Fall 2020 - 1736 Magazine

JORDAN JOHNSON ON THE ISSUES >>
EAST AUGUSTA FLOODING: The issue
we have with the old city is that the
infrastructure is sort of crumbling.
I mean, that’s why you have lot
of flooding in east Augusta. The
conversation is that it floods because
of the way that it sits geographically
– Augusta sits in a bowl. Well, there’s
nothing that engineering can't solve
where flooding is concerned. It all
goes back down to allocation of
resources. There’s no reason why
that neighborhood has been flooded
out since the ’50s. There has been
progress made over the last eight to
10 years, but we have to continue the
progress.
GATEWAYS FROM AUGUSTA
REGIONAL AIRPORT: I don’t think
we understand the jewel we have
at the airport. I've heard a lot of
talk over the years about land
around the airport and its economic
development potential, I just haven't
seen anything actually come to
fruition yet. We need it. What if we
fed people into downtown from the
airport with billboards advertising
downtown businesses? Think about
it. You want a nice hotel, you’re either
going downtown or to Washington
Road. But there’s nothing on the way.
NUISANCE PROPERTIES IN
DOWNTOWN: It frustrates me that
we do a lot of code enforcement on
homes, but not so much on business
owners. I am not in favor of a tax for
blight – not as of yet. What I am in
favor of is making sure that we hold
business owners and land owners
accountable for their properties in
this area. We’ve got to do something
to make sure that owners of these
buildings know the conditions that
their properties are leaving the
downtown area in. They need to
know we’re not playing around.
ON THE IDEA OF BUILDING A NEW
JAMES BROWN ARENA: It’s time. Our
arena needs a facelift. By adding a
couple of thousand more seats, we
can attract better shows. Having
the James Brown Arena downtown –
connected to the Bell (Auditorium)
– we can have ourselves an
entertainment district. I love the fact
that we're getting ready to get a new
arena. That is great, and I’m going to
support it.
DEMOLITION OF ABANDONED/
DILAPIDATED HOMES: We have got to
have more money in our tax base to
address some of the issues the urban
core has. You know, we have so many
blighted homes – especially in the
Bethlehem area, where the old brick
yard was, the old mill – all those mill
houses are run down now. We have
so many of them because we just
don't have the funding to put toward
the demolition.
GENTRIFICATION IN THE URBAN
CORE: When I see developments
come up, I get excited because
we’re bringing in new people; the
more tax base, the more opportunity
we have to do better things. But
I’m always concerned because if
there’s no plan to take care of the
people who have been living there
for decades, then what message do
we send to someone who bought
a home (decades ago) and now is
facing something that they don’t
necessarily want. That’s the concern
I have.
DOWNTOWN PARKING
MANAGEMENT: I know it’s not a hot
issue anymore because (of COVID-
19). I haven’t had that question asked
in a long time. But yes, a parking
management plan is necessary.
I would hold off until after (the
T-SPLOST) streetscape. We don’t
want folks dodging construction
and payment. We need a parking
management plan that makes sense,
that is in accordance with what
downtown business owners and
residents want. We also can look at
our back streets – the Ellis Streets
of downtown. There are so many
different vacant properties that we
can build parking decks and parking
lots on.
PERMITTING OPEN CONTAINER
ALCOHOL IN DOWNTOWN: I
definitely need to do some research
on that, but just off the cuff, if you're
going to have a downtown that
attracts (young people), especially
business folks and out-of-town
professionals who just want to have
a good time, we've got to loosen this
idea that we’re just this retirement
golf town. I don’t see the harm in
open containers. If I want to go into
a bar and order a mixed drink and
walk to the Augusta Common and sit
down and drink it, I should be able
to.
– The Augusta Chronicle
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