JUST WASN'T THINKING

This letter is in response to your report on the landlord registration issue ["Landlords Lash Out Against Potential Regulation"] in the March 5 issue of Flagpole.

Mayor Davison was quoted in your article, denying that she ever suggested routine inspections of rental properties. Heidi claims that she "never, at any time nor at any place made the statement attributed to me above."

Unfortunately for Heidi, she most definitely DID make such a statement. I would like to invite all interested parties to take a look at Heidi's own campaign website (http://electheidi.com/articles/fofp_ques.php), and read for yourself Heidi's answer to question #2 of the Friends of Five Points questionnaire. And I quote: "...we may want to tighten our property maintenance codes and establish a system of ROUTINE INSPECTIONS of rental property."

I am certainly upset with this blatant denial by the mayor that I voted and campaigned for. Regardless of the issue at hand, she is wrong to fault others for misquoting her, when in fact the quote is there in black and white on her own campaign literature. She's starting to look like a real lyin' politician here, something I neither believe nor hope is the case. I understand she probably just wasn't thinking, and that it's very difficult for a public figure to remain verbally consistent in every waking hour. But when you are trying to clear your own slate by soiling someone else's, that is unfair.

While I am disappointed with the mayor, I am even more upset with Flagpole for not reporting on this discrepancy in a follow up report last week [March 12]. I know it was brought to Brad Aaron's attention by at least two or three readers, but he chose not to look into the matter. I spoke to him in person three days before the print deadline (plenty of time to investigate), and asked that in the interest of honest journalism, he take the simple step of clicking on Heidi's campaign website and seeing for himself that Heidi did, in fact, make the statement that she was trying to deny. When I asked if he had looked at the website, he said "no, haven't had a chance yet" and seemed fairly disinterested. Could it be that having taken a clear stance on the landlord issue, he was choosing only to report information that supported his stance, and ignore information that might give credence to the opposing view?

I have to say, in general, I am a huge fan of Flagpole's news reporting and Brad's work in particular. Sometimes I am so impressed and moved by his efforts to set the government a-right that I daydream about "Brad for President" bumper stickers. The purpose of this letter is not to protest Flagpole's stance on this issue. As it turns out, I think that licensing landlords is probably a fair and useful development (I say this as a landlord myself), although I'd like to see a less restrictive/intrusive ordinance that exempts owner-occupied properties and allows for more than two unrelated persons to cohabitate.

Please, Flagpole, and Brad, report fairly and honestly, and don't turn a blind eye to that which might challenge the validity of your cause. You will give yourselves a bad name, even among those readers who would like to trust and support you in the good fight.

Thanks for listening. Please respond.

Michael Wegner
Athens

Brad Aaron responds: I didn't follow up to report a discrepancy because as far as I'm concerned there was no discrepancy. However, since you raised the issue and questioned my personal integrity to boot, I'll be happy to explain my position.

The statement "...we may want to tighten our property maintenance codes and establish a system of routine inspections of rental property" is a far cry from that attributed to Davison: "Our mayor has even suggested that systematic, door-to-door inspections could be instituted." Not only is this not a direct quote, as is implied by "The Athens Residential And Rental Property Association," but the message conveyed by each statement is quite different.

The very next sentence from Davison's response to the FOFP survey bears this out: "We need to be careful about inspections, because we are dealing with people's homes, after all, and we don't want to be any more intrusive than necessary." She goes on to say that these inspections might occur once every two years, with the cooperation of landlords. This hardly conjures images of ACC staff systematically banging on doors and demanding to see paperwork - which is exactly what those opposed to regulation would have us believe is in the works.

If you'll pardon the animal cruelty metaphor, I don't have a dog in this fight. The only "clear stance" I took in the March 5 article was that a group of landlords overreacted to the rental permitting proposal put forth by the manager's office - a proposal to address a festering problem that the new mayor and all the new commissioners pledged to deal with - and that that group further clouded the issue through the use of scare tactics. As I see it, that Davison's words would be twisted to further this cause, and that I would be falsely pegged as a witting accomplice, does nothing to undermine my position. If it did, I would have no problem saying so.

NO PAINTBALL AT THE BOT

In response to the letter by S. Seurry in the March 19 issue of Flagpole, I would like to make it very clear that the State Botanical Garden of Georgia (referred to in the letter erroneously at the Georgia Botanical Garden) has NOT designated any portion of our 313 acres as a paintball field. We understand that such an area has been designated on some adjoining property, but such activities are STRICTLY FORBIDDEN at the Garden. Anyone found shooting a paintball gun or any other kind of weapon, even for supposed recreational purposes, will be turned over to campus police.

I would also like to remind the writer that dogs also are not allowed at the Garden. This rule, as with rules against potentially dangerous games, is in place for the protection of both our plants and our guests.

The Garden greatly appreciates the support we enjoy from Flagpole readers and invite everyone to come out and enjoy springtime with us.

Shirley Hartzler-Berry
Assistant Director
The State Botanical Garden of Georgia