My Athens

"Push Button Wait for Drive Sign"

Via Kaid Benfield's blog. By Dhiru Thadani.

How to Rescue a Town

Downtown Mount Morris, N.Y. Photo by Rigoberto Perdomo for the NY Times

Imagine what could happen in small- and medium-sized towns and cities in Georgia if, say, just ten developers who take their time, aim at creating lively streets and make a point of preserving economic diversity started working here. Or to put it another way, imagine what a small army of developers like Greg O'Connell, profiled here in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, could do. And what if they coordinated their actions?

Spotted in Berlin

Out walking in Berlin--the eastern part, near the Fernsehturm (the big TV tower of the defunct DDR)  just southwest of Alexanderplatz--I spotted this poster.

My "Athens Rising" Archive

For a few months last year, I helped write the Athens Rising column--an opinion  column about local  development, planning and architecture issues--for Flagpole Magazine, the weekly alternative newspaper here in Athens, Ga.

The column's main writer--Kevan Williams--had asked me to write the column every other week while he traveled out West to places like Portland, Ore. And that's what I did--having fun, mostly--from August through December 2010.

Kevan's back in town now, and I'm off traveling abroad and happy--for now at least--to be free of deadlines.

Here are the columns I wrote:

• August, 25, 2010:  Future of Downtown Athens

• September, 8, 2010: A Look at a Complex Zoning Decision

• September 22, 2010: Exploring an Overlooked Neighborhood

• October 6, 2010: Adding Affordable Housing, Avoiding Gentrification

• October 20, 2010: Tapping Students for Downtown Density

• November 3, 2010: Grocery Store Dreams, Part 1

• November 17, 2010: Grocery Store Dreams, Part 2

• December 1, 2010: Dilapidated Buildings, Factories and Cities

 

I'm Blogging at Beyond the Trestle

If all goes well, beginning sometime this week I'll be blogging at Beyond the Trestle, a blog run by Johnathan McGinty and Martin Matheny that provides commentary, context and coverage of news and politics in Northeast Georgia.

My focus over there will be much the same as it was here at My Athens--which is to say, I'll be posting about whatever Athens, Ga. makes me think about.

I may still occasionally post here so I won't retire this site just yet.

See you at Beyond the Trestle.

Classic Center Vs. Parks

In making the case that a proposed Classic Center expansion should get the lion's share of the 2011 SPLOST funds that aren't going to the critically needed jail project, Athens Banner-Herald business columnist Don Nelson claims:

1. The Classic Center expansion will boost convention business, and thus bring more visitors to town to pay sales taxes, generate more profits for local business and create jobs.

2. The expansion is a better return on investment for our tax dollars than investing in maintaining our parks infrastructure, greenways or transit stops.

Both claims can--and should be--closely questioned.

1. Does expansion = more convention business?  Not necessarily.  While it's a very frequently made pitch, expanding convention space and adding hotel rooms doesn't always pay off  for cities. For one thing, lots of cities buy into this idea that more is always better when it comes to convention centers. So, there's tons of convention space out there--and it's intensely competitive. For another, the convention business itself is changing as employers, tradeshows and other typical users of convention space scale back or are exploring web-based ways of getting together. (The downturn in convention business preceded 9-11, and the current recession.)  This 2005 report from the Brookings Institution--Space Available: The Realities of Convention Centers as Economic Development Strategy--outlines reasons for skepticism about the wisdom of investing convention center expansions.

2.  Why isn't improving quality of life for residents a good return on investment? Well, actually it is.  Good parks are good economic development investments for cities. If designed well, parks--particularly small neighborhood parks--can help strengthen community ties, boost property values, reduce crime, control stormwater runoff, cut traffic, improve air quality and encourage physical activity. They make existing residents happy, and help attract new residents.  Read this report from the Trust for Public Lands--The Benefits of Parks: Why America  Needs More City Parks and Open Space--to see how parks generate lots of benefits, including economic development benefits,  for cities and their residents.

Let's suppose Nelson and other advocates for the Classic Center are right that Athens stands to gain a lot from an expansion of convention space. And, at least according to the Classic Center's SPLOST proposal, past experience--in terms of exceeding event booking and hotel room usage goals--suggests that this might be case here.

Well, even if this is so, we've still have to grapple with the question of priorities. Personally, I'd like to see a larger Classic Center--one that's perhaps able to attract some bigger name concerts and attractions. But, if because of fiscal constraints, we have to prioritize either convention centers or parks--which it seems like we have to--then what's the best choice from an economic development perspective?

Should luring tourists here to spend money downtown be our priority? Or should investing in making Athens a highly desirable place to live be our priority? That is, should we prioritize investing in convention space for visitors or in neighborhood parks, greenways and transit stops for us to use?

Which economic development investment is more likely to help attract the kind of higher-wage employers we want to locate here? Investments for tourists? Or investments aimed at making Athens the most walkable, family-friendly university town in the South?

Unlike Nelson, I'd prioritize the parks over the convention center.

Athens: Not Cheap to Live Here if You Count Transportation Costs

According to the Housing + Transportation Affordability Index, most of Athens-Clarke Co. is not an especially affordable place to live. That's because our location efficiency is low--which is to say, most of us live in not very walkable neighborhoods and have limited access to transit.

The index, a tool created by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, gauges the true cost of living in a particular places by factoring in transportation costs along with the cost of housing itself. Traditionally, housing has been considered affordable if it costs 30 percent or less of a household's income.  In contrast, this housing and transportation index defines affordability to mean combined transportation and housing costs should consume no more than 45 percent of household income.  By this measure--if I'm interpreting things correctly--most of Athens-Clarke Co. is not in the affordable range.

Here's the link for the Athens region.  In addition to looking at combined housing and transportation costs, you can separate them out and also explore gas costs and greenhouse impacts by region. It's not the most intuitive site, but it's definitely worth a look.

(Via Discovering Urbanism)

Fighting Homelessness, Inspiring Redevelopment

Here are two events I wish I could attend this week, but can't:

• Tonight. Southern Hospitality: The Recipe for Fighting Homelessness in Athens, a panel discussion sponsored by host. nourish.sustain, what looks to be mainly a group of UGA students.  Panelists include: Saskia Thompson from the Interfaith Hospitality Network of Athens; Evan Mills from the Department of Human and Economic Development in Athens; Donna Bliss, assistant professor in the UGA School of Social Work, and Lynne Griever from Faces of Homeless Speakers Bureau. At the Miller Learning Center on UGA's campus, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

• Saturday, March 24. LOOK AT THAT! Fresh Approaches in Urban Redevelopment for Athens sponsored by the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation. The one-day symposium will highlight examples of revitalization in cities inside and outside of Georgia in order to inspire action in Athens. Reservations required. Check link for more details.

Lower Bus Fares? Not Ambitious Enough

Well, actually, lowering bus fares is not a bad idea. If you want to give low-income people a break and attract increased ridership, this is a reasonable suggestion.

But there's a better idea: expand service and make it free.

Doing this will save poor folks more money, will likely prove more effective at attracting new riders--and will benefit the community in other ways as well.

This idea is not as crazy or as fiscally irresponsible as it sounds. Read on!

Lower Fares Effort

According to this Athens Banner-Herald article, the Athens Bus Campaign, an effort led by anti-poverty activist Michael Smith, proposes cutting bus fares by 25 cents (from $1.50 to $1.25 for an adult fare). Smith says the fare reductions would not only cut expenses for low-income people who ride the bus everyday but would also attract more ridership and thus fill the budget gap created by the reduced fares.

Not bad logic.

But like some other folks, I'm not convinced that lowering the fares by 25 cents will--by itself--do much to attract new riders. I think Athens Transit Director Butch McDuffie is right when he says the most effective way to boost ridership is "to make your service more frequent and available."

Shaving off 25 cents for two rides a day, five days a week, most weeks of the year (25 cents x 2 rides x 5 days x 48 weeks) cuts transit costs by $120 a year--which is a modest, but real savings for low-income folks. This is a viable way for a local government to actually do something to help low income folks directly. Free, however, is an even better deal (surprise!). Compared to today's today's current $1.50 fare, paying nothing would save riders $720 annually.

Going Free

So, if we really want to boost ridership and also cut costs for low-income riders, here's what we need to do as I suggested in an earlier post: increase the frequency of service, add more routes, extend hours of operation--and offer free rides for everyone, all the time.

"Hold on," you may say. "First of all, even if we could afford to do this, not everyone rides the bus. So why isn't it fair to charge actual users for their use?"

Well, to paraphrase Aaron Renn, who runs Urbanophile, a blog about cities, no one is charged to check out library books or to take a walk in county park even though not all of us take advantage of these services.  Police officers and fire department workers don't ask for tickets or fares when they respond to emergencies.  And, there are plenty of other public services that aren't used by everyone but are paid for by us all: schools, is just one example.

"OK, then sure," you may continue, "free is great in principle but we simply can't afford to give out free bus rides in this fiscal climate. Free buses are a pipe dream!"

Affordability

We might not be able to afford it. That's true.

But consider this: the bus is already roughly 64 percent "free." Which is to say that only 36 percent of revenues for the bus come from passenger fares (which includes UGA's payments)--the rest is government subsidy (20 percent fed, 44 percent local).

In 2000, the bus system cost about $2.3 million to operate. (These decade old numbers are the only ones I could find on the Athens Transit web site.) If current costs are comparable, that means we'd only need to kick in another $840,000 or so to fund the system at its current capacity. But we want more buses and more bus stops and shelters--so let's say we'll need three times that amount or $2.53 million every year.

That's a big number for a smallish city in a bad recession--and there's no chance that Athens taxpayers will support that increase.

So, is that it? The smoke has cleared; the dream has died?

No, because while $2.53 million looks big from a local perspective, it's not so big if we can boost federal, and--potentially--state contributions.

Of course, getting these extra funds won't be easy. We may, in fact, have to help create the federal and state programs we'll need. So, this is probably a good juncture for me to confess that my proposal for a free and expanded bus system is--unlike Michael Smith's more modest, more locally-focused and easy-to-implement fare reduction proposal--a multi-year project.

Scaling Up

But I think the downside of the longer time horizon could be compensated for by the upside that an ambitious, creative campaign for a free and expanded bus system would generate. Done right, such a campaign would capture lots of positive attention for Athens--and might just put us in a position to actually receive and spend new federal and state funds to build a truly outstanding local transit system.

And remember: we're not starting from scratch here. Athens Transit is already progressive, creative and well-run. College students and faculty already ride for free. We've got some nationally recognized bus shelter designs. There's a relatively new, really nice Multi-Modal Transit Center.

What's needed is an ambitious and detailed plan to scale up. Let's deploy enough buses to dramatically reduce wait times and expand hours of service. Let's plan very simple direct routes, and have many of them converge downtown to create a very frequent "circulator" route.  Let's put up more really cool bus shelters. Let's scrap the tacky advertising. And let's work with other small cities in Georgia and across the country to build a coalition to advocate for federal and state funding of free bus systems.

By the way, it's possible that a well-designed free bus system will do a lot more than cut transportation costs for citizens, reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality. Such systems may prove attractive to employers. Potential employees may find free bus service very appealing, and--by and large--employers locate where they can most easily find employees.

Importance of Being Ambitious

Now, before one's natural pessimism kicks-in again, please note that there are reasons to be hopeful about the prospects for increased federal and state funding for local transit programs--at least post-recession.

On the federal front, federal transportation spending priorities are changing at least a little in favor of mass transit. For example, as part of stimulus spending, the Federal Department of Transportation in February awarded $1.5 billion in Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants.  More than half of that money went directly to local jurisdictions for a range of projects, including streetcars to link working class neighborhoods to downtown areas and to fund local multi-modal transit centers.

National transportation advocates are lobbying for billions in additional funding for bike lanes, buses, light rail and sidewalks--and, for the first time in recent memory, aren't being dismissed as quacks by politicians.

Even on the state front here in Georgia, there seems to be increasing recognition of the need to--maybe--do something about reducing traffic congestion other than building more roads and freeway lanes.

Plus it's likely that gas prices will start climbing a bit more aggressively--on average--as the years pass and generate more support for mass transit.

Here's the deal, though: unless there's ambition there's no plan; and unless there's a plan, there's little chance of getting funded. Because Georgia had no plans and had demonstrated very little interest over the years, the state got passed over for high speed rail funds. Let's avoid that mistake locally. Let's get ambitious and start planning now.

Free the Bus!

Go Free and Multiply!

Buses Unleashed!

Fare is Free, Free is Fair!

Buses Should be Free Like the Country and Flagpole!

(Clearly, a good slogan is needed. Any suggestions?)

* * *

APPENDIX: Advantages of Going Free (adapted from a post by Aaron Renn)

1.  No fares = no expensive fare collection equipment, and no cash box related accounting, security, etc.

2.  No fares = quicker bus boarding, less bus idling time.

3.  No fares = really good way to boost ridership.

4.  No fares = great city marketing asset.

Bird's Eye Views of Athens

These three "birds eye view" drawings are among the more than 100 works on display at White Tiger Gourmet by young artists at Chase Street Elementary School.  They remind me of the city and neighborhood maps and drawings I used to make when I was in 3rd and 4th grades. These are better, though.

Bird's Eye Viewing--Flying to the United States

By Daniel Yang, 4th grade

* * *

Birds-Eye View of Chase St. School

By Marisela Mondragon, 4th grade

* * *

My Neighborhood

By August Robbins, 4th grade

* * *

The drawings are on view at White Tiger Gourmet, 217 Hiawasee Ave, through March.

Obscura Day Event for Athens, Ga.

March 20, 2010 is Obscura Day.

The idea is that on Obscura Day people everywhere in the world will visit and explore the strange places, the back rooms, the obscure alleys, the hidden treasures of their hometowns.

Obscura Day is the invention of the people who run Atlas Obscura, a web site that bills itself as "compendium of the world's wonders, curiosities and esoterica." (Yes, The Tree that Owns Itself is included in the site's catalog.)

It's not too late for Athens to have it's own Obscura Day events, and I think the folks over at Flagpole Magazine would be naturals for organizing this.

What, in addition to that self-owning tree, should be included in an Athens, Ga. Obscura Day?

Urban Sketchers

Urban Sketchers is a blog and Flickr file-sharing group devoted to promoting the practice of drawing what you see in cities and then sharing those drawings.

Contributors are asked to follow a few fairly elastic rules including:

• Draw on location, indoors or out, capturing what you see from direct observation
• Be truthful to the scenes you witness
• Share your drawings online

The blog features lots of great sketches, and links to hundreds of urban-related online drawing groups from all over the world. Don't neglect to check out the Urban Sketchers Flickr group. It's a lot of fun to browse through. Doesn't look like Athens has its own group--yet.

Fantasy World's Marquee Offered a Clue

On June 30, 2009, I posted this shot of Fantasy World's marquee. About a week earlier, Philip Markoff, the so-called "Craiglist Killer," had pleaded not guilty to murdering a women in Massachusetts he had arranged to meet after responding to her ad in Craigslist's erotic services category.  The Markoff story and the related controversy about whether Craigslist, the free online classified ad web site, should allow people to advertise prostitution was very much in the news. 

Seems like Fantasy World was not so subtly signaling what was for sale inside.  That brazenness, especially given it's proximity to the police substation--about a block and a half away--struck me at the time.

Sidewalk Felicities, and a Suggestion for the ABH

Not sure that this blog can take credit, but two instances of what I highlighted as "sidewalk infelicities" have been improved.

The Northwest and Southwest corners at Prince Ave. and Barber St.--a location with lots of foot traffic--are now much more pedestrian friendly.  Take a look at these before and after shots:

Exhibit 1: Northwest corner of Prince Ave. and Barber St.

Before:

After:

Exhibit 2: Southwest corner of Prince Ave. and Barber St.

Before:

After:

Nice work. But, as I said, I'm not sure that any spotlighting by this blog did anything to spur the work. Athens-Clarke Co. does have a Sidewalk Improvement Program in place, and these corners may have been slated for work under that program or another one long before I took note of them here.

For citizens like me the before-and-after shots have proven to be a very satisfying way to report a problem and then to see that something actually got done. (In this case, I can at least pretend that I had an impact--even though it might have been a coincidence.) I  imagine that public servants might feel a similar satisfaction in being able to be so visibly responsive and effective.

In an earlier post, I suggested that Athens-Clarke Co. government set up its own version of SeeClickFix to allow citizens to publicly report city infrastructure problems like crumbling sidewalks or uncollected trash and to have the county's response to those reports publicly tracked.

Suggestion for the Athens Banner-Herald

Now, I think it might be a good idea if the Athens Banner-Herald hosted and bird-dogged such a site as part of its on-line package.  According to this New York Times article, there's a local daily in Connecticut that's using SeeClickFix to boost its internet traffic and interactivity with readers. (The article includes a link to the newspaper's online site and the SeeClickFix page it maintains there. And, FYI, there's already a nascent SeeClickFix page for Athens--it  just needs some high-profile care and attention.)

It seems like a similar effort here in Athens could produce lots of benefits: citizens might feel a little more empowered; public servants might feel a little more useful and loved; the Athens Banner-Herald might get a positive jolt from the new social media, and the city's infrastructure might improve.

Noticings

Noticings describes itself as "the game of noticing the world around you."

You play Noticings by uploading to Flickr geo-tagged photos of interesting things (not including people or other very transient things) you've noticed when you're out and about.

You get points for spotting the first instance of something in a neighborhood or by a sustained noticing of some particular spot or thing over time.

You can find rules of the game, how-to instructions and lots of photos of odd things here.

As of this writing, no one in Athens, Georgia was playing Noticings.

Via Digital Urban.

Image credit: Screen shot of Noticings banner.

Sherry Jackson Answers My Questions

Sherry Jackson ran for the 46th Senate district in 2008.

The district, which includes roughly the western half of Clarke Co., all of Oconee Co. and the northern two-thirds of Walton Co., is a tough one for Democrats. Jackson lost to popular Republican incumbent state Sen. Bill Cowsert, 57.8 percent to 42.2 percent.

Jackson is an attorney with an office near downtown Athens, but she’s also the executive director of the Northeast Georgia Community Care Services Program—a state and federally funded program that gets older and disabled people the help they need to live at home.

Here—I thought—is somebody who could start educating me a little more about local politics, and particularly about politics within the African American community in Athens. So I emailed her some questions…

Q. In your 2008 race, you outpolled Cowsert in Clarke Co. but lost by wide margins in Oconee and Walton counties. What did you learn about the 46th Senate District? Can a Democrat win in it now? What about an African American?

A. The 46th district is made up of a more progressive Clarke Co. along with a bit more conservative Walton and Oconee Counties.  The district was redrawn a few years back to capture a more Republican populace. In order to achieve this goal, Clarke Co. was divided, with the western half going into the 46th district and the eastern part falling into the 47th district.  Additionally, Walton Co. has enjoyed growth from the urban flight from the Atlanta area.  Like Walton Co., Oconee Co. has also experienced generous growth.  However, the difference is that Oconee Co. has maintained an active Democratic community.   It is unfortunate that the county with the largest population (Clarke Co.) is not represented by the party with whom they most identify and which shares their core values. With that said, I believe that it is possible for a Democrat, African American or otherwise, to win the 46th district, but the sun, stars and moon would have to line up perfectly.

Q. From your perspective, what are the most important local issues for African Americans in Athens-Clarke Co.?

A. The most important local issues for African Americans in Athens-Clarke Co. are jobs, job maintenance and career opportunities.  If there are ample employment opportunities, all of Athens will prosper.  Athens-Clarke county needs to attract hefty employers to this area while at the same time offer a labor-ready pool of employees.  Thus, we need to make sure our young folks are properly educated, trained and prepared for the workforce.  We have the infrastructure in place with our secondary schools, Athens Tech, UGA and other local institutions of higher learning.

Q. Is it fair to say there’s a leadership vacuum within the African American community here in Athens at least in terms of local and state issues?
   
A. We have representation at the local level and a state representative serving from Athens.  It would be great if we could have representation at certain other levels who are equally sensitive to the needs of constituents on both sides of the Arches.

Q. But do you think the leadership within African American community--and this is not just a question about elected officials--is effective in advocating for the community on important issues?

A. Since I believe that the "important issues" stem from the lack of employment opportunities, and since that spreads throughout the African American community as well as the community at large, I think that the leadership is now more apt to listen to viable options (i.e., bio-research facilities) advocated by African American leadership.

Q. Describe the political relationship between local African Americans and local white progressives. Is there much of a sense of partnership or alliance?

A. I appreciated very much the support I received from progressive folks in Clarke and Oconee Counties.  There appears to be a good relationship amongst those of us who share the same core values.

Q. Putting your campaign to the side for a moment, do you think progressives and the African American community do a good job of not taking each other’s support for granted? Is there enough work being done on each side to keep alliances strong?

A. Politics being what it is, I would venture to say that if the politician wants to be re-elected, they would have to have some accountability to the constituency in order to get re-elected.  Most of the local elected officials recognize whom they serve and seek input on how to best serve.

Q. Here’s a non-political question. Let’s say an African American professional—a lawyer or a professor—has a job offer from an employer in Athens. She wants to know what living and working in Athens is like. What do you tell her? What advice? Any cautions?

A. Athens is a great place to live, work, and raise a family.  We have a small town flavor with a progressive and diverse population.  You can witness a great hometown rivalry on Friday nights under the lights or take in a classical ballet or musical concert.  Athens is perfectly situated close enough to Atlanta to enjoy a visit there, but far enough away so that we don’t have to deal with big city issues.   One of our biggest assets is the University of Georgia, which offers cultural activities as well as a large pool of potential clients, and perhaps a friend or two.

Q. Do you have any plans to run for office again? For the state senate seat or something else?

A. Although I still have the political bug in me, I don't have any plans to run for senate or any other office.  I'll just have to satisfy my interests by working on the campaigns of others.

# # #

This interview was conducted via email. The text published here is an ever so slightly edited version of the actual exchange.

Image credit: from the Sherry Jackson 2008 State Senate campaign web site

Transformer and Tree

Image by Dan Lorentz

How to Brand a City--Do's and Don't's

Don’t try to out-suburb the suburbs with car-oriented living.

Do try to understand what makes your city unique, and use that to create a city “brand” that “springs from the native soil.”

That’s the advice Aaron Renn, who writes about cities for a blog called The Urbanophile, is giving to cities and their mayors. He says cities like Austin, Texas, Portland, Ore., Charleston, S.C., Houston, Texas and Las Vegas, Nev. have seen success in part because “they were able to create aspirational narratives about their brand promise that resonated with the people they wanted to attract.”

What should Athens’ brand be?

I want Athens to keep attracting smart, creative people who like to walk or bike to work, school and play. So, I’d like to create an Athens city brand built on an incredibly vibrant college town scene that’s fed by great local food, serenaded by the best music anywhere--all woven together by some of most walkable and green neighborhoods you’ll find in the South. (There’s still a lot—a lot—of work to be done to create the kind of neighborhoods I’m envisioning, but the raw materials are here.)

What’s your brand idea? And can you express it in a bite-sized, catchy phrase? (I can’t for mine—at least not yet.)

Read Renn’s article here.

Apps for Athens Policymakers

“What apps would you find useful as an Athens-Clarke Co. policymaker?”

That’s the question I emailed a couple weeks ago to all county commissioners and a few other county-level policymakers. I let people know that I was welcoming serious as well as fanciful suggestions.

After I emailed the question, I found out—according to one insider’s estimate—just five of the eleven commissioners use iPhones or similar devices.  Still, I  got a couple responses

Here is what I got. The asterisked ones are the ideas of ACC policymakers. The rest are mine. If you’ve got a suggestion for an app that would be useful to local policymakers, email me.

CrystalBall*
How’s this new development going to pan out? Use your iPhone to gauge the true motivations of developers, predict future economic downturns and tell you who will be sitting on the commission ten years hence when the development is actually built.

ThisWorks
Looking for a workable solution fast? Want to look smart? With your iPhone, you can be an innovative policy wonk in any setting. ThisWorks is a portal to a constantly updated database of innovative local programs and policies—all of which have been performance evaluated and have won national policy awards.

TellMeWhy--Again
Tell me once more why I sought public office? Why exactly are you putting up with so much crap from the media, from your constituents, from your fellow elected officials, from your own family? Your iPhone will remind you with a customizable audio pep talk composed of only the most heartfelt and authentic reasons for public service.

Zowner**
Who owns this rat-infested apartment building?  Isn’t this block zoned for single-family homes? Tapping into the Tax Assessor’s database, your iPhone will answer your parcel zoning and ownership questions as they occur to you. (Zone + owner = zowner, get it?)

SeeIt *
Unless you’re an experienced architect, you can’t tell what a building will look like from site plans and elevations. Let your iPhone build a photo-realistic 3-D model so you can actually see it.

NumberCruncher
Imagine having constant access to the budget director. Now, quickly answer your budgetary questions with your iPhone. See revenue estimates, tally expenditures, model tax changes and more.

CodeStat**
Find the full text of every provision in the municipal code and in state statutes even if you’re nowhere near a desktop. This app turns your iPhone into a blazingly fast handheld legislative database.

Carvillizer
Have a tough campaign decision to make? With this app, your iPhone becomes a personal James Carville—a foulmouthed but effective campaign manager. You’ll get battletested advice about campaign tactics packaged in expletive-laced, down-home similes.

WhoDoesWhat**
Handle constituent requests for help on the spot. Use your iPhone to identify the right government employee to contact—and get the process started with an email, phone call or instant message right then and there.

SitRep
You’ll feel like you’re in a command center as you use your iPhone to access geo-tagged realtime information about local traffic and weather conditions and police, fire and other emergency service responses.

FrameIt
Aren’t you supposed to represent me? Why don’t you just cut taxes? How come you can’t snap your fingers and make X, Y or Z happen?  Use your iPhone to refresh your memory about the best ways to respond to questions like these and more. You select ideological framework and set the answer complexity scale.

FlakJacket
When you can’t avoid taking flak, use your iPhone to steel yourself by listening in advance to searing criticism and unfair mockery. Pick from a gallery of critics and set the level of derision you want to get ready for. There’s everything from whining egghead to snarky blogger to barking Bible-thumper.

EgoPuff
Say something stupid to a reporter? Did a constituent yell at you? Use your iPhone to cheer up by watching an easy-to-create inspirational video about you. Include happy things: favorite photos, uplifting quotes, your margin of victory, reminders of famous political comebacks. Choose an upbeat soundtrack.

Programmer
Tell constituents on the spot if they’re likely to qualify for help from a whole range of local, state and federal programs—everything from Earned Income Tax Credits to Unemployment Compensation to Homestead Exemptions. This app turns your iPhone into one-stop eligibility determination bureaucrat.

Speechify
Just add a few details and select from a menu of occasion/audience types, and let your iPhone generate a speech script for you. It’ll be a good speech, too: humorous, sprinkled with current pop-culture references, full of poll-tested sound bites and memorable turns-of-phrase. Adjustable scroll speeds.

WhisperingAide
Never lack something personal and flattering to say to any constituent or potential campaign donor you meet. Pretend you’re just ending a phone call and whisper in a name, and your iPhone will whisper back personal details…husband’s name, names of kids, proximity to birthday, volunteer activities, job, contribution level, etc.

--- --- ---
* Commissioner Alice Kinman suggested these. She played on the more fantastic side of things because—in part—the real-world work of local policymakers is “so complicated that it’s hard to think in terms of the type of information you can get from an iPhone app.”

**Commissioner Kelly Girtz suggested these, but noted: “I think I was the very last of my friends to move up to the cell phone from smoke signals. The iPhone or equivalent is still way over the horizon.”

Robert Goodspeed writes about—in a nonfictional way—the intersection of local government and new social media/technologies. Read this and this.

[Correction: As originally published, this post incorrectly attributed Commissioner Kinman's app suggestions to Commissioner Girtz, and vice versa. Sorry! This has been corrected.]

Image by Dan Lorentz

 

Satula Ave. Substation

Image by Dan Lorentz

Free "The Bus"?

Local bus systems can't survive without lots of subsidies from government, and Athens Transit is no exception.

So, to help turn local bus service into a power tool for economic development--and this is not counting its anti-pollution and traffic safety improving effects--subsidize it even more.

In fact, drop the whole (rather expensive) exercise of collecting fares. Instead: increase the frequency of service, add more routes, extend hours of operation--and offer free rides for everyone, all the time.

It might work, at least according to this article which notes what a "distinct chorus" of transit advocates are suggesting.

Of course, we'd probably need to get the state to start chipping in on the subsidy front, push for some rejiggering of federal transportation aid, and start considering local subsidies as investments in economic development...but all this might be doable if cities--including small ones like Athens--started pushing more aggressively and intelligently for their interests.

(Via Planetizen.)

A War Room for Fighting Local Poverty

The Suggestion

Set up a war room in downtown Athens for fighting local poverty.

In military terms, the war room is the place that coordinates military activities. Situation reports come in. Progress is gauged. Tactics discussed. Orders issued. The resources and authority for decision-making are concentrated under one roof.

Under the one roof of the local anti-poverty war room, you’d find more than a one-stop shop for low-income people seeking help from existing programs.

What you’d find is the community’s best anti-poverty fighters working closely together to help individual low-income people solve problems and then using that day-to-day experience to build better local systems of help. 

And you’d feel the urgency, the intensity in the room.

Less abstractly, here’s what you’d encounter if you walked into that war room downtown:

• Low-income people interacting with the best case-managers from every major local anti-poverty program in town;

• An emergency needs taskforce ready to provide housing, food or health care;

• Scouts returning from reconnaissance missions with information about people who might need help, but haven’t yet sought it out;

• Charity monitors keeping track of which churches and non-profits have what on hand;

• A data squad gathering and reporting information need to track progress;

• A story corps interviewing clients and case-managers so they can tell the community about what’s happening in the war room and to low-income people in Athens;

• A phalanx of grant-writers and policy innovators seeking financial help from and pitching ideas to foundations and government programs;

• A giant whiteboard covered with numbers recording the daily progress (or lack of it) in reducing poverty; and

• A round table where, every day, everyone who works in the war room gets together to solve tough cases and share ideas about how to make helping more effective and efficient in Athens.

Why It’s a Good Idea

In a county like ours, where the 30.8 percent poverty rate is more than double state and national rates, doing the best job we can locally to reduce poverty has got to be a priority.

It’s true that the war room analogy is not perfect. Fighting poverty is more about creating and building things—like pathways to good jobs, affordable housing, good schools—than it is about blowing things up. But a war room concentrates and networks resources. It creates shared responsibility and a sense of urgency.  We need that.

Creating the anti-poverty war room is important, but so is its location. It should be downtown. Besides being accessible for low-income people, downtown is a place of attention and resources. It’s the most vital hub of our community. It’s the best place to gather our forces and stay focused on the fight against poverty.

Who the Suggestion is For

This is a suggestion for anti-poverty programs and groups in Athens. It was, in part,  inspired by—and builds on—the community recommendations for addressing poverty published by Partners for a Prosperous Athens (now OneAthens) in 2006, a document I've been looking at lately.

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Got a suggestion? Serious or half-baked or both? Keep it under 500 words, follow the format you see here, and email it to me. I might post it.

NOTE: This post is a somewhat similar to a longer post I wrote for another blog.

Think Locally, Act State-ly, and Other Good Ideas

Think locally, act state-ly. It's all fine and dandy to get hot and bothered by who's going to be mayor and who's going to be on the commission, says Johnathan McGinty, but unless more progressives are sent to the State House which exercises lots of control over local governments, lots of important local changes simply won't happen. Want to provide property tax relief to low-income homeowners? Want the state DOT to start practicing a "complete streets" policy? Want the blue laws changed so we can get a full-service grocery store downtown? Help progressives get elected to the State House not just from Athens, but from districts throughout the state. It's a good suggestion. I'll be keeping it in mind as I decide where to make my political contributions next campaign season. (Don't blame Johnathan for the "act state-ly" abomination--he refrained.)

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"Worse than I remembered." That's how Pete McCommons summed up his recent trip down memory lane to the tense times preceding the admission of African-American students Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes to the University of Georgia. His memory was refreshed after reading We Shall Not Be Moved: The Desegregation of the University of Georgia by Robert Pratt.  It's a book McCommons recommends, and one I'll be reading soon.

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How about something even better? In his most recent Athens Rising column in Flagpole, Kevan Williams highlights positive developments in Athens, but he pushes a little--asking for more. About the new river overlook, he asks: why not a full pedestrian bridge? About a new effort to convert blighted apartment complexes into affordable housing, he asks if the new low-income residents will have to drive or take long bus rides to get to grocery stores. These are good questions--questions that seek to enhance the connectivity and day-to-day practicality of the city we live in. Does it connect? Does it help with daily life?  We should always ask these questions, even if we can't always realize them as fully as we'd like to.

A. R. Killian's Athens

A. R. Killian is a retired letter-carrier who lives on Chase St., right across from Chase St. Elementary School and kitty-corner from The Bread Basket. He served in the Air Force during the Korean Conflict, and was Athens’ first African-American police officer. I spotted him in his yard the other day, and asked him a few questions about Athens.

Where do you enjoy walking in town?

Right now I don’t walk. I used to walk downtown. I used to go downtown, park my car and walk all over town. I parked where I could park without getting a ticket. I just walked through town to see what was going on.

And I guess that habit started when I was in high school and I worked downtown. I worked for Fickett’s Jewelry store back in the 50s. Mr. Fickett was a New Englander, and he moved to Athens and started a jewelry store. He was an optometrist, and a watchmaker. I really learned a lot working for them. I made $2.50 a week—that was a lot of money back then. I cleaned-up. Polished jewelry. Went to the bank. Went to the post office. Delivered packages. Repaired jewelry. Went everywhere.

If you worked downtown, you could go in any establishment because they recognized you as working for Mr. Fickett.

If you could change one thing about traffic in Athens, what would that be?

Slow it down. People drive, and don’t pay any attention. They run the red light. I have seen people right in front of this house talking on the telephone and get so engrossed in the phone they just come to a complete stop in the middle of the street.

What’s missing in Athens?

I don’t know. I really don’t know. When you go downtown, there’s everything kind of eating establishment. I really can’t think of anything that’s missing—at least not for me.

What annoys you most about Athens?

The police locking up students. Instead of giving a student a second chance or talking to him, trying to put him on the right track, they lock him up, and give him a record. I was reading in the paper this morning, they locked up 18 underage drinkers. That’s going to be on their records forever. The law for drinking in Georgia when I went in the war was 18. Now, it’s 21. You are going to send a man off to Iraq, Afghanistan—to get him killed, and he can’t drink a beer. There’s something wrong with that.

What’s your favorite spot in town? 

The Bread Basket, right across the street. Newspaper. Food. I see people I know. I walk over there every day. I guess the main reason I don’t subscribe to the paper is I get up every morning and walk to the Bread Basket and buy it there. The people that work there are nice. It’s a good routine. I guess it’s my favorite place.

What picture would you put on a postcard of Athens?

The University of Georgia. That’s what it’s known for. But I haven’t thought about it, really.

Is there a local issue you want to comment on?

The main thing is, if the economy is down and the people don’t have money, how in the world are you going to finance things like the tennis courts? We don’t need tennis courts…I mean, I can’t say we don’t need them, but you don’t need them if you can’t pay for them. That’s what I’m saying. Anything you can afford is all right. But if you got to use deficit spending, and put other people in a bind, then you need to let that alone.

Is there anything else you’d like to say about Athens?

Well, I left Athens in 1950, and I swore that I would never come back to Athens for anything except my mother’s funeral [because of the racial climate and lack of job opportunities].

I served in the Air Force in Europe. I moved to California and went to school, and I was doing well in California. And one day I just got the urge to come back to Athens. And I called my Momma, and she told me I was crazy.

But I came back to Athens [in 1961]. And I guess my job was to keep Hamp [Hamilton Holmes] home so he could integrate the University of Georgia. Then I integrated the police department, and then I went to the post office…And one thing after another.

When Hamp came—Hamp and Charlayne [Hunter]…the week they were supposed to start at school the decision came down that said unless Hamp had a place off campus to live, he could not go. My mother got a call wanting to know if she knew anybody who could keep Hamp. I hadn’t been back from California too long. I told her I had been through a war. I fought to be free. And he could stay with us. And he did. He stayed with us two years [at a place on Harris and Broad Sts.] And the clan came out to burn a cross…Now, the army taught me what to do. I didn’t go to the military just to go. I went to learn to be free…

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This recorded interview was lightly edited and condensed.