As a co-owner of the state's oldest antiquarian bookshop, our business has suffered for twenty-two-plus years as a result of the Downtown bar culture we're surrounded by, as well as by the insufficient (one might even say incompetent) enforcement of public sanitation ordinances by the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government.

The purpose of our new “Athens GA Stinks” Facebook page is to provide evidence of that long history, and to allow public participation in demanding better results from those businesses and tax-paid public servants ostensibly overseeing Athens sanitation concerns.

I grew up near Athens in the 1960’s before the flagship department stores abandoned it for the mall, when downtown was a busy, bustling, prosperous little town. The business I’ve been associated with for the last 22 years was born, like many, after the mall opened when so many downtown storefronts sat vacant. For better or for worse, that also marked the rise of the bar culture downtown, which attracts primarily students and local party animals.

Our experience during this history has been one of blatant violation of municipal health and sanitation standards on the part of those bars, restaurants and student apartments, coupled with a tolerance by government officials which seems indicative of either gross negligence or outright corruption.

During that twenty-two-plus years we, alongside our landlords, have patiently worked with, pleaded with and attempted to negotiate with our neighbors towards achieving a healthier neighborhood and an improved storefront.

Though conditions have alternated slightly over the years, the abuse continues to this very hour, and complaints to Community Protection’s office of Code Enforcement go unresponded to. Apparently the bars’ garbage is only illegal when it’s returned to their own front entrances, not when it affects their neighbors. That has prompted me to share just a few selections from our long garbage diary, submitted here for your enjoyment. As you pore through the images, you will just have to imagine, if you can, the stench that accompanies the reality.

http://www.facebook.com/AthensGAStinks