A quick roundup
As folks may or may not know, Hillary is on vacation this week, so your daily doses of the Hobbyhorse are severely lacking. Surely I cannot replace the beloved Hobbyhorse, but there are a couple of interesting tidbits in the news today ...
• Georgia linebacker Tavarus Kearney was cleared of academic dishonesty, but still faces charges of disorderly conduct for assaulting a T.A. His mom, V-103 personality Wanda Smith is overjoyed because her boy ain't no cheater. Whether or not he's a thug is still up for debate.
Listen, you attack a teacher ... you shouldn't play football. This is one of the few times I'm sorely disappointed in Mark Richt. He should be suspended until the hearing, and then a decision made from that point.
• The Athens-Clarke County Commission passed an interim mass grading ordinance earlier this week. The ordinance bans mass grading for single-family housing developments, but not for the development of apartments or shopping centers. Now, mass grading is not a good thing for a variety of reasons, but this is an unusual ordinance that is typical of what this commission does - pass some imperfect, uber-restrictive ordinance as an 'interim' fix until a clearer one can come into focus.
Of course, the development crowd - as usual - waited until the very end to actually get interested in this whole thing. And Sean Hogan's logic is quite faulty:
"You're never going to see any affordable housing," local infill developer Sean Hogan said. "There's no way. It's no longer feasible economically to do it the way it used to be done."
Because those houses you're currently building cost under $100,000? Last time I checked, the houses built in mass graded neighborhoods cost $180,000 and up more often than not. It's not a lack of housing which drives the cost up in Athens, but a finite amount of land in the smallest geographical county in the state. Affordable housing will come into existence when the community decides they want affordable housing, and when developers aren't concerned with making a quick buck, but with building a development which has mixed-use and mixed-income possibilities.
And in a careful political hedging of bets, mayoral candidates Tom Chasteen and States McCarter urge for postponement, but ultimately vote for the interim ordinance.
• Does anyone work for ACTION anymore?
• This is from yesterday, but I really enjoyed Richard Palermo's letter bashing Dick Yarbrough. Yarbrough's a hack who's convinced people outside of the South are from a different planet. Look, I love the South and I can't think of a place I'd rather be, but disparaging other regions of the country is just assanine.
That and I don't care to read about Yarbrough's open letters to his grandkids. I don't think they do either.
• Georgia linebacker Tavarus Kearney was cleared of academic dishonesty, but still faces charges of disorderly conduct for assaulting a T.A. His mom, V-103 personality Wanda Smith is overjoyed because her boy ain't no cheater. Whether or not he's a thug is still up for debate.
Listen, you attack a teacher ... you shouldn't play football. This is one of the few times I'm sorely disappointed in Mark Richt. He should be suspended until the hearing, and then a decision made from that point.
• The Athens-Clarke County Commission passed an interim mass grading ordinance earlier this week. The ordinance bans mass grading for single-family housing developments, but not for the development of apartments or shopping centers. Now, mass grading is not a good thing for a variety of reasons, but this is an unusual ordinance that is typical of what this commission does - pass some imperfect, uber-restrictive ordinance as an 'interim' fix until a clearer one can come into focus.
Of course, the development crowd - as usual - waited until the very end to actually get interested in this whole thing. And Sean Hogan's logic is quite faulty:
"You're never going to see any affordable housing," local infill developer Sean Hogan said. "There's no way. It's no longer feasible economically to do it the way it used to be done."
Because those houses you're currently building cost under $100,000? Last time I checked, the houses built in mass graded neighborhoods cost $180,000 and up more often than not. It's not a lack of housing which drives the cost up in Athens, but a finite amount of land in the smallest geographical county in the state. Affordable housing will come into existence when the community decides they want affordable housing, and when developers aren't concerned with making a quick buck, but with building a development which has mixed-use and mixed-income possibilities.
And in a careful political hedging of bets, mayoral candidates Tom Chasteen and States McCarter urge for postponement, but ultimately vote for the interim ordinance.
• Does anyone work for ACTION anymore?
• This is from yesterday, but I really enjoyed Richard Palermo's letter bashing Dick Yarbrough. Yarbrough's a hack who's convinced people outside of the South are from a different planet. Look, I love the South and I can't think of a place I'd rather be, but disparaging other regions of the country is just assanine.
That and I don't care to read about Yarbrough's open letters to his grandkids. I don't think they do either.
posted by Jmac at 8:46 AM
3 Comments:
Jmac: Glad someone is stepping up to try to fill the void left by anti...whatever. A few things:
Mass grading: The fact is, Dodson and a committee did push this through very quickly. They did not want it watered down like the tree ordinance. Sean Hogan is very engaged, and would have been a part of any discussion if he had the chance. He also admits that mass grading is a problem, which is more than most builders will do. The fact is, if you want density (which allows more affordable homes), you have to clear cut. It is impossible to do otherwise. So to say you want density, and then you pass a tree ordinance and eliminate mass grading, you are at cross purposes, at least as far as intown development is concerned. I think the problem is no one really wants density, despite what they say. Sean is actually a top-quality builder and a moderate Democrat. You would like him.
Action: That place is a disaster. We can discuss over beers sometime.
Yarbrough: People love to hate him, but I think his perspective reflects that of A LOT of Georgians. Plus if you ever meet him you will realize he sees it kind of like a radio DJ: he has to get people riled up one way or the other or no one will read his column.
ATL's Finest
Well, I was missing out on my news roundups, so I tried to fill the void ...
On mass grading: Density has the potential to reduce housing prices, but we've seen pushes for denser developments on the eastside and elsewhere in this community and the prices remain the same. Houses in my neighborhood are being built on top of each other practically, and they're still costing at least $200,000 in the newer development.
With a finite amount of land, it's going to be hard to balance the scales between denser developments which could lead, but hasn't yet, to lower housing prices and the desire for developers, understandably, to create neighborhoods with houses which can return a generous profit. Land is scarce and the prices run high.
Ultimately, what will have to happen is some sort of collaborative effort between developers and the government to provide for affordable housing. Combinations of tax credits, zoning restructuring and (perhaps) a process where developers who agree to build a development featuring mixed-use/mixed-income housing (with set amounts of units designated for affordable housing) can get an easement on this restrictive ordinance can lead to more affordable housing.
Ultimately, though, I think the ordinance was poor policy aimed at addressing a very real problem. Mass grading, though economical, has loads of problems. There should have been a better way to approach it. All this is a moratorium in disguise, giving the commission the political cover to say 'we did something' rather than just stonewall.
On Action: Yeah, they've got issues. I haven't paid as much attention as I should, particularly considering my non-profit had interacted with them (I believe) in the past.
On Yarbrough:I still say he's a hack. I've interacted with him from my time at the paper, and he had a self-inflated sense of importance from what I can remember. Dude just bugs me. Only columnists I really like who submit to the ABH are Bill Shipp and Leonard Pitts (Miami Herald). I do like Jim Thompson's pieces though. Man puts his money where his mouth is.
On Shipp, what is up with that guy? Someone has put a weasel in his boxers. He is doing nothing but whining and complaining of late, and I think it hurts his credibility. I used to enjoy his columns for the insight, but all he does now is take shots at folks.
Agree with most of your points on mass grading. My point is this: you can't have density and trees. You can't have low density and affordability (but you can have trees). The market is what drives things in the end. I'm not a big fan of uber-affordable housing anyway. IMHO, there is plenty of it in ACC and in this region; it just isn't brand new.
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