Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Mishmash

Union Point
We're intrigued, in a morbid sort of way, by the whole Union Point political shenanigans from last year. Allison Floyd (in what we humbly thought was one of the best pieces we've seen her do) wrote up a nice story on it last year, which is worth checking out, if you have no idea what we're talking about. If you do have a clue as to what we're referring, then today's ABH has a little somethin-somethin about the state of affairs now. Still, we're troubled by this passage.

"Now, she's one of seven newcomers and long-time residents who are running for a seat on the Union Point City Council in hopes of re-invigorating the historic mill town and turning it into a tourist destination of the same caliber as Madison and Greensboro."


Madison and Greensboro? Madison and Greensboro? We'd be lying if we said we didn't almost spit-take a mouthful of Diet Coke (with Splenda, yummy) onto the keyboard when we read that. You've got a wide-open chance to remake your city, rebuild its political infrastructure from the ground up, and the highest you can set the bar is Madison and Greensboro? But we digress.

They're electing a bunch of new city council members. We reckon that's the main thing.

Andy Rusk
As mentioned previously, andyrusk.com is up and running, with comment functionality. Pay him a visit, and again, we'll note that Andy (though he's been strangely silent recently) is the only mayoral candidate yet to reach out to AP.

Life is Different on the Other Side of the Border
Dig this piece on the proposed updating of the sign ordinance in Oconee County. You know that in ACC, that kind of proposal wouldn't even see the pitiful light provided by Carl Jordan's lighting ordinance. We've been meaning to talk a little bit about Oconee County politics, but to be honest, don't know a whole bunch about stuff over there, other than these salient points.
  1. They like development a whole lot more than ACC.
  2. Their local electeds are all Republicans.
  3. Becky Vaughn lives there. They didn't care for her last November.
  4. They didn't like Doug Haines very much either in 2002.
  5. They like development a whole lot more than ACC.
  6. They have a friggin' fantastic animal shelter, and one member of the crack editorial staff can back that up, because he got his puppy dog from them.
  7. The Oconee County Democratic Party, while smaller in number, seems to have its shit together when compared to the ACC Democratic Party. See this example.
Tips.


3 comments:

hillary said...

Okay, but if you're trying to attract tourists, aiming for Madison-like stature is pretty reasonable what with the historic stuff and all. Plus, I like Madison. It's home to the best meatloaf in the world.

Jmac said...

From what I can gather, much of the rivalries in Oconee County stem from individuals who see the potential in ramping up development even more out there, and those folks who enjoy the more small town setting of places like Watkinsville.

Kind of an Old Oconee County versus New Oconee County kind of thing.

Anonymous said...

Georgia is Blessed with many lovely old cities in the Union Point area. I know Madison has that tour of homes every year and somewhere in a pasture near Greensboro lives the iron horse but that's about the limit of my knowledge. Since all of these places need tourists to survive as they are, and since Union Point is at a starting point, why not get together and make that area a historic tourist area with a joined promotion that highlights that there is enough to see and enjoy to stay a long weekend or even longer, not just one afternoon. Union Point could lead the efforts in this way and help everyone out and make their city the focus of all the tours, activities, etc.

Just an idea.