(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Augusta Press.)
There are 68 days left in Mayor King Hardie Davis’ reign.
Halloween came early at the Augusta Commission meeting Tuesday.
It began when Roderick Pearson, a member of the Aumond Heights community, blasted commissioners who publicly objected to what looked like a deer stand being used as a guard house to scare off bad guys at a crime-infested apartment complex.
The guard house/deer stand offended them. Not the crime. They didn’t seem to have a problem with rampant crime and gunfire at the Fox Trace Apartments off Wrightsboro Road, renamed by the new owner The Landings @237.
It was the guard house/deer stand, on which the owner had placed a banner thanking Commissioners Catherine McKnight and John Clarke for their cooperation in trying to curb crime in the area.
Pearson told commissioners the culture of the Aumond Heights community began to change after the housing projects were closed in Augusta.
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“What we are seeing now in the upper Wrightsboro area could be billed “Dissemination without Preparation,” he said. “When the troubled residents were displaced from their homes, they brought their norms and their culture with them.
“Our District 3 Commissioner Catherine McKnight and Super District Commissioner John Clarke have been doing everything possible to restore our peace. They are working with our community and the owner of Fox Den apartments to bring back a sense of calmness and peace. Our peace means everything to us.
“Almost two weeks ago, a 17-year-old laid in the street dead at Smart Grocery on Wrightsboro Road. Smart Grocery where our Black boys have been shot or died to street violence. Smart Grocery is an understood haven for killings, loitering or other transactions.”
Natalie Paine, the previous district attorney, required the store to have paid security, but that ended with the election of District Attorney Jared Williams.
After the apartment complex owner put the guard house/deer stand up, two commissioners from other districts called the media and code enforcement to complain, Pearson said.
“Other commissioners voiced their complaints to Catherine McKnight. Not all, but too many called and said the observation unit looked like a deer stand,” he said. “We haven’t seen any dead deer, just dead people.”
After the unit was removed, there were three separate shootings last weekend, Pearson said.
“The neighbors feel the observation stand removal simply gave the bad guys a false sense of power,” he said. “The observation unit was not a nuisance to the citizens and taxpayers. They were enthusiastic about the owner spending over a million dollars to improve the quality of life for good people trying to rear their children in a good community that was once peaceful.”
Pearson asked commissioners to take Smart Grocery’s alcohol license and fine them for loitering, and to deter future killings, the store should be required to have full-time security during hours of operation.
As a parting shot, Pearson said, “Someone needs to tell Jordan Johnson to clean up the blood in his own district before he goes knocking on someone else’s door,” Pearson said.
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Bang! Bang! Very Distasteful.
Johnson said as a Black boy growing up in East Augusta and Dogwood Terrace, he knew what it’s like seeing dead bodies in the street.
“I’ve seen dead bodies more than I want to,” he said. “But also, as a Black male, seeing a hunting structure in front of a Black neighborhood, whether there’s crime or not, in my mind, does not give the right answer. The facts around this conversation are simply not true.”
Johnson said to keep the blood off the streets is to make sure people are on the ground in the public housing facilities and passing legislation, such as the Step-Up initiative passed last year to make sure people with mental health issues are not jailed and are getting the help and treatment they need.
“We do that by making sure the Homeless Task Force is doing their job,” he said. “We do that by making sure Parks and Recreation have the resources they need to turn community centers back over to the community. You don’t solve issues by pandering to people’s fear.”
Pearson attempted to object, but Mayor Pro Tem Bobby Williams, who was presiding in the absence of the mayor, cut him off.
Commissioner Dennis Williams said he found the guard house “personally offensive.”
“I didn’t like the idea, and I didn’t like the idea of the city’s logo being on the item,” he said. “First of all, the commission did not vote on the logo being up there, or the sign being used. And just to have that thing up there. I know what a deer stand is. You go sit up there and wait, put a little feed out there, and a deer comes – Bang! Bang! I felt it to be very distasteful.”
Williams also said he was disappointed that there wasn’t more objection from the community because “you could just set one up all over the city of Augusta eventually. … I can’t say it helps you, but it gives you a good clear shot at somebody down on the ground.”
Comatose
Commissioner Brandon Garrett tried to breathe life into the dying Gold Cross EMS contract negotiations with a motion for a $1.5 million subsidy to the ambulance company to offset the cost of transporting Augusta’s indigent patients, as well as its deadbeats who don’t pay one red cent.
But then came Commissioner Ben Hasan trying again to put a stake through Gold Cross EMS’ heart with a substitute motion for six deadly contract “suggestions,” and a $900,000 annual subsidy, some $700,000 short of what the ambulance company has requested.
When that motion failed 4-5, Commissioner Brandon Garrett’s original motion also failed 4-5. Next Commissioner Francine Scott called for reconsidering the vote and they voted on another motion and substitute motion, both of which failed. I was dozing off until Commissioner Sean Frantom jolted me awake by saying, “It’s like we’re playing with Monopoly money up here;” then announcing he was voting no on everything because they shouldn’t be negotiating a contract in public and without Gold Cross being there.
Hasan said Gold Cross Vice President Steven Vincent could have been there if he’d wanted to be.
“We have not barred him from being a part of this conversation,” he said.
Then they voted on another motion and another substitute which both failed.
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Treat for Some. Trick for Others.
Then came Housing and Community Development Manager Daniel Evans to report on Augusta’s Emergency Rental and Utility Assistance Program, which was dubbed “A Sigh of Relief.” Richmond County has received three different allocations from the U.S. Treasury Department for the city’s Emergency Rental and Utility Assistance program.
The first allocation of $6.1 million from the Cares Act was expended last year on people behind in their rent and utilities. An additional $7.11 million came from American Rescue Act Plan, and the assistance increased from 15 months to 18 months.
Richmond County also received $12 million more in reallocated Emergency Rental Assistance from U.S. Treasury funds, which it has up to 2025 to spend, Evans said.
Cumulatively, in the past 18 months, $11 million in rental and utility payments have been made for Richmond County residents, Evans said.
No disrespect to Evans or the United Way of the CSRA for their efforts in distributing these payments from the federal government, but that money, contrary to widespread belief, is not free. The government forcibly took it from other people in the form of taxes, and those folks, too, are hoping to have a sigh of relief someday.
The Devil’s in the Details (Not Included Here)
There was good news and bad news in the proposed 2023 city budget Interim Administrator Takiyah Douse presented to commissioners Tuesday.
The good news is that the overall budget is down from last year’s $1.093 billion.
The bad news is that it’s still over a billion – $1.071 billion.
The good news in revenues includes:
– 2% digest growth in ad valorem taxes ( think reassessments)
– 3% increase over current projections in Local Option Sales Tax (think inflation)
– $900,000 more than budgeted in annual insurance premium tax
– 4.7% increase in electricity franchise fees (fees utility companies pay the government for use of county rights of way)
The bad news in revenues includes:
– Waste Management and Garbage Collection balanced by reduction to operations to account for revenue shortages.
– $1.1 million streetlight deficit unless the city raises streetlight fees
– $2.2 million general fund transfer to cover transit operations deficit
Bad News, aka in government circles as a Challenge:
– Augusta Fire Department capital needs (fire truck, fire apparatus, equipment) is classified as a Challenge.
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Proposed Spending:
– $750,000 from ARP money for the demolition program
– Grant writer position for administrator’s office
– Countywide pay study
– Fire Station 3 staffing
Already-Approved Spending:
– $3.4 million for 3 percent salary increases this year and in 2023
– $11 million construction of a new corrections institution for RCCI
– $6 million construction of a new fleet maintenance facility
– $6 million renovation of Craig Houghton School for Juvenile Court
– $16 million rail spur expansion at Corporate Park
Sylvia Cooper is a columnist with The Augusta Press. Reach her at sylvia.cooper@theaugustapress.com
