Geographically speaking
I really hadn't thought about this too much, but Jim Thompson's column on the in-town commissioners is a pretty darn good read, particularly because it's very open and honest in its questions. It's not critical, nor is it damning.
The scenario is simply this: Girtz resides on Pulaski Street and, as such, is one of four county commissioners living within a few square miles of each other in a county that covers 120.8 square miles. Commissioners (Kelly) Girtz, Alice Kinman, Kathy Hoard and David Lynn all live within or near the Five Points and Cobbham communities, in a roughly north-south line stretching between Five Points and the edge of downtown Athens along Milledge Avenue.
....
Still, even without (George) Maxwell and (Harry) Sims in the mix, what you're left with is the fact that four of the county's 10 commissioners - almost half, that is - live in what is, essentially, the same neighborhood. The same, that is, in terms of what residents are looking to the county government to provide for them - such things as tightly controlled vehicular traffic, including concessions to pedestrian and bicycle traffic, and tightly controlled commercial development.
Now, J.T.'s a fan of this group, and he says so throughout his column. But it's worthwhile to note that four commissioners will have such strong connections to two very influential neighborhoods, and how will the legitimate concerns of those neighborhoods balance out against the legitimate concerns of other sections of Athens-Clarke County.
For what it's worth, I'm not worried in the slightest. I know Girtz, and he's one of the most open-minded and fair individuals you'd ever meet, so it's ridiculous to think he'd be in anyone's pocket. Likewise for Kinman, who continues to hold the title of 'Jmac's favorite commissioner.' I don't know Hoard or Lynn, but nothing about them seems to suggest they'd act in a manner that would detract from areas outside of their district.
So, it's a good read, though I'd say I disagree with J.T. over how this could affect the proposed hunting ban (Girtz, for instance, has been very involved in this process and is working to find a suitable compromise). The only issue where it may - understandably - come up would be if the commission moves to do something to reshape Prince Avenue.
The scenario is simply this: Girtz resides on Pulaski Street and, as such, is one of four county commissioners living within a few square miles of each other in a county that covers 120.8 square miles. Commissioners (Kelly) Girtz, Alice Kinman, Kathy Hoard and David Lynn all live within or near the Five Points and Cobbham communities, in a roughly north-south line stretching between Five Points and the edge of downtown Athens along Milledge Avenue.
....
Still, even without (George) Maxwell and (Harry) Sims in the mix, what you're left with is the fact that four of the county's 10 commissioners - almost half, that is - live in what is, essentially, the same neighborhood. The same, that is, in terms of what residents are looking to the county government to provide for them - such things as tightly controlled vehicular traffic, including concessions to pedestrian and bicycle traffic, and tightly controlled commercial development.
Now, J.T.'s a fan of this group, and he says so throughout his column. But it's worthwhile to note that four commissioners will have such strong connections to two very influential neighborhoods, and how will the legitimate concerns of those neighborhoods balance out against the legitimate concerns of other sections of Athens-Clarke County.
For what it's worth, I'm not worried in the slightest. I know Girtz, and he's one of the most open-minded and fair individuals you'd ever meet, so it's ridiculous to think he'd be in anyone's pocket. Likewise for Kinman, who continues to hold the title of 'Jmac's favorite commissioner.' I don't know Hoard or Lynn, but nothing about them seems to suggest they'd act in a manner that would detract from areas outside of their district.
So, it's a good read, though I'd say I disagree with J.T. over how this could affect the proposed hunting ban (Girtz, for instance, has been very involved in this process and is working to find a suitable compromise). The only issue where it may - understandably - come up would be if the commission moves to do something to reshape Prince Avenue.
posted by Jmac at 9:18 AM
10 Comments:
I agree and disagree. I agree that the commissioners are very close to each other geographically and are all coming from a relatively urban perspective. I disagree that they live in the same neighborhood, though. There's a huge difference between Five Points, 1st Avenue, Pulaski, Boulevard, and Cobbham. There's some overlap between them all, but they're organized separately on the voluntary-association level because their residents don't consider themselves compatible enough to organize together.
At first I thought that this was an interesting coincidence but not really a story. I can see J.T.'s angle so, I guess I thought it was a clever way to create an opinion piece out of what was really nothing at all.
But, J.T. did something that was probably quite intentional - he got me to think about this. I'm thinking that this isn't a coincidence at all - it's a reflection of what a majority of people voted for in the last several election cycles. (Note that I most certainly do understand the difference between "majority" and "unanimous".)
Speaking strictly within the context presented, Athens tends to disapprove of sprawl so it's not surprising that people who would choose to live in the "sprawl zones" would be less likely to be attuned to the majority. We tend to elect people who are aligned with the values of the majority so, we have a lot of commissioners who live in the "in town" (non-sprawl) areas. These are mostly folks who may use their cars to go almost everywhere but appreciate the fact that they don't have to if they choose to walk or bike or ride the bus - a choice that sprawl area residents don't really have.
It's not all about transportation issues, either. I'm guessing that folks living closer to downtown, Normaltown, and Five Points probably get out more and see more of what's happening and talk to more people because their residential preferences afford them more opportunities to participate in the community on a human scale.
If all of this sounds ominuously elitist then, well, it really should sound the opposite. Folks who want to live way out on the fringes of the county on large tracts of land and in sparsly populated areas have made a choice to seperate themselves from the rest of us. I'm not criticizing their choice - just saying that this seems far more elitist to me than the choice of residing in the denser and busier areas where constant contact with your fellow citizens is practically unavoidable. If you like having this kind of contact, you're more likely to be someone who is engaged in their community.
So, thanks J.T.! You made me think about something in a way I hadn't thought about it, before.
(P.S. I noticed that he didn't mention that the Mayor lives within this same geographic area, as well. We live in Beechwood.)
It's kind of interesting because there would not be this many in-town Commissioners had Doc not drawn the lines this way. The way five-points is split into four commission seats 4,7,9,10 gives it much power. Where was this article when Doc, Cardee and Kathy all lived within two or three streets of one another? This is an editorial that could have been written four years ago. The editorial also contributes to this elitist label that I find unfair, since these are the more egalitarian commissioners.
More commissioners tend to live in town because a) they tend to have a bit more money than the rest of us (thus facilitating their ability to _be_ commissioners), and b) that's where the desirable but expensive real estate is. No?
hmmm...not sure what a "bit more money" equates to but of those mentioned in the article, none are anything close to what you would call wealthy. I don't want to start calling out the personal financial circumstances of my friends on a specific basis but I think you'd find that we're all pretty much in the middle range of the middle class and live in pretty moderate to modest houses.
You're welcome to come and visit the "Mayor's Mansion" any time you'd like to see for yourself - please call ahead so I can at least wash the dishes and clean the cat boxes. ;-)
Al
It doesn't equate to mansions, and I know a lot of people bought in Five Points when it was less expensive, but considering the average income in the county, ain't it a fair characterization? Them houses is pricey. Not all of them, but some of them.
I don't know Hillary. I might tend to side with Al somewhat on this. Our crop of commissioners, particularly the ones mentioned by J.T., are middle-class folks who work.
A different argument you could make - since I feel it sorta alludes to a previous conversation we had involving ability to run for office - would be they have jobs which permit them to have the necessary time and flexibility to run for office.
Enough. Everyone thinks they're middle-class. The point I have made before is that we do not have any commissioners in service-industry jobs or blue-collar jobs. And I do understand that to some extent. I know that McDonald's is probably not going to let people off their night shift in order to attend a planning commission meeting. I know that a lot of people in service/blue-collar jobs tend to be less educated, and I am all for our commissioners being educated. But if they don't live in the nice neighborhoods because they _can_ (and believe me, if I could, I certainly would), then why do they live there? I'm willing to grant that it's partially because they're liberal people, and liberal people tend to want to live more in town, as opposed to wealthier more conservative people, who tend to want to live in Oconee County.
I'd like to point out that Kelly Girtz has owned his house longer than I've owned mine and one of our mutual neighbors with a house that's similar in design and condition paid $20,000 for it in 1994. He's a public school teacher. He's not in service, but he's also about as close as we can get in a salaried position. (Actually, his house is as fantastic looking as it is 'cause he and his wife worked really hard on it.)
and David Lynn is a renter. He pays the prevailing market rate.
OK, this just keeps getting more interesting than I ever expected.
Heidi pointed out that she thought it was a bit odd that JT didn't mention that, just a few years aog, Doc, Linda Ford, John Barrow, and Cardee were on the M&C and they all lived much closer to each other than the current crop. Throw in Gwen for the Cobbham section and Alvin Sheats for the Broad Street in-town neighborhood - very near to where George Maxwell now lives and you've really got the same thing only more so. If I'm not mistaken, Doc and Linda live like just across the street from each other. The more things change, the more they stay the same (in the current context though not in the political ideaology).
Not to pile on but, it's also worth noting that Heidi was a waitress and held other service industry minimum wage jobs and I think Kelly told me that he also worked as a waiter at one time and in construction at another time. I don't know about all the others but I think it would be safe to say that most everybody worked in the service industry at some time in their lives because none of them are the so-called "silver spooners". So, everybody starts off somewhere and most folks don't forget that. Most of the service industry folks in Athens don't plan to make that their careers.
So, geographically speaking - same as it ever was. Humble beginings are also pretty common.
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