Friends: As you may have heard, the Mayor and Commission passed their 2021-2022 Budget this week. The budget, which you can read about here, is a bold effort to address a number of key reforms around the city. That includes a $15/hr wage for ACC workers, permanent fare-free transit, "funding for the Athens Area Homeless Shelter, unarmed alternative crisis response teams for mental health emergencies, a study on racial disparities, pay raises for public defenders, two new positions requested by District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez, and a memorial to razed Black neighborhood Linnentown."

This is a bold, ambitious budget. Plus, those of us that have been involved with the Linnentown effort since our 2020 Brownbag have reason to feel extra enthusiasm for the forthcoming monument. We also are anticipating a newly funded internship position through the Mayor's office for this fall.

With that said, development and implementation for an Athens Preservation Strategic Plan will need to be delayed for another year. We've spoken to many of our friends and supporters on the commission. They explained that their equity-oriented investments made this year's budget especially tight and led to a tough and late decision to postpone the investment for the strategic plan.

While we were excited to get going on this initiative this fall, We are encouraged by the fact that we already have a meeting scheduled to go over next steps with some of our allies on the commission. We've been told to have high hopes for next year. We will be in touch with all of you in the weeks and months to come as our effort to secure a place on the 2022-2023 budget moves forward.