Commish Acts
Cabs, Bikes & Ped X

At a relatively uneventful meeting lasting only four hours, the ACC mayor and commission last week approved a $335,000 contract for adding bike lanes to four Athens streets, all connecting with existing bike lanes. Oglethorpe Ave. will have bike lanes added from Prince to Sunset Drive; bike lanes will be added to Williams St. between the Greenway trail and UGA; the existing bike path alongside East Campus Road will be extended slightly to reach Milledge Ave.; and on Alps Road, bike lanes will be added between Baxter and Broad. In line with recently adopted local bicycle standards, most of these lanes will be five feet wide. Work will begin soon. Eventually lanes will also be added along Oglethorpe between Hawthorne and Mitchell Bridge Road.
Signs to alert motorists to the presence of bicyclists will be posted along these routes and (pending state approval) also on Milledge and Prince Avenues. Street trees and a new sidewalk are currently being added to Alps Road by Beechwood Promenade Shopping Center owners (as new county regulations require), along with renovations being done at the shopping center. A new Kroger store is also being built across the street.
Commissioners also approved new local standards for locating and marking pedestrian crosswalks. The standards call for signs saying "Yield here to pedestrian" to be added to midblock crosswalks and to those at intersections without stoplights, which "pose the greatest threat" to pedestrians. As routine repavings and maintenance are done, crosswalks may be added to intersections where none exist if there are at least two sidewalks leading to the intersection. New crosswalks will include wheelchair ramps, and "countdown" walk signals will be installed at the widest and the most-used crosswalks.
Midblock crosswalks will not be used within 300 feet of a stoplight. At school crossings, the existing yellow warning signs will be replaced with fluorescent green ones and in many cases advance warning signs will be added to approach roads.
The standards call for pedestrian "refuge" islands in the center of 4-lane roads, where a pedestrian may wait to cross the remaining lanes. Where this is not feasible, pedestrian warning signs like those on Prince Avenue will be placed in the centerline of the road. There are plans to add such signs at North Avenue at Willow St.; Dougherty at Jackson; Prince at Pope; and Prince at Newton St.
Also, commissioners approved new taxicab regulations which are the result of discussions between the Police Department and taxicab companies. According to Chief Jack Lumpkin, independent drivers licensed by the companies had become "a nightmare to regulate," and the companies themselves will be required to make the necessary background checks of drivers. In response to complaints issuing from the Classic Center and the Airport, a minimal dress code (jeans are acceptable, shirt collars required) will be required for drivers, and the number of vehicle inspections will increase. The six Athens cab companies together own 116 vehicles, and companies will still be required to offer 24-hour service.

John Huie

John Huie enjoys meetings.

Stream Abuse
Hudgens: No Problem

A proposed law allowing streams to be buried in pipes would eliminate current protections on half the streams in Georgia, local environmentalists say. The proposal, Senate Bill 460, would allow unlimited "piping" of small streams which drain less than 100 acres (about one-seventh of a square mile) and with a flow less than 25 gallons per minute.
All Georgia streams are currently protected by the state's 25-foot buffer, meaning no construction can take place within 25 feet of the banks. (Athens-Clarke County streams are protected by a 75-foot local buffer, and would not be affected by the proposal.) But according to Athens Grow Green Coalition, more than half the streams in the state would lose their protection under the new bill.
State Senator Ralph Hudgens represents a multi-county area east of Athens and is a co-sponsor of the bill, which he says was proposed to help "developers, primarily, that were being shut down" by current regulations that limit the piping of streams. He said current regulations allow the piping of trout streams in the mountains, but block the Department of Natural Resources from issuing variances on streams farther south. Hudgens said that department has "no problem at all" with the proposal.
He thinks those who oppose the measure "feel like its a slippery slope" leading toward increased erosion and rivers that run red with sediment. "I think Clarke County has gone way overboard" with stream protections, he told Flagpole, and he does not think streams need any more protection.
Jenny Culler of Upper Oconee Watershed Network says Georgia's rivers already run red with sediment "every time it rains." She sees a "disturbing" new trend of bills that attack existing environmental protections and doesn't think the state's Department of Natural Resources "is as protective lately as we need them to be."
Stream buffers are designed to "try to correct for the problems that human impacts have created," she says, but piping streams would eliminate nutrients that feed frogs, fish and migratory birds. Birds need areas of tree canopy for habitat, she says, not just a few shrubs. Stream buffers also serve as habitat and travel corridors for other wildlife. And buffers serve as filters to cleanse rainwater of pollutants like fertilizer runoff that are expensive to remove if the water is pumped for drinking farther downstream.

John Huie

John Huie lives and breathes beside a creek.

Good Citizen?
Make More Greenspace

The Louisiana Pacific plant, just outside Athens-Clarke County, has notified citizens of their request to increase the hazardous emissions from their plant so that LP can upgrade their equipment and continue to realize a profit. So what do we citizens get out of their proposal? There is no indication of job gain or loss, just more pollution. Pollution that will not go away, but that must be broken down by healthy trees, plants and a healthy microbiotic environment. If LP were allowed to increase the emissions, what should they do to increase the plants and microbes needed to handle the additional pollution? Plant some trees? Work on cleaning up our streams?
I propose an immediate and sustainable solution - contribute money to local organizations that are trying to preserve existing forested land from development. The Athens Land Trust and The Oconee Rivers Land Trust both have land that could be saved next month if the funds were there. Athens-Clarke County also has Greenspace property that would have been acquired if those funds had not been cut.
The Louisiana Pacific representative said they want to be good neighbors. The Athens-Clarke County Community Tree Council challenges them to show us through action and partnership that this is true. We ask the citizen group forming to negotiate with LP to require some real compensation to our environment if the emission standards are changed. We appreciate the efforts of all those involved as you work toward improving the quality of our community's air and water.

Maureen O'Brien

Maureen O'Brien is president of the Athens-Clarke County Community Tree Council.

Institute Index
Tax Cheats

o Number of military contractors who have evaded paying taxes: 27,000
o Value of taxes owed by these companies, in billions: $3
o Amount of tax revenue U.S. loses to offshore tax havens annually, in billions: $70
o Number of offshore tax havens Dick Cheney created for Halliburton while CEO: 35

Sources on file at the Institute for Southern Studies, www.southernstudies.org.

Team Effort
Group Plants Trees

The Clarke Central High School on February 21 an Arbor Day treeplanting resulted in 29 trees planted in three hours by about 50 community members: students, teachers, principal, parents, coaches, staff, the ACC Environmental Coordinator and a team of five Athens Area Master Gardeners.
The approach was simply to ask each adult to seek out any organization or business that might be interested in helping to beautify this old urban high school surrounded by a bleak landscape. Slowly, all the necessary ingredients began to arrive. The Clarke Central PTSO began with only a shoestring budget. But as the word spread, new gifts were brought forth. The Senior Class of 2004 offered a large gift of money, as did the Master Gardeners. Individuals donated smaller amounts which began to add up.
ACC Community Forester and Community Tree Council secretary Connie Head arranged a contact with the Georgia Urban Forest Council. They and the Georgia Forestry Commission

citypages-treeplanting.jpg

were sponsoring awards of large oak trees from Bold Spring Nursery to any community nonprofit organization planning an Arbor Day event on public grounds. (www.gufc.org and www.gfc.state.ga.us ) An important requirement was that it also be an educational event. With Marianne Happek, UGA Landscape Architect graduate, and the Master Gardeners, all experienced in teaching volunteers, this requirement was well met.
Clarke Central High School was awarded a twelve-foot nuttall oak (2.5 inch caliper) tree for this Arbor Day celebration. (Travel along Baxter Street to see this sturdy oak near the ball field.)
The administrator of the ACC Landscape Division, Roger Cauthen, donated a lovely Southern sugar maple. Other trees from Eastside Ornamentals, which were sold at wholesale prices to the school, were delivered by Kevin Lormes. And trees from Pine Bush Farm were delivered by Mike Friedline.
"Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful" affiliate Stacee Farrell lent rakes, shovels and gloves and even donated seedlings.
PTSO member Laura Nehf organized the rental of a tough little backhoe from Nations Rent while one of their employees, Steve Vienna, donated his time to the effort. When he had to leave, a Clarke Central security guard, Terry Reed, drove the backhoe and kept on digging. Rob Reynolds, brother of a CCHS student, dug the rest of the holes on Saturday.
Nancy Stangle, of Athens Land Trust, contacted Sharyn Dickerson, ACC Solid Waste Recycling Coordinator, about obtaining mulch for this Arbor Day celebration. A pile of mulch the size of a mastodon was donated to the school just in time for this tree planting event.
The Appleby family brought hoses and buckets and made sure all the young trees were well watered as soon as they were planted.
Teens and adults of different colors, ages and backgrounds worked side by side all morning. Some spoke with Northern accents, Spanish accents or Southern accents. A bright sun and gentle breeze made this an ideal day to work together outdoors. It was inspiring to know that this diverse group from the community had joined together for a good cause - planting more trees for a public high school which will also benefit the Athens
community. These trees will help clean the air for the surrounding areas and provide cool shade during the hottest months for years to come.
Clarke Central High School still needs more trees for its campus. Individuals or businesses interested in contributing to the fall 2004 planting effort, can contact Laura Nehf at Lnehf@aol.com or 543-9153.

Liz Conroy

Liz Conroy is a local freelance writer and tree planter.

Here & There
Thinking About Haiti

On a recent Saturday, when the traces of snow have fully thawed and the birds feel fine enough to come back out, I throw two milk bones across my living room and, as my dogs pounce for them, slip out the door. It is warm, just past noon; joggers dot Milledge; the mailman waves at me; propeller planes skim towards Ben Epps. Everything is in its right place.
Downtown, by the look of the sizable crowd at Blue Sky, it seems that someone must be giving out free kisses. Turned out that songstress Carole King is there, spreading the Gospel according to John (John the hilariously wealthy war vet/ senator, not the fisherman-cum-apostle). But I forsake the folksy propaganda and instead shop the headlines across the street at Barnett's News Stand. The New York Times is running a large front-page photo of looters in Haiti's capital. The mostly-young Haitians have gathered around a freight car to liberate it of its goods, forming a crowd about the size of the one spilling out of Blue Sky. I pick up the paper and hold it against the real-life Blue Sky backdrop, taking note of the similarities. In both places people have come together for a common purpose. In both places people are excited. In both places change in government or lack of satisfactory government floats through the air. Goods are being disseminated. People are sure to return home with something to talk about.
Night eventually falls and, looking out from atop the parking deck, watching Athens do its thing, I wonder what is happening down in Port-au-Prince. How lucky they (or anyone) would be to spend a Saturday night here in our copacetic town. (Flagpole writer Emerson Dameron once likened Athens to the Smurf Village.) My mind drifts up, off the parking deck: Could we maybe just freeze everything here - the car horns, the motorcycles, the bellicose male whooping calls, the clacking of high heels, the jagged notes of the street-corner guitarist - freeze it all and have it transported to Haiti, just for a night, and allow the Port-au-Princeans to be beamed here for an eve. Imagine, all that beautiful dark skin luminescing from the neon bar signs! The loose Creole spilling onto Broad from East West and Tasty World. Those men and women would forget for a night the knowledge of their bleak life on Hispaniola (life expectancy barely 50, illiteracy rate 65 percent, a historical medley of political coups and dictatorships and over a dozen constitutions).
Meanwhile, and unfortunately, the displaced Athenians wonder if the water is okay to drink, if the buildings around them are historic or merely decrepit, and when the next boat is leaving.
But I catch myself, snap out of this nocturnal daydream, look up at the moon and then down at Athens. I know it is time for a drink.

Tanner Brown

Tanner Brown is a local freelance writer.

Animal Control
Last Week's Scorecard

Athens-Clarke County animal Control responded to 74 calls.

9 complaints of animal cruelty
2 bite cases
5 complaints of barking dogs
5 citations for ordinance violations
25 animals impounded
20 dogs
1 cat
3 chickens
1 bat
16 dogs placed
7 adopted
9 reclaimed

ACC Animal Control press release for the week of Feb. 26 to March 3.