Downtown Athens Losing Its Character, Commissioner Suggests
Thursday, October 8th, 2015
The quirky character that put Athens on the map years ago as an arts and music mecca, and the kind of people who helped build that character, are being pushed out of its downtown birthplace by the hordes of University of Georgia students living in upscale apartment complexes at downtown’s edges and drinking to excess in its proliferation of bars and clubs.
That was the thesis advanced by Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Melissa Link, a self-confessed regular patron of the downtown bar scene in earlier years, at a Monday meeting of the Athens-Clarke County Federation of Neighborhoods. The meeting featured a panel of downtown business owners and local government representatives, including Link, who spent 90 minutes exploring the challenges and opportunities presented by the downtown area.
