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Hospital Talks

originally published November 30, 2005

After a meeting of Athens Regional Medical Center’s (ARMC) Community Advisory Committee (CAC), some of the hospital’s neighbors still have concerns about plans related to construction that will expand the hospital’s emergency department. Part of the focus of the Nov. 17 meeting was on the construction (currently underway) to build an underground parking garage beneath the present parking lot at the corner of Prince and King avenues. The first week in November, hospital officials learned from contractors that several trees along the perimeter of the lot would not survive construction, and so would be removed [City Pages, Nov. 16]. In the spirit of open communication that guides the CAC, ARMC President Jack Drew sent a memo to Amy Andrews of the Citizens for Healthy Neighborhoods (CHN), informing her and other neighbors of the trees’ fate. But the memo went out two days after the decision had been made, and after the trees had been cut (though on the same day they were cut).

That lapse in communication is part of what has the neighbors upset. But they likely wouldn’t be so upset about the cutting of a few trees if not for the hospital’s stated goal of preserving the “ tree-lined streetscape” along Prince and King during and after construction. As Andrews told Drew at the meeting, “ That was a major part of the plan, was to save those trees, and we were appreciative.” Drew apologized and tried to keep the big picture in view, explaining that the hospital had the neighborhood in mind when it planned an underground parking deck – but that’s a complicated project, and protecting tree roots when excavating close by isn’t easy. “ The fallout from all of this stuff is because we’re trying to put a deck underground,” Drew said.

Still, the hospital’s reversal on the street trees is causing concern among neighbors about ARMC activity on other properties in the area. Although the CAC is intended to serve as a tool encouraging communication and preventing conflict between the hospital and its neighbors, current events, it seems, might stretch its effectiveness. Carole Holmes, who represented the Boulevard neighborhood on the CAC, resigned from the committee because of feelings that it was functioning counter to its goal of fair, open, productive communication [Letters, Nov. 16]. In her place is Tony Eubanks, president of the Historic Boulevard Neighborhood Association, who said at the meeting, “ If we are going to work together and try to find common ground, we’ve got serious communication issues here.” That comment came once the meeting had turned its focus to properties on the north side of Prince – newly acquired hospital properties that abut the Boulevard neighborhood.

There, the hospital is planning on temporary uses of two properties, in keeping with a 1999 agreement not to expand into residentially zoned land. Plans for a temporary parking lot (during construction) at 1140 Prince Ave. and where the Prince Rondavel apartment building formerly stood don’t have neighbors too concerned. What is receiving attention is the hospital’s plan to deposit dirt excavated from the parking garage project in a gully adjacent to the former Rondavel property. For that project, the hospital is in the process of attempting to obtain a permit to pipe a stream that runs through the wooded property. Neighbors expressed dismay at the meeting that they haven’t been kept up to date on that process, either. It wasn’t until the night of the meeting that Andrews received from ARMC officials their September application to the state Environmental Protection Division (EPD) to encroach upon the stream buffer, and an August letter of approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to pipe the stream. “ The lack of prompt communication is a major concern,” new CAC member (and medical doctor) Mark Ebell said at the meeting.

Ebell also spoke of the benefits to the neighborhood of the wooded strip of land whose future use is in question, saying neighbors are wary of any land use that “ decreases the auditory barrier, the visual barrier, the greenspace that is already there.” Eubanks asked for clarification of the hospital’s plans for the land. He wondered how much of the lot would be filled, what kind of work would be done there, and whether the tall trees growing there would be cut down. No clear answer was forthcoming. The difference in perspective, however, was clear: while Ebell attested to the “ functionality” of the lot in providing a shield for the neighborhood from commercial zones on Prince, Jack Drew attested to the “ great economic sense” in transporting excavated dirt just across the street, not miles away.

At present, the hospital is awaiting EPD approval to encroach on the state-mandated 25-foot stream buffer; if it receives that, it will still need a variance from Athens-Clarke County’s 75-foot buffer requirement. Melissa Link and other residents of Hiawassee Avenue, who live next to the wooded land, say they’re gearing up to fight to preserve it as community greenspace. Though they’re still not clear on even the geographic extent of the hospital’s plans, they are very concerned about preserving the large trees growing both in and beyond the stream buffer.

So far, they’ve enlisted the help of UGA stream ecologist Seth Wenger, who is wary of claims in the EPD variance application that the stream will be improved if it is piped for nearly 300 feet of its length. Although it’s possible the plan might include other beneficial plans for stormwater treatment, Wenger says, “ Piping a stream is about the most devastating thing you can do to a stream.” As for apparent plans to improve water quality, Wenger notes that disconnecting the stream from its surroundings certainly won’t be helpful. “ There are a lot of good things they could do,” he says. “ Piping the stream is not one of them.”

Ben Emanuel Ben Emanuel writes for Flagpole. He can be reached at ben@flagpole.com.

Ben Emanuel

Ben Emanuel writes for Flagpole. He can be reached at ben@flagpole.com.

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Change? Unlikely

originally published November 30, 2005

At their Dec. 6 meeting, the Athens-Clarke County (ACC) Mayor and Commission will approve new members for various citizen advisory boards, including the ACC Industrial Development Authority (IDA). Although the IDA has historically not been a body to receive much public attention, that has begun to change this year as the group Clean Air Athens (CAA) has questioned the IDA’s role in promoting some of the local industry whose toxic air emissions CAA is concerned about. CAA’s opposition to a proposed plant expansion by fiberglass manufacturer CertainTeed has led to curiosity about the process (poorly understood publicly) by which the IDA subsidizes bonds to encourage industrial recruitment and expansion locally. For CAA, the opening of one seat on the five-member IDA board appears as an opportunity to inject new thinking into the Authority’s workings, but indications are that commissioners have decided to appoint Peter Hodgson, president of SunTrust bank, to the open seat, a move seen by CAA as likely maintaining the status quo.

For some, the question of the IDA’s future direction is a question of the scope at which the board examines industry’s benefits to the local community. Job creation and financial bottom-lines have traditionally been seen as the realm in which the IDA has power to work toward improvement, but recent concern for local air quality has led CAA to push for a wider view of community wellbeing that involves things like public health and the quality of local jobs, not just their existence.

Of the six applicants for the open seat, one is Peter Gess, a faculty member from UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government who has had some involvement with Clean Air Athens. During applicant interviews on Nov. 14, Gess made broad references to goals of recruiting high-quality, clean-industry jobs to Athens if he were to participate in the decision-making process of the IDA. When Hodgson was asked, during his interview, about instances in which the IDA might exercise restraint - in the interests of the community at large - in promoting industrial expansion, he used a poultry plant as a hypothetical example. Local poultry plants’ water use is very high, and Hodgson said the increased water usage associated with a poultry plant expansion might not be worth the new jobs such an expansion would create.

Ben Emanuel Ben Emanuel writes for Flagpole. He can be reached at ben@flagpole.com.

Ben Emanuel

Ben Emanuel writes for Flagpole. He can be reached at ben@flagpole.com.

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Ol’ Cherrybark

originally published November 30, 2005

On the morning of Saturday, Nov. 19, football fans gathered in front yards and porches along Milledge Avenue and talked about the upcoming UGA vs. Kentucky game, the last of the season. Men and women dressed in red and black held cups of coffee tightly to keep warm. Nearby, on Hill Street, men, women, children and dogs gathered in the front yard and on the porch of Jeff and Carol Bishop. This crowd also clutched cups of coffee to keep warm, though they were dressed in many colors and one dog sported a green blanket. These Athens residents were talking about an entirely different game plan: how to maintain the trees in their neighborhood. They had come together for a “ Historic Tree Planting” ceremony.

While munching on baked goods provided by new neighborhood shop Donderos’ Kitchen, the shivering group crowded around the Bishops’ front steps to hear ACC Community Forester Connie Head present a brief history of the Cobbham neighborhood. She also gave an overview of this neighborhood’s forest assessment and management recommendations. This urban forest project was conducted by Head, UGA student interns, and seniors from UGA’s Warnell School of Forest Resources during the summer and fall of 2003. The forestry students inventoried all the street trees and significant trees on private property in the area, and then reported on the species composition and condition of the trees in the district.

Head described the Cobbham neighborhood as Athens’ first suburb. In 1834, she said, Col. John Addison Cobb subdivided his farm and pecan orchard into 80 lots for sale. The neighborhood became known as “ Cobbham,” a British term for “ Cobb’s home.” Head pointed at the large, old pecan trees still growing in this neighborhood, some from the original orchard. Unfortunately, she said, trees that old will not be around for many more years. She explained that this is why a forest management plan for this neighborhood is so important. Head also expressed appreciation for such an active neighborhood association supporting a tree replacement program.

At that point, area resident Teresa Bethke called everyone over to the other side of the street for the tree planting ceremony. In 2003, residents were dismayed to learn that one of their historic trees, a giant Cherrybark Oak, had to be removed. Head recalled, “ That tree indeed was a historic tree, but due to its state of decline, we had to have it removed for public safety reasons, although we knew it meant a lot to the people in this neighborhood.”

So, at the ceremony, a new Cherrybark Oak was presented to the community by the ACC Landscape Management Division (LMD) and planted at the same site. The Cherrybark Oak, Head explained, occurs naturally in the South, and its mature bark resembles the bark of the native wild cherry tree. Children and adults, including Cobbham Neighborhood Association President Tom Reynolds, LMD Director Roger Cauthen, Community Tree Council (CTC) President David Kidd and ACC Commissioner David Lynn, helped water and mulch the new tree.

CTC members sold smaller Cherrybark Oaks and other native trees to the group, and the event concluded with a “ tree walk” led by Head to discuss the planting of other trees in public right of way areas on Hill Street to continue the Cobbham neighborhood’s tree replacement program. Other streets in the neighborhood will be featured in future years.

Liz Conroy Liz Conroy writes about environmental matters for Flagpole.

Liz Conroy

Liz Conroy writes about environmental matters for Flagpole.

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You’re Hired

originally published November 30, 2005

A selection of successful responses to prospective employee interview questions at the X-Ray Café:

I was previously employed as a hand model for a regional clothing company. Unfortunately, I was let go when I showed up for a photo shoot involving a capiz shell bracelet: the photographer found some dirt under a few of my fingernails.

My father was a radiologist, so I feel like it’s sort of destiny, you know? Like, I belong here.

Definitely, I think it’s important to test the boundaries of music. For example, look at The Sound of Music. Basically, what they were saying with that film is that all sound is music. I mean, those siblings and their nanny imitated cuckoo clocks, goats, and they even used a lot of nonsense syllables to get their point across.

When I’ve come up with marketing strategies in the past, what I usually did was think about what it was we were trying to sell. That was the first step. Then I thought about what type of people would potentially be interested in that product, and finally, I thought about the best ways to attract those people.

Please I’m a newlywed, so now I got this wife I gotta support. Check it out. For wedding presents, we got three pizza cutters. All three of ‘em, in the drawer, brand new, and we’re sitting there on the couch starving.

I would be willing to stock virtually any type of figurine except for snake figurines. Because as far as snakes go, I don’t like the body type. I’m more attracted to lemmings.

Darrell Kinsey Darrell Kinsey is a local Human Resources specialist.

Darrell Kinsey

Darrell Kinsey is a local Human Resources specialist.

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Bumpersticker

originally published November 30, 2005

(Thanks, Tiffany) U.S. Government philosophy: If it ain’t broke, fix it till it is.

Bumperstickers always wanted at ben@flagpole.com or 549-9523. Thanks.

Bumperstickers always wanted at ben@flagpole.com or 549-9523. Thanks.