Blog Topic: Government

In the Loop: Officials Urge Oconee County to Raise Taxes for Caterpillar, Road Improvements

By Lee Becker | January 26, 2015 4:01pm

Photo Credit: Lee Becker

Given the costs of paying for the enticements to bring Caterpillar to the area, the need for new judicial facilities and the plans to build new roads and maintain the existing ones, Oconee County commissioners should consider an increase in the county’s property tax rate.

That was the message of Wes Geddings, county finance director, in the opening session of a day-long planning meeting held by the Oconee Board of Commissioners at a conference venue in Athens-Clarke County on Wednesday.

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In the Loop: Athens Police and Citizens Talk Race and Bias

By Blake Aued | January 19, 2015 10:49am

Photo Credit: Blake Aued

"Comply and complain" was the refrain police used over and over again during a town hall meeting with local law enforcement on Saturday.

A panel of community leaders briefly tackled a number of important issues—gentrification, low voter turnout, lack of minority representation in government—but in the wake of recent high-profile cases where police killed African Americans, the No.1 concern was the police department's relationship with minorities.

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In the Loop: Gov. Nathan Deal Is Against Legal Pot, '90s Fashion

By Blake Aued | January 14, 2015 3:58pm

Gov. Nathan Deal gave his annual State of the State address today. Here are some of the highlights:

• He called for a "comprehensive look" at education funding, calling the state's QBE formula (which has never been fully funded, especially under Republican leadership) outdated. "Just as most of us wouldn’t dress our children in parachute pants and jelly shoes and we wouldn’t teach them about computers on a Commodore 64, neither should we educate them under a 1980s funding formula," he said. But any reform won't happen until 2016, at the earliest.

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In the Loop: The Prince Avenue Flags Made the Atlanta News

By Blake Aued | January 8, 2015 2:26pm

Photo Credit: Blake Aued

Tim Bryant had a great quote on Facebook: He is "at the same time amazed and yet also unsurprised that Athens, of all places, makes a statewide issue out of crossing the street. "

11Alive did a story yesterday on the new Prince Avenue orange flag interpretive danceprogram.

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In the Loop: You Can Buy Liquor in Oconee County Restaurants Now

By Lee Becker | January 8, 2015 11:21am

Photo Credit: Lee Becker

As a result of action taken Tuesday night by the Oconee County Board of Commissioners, the county now has a new liquor ordinance that allows for the sale of beer, wine and other alcoholic drinks in county restaurants.

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In the Loop: The New Crossing-Prince Flags Are Up

By Blake Aued | January 7, 2015 10:50am

Photo Credit: Jessica Pritchard Mangum

Flagpole ad reps Andrea Craven Holt and Anita Aubrey try out the flags. (Spoiler alert: They're still alive.)

At the dangerous Grit and Daily crosswalks on Prince Avenue, Athens-Clarke County installed holders with orange flags this morning for pedestrians to wave as they cross the street, which either will get drivers to stop or enrage them like a red cape waved at a bull.

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In the Loop: Athens-Clarke County Wants You to Wave Flags to Cross Prince Avenue

By Blake Aued | January 6, 2015 2:24pm

Photo Credit: U.S. Navy

For a while now, Athens-Clarke County has refused to do much to make Prince Avenue safer to cross in spite of pleas from neighborhood residents and businesses—not move a dangerously located crosswalk, install more visible signals or consider even experimenting with fewer travel lanes, medians and/or pedestrian islands.

Now, perhaps county officials have come up with a solution. Tomorrow, the ACC Traffic Engineering Division will install orange flags and flagholders on either side of the crosswalks at The Grit and Daily Grocery.

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In the Loop: Nancy Denson's Daughter Might Run for Mayor, Too

By Blake Aued | December 30, 2014 3:59pm

State Rep. Margaret Kaiser, the daughter of Athens-Clarke County Mayor Nancy Denson, is considering running for mayor of Atlanta in 2017, according to Creative Loafing.

"I want to consider my options," she told reporter Max Blau. "But if I run, it's going to be because I think I would be a damn good mayor."

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In the Loop: UGA Is Handing Out Football Tickets to Lawmakers Left and Right

By Blake Aued | December 29, 2014 2:12pm

An ethics reform law passed in 2012 capped lobbyists' gifts to state lawmakers at $75. But giving hasn't slowed down for the University of Georgia and other public colleges and universities. That's because government employees are no longer required to register as lobbyists.

Since they're not officially lobbyists, the state ethics commission no longer keeps tabs on University System spending. But the Atlanta Journal-Constitution filed open-records requests with the schools themselves. The investigation found that they spent a total of $48,000 on legislators since last November and exceeded the $75 limit 20 times.

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In the Loop: Athens Rep. Regina Quick Questions Need for Transportation Funding

By Lee Becker | December 19, 2014 4:18pm

It is unlikely that Rep. Regina Quick (R-Athens) won any friends at the Georgia Department of Transportation last week with the comments she made at the special session with local governmental leaders organized by the Oconee County Chamber of Commerce.

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