If you think that just because there was no commission meeting last week, and no more commission meetings until next year that the commissioners and their crony’s can’t be up to no good, you may be wrong.
A couple of weeks with no meetings just gives them more time to come up with excuses, illegal deals and how to execute the “dodge” game better.
Rest assured that phone calls, texts and e-mails will be abundant between them all. However, it will most likely be on their personal cell phones and e-mail addresses. That way, there is no public record.
Sunshine Laws? What Sunshine Laws? To the majority of the commissioners that law just doesn’t exist in their world. There will be the holiday lunches, private parties and just plain ole group get-togethers. If you think there will be no Augusta government business discussed, then you would be wrong again.
Now note, I stated the majority, not all. We can all play the game of betting who will and who will not participate.
The race for the district nine commission seat is gaining speed. Not only is Marion Williams going to run for that seat, but so is newcomer Lucas Johnson. Johnson ran for mayor in the last election. There will be more to come on this race and the candidates as the new year is upon us.
The tales of the Augusta Land Bank just keep getting more bizarre. The reasoning behind some of their uses of funds is as riveting as the excuses an inebriated mate would give for not getting home until 3 a.m. Right, mostly unbelievable.
Before we go further into the subject of the Land Bank, Susan McCord, ace TAP reporter, covered the latest Land Bank meeting and wrote an excellent article on the same. Ms. McCord’s article is where many references come from that I will comment on. Please everyone, if you didn’t read the article, go back and read it. An eye opener.
Given the penchant the Land Bank Authority has for meeting in secret, I am surprised the authority even allowed McCord in; well, they may have figured out what most of us all know. Susan is a seasoned reporter, and she knows the law. They know the gig is up and perhaps continuing to hide will only make things worse.
Where, oh, where to start? How about an “after hours” event. Changed from Edgar’s Above Broad because of trivia night.
“We didn’t want to have adults drinking around children,” Edwards said.
OK? Please explain. Were children at Edgar’s Above Broad? Well, it is a restaurant as well as a lounge area, so children do go with adults to establishments where there are adults drinking. The term “after hours” is troublesome. That usually means after an establishment is closed.
So, please explain, Mr. Edwards, were you all at an establishment that serves alcohol after they had closed? Isn’t that unlawful?
Actor Malik Yoba was to speak at the Land Bank Development Conference. So, instead of paying him a taxable fee, they purchased a plane ticket from Kingston, Jamacia and paid for his hotel room.
This kind of sounds like a Hardie Davis deal. Pay an actresses’ transportation, limousine and expenses to come teach young ladies how to dance using a stripper pole and call it a public service.
Edwards claimed the $90 he spent at Twin Peaks led to three Land Bank properties being sold. Goodness. Note to all sales people: Just think of all you could sell just spending $100 at Twin Peaks. No offense to Twin Peaks, the burgers are great, but I just think the atmosphere might be a bit distracting when discussing boring land deals.
Having the Augusta government employees and elected officials on the Land Bank Board should be abolished. Talk about a stacked deck.
No one really has a problem with the three civilians currently on the board. They are Karen Gordon, Lauren Dallas and Mike Hearon. My understanding is that Hearon does not desire to serve another term on the board due to other commitments.
The commission does need to appoint other civilians to the board. People that have an interest in the city’s development and know a little something about real estate. A couple of names come to mind, Michael Thurmond and David Dunagan. Both would be ideal.
The following is the scratch your head in wonderment statement, according to McCord’s article. This is a Commissioner Alvin Mason statement:
“We need more teeth, we need more checks and balances,” Mason said, “Everything’s on the table for me.” He conveniently left off, “but a forensic audit.”
Now to try and put the Olive Road underpass into perspective. Augusta is not the only city that has this type of problem. In fact cities such as Chicago, Baltimore, Westwood, Massachusetts and even Durham, N.C. have such issues.
The bridge in Durham even has a nickname, “The Can Opener Bridge” and it has its own YouTube channel. In just under 10 years, 129 crashes have occurred.
When approaching the Olive Road underpass, if someone hits the bridge with all of the warnings in place, then they are just, bluntly put, ignorant.
Warnings are everywhere with “Trucks turn left” signs, speed bump reducers that make a rumbling noise, flashing caution signs, flashing red lights and flashing stop signs and then someone still hits the bridge?
If these measures don’t work, nothing more is going to work.
Many parking garages have signs that give a low clearance. People actually get out and watch for the driver to slowly enter making sure the vehicle will clear.
Commissioner Wayne Guilfoyle rallied to put low hanging or dangling PVC pipe covered chains over the road. The idea was that when a vehicle hit the covered chains it would alert the driver. Now what makes someone think that would stop them when all the other won’t or haven’t? And this added attraction would be at a cost of nearly $98,000 according to Augusta traffic engineer John Ursy.
Most likely in Augusta this is how the scenario of someone hitting the chains would go. “I’m going to sue the city for scratching the paint on my vehicle.”
Or maybe even, “I’m going to sue because the crash caused PTSD to occur.” “Hitting the chains caused extreme anxiety and I haven’t been able to sleep.” The reasons for a person getting a payday over their own stupidity are never ending.
I have been in the legal sessions with the commission and heard the lawsuits that we had to settle. Some were legitimate, many were down right opportunists looking for a payday, which they almost always got.
Augusta hires outside attorney’s to handle the lawsuits. The office full of paid staff attorneys never ever went to court except once that I know of. That was concerning the New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam. But, that’s another embarrassing story.
When asked why not go to court on many of these, the answer was always the same. “It’s best to settle, we can’t chance a sympathetic jury.”
I voted to settle the ones that I believed were legit and voted NO to the ones that were very questionable.
No worries, Augusta has plenty of money to give away. When it gets low all the commission has to do is vote for a mill increase, reassess your property value or the favorite one, find a way to add another fee.
Folks, as always, you just can’t make this stuff up.
