Blog Topic: Bummertown

In the Loop: UGA Buses Won't Stop on Prince Avenue Anymore

By Blake Aued | April 17, 2014 1:50pm

Ever since the University of Georgia started operating a free bus that runs between the Health Sciences Campus in Normaltown and the main campus, Athens Transit has been struggling with lost ridership and revenue as riders opted to take the free bus that runs every 20 minutes rather than wait for the one that comes once and hour and costs $1.60.

No more. Starting July 1, the Health Sciences bus won't stop on Prince Avenue and won't pick up passengers who aren't UGA students or employees.

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In the Loop: UGA Tuition Is Going Up—Again

By Blake Aued | April 15, 2014 6:39pm

The Board of Regents voted today to raise tuition at the University of Georgia by 7 percent, continuing the trend of shifting costs from taxpayers to students and their families.

In-state tuition for UGA students who take more than six hours of classes will be $4,295 per semester in the fall, compared to $4,014 this year.

Even before today's tuition hike, UGA students were already resorting to online fundraisersto pay their school bills. This fall, some of them will struggle even more, according to Claire Suggs, senior education policy analyst at the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute:

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In the Loop: New Downtown Plans Are Worse than Selig

By Blake Aued | April 10, 2014 3:22pm

A rendering of the development as seen from Oconee Street.

Did you hate Selig Enterprises' plans for the Armstrong & Dobbs property on the eastern edge of downtown? Wait 'til you see this.

Atlanta-based Selig and its new majority partner, Athens student housing developer Landmark Properties, have submitted new plans drawn up by Oconee County's Williams & Associates for the eight-acre tract between East Broad and Oconee streets—and they're worse than ever.

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Grub Notes: Little Italy Scraps $5 Lunch Special

By Hillary Brown | January 28, 2014 9:52am

Look, minor menu modifications are not usually cause for an entire Grub Notes blog post, but Little Italy has recently gotten rid of its amazing $5 lunch special (half a sub and a drink or two one-topping slices and a drink), and a knee deserves to be taken in sadness. Here's what the Facebook post says:

The cheese market rise is due to the global economy. Search out info on it on the web. Long story short, high corn prices for feed, Chinese demand for milk, drought in Austrailia and New Zealand (exporting milk powder). Worse of all, a 1940's-50's Farm Bill still has yet to be re-negotiated by our Government. Farmer subsidies are at risk. Little italy lunch special is over but now you can get any half of sub for $4.00 all day every day

Even though the drinks in question were (and remain) Pepsi products, it was one of the best deals in town. Canada is apparently in the same boat, according to Canadian Pizza magazine.

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In the Loop: Books for Keeps Needs a New Warehouse

By Blake Aued | January 13, 2014 10:55am

Books for Keeps, a local nonprofit that gives books to children, needs new storage space after the roof of the warehouse it was using collapsed in a storm.

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Homedrone: UPDATED with Serial Numbers: Vincas, The Powder Room Have Gear Stolen on Tour

By Gabe Vodicka | November 9, 2013 12:56pm

Photo Credit: Mike White

The Powder Room

Shit news from Chicago, where locals Vincas and The Powder Room played last night as part of their current tour. The Powder Room posts on Facebook that the van the two groups are traveling in was broken into sometime after the show and "half of our gear was stolen."

After the jump, the list of missing equipment. If you live in or know somebody in the Chicago area, please share this info and keep a look out.

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Grub Notes: Weaver D's Is Closing for Real

By Hillary Brown | November 4, 2013 12:20pm

This post could stand with just its title. The details are almost beside the point. When you've already threatened to close and then put your business up for sale officially, the announcement that you really, really are closing this time (which came today via owner Dexter Weaver's Facebook page) isn't a surprise, even if it is a sadness after 27-plus years.

The announcement, after the jump.

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In the Loop: Athens Transit Might Raise Bus Fares

By Blake Aued | October 28, 2013 3:41pm

Athens Transit will hold a public hearing on the proposed fare increase from 2–3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29 at the Multimodal Center.

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In the Loop: How Paul Broun and a Handful of Tea Party Congressmen Shut Down the Government

By Blake Aued | October 3, 2013 12:39pm

Last week, The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza wrote about 80 Republican congressmen who forced House Speaker John Boehner into the politically disastrous course of demanding the repeal of the Affordable Care Act or else shutting down the government. Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer dubbed them "the suicide caucus."

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In the Loop: Surprise, Surprise: A Historic Buena Vista House Has Been Torn Down

By Blake Aued | September 12, 2013 4:07pm

As predicted, a century-old cottage that was left out of the Buena Vista historic district last year has been demolished. Homebuilder Jared York took down the cottage at 167 Park Ave. today.

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