Greetings.
So let's start w/ the home city & let's start w/ traffic.
As predicted, the bridge replacement & closing of Hwy 81/Emory St just south of 278 has had major ramifications on traffic flow in & around C-town proper.
As also predicted, West St has just been a total & absolute catastrophe, particularly during peak hours, as all of this north-south traffic has had to go somewhere. And it doesn't help that there are no dedicated left-turn green lights on either side of 278 on West, though that really wouldn't matter anyways as the left turn lanes are very short on both sides.
All other nearby thoroughfares (Pace St, Turner Lake & Elm) have been severely impacted as well.
And this past weekend was ridiculous. It was the Vampire convention that was being held at OHCO. I saw video on the Book of Faces.
Utter madness.
Oh well, it's always something, right?
COV says NO to Tattoo Shops on the Square
This isn't breaking news so you're probably aware of this already, but you might not know some of the dynamics involved.
Two weeks ago & the Covington Council - in a 4-2 vote - voted against allowing for a tattoo shop to open up on east side of the Square on Church St.
Honestly, for some, this vote was a surprise.
There seemed to've been a consensus to approve it (at one point I was hearing a possible 5-1 vote to do so); however, in the days leading up to the council's vote, there was a shift & when it was all said & done, the votes were NOT there to make it happen.
I'd previously publicly announced my support for making the change to allow it.
Well, hell, definitely won't be the first time I've been on the losing side of a political/policy issue, but - I beat on, like a boat against the current.
GA General Assembly Hijinks
In response to the state senate voting overwhelmingly to switch GA to Atlantic Time as a potential end-around to be able to permanent DST, I'll just share what I posted on a particular FB post:
"This is so dumb. If passed, it would replicate in GA what the entire country did back in the 1970s which was a complete disaster & they reversed it w/in a year. It will NOT work.
Still can't believe this many of our state senators are such morons.
And this "workaround" is completely asinine.
At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if the lower chamber - "The People's House" - follows the dumbassery of the state senate. However, I would be surprised if Kemp actually signed off on it & I'm fairly certain the US DOT would never sign off on it so really it's much ado de nada.
But hey, kudos to the GA General Assembly for tackling the big issues like the official chicken wing of the state & wasting time w/ bullsh!t like this.
Sad.
By the way, permanent Standard Time is the way."
As I've been saying for years & years, friends, never doubt the ability of that crowd to go Full-On Mo-Ron!
What's Going On on Gregory Rd?
(and maybe I might've buried the lede on this one a bit?)
Over the last few months I've had multiple folks reach out to me about certain activities occurring pertaining to properties in the vicinity of Gregory Rd off of Flat Rock Rd just off State Hwy 142/John Williams Hwy.
Reports of a certain individual reaching out to elected & appointed officials about trying to get parcels of real estate annexed into the City of Covington.
I did a little preliminary research at the time. I found that this certain individual had an interest in multiple LLCs that own many of the parcels in this area.
Fast forward to last week when Newton Co BOC 5 Rep LeAnne Long publicly shared information she had received from a Gregory Rd property owner who had received an offer from a certain entity - RT Newton Holdings LLC - about purchasing their property w/ the contingency that it get annexed by the City of Covington, get the required zoning but also w/ a stipulation that this property owner would publicly support the annexation/zoning amendment as well as write a public letter of support for putting a data center in where this property was located.
I received a copy of this offer & let me tell you what, folks -- it's a real humdinger! I mean, it's really something. Basically a 3-yr contingency clause.
Apparently (and allegedly) this person (whom I'm going to name at the end of this piece) has already been working on an assemblage to put together enough parcels to possibly try to get it annexed & to get the zoning to put in a data center.
A previous purchase that has been an item of much discussion was the purchase of Flat Rock Baptist Church a couple of years ago. The church actually sold to Tide Investments LLC, and then that entity later sold it to the aforementioned RT Newton Holdings.
There's also been chatter about a current elected official who was actively involved w/ this church, as well as alleged political support she may have received (we're working on running that down) along w/ purported financial support another member of the Covington Council might've also possibly received.
As an aside, the other corporate entity that has large land holdings in this area is JBW Investments LLC.
So, what - or who - is the nexus of all of this?
Well, based on research, as well as a review of available public records, it seems to be one man:
DEVELOPING...
- MBM
