Mayor and Commission Meet with Economic Task Force Members in Athens, Ga.

A lack of effective leadership has held back Athens on economic development, a task force member said.

One thing emerged from Wednesday's meeting of the Mayor, Commission members, government staff and folks concerned about economic development in Athens Clarke County: Public money won't be flowing to a private entity. Instead, said Commissioner Harry Sims, any economic development office funded with tax dollars will be part of the unified government--because public money means public accountabiity and transparency. Commissioners approve the budgets, and they answer to their constituents. Many of those attending the meeting were members of the Mayor's Economic Development Task Force, a group of 25 or so people appointed in 2011 to come up with a plan for moving Athens Clarke County forward economically. There were also some people from …

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Rampant Speculation

Please Come Get My Branches

Leaf and limb service in Athens-Clarke is a good example of the tough choices we have to make.

I'm looking out my window at a big pile of branches on my curb. Compared to my neighbors, I'd say my limb pile is at least in the 95th percentile, and frankly, I'm considering splitting it up into two smaller piles, one on each side of the house. My stack of branches is, as they used to say, gi-normous. There're a couple of reasons for that. First, we here at Chez Matheny have finally decided to get serious about the yard. It's going to be quite a project, and parts of the yard are still rainforest-esque in size and fecundity. But more importantly, it's been about three months since we've seen hide or hair of a leaf and limb truck trundling down the street. As one of my neighbors put it, "After twelve weeks of a nine-week cycle, it's our …

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