Athens Grow Green scorecards
Athens Grow Green has released the scorecards for Andy Herod and David Hamilton. And, much how the endorsement for Hamilton from States McCarter and Ken Jordan was a positive note for him, the folks with AGG are all about some Herod.
He received four stars and scored 12 points out of a possible 14 for his questionnaire answers compared to Hamilton's two stars and one point. To be entirely fair, I think AGG was a bit hard on Hamilton ... and I say that as someone who honestly liked Herod's answers a little better. It was kinda unreasonable to even think that the organization would back Hamilton, particularly in light of McCarter's endorsement ... just as it would be unreasonable for the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce to back Herod. These organizations, understandably, have some allegiances to particular ideologies, and that's fine enough.
Some thoughts ...
- I particularly liked Herod's ideas for more mixed-zoning usage, and I think this idea possibly ties into the goal of increasing the opportunities for affordable housing in this community. A mixture of lot sizes, as Herod notes, would play in hand in limiting sprawl and mixing families of varying incomes.
- The notion of using incentives rather than regulation was panned by AGG, and I think that's a bit unfortunate. Not to suggest that the organization doesn't value the concept of using market incentives to encourage activity (because it does), nor to suggest that I'm opposed to regulation in certain capacities (because I'm not), but rather because it seemed so absolute. For instance, while I appreciate and agree with most of Herod's ideas regarding increasing the supply of affordable housing, I'm not entirely sold on his 'linkage fees' proposal. I think we need to find a way to encourage developers to create mixed-use areas and affordable housing, and I think there are a variety of ways to do that (and Herod touches on one when he mentions the concept of 'Katrina Cottages').
- I do agree, however, with AGG regarding compensating property owners for rezoning issues. This is a mighty slippery slope to traverse down, and Herod rightly points out that some of the actions of rezoning on private property ultimately results in the increased value of that very property. This isn't to say that mechanisms, such as TDRs, aren't appropriate things to employ and benefit private-property owners.
- Both candidates gave strong answers regarding alternative transporation, though I think Herod's was very well done. It's an absolute necessity, in my mind, that we develop an agreement with Oconee County (and other neighboring counties) that expands our bus service to those outlying counties, and I was very glad to see that at the top of Herod's list. And I was equally as glad to see him plugging the concept of 'Complete Streets' as No. 2. Again, both candidates played it well, but I think Herod knocked it out of the park.
- Neither candidate mentioned something I told Hillary about last week, but I'd like to see an move by the Athens-Clarke County Commission to, over the course of a certain period of time, shift the fleet of its automobiles to more energy efficient vehicles (such as, say, hybrids).
He received four stars and scored 12 points out of a possible 14 for his questionnaire answers compared to Hamilton's two stars and one point. To be entirely fair, I think AGG was a bit hard on Hamilton ... and I say that as someone who honestly liked Herod's answers a little better. It was kinda unreasonable to even think that the organization would back Hamilton, particularly in light of McCarter's endorsement ... just as it would be unreasonable for the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce to back Herod. These organizations, understandably, have some allegiances to particular ideologies, and that's fine enough.
Some thoughts ...
- I particularly liked Herod's ideas for more mixed-zoning usage, and I think this idea possibly ties into the goal of increasing the opportunities for affordable housing in this community. A mixture of lot sizes, as Herod notes, would play in hand in limiting sprawl and mixing families of varying incomes.
- The notion of using incentives rather than regulation was panned by AGG, and I think that's a bit unfortunate. Not to suggest that the organization doesn't value the concept of using market incentives to encourage activity (because it does), nor to suggest that I'm opposed to regulation in certain capacities (because I'm not), but rather because it seemed so absolute. For instance, while I appreciate and agree with most of Herod's ideas regarding increasing the supply of affordable housing, I'm not entirely sold on his 'linkage fees' proposal. I think we need to find a way to encourage developers to create mixed-use areas and affordable housing, and I think there are a variety of ways to do that (and Herod touches on one when he mentions the concept of 'Katrina Cottages').
- I do agree, however, with AGG regarding compensating property owners for rezoning issues. This is a mighty slippery slope to traverse down, and Herod rightly points out that some of the actions of rezoning on private property ultimately results in the increased value of that very property. This isn't to say that mechanisms, such as TDRs, aren't appropriate things to employ and benefit private-property owners.
- Both candidates gave strong answers regarding alternative transporation, though I think Herod's was very well done. It's an absolute necessity, in my mind, that we develop an agreement with Oconee County (and other neighboring counties) that expands our bus service to those outlying counties, and I was very glad to see that at the top of Herod's list. And I was equally as glad to see him plugging the concept of 'Complete Streets' as No. 2. Again, both candidates played it well, but I think Herod knocked it out of the park.
- Neither candidate mentioned something I told Hillary about last week, but I'd like to see an move by the Athens-Clarke County Commission to, over the course of a certain period of time, shift the fleet of its automobiles to more energy efficient vehicles (such as, say, hybrids).
posted by Jmac at 5:29 PM
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