I've been gone, moved away to South Georgia for a few years. This week I had occasion to drive through the Athens downtown. All over the downtown perimeter, coming up the Lexington Road, what are these high rises cutting into the sky? Driving past the former Athens Banner-Herald building, what is this high rise cutting into the sky? Proceeding down North Avenue, what are these high rises cutting into the sky? Triple-decker parking decks abounding, obscuring the view of distant hills, even from the sixth floor of the Fred Building. But the final insult, when I drove alongside the post office to drop a letter into the box. What in the hell has happened to the view of the mountains—on this clear fine day—that you used to have from the loading dock of the old post office? Another wall of high-rises, that's what! We're obliterating the skyline, the horizon, breathing space. What is this city atop a hill thinking?