My Athens

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.

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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

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.

* * *

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.

Progressive Urbanism for Upscale Whites Only?

Urban affairs writer Aaron Renn asks a squirm-inducing question for self-identified progressive urbanists like me: how come the so-called most progressive cities—the cities that have the best anti-sprawl, density and transportation policies—are also so “white” ethnically? And can an American city really call itself progressive if it lacks diversity?

Renn, who runs a blog called The Urbanophile, has a nuanced answer to this question, but the short version is that because African-Americans and Latino immigrants are disproportionately poor they often have different local planning priorities than upscale whites.

Citing what’s happening in Cincinnati where a coalition of African-Americans and anti-tax Republicans has formed to oppose a proposed streetcar system, Renn cautions that progressive urbanists who take for granted the support of African-Americans and Latinos are in for some rude surprises.

Selections from Renn’s article:

“In fact, not one of these “progressive” cities [Portland, Seattle, Austin, Minneapolis, Denver] even reaches the national average for African American percentage population in its core county. Perhaps not progressiveness but whiteness is the defining characteristic of the group…

This [the fact that African-Americans and Latino immigrants are disproportionately poor and often have different site priorities and sensibilities than upscale whites] may explain why most of the smaller cities of the Midwest and South have not proven amenable to replicating the policies of Portland. Most Midwest advocates of, for example, rail transit, have tried to simply transplant the Portland solution to their city without thinking about the local context in terms of system goals and design, and how to sell it. Civic leaders in city after city duly make their pilgrimage to Denver or Portland to check out shiny new transit systems, but the resulting videos of smiling yuppies and happy hipsters are not likely to impress anyone over at the local NAACP or in the barrios.

We are seeing this script played out in Cincinnati presently, where an odd coalition of African Americans and anti-tax Republicans has formed to try to stop a streetcar system. Streetcar advocates imported Portland's solution and arguments to Cincinnati without thinking hard enough to make the case for how it would benefit the whole community.

That's not to let these other cities off the hook. Most of them have let their urban cores decay. Almost without exception, they have done nothing to engage with their African American populations. If people really believe what they say about diversity being a source of strength, why not act like it? I believe that cities that start taking their African American and other minority communities seriously, seeing them as a pillar of civic growth, will reap big dividends and distinguish themselves in the marketplace.”

Read the full article.

Ben Emanuel Answers My Questions

By Dan Lorentz

For those of you who don’t take notice of bylines, Ben Emanuel writes about local government and politics for Flagpole Magazine.  He pens the City Dope column.

To help me better understand my new hometown, I asked Emanuel a few basic questions about the landscape of local politics here in Athens.

I’m glad I asked him my questions when I did. In September, Emanuel will mark his fourth—and, it turns out, final—year as city editor for the weekly paper. This fall he will be transitioning out of local journalism and into environmental advocacy and watershed protection.

Q. Every community seems to have a set of durable conflicts that shape local politics. What are the key conflicts in Athens? Who are the major players?

A. Certainly there's the longstanding issue of town-gown relations—both cooperation and conflict—in all its permutations. The multitude of permutations means that town-gown conflict can take shape through any number of issues, from homeowner-renter/student conflict. For example,  the single-family zoning issues and the rental registration ordinance, early in Heidi's [Athens-Clarke Co. Mayor Heidi Davison] first term), to conflict over the growth of the university (where did that new parking deck at the intramural fields come from?!).

In the end, of course, all the town-gown stuff basically boils down to economics—pretty paradoxical economics. The smallest county in the state has a lot of state-owned land that's off the tax rolls, although not all the UGA Real Estate Foundation's land is off the rolls, [UGA director of community relations] Pat Allen pointed out to me once.  But then again, would Athens even be here if not for UGA?

This economic angle leads straight into a more cultural dimension of the same thing: the resentment that many locals feel toward students, despite the obvious relationship that, for example, [Flagpole Magazine publisher] Pete McCommons hit on in a Pub Notes column at this time of year, two years ago: "This is where Athens gets really strange. It's why we're here, really, as much as the students. You may not personally brighten at the prospect of liquored-up red hordes, but you benefit from them. They bring you money, whether directly or indirectly, and their cash helps keep Athens weird and also reminds us why we want it so."

Another key conflict, while not nearly as old as that one, is growth. In terms of the sprawl angle, this conflict is maybe just a decade or two old, but it's still a defining one—in part because Athens has tried to take a different approach to the issue from the rest of north Georgia.

Of course, "growth" to some means general economic growth, not just land development, so then you get into economic development issues like NBAF [the proposed National Bio- and Agro- Defense Facility] or even the Enron (!) thing several years ago. [Enron thing=the controversy that erupted in 2001 about Athens-Clarke Co.'s efforts to encourage Enron to build and operate a 560 megawatt natural gas power plant in the county.]  The major players are: environmental/land use advocates, economic development/Chamber of Commerce folks, local government (on both sides of the equation).

There's also the not-really-all-that-often discussed matrix of race issues, with poverty issues intersecting heavily. There's Athens/Oconee Co. stuff, with so many upper-middle-class Clarke Co. workers living in Oconee.

Let's close for now with the intra-government conflict between Athens-Clarke Co. (ACC) elected officials (and their constituents) and ACC staff. Since, under the ACC charter, the manager's office holds a lot of power and the mayor is basically assigned the task of herding cats on the commission (okay, along with some other things), many people see this as an ongoing friction that's important. It is, but sometimes I think this friction is overstated.

Q. There will be a few major stories about the upcoming 2010 mayoral election in Athens. What will they be? Speculate. [Note: I asked this question just before Spencer Fyre, executive director of Habitat for Humanity in Athens, announced he was setting-up an exploratory committee to raise funds for a possible run for mayor.]

A. Well, it'll depend who's running, won't it?

It's fair to say that Charlie Maddox and Nancy Denson appear be trying to line up support very early, but I tend to think there will be at least another fairly serious candidate or two before it's all said and done. Sorry, but at present I don't see either of the college students who are running as serious candidates.

If we assume that there's an additional candidate (or candidates?) on the left end of things, then I think we've got a story along these contours: What's next for the whole general liberal-progressive agenda which has taken hold in Athens over the past decade? The commission has changed character almost completely in 10 years, and while there might be a few seats up for grabs in 2010, outside of District 7 [seat currently held by Commissioner Kathy Hoard] it's hard to see the general bent of the commission changing much.

But it has taken several years (a) for the mayor and commission to fully turn over, and (b) for the body then to find its footing and learn how to advance a progressive agenda in the most efficient ways.

So, I think it's already an open question about where we're headed as a sorta-working-on-progressive city, and it makes sense to me that that concern would be crystallized in the mayor's race. But I'll admit it's my own bias to see that as a big issue.

But there's also economic development. All candidates will have to be thinking about it. A relevant question: What have various folks learned from the NBAF thing?

Just one more issue: charter review. I don't know and can't say how it will come up in the election, but it's supposed to happen soon thereafter, if I understand correctly. Periodic review of the ACC charter is built into the document itself; open questions may well pertain to the form of government here. Could get interesting.

Q. A little history lesson, please. How has the commission changed almost completely in 10 years? What drove the change?

A. In a nutshell, it's just that the mayor and commission, as a body, has shifted toward a strong predominance of liberal-progressive political perspectives. You can see the contrast most starkly in seats like District 5, where David Lynn replaced the late Hugh Logan, and in the mayor's seat, where Heidi replaced Doc Eldridge. Even if most folks around here were called Democrats back then (and Doc was, in case you don't know), they were traditional centrist/conservative "Democrats" (or good old boys, as some would say). I don't want to overstate it—after all, Gwen O'Looney was mayor before Doc, and if Gwen wasn't a break with tradition...

Basically, you now have folks in elected office here who value environmental protection, neighborhood protection, who are socially liberal and who seem to be interested in promoting the kinds of things a progressive city promotes, from bike lanes to partner benefits to vigorous recycling and on down the line. I guess that's fairly obvious to a newcomer, but just remember that we are a smallish Southern town, so—like anywhere—things haven't always been this way!

What drove the change? I don't know—maybe the townies and the liberal profs and their kids all just finally built up enough critical mass to win elections? Maybe certain issues—like land use/ sprawl/ growth—catalyzed political change? I wasn't around back then (er, okay, I technically was around starting in the very late '90s, but I was in college, and NOT paying attention to this stuff), so I have to say I really wouldn't know.

There's probably a lot in what I've written above that long-timers here could and would correct or finesse!

Q. Who cares the most about the outcome of the 2010 mayoral election? Which people? Which constituencies or interest groups are hungriest to win?

A. I'm not sure I know yet. I've already made clear here, I think, that I tend to think from the liberal-progressive (and enviro) perspective, and I think that that whole crowd will be very interested in holding onto their gains of the last few election cycles while also laying a foundation to continue moving their agenda forward. So I think those folks are hungry to win for those reasons.

Is the Chamber of Commerce/ Republican crowd hungry to win back City Hall? Maybe, but we're not really seeing it yet. And if they are, they might need to find a stronger candidate than what they've got. Who knows: maybe they will find someone else.

Meanwhile, for some people there's probably a very real question of how much the mayor's race matters, on account of our form of government. It will matter, though, to enough people, at least as much as past unified government mayoral elections have: after all, you could say that change is still underway here, and has only begun but is not fully accomplished. And you need a mayor to direct that change, most likely.

So personally, I see the race in those terms: the folks who want to see a truly progressive city here probably feel the need to keep working hard and lay the groundwork for continued progressive change. This may be a narrow perspective on my part, but hey: it's early yet. It may well be that a lot of people will express their preference for a moderate political position (or conservative, for some), but I don't see them as "hungriest." That's just me!

Q. Local government officials have recognized and are dealing with a host of challenges facing the community. Are they missing anything? What challenges aren’t getting the attention they should?

A. I tend to give our local officials a lot of credit on this front. I'd be tempted to say that air quality doesn't get quite the depth of attention it really needs, but then again it was a topic at this month's Mayor & Commission work session (see John Huie's story in Flagpole), and apparently ACC Environmental Coordinator Dick Field made the argument there that we've done a lot to improve the situation already.

To take another example from last week's Flagpole, homelessness is a growing problem, which everyone's aware of, but I think it's fair to say that the problem is outstripping the "solution infrastructure" at present.

That's not really the kind of thing you're asking for, I realize, but I'd guess (purely a guess) that you could say the same about a lot of social-service issues right now. For instance, it seems like out-of-school opportunities for middle- and high-schoolers are light here compared to bigger cities, but I've heard folks recently talking about getting those kids into work readiness stuff and other programs.

That's the thing about Athens: most stuff is probably on the radar, but a whole lot of stuff probably also needs attention in more depth. But I'm probably missing something!
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This interview was conducted via email. The text published here is an ever so slightly condensed and edited version of the actual exchange, and has been reviewed by the interview subject.

First Impressions

Here’s a small collection of my first impressions of Athens, Ga., my new hometown since May 2008. I collect these jottings I made earlier now—while they’re relatively fresh—mainly because I’m interested to see how my thinking about the city will change over time. They’re not listed in any particular order. In the service of accurately recording them, any contradictions, incoherencies and superficialities have been left intact.

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Exuberant, subversive vegetation. Front yard gardens invade and colonize swaths of sidewalk surface. Tree roots attack from below. If people suddenly vanished from here, the plants would overthrow the pavement within a month.

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Pockmarked by poverty. Public housing projects here, there, everywhere.

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At night, there’s a casual romance to the place. You see lots of couples strolling together. Strings of lights sparkle from many porches. There’s almost always music floating in the air from somewhere.

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Two varieties of nonchalance are present here. 1. A pleasant informality perked with attentiveness and gently constrained by tact and patience. 2. A self-consciously cavalier attitude about promptness mixed with a distaste for precision.

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You can apparently keep discovering yet another really good place to eat here.

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The music of Athens itself: metallic drone of the cicadas, rumble of trains, almost inaudible trumpets of the Naval Supply Corps School, bursts of dogs barking, ambushes of party noises.

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Rusty water towers. Steaming ravines choked with kudzu. Lines of tall, fat cumulus clouds moving slowly on the horizon. Reclining cats, panting.

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A core of charm surrounded by yuck.

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Blacks and whites live in closer proximity here than in some other places I’ve lived. Yet, even more so than other places, the two communities seem to live parallel—not intersecting—lives in the same space. Awkward.

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Smart mayor. Helpful city employees. Citizens responded quickly, effectively to drought. Intelligent coverage of local issues, especially in Flagpole.

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