For a long time, Athens was a small college town too far away from Atlanta for anybody to come over here except occasionally to visit their kids at the university and maybe to see a football game. UGA usually had a decent team, but they hadn’t won a national championship since way back in 1980. Get in and get out. No need to stay overnight. No need for Airbnbs.
An Airbnb, to be lucrative, has got to be clean and newish, with no traces of previous human habitation. It should have nothing that would make a guest feel uncomfortable, and to really pay off, it needs to be near desirable amenities—like ocean or mountains or a city with great shopping and entertainment.
The Athens music scene helped us get attention, but music fans are not the high rollers who want the upscale Airbnbs. Then the Dawgs started winning, and people started coming. And since the hotels required a two-night minimum, they got used to hanging around, and they saw some of Athens, ate in restaurants and decided Athens would be an OK place to visit, especially if it were more like Atlanta. So Atlanta started moving in. Three-fourths of the student body was from there, anyway, and they missed their favorite chains.
The local Airbnb scene actually started with the students. They demanded accommodations with all the perks, and developers responded with the luxury highrises that are still going up all over the downtown area. The highrises are nothing but Airbnbs with a longer than usual lease—but still temporary accommodations.
So it has all fallen together. They have even managed to solve the biggest problem of all. Most high-rolling football fans wouldn’t be eager to spend time in a town run by Democrats, but their buddies in the legislature stripped Democratic Athens of any representation in Atlanta, except for one lone Democratic legislator. “Our” Republican legislators, who include insignificant parts of Athens in their largely rural districts, also abolished three liberal Athens-Clarke County commissioners and paved the way to pack the commission with illiberal commissioners, and more are on the way. We very soon could have a commission to make sure that Athens will never again be so progressive that it can’t be a playground for the rich and famous, where even the football players drive Lamborghinis.
What? You don’t like the idea of living in “Athbnb?” You won’t have much choice by the time they get through rearranging the mayor and commission in their own image. It’s late, but it’s not too late. You can start out today supporting two of our key commissioners who are facing competition in May. You can also start brainstorming for a good Athens candidate to succeed our quintessentially Athens mayor when his term is up.
To tell you the truth, keeping our town funky and proud of its history and architecture and its welcoming attitude will actually be best for the Airbnb business, too. The “Athbnb” goal is to make Athens like everywhere else, to take out the best aspects of our town and homogenize the rest, to turn it into mini-Atlanta. That loses sight of everything that makes Athens an interesting place to visit and to live.
Dukes up, Athens! Keep our commissioners who love and understand what we have here. And when the time comes, find a mayor just like the one we have now. Atlanta is fine right where it is.
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