POSITION ON PRINCE
I am writing to clarify your apparent misconception [City Dope Jan. 28] about the actions the Historic Boulevard Neighborhood Association is taking in response to the Planned Development at 1140 Prince Avenue.
With regard to our apparent inactivity, the HBNA Steering Committee recognizes the inevitability of development along Prince Avenue. Rather than taking a knee-jerk "NO" stance against this proposal, we spent the last month (an insufficient window of opportunity to participate - but that's another story) trying to gain a place at the table to negotiate for a better plan. Indeed, despite our short time to prepare, the planning commission's recommendation to the developers at the January 8 hearing was "work with the neighbors."
With regard to our position on the development itself, your assertion that the HBNA wants to "tweak" the plan is inaccurate. Our statement to the planning commission expressed serious concerns about this plan with respect to size (it is too large), traffic (nearly 1,800 car trips per day), appropriateness (it requires rezoning of two residential lots to commercial use), precedent (what impact will a development of this size have on future development along the Prince corridor?) and incompatibility with the Future Land Use Plan's definition of mixed use development.
We urge you and your readers to visit www.historicboulevard.com to keep abreast of our efforts to address this proposal.
Tony Eubanks, HBNA Chair
Athens

REAL NEIGHBORHOOD
I moved to Athens last August. I checked out just about every neighborhood here, and the moment I saw Normaltown, I knew that this is where I wanted to live. This is a REAL neighborhood: a living, breathing, growing neighborhood. People here care about each other, and care about Normaltown.
Two very good friends of mine live less than a minute walk from my apartment, my band practices less than a mile away and several friends live just down the street. This is a community, and communities deserve development that will help us, not hurt us. Building doctors' offices will NOT help this community! Sure, it may help a few investors and doctors, but it won't help the people that actually LIVE here. Developers have no RIGHT removing 33 families from their homes, not to mention putting ANOTHER parking deck/ eyesore in our community. This kind of crap is NOT why I moved here. Come on people, let's fight for what is right. Say no to lavish doctors' offices, say NO to removing decent families from their homes, and say YES to Normaltown.
Andre Kyriakou
Athens

TEMPERAMENT TEST
Do you think Howard Dean has the temperament to serve effectively as president?
This question is ridiculous, and it's the same question the media asked for the last week. It was also used in a New Hampshire exit poll, as reported by Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post. Such a poll calls into question a candidate's mental stability, which is a very cheap shot considering the current state of affairs under President Bush.
Raise your hand if you haven't seen at least seen part of the clip of a red-faced Dean blabbering on and on about how his campaign would finally take back the White House, ending with a high-pitched "yeeeeaah" that had Macho Man Randy Savage cowering in the corner of the ring?
Damn, I don't see any hands. Moreover, we're still talking about it! Nonetheless, the simple asking of this question is demonstrative of the recent wave of silly stories on Dean. And of course, all of the other candidates are loving it, because the monkey is off their backs for a few minutes while Dean faces a dungstorm of childish mocking by the mainstream news media. I never knew that Chris Matthews and company could act like a clique of high school cheerleaders, but after the Iowa Caucuses, I've seen the light.
I'll be honest, too; I wish Dean would learn to shut up. I don't want him to give up his passion for fighting back and taking over the Democratic establishment as well as the White House, but I wish he would use his head a bit more wisely so that the media would focus more on other candidate's flaws - like their past policy decisions and voting records! When the Michael Jackson and Kobe Bryant cases are more important stories in the mainstream media than David Kay's latest comments regarding WMDs, there's a problem.
Common logic solves the entire system of attacks on Dean last week. If Howard Dean lacks the "temperament" to be the president, how the hell did he serve as the Governor of Vermont - the same Vermont that is widely considered to be one of the most laid-back states in the union? You know, the first place to even halfway acknowledge that the government oppresses on the basis of sexual orientation? You know, the place where those pot-smoking hippies Phish and their cult-like following started? You know, the place where Bernie Sanders and Jim Jeffords are from? I could go on and on.
Finally, Dean is a career physician. Can you be a reputable doctor and go about your job in a fit of rage, as the media and John McCain portrayed Dean last week? I doubt Dr. Dean ever uttered, "Oops, I'm sorry Mr. Thompson, I jabbed the scalpel right through your eyeball while I was all fired up over the quagmire in Iraq." Wolf Blitzer would have you think otherwise.
I loved his fiery speech, and I wish more Americans would realize that it's okay to be at least a little pissed off at George W. Bush. Why shouldn't we be mad? He lied, our soldiers died. No Child Left Behind always was a joke, and the entire world hates us. Good news is coming in November, though. Bush's systematic destruction of everything good in America has awakened liberals and independents everywhere. Turnout to the Iowa caucuses doubled, and tiny New Hampshire had an even better turnout. We're gaining "Joementum," as Lieberman would say, or something like that.
Marc Ginsberg
Athens


CIVIC DUTY?
I cannot believe the letter [Jan. 21] I just read about the folks who did not call the police to report a suspicious person suspected of robbing a bank! Where is their sense of civic duty? Just because they don't "like" the police or want to make a point that the police have alienated citizens from wanting to help? That is ridiculous! What if the guy they saw in the stairwell was indeed the suspect and had murdered someone during the robbery? Does that make it serious enough for them to use their cell phones to dial 911? I would hardly call them law-abiding in that instance... and what kind of example is that to set for a teen-ager (who was with them)? What if the guy had pulled a gun on one of them - would they call then? I'm pretty sure they would have. Next time you have to think twice about whether or not to get involved, remember that our local police, like them or not, are still the police and will be the ones coming to help you should you ever need it!
L. Payne
Athens