson administration preferable to that of another four years of Gwen O’Looney. We who live in the “general services” district knew exactly what to expect from the former mayor from her two previous terms. As an aside, Denson is the first winning candidate for mayor or commission that I have voted for in this century (and may well be the last).
Now the Athens Downtown Development Authority wants funding to come up with a “master plan” for downtown. Apparently, the exiting planning department, zoning ordinances, (much hallowed) land use plan, and historical district regulations are insufficient to guide the development of the downtown area. It seems that we need even more bureaucracy, regulation, and expense to get anything done. And people wonder why businesses are reluctant to expand or locate here?
Wednesday marked twenty one full months since the closing of Fire Station No. 6, about which I have commented regularly and at great length. Though construction appears to be finished, we residents in District 1 still have no word from the Unified Government as to when we may expect the station to be operational again.
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