The ACC Commission has approved a concept to redesign North Avenue for improved safety, reducing the number of car lanes to four. This exact concept failed 1-9 in 2024, but this week it passed in an 8-1 vote. athenspoliticsnerd.com/acc-commissi...

A final mayoral debate will be held TONIGHT at the ACC Library at 6 pm, hosted by the Athens Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority in partnership with the Junior League of Athens.

Tomorrow, Athens Transit will expand service, doubling frequency on routes 12 and 14 and shifting route 22 to start 30 minutes earlier in the morning. athenspoliticsnerd.com/athens-trans...

Commissioner Culpepper is congratulating Ed Tolley for winning the District 7 race. He says that people outside of government don't understand the work it takes and how much the job demands of you. He's absolutely right.

Hey, I just realized former mayoral candidate Sharon Miller is here at city hall. That's awesome, I think she'd make a good commissioner (for example). I'm glad she is staying involved.

The ACC Attorney had put his laptop away and was preparing to leave but Commissioner Hamby is doubting that the mayor can assign things to the planning commission. So, Attorney Drake is looking it up in the charter now.

Now, the ACC Commission is talking about the potential new 1% sales tax (FLOST) which apparently everyone hates except for me. Commissioner Culpepper is clarifying that this money can ONLY be used to lower property taxes, as it says in the law. Of course, money is fungible...so it's not so simple.

The ACC budget will be finalized next Tuesday, not tonight. Turns out they needed another week.

The ACC Commission has officially supported the 4-lane option for North Avenue, including a safe multiuse path for pedestrians! I can't believe it. This plan was left for dead but somehow is going to happen after all. Amazing. No exaggeration, this could end up saving someone's life.

The ACC Commission has designated the downtown block that city hall sits on (between Hancock and Washington Streets) as an official public park, as requested by the Athens Downtown Development Authority.

Commissioners Melissa Link and Carol Myers are motioning to accept the original, staff-recommended 4-lane concept for North Avenue (down from 5 lanes), paid for with the $25 million RAISE grant we thought we had lost.

Commissioner Taylor is motioning to hold the item establishing Envision Athens as the manager of the ACC affordable housing fund. She says she wants an RFP process to give other agencies a chance.

Athens in Motion is now speaking in favor of a 4-lane option for North Avenue (down from the current 5 lane configuration), primarily for reasons of safety for pedestrians, drivers and bikers alike.

Several people are speaking out against the inclusion of funding for Flock Safety cameras in the ACC budget tonight, citing privacy concerns.

The monthly mayor and commission voting meeting is about to start. On the agenda tonight is the yearly budget, a vote to establish a referendum for a new 1% FLOST sales tax, a $25 mil grant for North Avenue and more. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgdn...

What happened in this year's state legislative session? The highlights: a ban on EMS surprise billing, a need-based college scholarship, banning cell phones in high schools and making certain types of peaceful protest punishable by up to a year in jail. athenspoliticsnerd.com/2026-state-l...

Andrew Saunders has been appointed Deputy Manager in the ACC Manager’s Office, starting June 8. Well deserved, if you ask me. www.accgov.com/m/newsflash/...

Mayoral candidates Tim Denson and Dexter Fisher faced off in a debate at the historic Morton Theater on Saturday. Early voting for the runoff starts next week. athenspoliticsnerd.com/athens-mayor...

I'm looking at the bill that Dexter Fisher mentioned at the debate which supposedly removes our ability to fund fare-free transit with sales taxes and this is what it says. I don't think this stops us? Fare-free was never the purpose of the TSPLOST project. The purpose is transit operations.

The four lane concept for North Avenue is back on the commission's agenda. Any guesses on if it will pass this time? flagpole.com/news/city-do...

After watching the mayoral debate tonight, a few things jumped out at me. First -- I hadn't realized how much Commissioner Wright hates Tim Denson! I knew they weren't buds but wow. Second, the philosophical difference on what leadership means in a democracy was very apparent and interesting to me.

Can you imagine an Athens where everyone has an affordable place to live? Documentary filmmaker Joe Lavine asks Athens residents to give their thoughts on housing and describe what policies they’d like to see to improve housing affordability. athenspoliticsnerd.com/can-you-imag...

In the primary, 26,037 people voted in Athens out of 72,195 registered voters. That's 36.1% turnout. That's pretty good actually. Obviously you always want higher, but this is quite good for a primary.

APN has the full election results from Tuesday's primary and local election here: athenspoliticsnerd.com/2026-local-e...

What happens when Trump's own FDA finds that the COVID vaccine was safe? They censor the study, of course. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/05/u...

The ACC Elections Department made this handy graphic about the election results:

The AthChat podcast crew is hosting a mayoral runoff debate between Tim Denson and Dexter Fisher on May 30 at the Morton.

TSPLOST has passed 56-44! Davenport and Taylor will retain their seats, and Thornton is in a runoff with Smith. Bennett is in a runoff with Topple in D5. Willis beat Blount for school board D1, Fletcher beat Smith in D5 and Brooks beat Shirley in D7.

The votes are all in now and Denson's lead has held. Denson - 37.7% Fisher - 27.1% Gantt - 21.7% Zuniga - 11.7% Miller - 1.8% If a representative group votes on June 16, Denson is in great shape. I know it doesn't completely track like this, but if you add Fisher + Zuniga, that's only 39%.

“We can make Athens the shining example in the Southeast of a community that takes care of its people...This is a wealthy, well-resourced community. We need to make sure it's providing just as well for those who are struggling as it is for the president of UGA.” -Tim Denson tonight

Some photos of Tim's (partial) victory speech tonight at Athentic:

TSPLOST is passing now 56-44. I'm certain it will pass, just by a closer margin than previous TSPLOSTs have.

We've got some results! About 20k votes are IN! There are more coming, but so far: Tim Denson is in the lead with 38% with Dexter a distant second with 28%. LaKeisha is third with 21%. About the commission races... [thread]

I hope the results come in soon. People are starting to leave!

Welp, still waiting. One interesting thing is that TSPLOST is failing right now? Interesting. That would be a total disaster for the county budget.

We've got about 2000 votes in for mayor and Dexter is in the lead with 33%, Tim is in second with 32% and LaKeisha coming in a solid third with 21%. But it's still very early.

Keisha Lance Bottoms is way out in the lead, but no results for Athens yet.

Polls have closed now and we're awaiting the results of the 2026 local election and primary. I'll be heading over to Tim Denson's election night party at Athentic to check it out and write updates from there.

Today is election day! Get out there and vote! Polls are open until 7 pm. If you get in line by 7, you will be allowed to vote no matter how long the line is. Before you vote, check out APN's voter guide: athenspoliticsnerd.com/2026-local-p...

Election day is tomorrow! And this isn't just a primary -- it's the actual election for ACC mayor, commission and the Georgia Supreme Court! If you aren't sure who you're voting for, I've got a handy guide for you here: athenspoliticsnerd.com/2026-local-p...

State Rep. Eric Gisler (D) issued a statement calling Gov. Brian Kemp's push for redistricting "unnecessary" and he urges his constituents to speak out in rejection of gerrymandering along racial or partisan lines. athenspoliticsnerd.com/rep-eric-gis...

Finally getting around to the school board races! In District 7, Lillie Brooks and Adam Shirley are competing to fill the seat LaKeisha Gantt will vacate as a result of her run for mayor. athenspoliticsnerd.com/lillie-brook...

Ebenezer Baptist Church West is having a get out the vote rally on Monday at 6:30 pm with Michael Thurmond, candidate for governor.

The Family Advisory Board held a forum for candidates running for school board last week. If you missed it, you can watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4t5...

BikeAthens has released a voter guide for transportation! It's a compilation of transportation-related quotes made by the candidates running for mayor and commission, you can check it out here: www.bikeathens.org/voter-guide/

A coalition of ten local environmental organizations sent out a questionnaire to all candidates running for mayor and commission this year. APN has got their responses here: athenspoliticsnerd.com/local-candid...

Ten local environmental groups held a mayoral forum for energy and the environment last Monday. If you missed it, I've got the full video here: athenspoliticsnerd.com/mayoral-foru...

The Georgia Supreme Court elections absolutely should be viewed as partisan by Democrats and progressives, argues David Lyle. athenspoliticsnerd.com/letter-after...

Keisha Lance Bottoms has received the coveted Sleepy Joe endorsement. I wonder if this will help her or hurt her. www.nbcnews.com/politics/202...

One of APN's readers strongly disagrees with my interpretation of Georgia's Supreme Court elections as mere partisan contests. This letter is worth a read: athenspoliticsnerd.com/letter-supre...