Land Aid 2000
October 22, 2000 at the Courthouse
Steps, Athens, Georgia
Sponsored by the Athens Grow Green Coalition and the Sierra Club
REM performs on the Courthouse steps in support of "a rational land use plan that considers the public interest as well as private interests," according to Michael Stipe. Read the full text of his remarks at www.remhq.com.
Randall Arendt, Vice President for Conservation Planning for the Natural Lands Trust in Media, PA, describes how to use conservation planning and design as part of a successful Comprehensive Land Use Plan that protects green space and creates economic benefits to the community and developers alike. Arendt is the author of Conservation Design for Subdivisions: A Practical Guide to Creating Open Space Networks, Island Press, 1996; Crossroads, Hamlet, Village, Town: Design Characteristics of Traditional Neighborhoods, Old and New, American Planning Association, 1999 (read an excerpt); and Growing Greener: Putting Conservation into Local Plans and Ordinances, Natural Lands Trust et al., 1999 (more information). To purchase copies of any of these books, contact Randall Arendt at 43 Prospect Avenue, Narragansett, RI 02882.
The Timothy Street Baptist Church Uplifted Voices Choir ends the evening with inspiring energy.
Land Aid Organizer Julie Powell performs with the Julie Powell Quartet.
Laurie Fowler of the University of Georgia Institute of Ecology encourages the crowd to get involved, citing examples of successful united citizen action: saving the old Firehall by insisting it be incorporated into the Classic Center design; saving the neighborhoods around the Athens Regional Medical Center; keeping the proposed Super Wal-Mart from locating on the Atlanta Highway. If we work together we can achieve a Land Use Plan consistent with the Guiding Principles that this community and our elected officials worked so long and hard to produce.
Other speakers included Jason Henderson of BikeAthens on the importance of alternative transportation; and Alfred Rucker, creator of the STAY GREEN signs, on a rezoning request for a high-density subdivision in the middle of the proposed greenbelt.)
Land Aid featured the UGA Salsa Band, the Common Law Quartet and The Workhorse of the Entertainment and Recording Industry.
Festivalgoers visit the exhibitors' booths. View a list of the Land Aid Expo participants.
The crowd, estimated at 2,000, watches the performance by REM as twilight falls.