originally published April 16, 2008

Athens Design Development, or ADD, the design team that brought you the berry-colored bus stop on the Atlanta Highway, has come up with the design for cigarette litter receptacles (CLRs - pronounced “clears”) to help downtown smokers discard their butts without littering. In a trial area scoped out by a study of the heaviest outdoor smoking points, the CLRs, funded by a grant from the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program of Keep America Beautiful and funds provided by the Athens Tobacco Prevention Coalition, were affixed Thursday, Apr. 10, to 40 parking meters and power poles on Washington, Lumpkin and Clayton streets. ADD members even helped with the installation. As part of Greenfest, documents detailing the design process will be on display upstairs at the Lyndon House until June 7. Learn more about ADD at http://add411.org. [Ben Emanuel]

Eat Up: Looking ahead, the news is out that a strong collaboration centered in the local-food crowd is laying the groundwork for a real-deal, bigger and better, local and sustainable farmers’ market in Athens. Keep an eye out for more details in upcoming issues of Flagpole, but know for now that it’s looking like an every-Saturday-until-wintertime thing starting on May 17 at Bishop Park. Learn more from point-man Craig Page at www.localplace.org. [BE]

It Ain’t Over Yet: As of press time, there’d been no public unveiling of the new plan at Linger Longer, Inc. for redeveloping Jekyll Island. The latest news was good news - Linger Longer and the Jekyll Island Authority finally caved on the beach-access issue - but there’s reason to worry that more fights are ahead. After all, if they can’t build down by the beach, they’re going to push into the live oak forest on the other side of the dunes, and more than likely there won’t be a day when everyone’s happy with the plan. [BE]

One Note from Earlier in the Month: Before this item gets out of sight and out of mind, it’s worth nothing that toward the end of their Apr. 1 voting meeting, ACC Commissioners raised landfill fees from $34 to $42 per ton, bringing Athens-Clarke’s “tipping fee” closer to those at other regional landfills. Some commissioners thought fees should be even higher, to encourage people to recycle more. But Matthew de Palma, owner of AAA Sanitation, told commissioners “everybody’s trying very hard to recycle more and more,” and that more than 100 customers a month have been requesting recycle bins. Meanwhile, he said, illegal dumping has been increasing at local businesses. Commissioners Jordan and Kelly Girtz proposed a higher ($48 per ton) fee, along with a “voucher” system that would give haulers credit for recyclables they bring in. But Reddish warned that such a high fee might discourage trash haulers from using Clarke County’s dump at all - and that might hurt the recycling programs that dump fees help support. [John Huie]

If It Bleeds, It Leads: Middle-class fears - justified or not - play into how police patrols are assigned in Athens, Police Chief Jack Lumpkin said last week. “Studies tell us that middle-class America is fearful of crime. Well, statistically, middle-class America is not touched by crime,” the Chief told the Federation of Neighborhoods last week (see City Pages for more). While Athens is “relatively safe” statistically, burglaries have jumped up lately. “It’s not affecting every neighborhood… Rental neighborhoods are really getting hit hard, and working-class neighborhoods are getting hit hard,” Lumpkin said. But “whether we have crimes or not, we have to come to your neighborhood and reassure you that we are there,” he said. “We call it ‘flying the flag.'”

Lumpkin thinks that people’s inordinate fear of crime comes from television news. “Most Atlanta stations lead with something violent… If they can’t find it in Georgia, they’re going to find it somewhere in the South or the United States - to show you why you ought to be afraid every night.” ACC stats are far lower for violent crime than Atlanta’s per-capita rate, police figures say - and also lower than comparably sized cities’. Property crimes here - burglary, theft, shoplifting, car thefts - are comparable to other cities’ rates. But many young people don’t protect their possessions very well, Lumpkin believes. “Our people constantly find billfolds, pocket books, iPods, laptops, etc., just lying in the front seat of cars - either open, or the window’s been broken and they’ve stolen it.” [JH]

Good on Ya: Congrats go out to Elizabeth Little and R.E.M., winners of this year’s Alec Little Environmental Awards in Athens-Clarke County. Elizabeth is no relation to the late Alec Little, whose passion for protecting the local environment inspired the creation of the annual award after his death in 1991. She is, however, a tireless advocate for all things contributing to a sustainable community. Since Flagpole already had Stipe on the cover this month, that leaves Elizabeth for next week’s issue, though she’s probably too publicity-shy to do it. Oh, well. [BE]

Ben Emanuel & John Huie

Send your city dope to ben@flagpole.com.