Hotel, Motel, Holiday Inn: Actually, it's a Hyatt Place, and for those who are interested in downtown Athens' growth, it's something to keep an eye on.

A group called Four Twelve Thomas Development, LLC has proposed plans for an eight-story hotel—with a restaurant on the bottom floor and condos at the top—in front of the Classic Center expansion on top of what used to be Hancock Avenue, land it acquired from Athens-Clarke County in exchange for a nearby parcel that will become a loading dock for the Classic Center.

Along with a proposed student apartment building at Athens Hardware on North Avenue, it will turn Thomas Street into a nearly unbroken stretch of dense development, delineating the eastern edge of downtown. And coupled with the Hilton Garden Inn across the street and the hundreds of new convention-goers who will flock to the expanded Classic Center, it has the potential to change the character of the eastern part of downtown from bars catering to students to, well, bars catering to grownups.

Renderings show a variation on the brick-and-tan theme that's all the rage downtown and on the University of Georgia campus, with some glass and steel for that modern touch and stucco to add a bit of suburban McMansion flair. Developers are asking for a variance from downtown design guidelines for the stucco; a planning commission hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

Redistricting Redux: Now that state Reps. Keith Heard, D-Athens, and Doug McKillip, D-Wait!-R-Athens, are on their way out, Athens-Clarke commissioners and the local legislative delegation will have a chance to undo the unpopular new commission and state House districts the legislature rammed through earlier this year.

To recap, McKillip attempted to establish his GOP street cred by blocking a locally drawn commission map in favor of one he said would allow more Republicans and minorities to be elected. He was possibly aided and abetted by Heard, who was always cagey about his stance on superdistricts and was supported by African-American leaders who opposed them on civil-rights grounds. It hasn't worked so far: Progressive Jerry NeSmith easily fended off conservative Ron Winders in the westside suburbs last month, and no one even bothered to run against Mike Hamby in his new Republican-leaning district. But five more seats are up in 2014.

Incoming state Rep. Regina Quick, R-Athens, and the presumptive winner for Athens' other House seat, Democrat Spencer Frye, are both on record as favoring local control in redistricting matters. So is the rest of the local delegation: Rep. Chuck Williams, R-Watkinsville, and Sens. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, and Frank Ginn, R-Danielsville. So, there may be an opportunity to undo the damage.

"Personally, I'd love to see it changed back," Commissioner Jared Bailey says. "With McKillip and Heard out of the way, maybe it can be changed back."

Quick has also pledged to work with Williams to tweak the maps to once again place all of Oconee County within one district. Williams says he's open to changing both commission and House maps. "I haven't really given it a lot of thought," he says.

Local election dates are another issue that could also come back up like a two-day-old burrito. The legislature moved all nonpartisan elections—including our county commission and school board's—from November to July, coinciding with partisan primaries. A House bill to change them back got caught up in Augusta racial politics. Cowsert's Senate bill fell victim to a power struggle between Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and a group of eight senators, including Cowsert, who sought to wrest away control of the chamber. As payback, Cagle buried the bill by assigning it to the Ethics Committee (?) run by his supporters.

Commissioner Andy Herod says he still prefers November elections because turnout is higher, there's less time between Election Day and swearing-in, and it's the schedule most counties are on.

Should Half a Mill Appear Too Small: Be thankful Mayor Nancy Denson's economic development task force doesn't take it all.

As John Huie reports in City Pages, the task force is seeking a half-mill property tax hike for economic development—about $1.5 million, which is 10 times the amount the local government is currently spending. The task force also wants elected officials to stay out of economic development. They're scheduled to present a plan to the mayor and commission at a Sept. 11 work session, but early reviews are ugly.

"I think they will find it a hard sell to ask for half a mill at the same time that they are saying that there won't be any public oversight [of] the money," Herod says.

Bailey notes the irony in a group of business and industry leaders proposing a tax hike. "The people on that task force would probably be the first to complain if we—we being the commission—raised taxes," he says. "But we'll see."

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