Athens Politics Nerd

Commission roundup: Thornton running for re-election | Athens Politics Nerd At the end of a fairly short commission meeting on Tuesday, Commissioner Ovita Thornton announced that she is running for re-election.

Last week, Commissioner Ovita Thornton announced that she is running for re-election.

The commission also declined to upzone Pinecrest Drive, rezoned the old Southern Brewing Co. lot and changed their demolition regs after the demise of the Saye building.
athenspoliticsnerd.com/commission-r...

That seems like a truly extreme anti-housing position, I don't know. 🤔

I just re-watched parts of the commission meeting and I realized that Commissioner Taylor was opposing moving a concrete company from College Ave to US-29 because they might build homes on College in its place?

She'd rather have a concrete company for the residents on College? Make it make sense!

US medical student suspended for Gaza remarks sues university for ‘intentional discrimination’ Umaymah Mohammad sued Emory University in Atlanta, alleging discrimination during disciplinary hearings

Umaymah Mohammad, a medical student at Emory who was suspended following remarks she made about the ongoing atrocities in Gaza, has sued her university, alleging discrimination under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Every graduating senior in the Clarke County School District this year will receive $1,000 investment portfolios and financial education thanks to an anonymous donor and non-profit organizations Gifted Savings and TED-Ed! Wow! 😃

ACC Commissioner John Culpepper wants to use TSPLOST sales tax dollars, which were intended to fund fare-free operations on Athens Transit through 2027, and use that money to buy fare-boxes again.

In the opinion of APN's editor, Chris Dowd, that would be a very bad idea.
youtube.com/shorts/w8UxL...

TSPLOST 2023 - Project 17: Stonehenge Neighborhood Area Pedestrian Improvements

The local government is seeking input about pedestrian improvements in the Stonehenge neighborhood, you can take the survey here:
arcg.is/n8050

You can also drop in for an open house on Aug. 27 from 5-7 pm at Fire Station #2 (265 Cleveland Road).

The CFPB has returned more than $21 billion directly to consumers who got ripped off. Republicans in Congress have seen it work for families across the country – but they’re trying to kill the agency anyway.

AADM Raises More Questions About Jail Inmate Deaths - Flagpole A shoplifting arrest in September 2023 turned into a death sentence for Boycie Howard. Howard missed an arraignment hearing, which led to a bench warrant, which led to his arrest when he was pulled ov...

"AADM’s Kendra Kline filed an open records request with the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office and combed through news media archives dating back to 2001... She found that at least 24 people had died while in custody, with an average age of 39."
flagpole.com/news/city-do...

Fare-free isn't the cause of the relatively low wages though. I certainly agree they could and should pay more.

The first thing A4E pushed for was Sunday bus service. Then fare-free. Then we disbanded. So which transit folks are still around? There aren't any, unfortunately. If A4E was still around, I promise we'd still be promoting transit investment.

I don't think saying transit is "focusing" on fare-free is accurate. What happened was they stopped resisting it once they realized how much sense it made.

Athens Transit has expanded operations and increased frequency on certain routes since going fare-free. I'd argue that removing fares is perhaps the best thing they can do for the system as a whole. They should increase frequency system-wide, but the fare-structure is not stopping that.

Do we have transit operations paid for? Yes, but we want to make you pay anyway. 🙄

Commissioner John Culpepper says he wants to use the TSPLOST project intended to pay for fare-free transit operations to purchase new fare boxes and then dump the cost on riders.

Riders would then be paying twice (once for the sales tax and again for the fares) to ride.

Thornton says she was falsely accused of her two DUI arrests.

Commissioner Thornton has announced that she is running for re-election in District 9.

The commission has renamed the Lyndon House Arts Center's south gallery after Nancy Lukasiewicz in a unanimous vote.

Commissioner Johnson is continuing to raise doubts about the transparency of SPLOST expenditures.

She once claimed that money had been taken from SPLOST projects intended for minority neighborhoods without evidence. It appears she may still believe that.

This was denied unanimously except for one abstention from Commissioner Wright, who always abstains from STR votes.

Lots of people speaking against an application for a short-term rental on Woodlake Drive. The planning commission recommends rejection.

Really? 😆

And it works! Motion to upzone for townhomes on Pinecrest denied unanimously despite 6-1 approval from the planning commission. It's just the same story over and over.

I'm going to come up with a bingo card for planning & zoning public comment to make it more fun.

"I have grave concerns"
"I've lived in Athens for x years"
"There's too much traffic!"

Bingo!

(I don't mean to disparage anyone but it's hard not to get jaded, the comments are always the same)

Several people are commenting on an upzone for a townhome development on Pinecrest Drive. Generally, the neighbors are against it, as you might expect.

YouTube video by Athens-Clarke County (accgov) 08-05-2025 Mayor & Commission Regular Session

The monthly mayor and commission meeting is about to get started.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ojq...

I guess that remains to be seen.

In case you were wondering, WUGA says they don't receive any funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the recent cuts should not affect them.

I like this kind of energy, Dems, keep it up!

I'm agreeing with you now so I should probably stop posting. But, I'm not convinced the Fed did anything after COVID to fight inflation. I think inflation went away on its own and the Fed is happy to take the credit.