Couple of things
- I mean, this is nice to see as a Democrat, but I don't think it's going to happen. Not because the public isn't upset with the current Republican leadership, but rather because national opinion surveys actually reveal very little about local and state races. In strongly conservative areas, the voters, at this day and age, are going to back Republicans pretty much regardless. So, while I think Democrats will gain seats and have an outside shot of taking control of one half of Congress, I think it's rather ridiculous to say they'll sweep into power. Plus, looking long-term, I'm not sure it would be the best thing if Democrats did take both sides of Congress two years out of a presidential election. The good thing about being a minority party is, for the most part, you're able to politically portray yourself as the outsider.
- The mayoral candidates continue to fight for votes, and perhaps Charlie Maddox heard me as he (sort of) offered more details on his plans (i.e. pledging to spend local taxes on local poverty ... though, to be fair, that probably would impact other services as well). Both James Garland and Doug Lowry said they wouldn't extend services to rural areas ... with the latter's opposition adding another layer to the oddity that is his campaign.
- We've got the latest podcast ready to go.
- Sam Nunn gets a lot of flack from those who are more left than myself, but I've always really liked the guy ... and his common sense on the North Korean crisis is a small example of why.
- Really ... would you expect anything else from someone with the name Chester Mingledorff?
- The mayoral candidates continue to fight for votes, and perhaps Charlie Maddox heard me as he (sort of) offered more details on his plans (i.e. pledging to spend local taxes on local poverty ... though, to be fair, that probably would impact other services as well). Both James Garland and Doug Lowry said they wouldn't extend services to rural areas ... with the latter's opposition adding another layer to the oddity that is his campaign.
- We've got the latest podcast ready to go.
- Sam Nunn gets a lot of flack from those who are more left than myself, but I've always really liked the guy ... and his common sense on the North Korean crisis is a small example of why.
- Really ... would you expect anything else from someone with the name Chester Mingledorff?
posted by Jmac at 7:24 AM
4 Comments:
Perhaps I misspoke (or are you going by what was reported in the Banner-Herald?). The extension of basic services such as water lines, sanitary sewer lines, and fire stations into the peripheral areas of the county is the primary plank of my campaign platform (and one of the reasons Grow Green gave me a big fat zero).
What I said, or at least what I meant to say, is that I believe such extensions could be funded without a property tax increase. For details about that see my blog entry over at AthPo from back on 31 July. What I said with certainty was that the next time the Unified Government pitches extending SPLOST, as it surely will in a few years, the wish list should include public safety and public utility projects, to the exclusion of all else. I fully support providing basic services to those forgotten folks out in the formerly unincorporated areas of the county as soon as possible.
Amen to that, Mr. Garland. It is ridiculous the way that people on the outskirts of "Athens Clark-County" have been neglected since consolidation. This was supposedly one of the main advantages of consolidating, was it not? (Getting everyone on the grid, etc.) But, unsurprisingly, once consolidation happened politicians stopped caring about the minority who would not benefit them politically. Scratch my back, and I'll....wait, nevermind, I don't have to scratch your back now that you've scratched mine.
As was pointed out in a previous thread here, advocacy groups like Grow Green are Johnny one-notes, by design. So it is no surprise that they would give you a zero in terms of their own environemntal agenda. But as was pointed out in that earlier thread, politics is about balancing various values and interests together, not doing the ONE THING THAT MUST BE SOLVED OR THE SKY WILL FALL (TM). Wanting to get water lines and fire stations into the more 'rural' parts of ACC is a worthwhile goal, and frankly should be (imho) a higher priority than many of Grow Green's concerns. Before you can appeal to everyone in the community to take responsibility as citizens for enviornmental concerns, you have to actually allow everyone to be a part of the community. Telling people way out on the north side (for example) that they should care about the way Athens is growing, but oh by the way it's just not a big priority to give you the basic urban services that local governments are thought to provide, is insulting to those folks. (And no, I'm not one of them.)
Thanks James. I did get most of my information from the ABH story, and as other candidates have pointed out to me in recent weeks, the articles are not giving the full scope of their answers.
I think you and Xon are both right in the need to expand services out there, particularly water and fire stations.
I'd like to ask you your take on the sewer lines versus spetic tank debate. Most folks have septic tanks up there. Would it be easier, as was briefly discussed, to institute some sort of mandatory septic tank upgrade? Or would you favor sewer line expansion?
I don't really have an opinion either way, though I'd lean sewer line expansion for a variety of reasons.
JMac
I don’t have the time to get into this in much depth right now, but I would opt for the sanitary sewer lines. Septic tanks are at best a short-term solution; as I understand it they and their drain fields have a fairly short lifespan compared to sewer lines.
The Charter that went into effect in 1991 gave the Public Utilities Department four years to come up with a Service Delivery Plan to extend water and sewer lines out into the county. Right on schedule, that Plan was completed in 1995. It was supposed to be updated in 2000, but the Commission sat on it until 2004, when it deleted 35 linear miles of sewer lines from the 1995 Plan, thereby undermining the entire purpose of the Plan as promulgated by the Charter. See my campaign web site for specific Charter and Code citations about this and the intended provision of basic services throughout the county (www.VoteGarland.org). I advocated returning those 35 miles of sewer lines, particularly in the Shoals Creek basin, when the Commission considered the issue in 2002 and 2004, obviously to no avail.
As an aside, who would pay for mandatory septic tank upgrades, the Unified Government or the homeowner?
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