Apparently 2 out of 3 CCHS students will be summering in Europe... Srsly, ABH??? How 'bout getting a more demographically accurate sampling of quotes. In a county w/ a statistically high poverty rate, I'm betting most of these kids will be desperately searching for any crapass minimum wage service industry job that hasn't been snatched up by the throngs of UGA students who stick around to use Athens as a playground through the summer months...

Doubt Christ himself would agree. See Luke 22: 47-53. If God granted the right to self-defense, why did His son chastise Peter for practicing it?

Ugh--now that they've released the elevation renderings, this hellscape is worse than I could've imagined! This monstrosity belongs in Midtown Atlanta, not downtown Athens. It's so obviously designed to maximize parking & thus guarantee no-overhead profits for Selig subsidiary AAA Parking--proprietors of gameday parking for Auburn & GA Tech & now UGA. And I call BS on Chitty's claims for walkability & her pandering Speck name-drop. Not only do the towering facades create a cavern effect that obliterates any human scale, but the massive footprints of these ginormosities make for zero pedestrian permeability for a block and a half on both E Broad & Oconee. And how 'bout some street trees & overhangs on south-facing Oconee Hill? That sweltering hillside will be like the surface of Mercury for half the year--doesn't exactly make for a pleasant stroll from the kiddie castle on Carr's Hill past the Palais du Overprivileged & into downtown. Might as well hop in the car & drive--after all, there are plenty of empty spaces in the downtown decks. And of course they all have cars since parking is ready & waiting right outside their doors! Isn't the whole point of encouraging dense residential living downtown to eliminate the need for cars? These new developments seem to only encourage more autos. All this valuable property that could be housing local businesses & start-ups is instead being occupied by autos. No doubt that any retail that moves in will be of the corporate franchise variety offering minimum-wage service jobs to college kids looking for a little xtra beer $ while all the profits line the pockets of billionaire CEOs & shareholders.... “Big companies are not where jobs creation is, because anyone with an MBA knows, big companies destroy jobs.” http://m.onlineathens.com/business/2013-05-04/drop-old-ideas-spark-new-b...

2 minutes ago · Like

Just 'cause it's not a Wal-Mart doesn't mean it still doesn't suck a big one.... Let's have a look at the streetscape rendering--I'm bettin' each of those parking deck buildings is a good 6 stories tall surrounded by strip mall. Notice their footprints are each 4-6x the size of the big fat fancypants apartment building across Broad next to the bus station. This thing is gonna make that hellscape on Carr's Hill look like a Smurf village.

I just threw up in my mouth....

Unfortunately the ADDA-appointed steering committee is thwarting public comment on this process. There was no Q&A or opportunity for public discussion last night and input was simply a yes or no to "Are we on the right track?" regarding a handful of developed concepts.

The planning team had also developed full concepts for a river district and a proper College Square (both areas that the public had overwhelmingly suggested be included in the plan) but were forbidden from presenting these ideas to the public. Also, the team was directed to not address Clayton St. as ACC has already hired a consultant to tend to streetscaping issues on this street. One would think a logical step would be for the consultant to consult with the team & heed their massive body of public input, but this is not happening.

This team is to be lauded for their great efforts and fabulous concepts, but the powers-that-be seem determined to ignore the will of the people in its implementation. The plan is primarily focused around increased use of public space & pedestrian permeability, yet ACC is currently drafting Public Curfew legislation that would limit access to public space, thus nullifying the intended effects of many aspects of the Downtown Master Plan.

It is extremely important that the public pay attention & remain engaged in this process--while the planning team has gone to great lengths to reach out to the public to solicit this engagement, it is highly unlikely that those making the final decisions on this will do so. These recommendations will get rehashed, watered down, and abandoned behind closed doors and away from the public eye.

@Anonymous Dude: On it like white on Republican....

"Calling people names" doesn't work? It sure did for the Rethuglicans.... Time to grow a pair & fight fire w/ fire: http://m.guardiannews.com/commentisfree/2012/feb/06/right-stupidity-spre...

This is so heartbreaking, not only for the church members and the hungry people they serve, but for the entire Carr's Hill community and everyone who cares about the history of Athens. Carr's Hill has seen a great deal of overdevelopment in recent years, losing many lovely small homes, a historic school building, and a gorgeous and rare granite outcropping that was the very site of this town's founding--blasted away to make way for behemoth apartments and a parking deck. I grew up in a town outside of DC with an 18th c historic downtown that saw several large structures over the years go up in flames to make way for truly crappy new development--arson was proven in most cases. Carr's Hill and Oconee St are prime real estate and one can only wonder if similar forces are at play. Wasn't it just a coupla years ago that another Oconee St. building suffered a suspect fire? http://onlineathens.com/stories/111010/new_733656868.shtml

The ignorant blatherings of many of our high-profile elected officials are in no way helping to change "culture and perception" of our fair state. As long as we keep electing anti-science, racist asshats, the outside world will see us as nothing more than an outpost of Honey Boo Boos & Paul Brouns. Not exactly the kind of company the next Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or Mark Zuckerberg is lookin' to keep....

Rich McKay is a billionaire bully & deserves not a thin dime of taxpayer dollars! That he considers the GA Dome outdated beyond repair is a comical example of the overprivileged's sense of entitlement. There are 2000 yr-old amphitheaters all over Italy that are still used for public events & he can't make do w/ a 20 yr-old domed stadium?!!! Go ahead, move it to Clayton Co.--then maybe the dingbats under the Gold Dome will have a reason to divert the tax $ that would go to McKay to a viable public rail transportation system that can benefit the people of the entire metro area.

As for football and sports in general, if a fraction of the time, energy, & $ that were spent on cheering on a bunch of lugs as they move an empty object across some fake grass were spent on making the world a better place, the world would be a better place....

This is actually really sad. This dude obviously has some severe mental illness and instead of getting proper treatment and follow-up, he's shuffled in and out of jail for petty crimes that are surely the result of his hampered mental capacities rather than actual nefarious criminal intent. Our society is so screwed up!!!

It is ridiculously counter-productive to can this enthusiastic booster of Athens' local businesses and creative culture in the middle of the Master Planning Process and as a massive development boom is getting underway. Anyone who follows the doings of the ADDA saw this coming several months ago when Lookofsky's contract was only renewed for 6 months rather than the typical year. Lookofsky can take much credit that the long overdue master planning process is underway, much to the consternation of the pro-overdevelopment, anti-regulation "investors" and property owners who would gladly see downtown Athens bulldozed into a haven for homogenized corporate chains & apartment towers exactly like the now-Walmartless development Selig Enterprises plans for the Armstrong & Dobbs property. The ADDA board is now made up of a primarily conservative lot and one can only wonder if Selig PR hack/Chamber of Commerce chair/ADDA board member Brian Broderick wasn't the head cheerleader for Lookofsky's removal to prop the doors wide open for a new director who is thoroughly in the pockets of Big Development.

It's extremely disappointing that Selig still intends to bulldoze the historic warehouse buildings--especially Jittery Joe's which is a stunning example of adaptive reuse incorporating the talents of our local creative community in a building that embodies the funky vibe that defines Athens for so many outsiders. While an astounding improvement over the initial scheme, the new plan still includes a massively scaled central parking structure that allows for little pedestrian permeability. Aesthetically, the design is thoroughly homogenous and utterly blah. If Selig's architects had a modicum of creativity, they would incorporate some of the gorgeous ancient brick & stone walls on the property into new structures that offered a true nod to the industrial history of the area.

And I'm a out & proud townie who would be delighted to see a Dollar General Market as an anchor tenant--I shop at the one at Homewood Hills regularly myself!

It's extremely disappointing that Selig still intends to bulldoze the historic warehouse buildings--especially Jittery Joe's which is a stunning example of adaptive reuse incorporating the talents of our local creative community in a building that embodies the funky vibe that defines Athens for so many outsiders. While an astounding improvement over the initial scheme, the new plan still includes a massively scaled central parking structure that allows for little pedestrian permeability. Aesthetically, the design is thoroughly homogenous and utterly blah. If Selig's architects had a modicum of creativity, they would incorporate some of the gorgeous ancient brick & stone walls on the property into new structures that offered a true nod to the industrial history of the area.

Oh John Barrow, please move back to Athens to run against Straight-From-The-Pit-Of-Hell Paul Broun and kick him out of Congress on his head-impaled arse!

Arguments against historic designation are patently baseless. The Historic Preservation Commission has gotten increasingly lenient lately in permitting modern designs and large-scale additions. Facts and precedent prove the hysteria among the opposition is based primarily on misinformation and unfounded fear — not to mention a financial interest in the development of new, large-scale homes in what has always been a modest, working-class neighborhood. The vast majority of those who are opposed are developers, realtors, and rental property owners just waiting to cash in.

These protections are desperately necessary in in-town neighborhoods throughout Athens. Recent real estate trends in the area have seen massive price inflation for newly divided lots as well as properties featuring small homes that are prime candidates for large-scale additions. A carousel shell game is underway in which properties are frequently changing hands at increasingly inflated prices amongst a handful of realtors, developers, investors, and their close kin.

Take a drive down Satula & up Yonah Aves. & check out the ginormous "modernist" McMansions that are popping up like mushrooms throughout the neighborhood. An empty lot there is now valued at $80K & the new homes being build go for upwards of $400K while small cottages now hit the market at over $200. A modest neighborhood that once provided quaint, affordable, & convenient in-town living for regular middle-class folks is quickly becoming overrun by the privileged elite. If these folks are so eager to live in this humble 'hood, they can sacrifice a few hundred square feet and some high-end design elements and play by the rules!

Paul Broun's ideology is nothing short of the fundamentalist Christian version of Sharia Law. This man is a hypocrite straight from the pit of Hell. And that church at which he uttered these words should have its nonprofit status revoked and join the ranks of political organizations.

You sir, need to read the constitution--the document which Dr. Broun is sworn to uphold & which you fought to protect in your military service. Said document establishes both a freedom of the press and a right to free speech which allow us all to express our opinions on just about any matter. That said, Paul Broun, Jr. is an intellectually vapid asshat who is a humiliation to the people of Georgia & the laughing stock of congress. The latter is quite a notable achievement considering the calibre of today's Republican-majority representatives.

Makes one wonder if Dexter's been offered big bucks to sell out to big development???....

I seriously doubt that during his tenure in the president's mansion in KY, Sir Adams ever had to endanger his delicate fingertips by picking up shards of broken beer bottles on the sidewalk every other day--plenty of humble servants around to attend to such unsavory tasks. And I'm quite certain that fans of the Centre College Colonels aren't anywhere near as rabid as Bulldawg fans with their proclivities for public urination & unrestrained littering. These comments are proof positive that Adams & the hoity toities among the UGA establishment elite are leagues out of touch with the normal everyday folks of the community of Athens at-large. Case in point: The fact that former UGA Real Estate Foundation Head Joann Chitty & her cohorts at Selig Enterprises (Bulldawg boosters through & through) found themselves so flabbergasted by the massive opposition to their craptasticular downtown Wal-Mart parking deck palace project! Insulated aristocracy is alive & well in Athens, GA!!!

Oh yeah, and FIVE new buildings for the biz school to breed more & more money-grubbing wannabe Wall Street shysters--that's EXACTLY what the world needs!!!

"Adams admitted his surprise by the strong public reaction against plans to tear up the pool"--I highly doubt Prez Adams ever soiled his naked toes by splashing amongst the unwashed masses at Legion Pool. He's probably got his own backyard pool on Lake Oconee & plenty of Bulldog Club access!

As for the frat house: His Highness claims he "lived just yards away from a frat house in Kentucky for nine years, and "there were only a few days he wished they'd pipe down." (http://flagpole.com/news/2012/sep/27/loop-2/) He neglects to mention that he lived in the President's mansion those nine years and he assuredly never had to endanger his delicate fingertips by picking up shards of broken beer bottles on the sidewalk every other day--plenty of humble servants around to attend to such unsavory tasks. And I highly doubt fans of the Centre College Colonels are anywhere near as rabid as Bulldawg fans.... These comments are proof positive that Adams & the hoity toities among the UGA establishment elite are leagues out of touch with the normal everyday folks of the community of Athens at-large. Case in point: Former UGA Real Estate Foundation Head Joann Chitty & her cohorts at Selig Enterprises (Bulldawg boosters through & through) found themselves so flabbergasted by the massive opposition to their craptasticular downtown Wal-Mart parking deck palace project!!! Insulated aristocracy is alive & welll in Athens, GA!!!

This piece makes no mention of His Majesty's condescending comments about ongoing budget cuts: "Frankly, I think the general public should be more concerned than they've shown." (http://flagpole.com/news/2012/sep/27/loop-2/) Frankly, I think the UGA admin should be more concerned than they've shown--how 'bout taking a pay cut Sire? A few percentage points knocked off the salaries of UGA's top 10% earners could save dozens of jobs for measly peons!

WHO CARES?!!! Why are you wasting space in this fish wrapper with this inane local spin on a collective shopping spree? Surely there is something interesting & relevant happening in the local biz community or some important development in local or state economic news....

Bravo! It's high time the powers-that-be recognize that not only does our local creative culture put us on the map, but it also helps keep our head above water. Unfortunately, the recent report from the mayor's Economic Task Force offers little useful advice on how to support and encourage this important economic engine.