We just got back from our walk around downtown Blue Ridge. I know our town leaders say they have no money fro improvements but what about laying out a little effort/money for simple repairs!? There are holes in the sidewalks wher city workers were obviously working on water lines MANY months ago and still there are holes next to the water metering boxes on the sidewalks. Uh....how about finishing the job folks! There is a huge whole in the sidewalk near the tobacco store. That hole is gonna get the city sued and then sure enough there will be no money in the city account! How about a little pride? My wife and I regularly take our dog Petey for walks downtown and while we walk we pick up trash. Again I say "what the...?". Isn't there a littler law in this town? Since when is throwing cigarette butts on the ground not littering? Yeah this kind of stuff pisses me off! If you're gonna smoke don't make other people come behind you to clean up after your habit. While I am ranting about trash and littering has anyone noticed the litter along 515 coming into Blue Ridge? Maybe it's time to get some of the inmates busy? Hell, if I could get others to join me I would get out there and clean the damn mess up! Anyone for a cleanup weekend?? "This section of highway adopted by North Georgia Forum Members". Sounds pretty good! Maybe Geza could get an Adopt Aska road group started.

Thanks for lettin' me rant.
Wayne

I completely agree! Good grief, if the city can't finish the Main St. yet, at least fix the holes that could swallow a family and keep it clean.

Every time I am downtown I get angry. We have so much potential, but...

I say get the inmates busy. How much tv can you watch??

Lots of trash littered along Aska rd. Sadly one of the local trash companies has a replacement trash truck that is open on the side with no gate. I've seen whole bags of trash fall out of the truck more than once as he was driving down the road... Meant to call them a few times but didn't want them to take it the wrong way or get the driver in trouble. I'd rather not be the cause of someone losing their job..

Maybe Blue Ridge has had its little golden age and will once again slip in to poverty and decline for a couple decades until it is "discovered" again. It doesnt have to be that way...whats the new mayor up to? I wonder if she has a link to this site...a little constructive criticism....

__________________
A bad day off road is better than a good day at work.

I really shouldn't comment on this subject considering i'm fairly new to Fannin County only living and working here full time for the last 15 years. I must admit though after reading this thread I just got to chuckle. I have to go to "downtown" Blue Ridge a bunch unfortunetly and I can say I've never noticed any of these so called problems or eye sores that you fellas are whining about. I see a small country town with a massive courthouse and a downtown area that isn't homey or local just a another tourist trap with establishments owned by outta towners or Floridians. You know though Blue Ridge 4*4 I'm not sure what you mean by Fannin County sliping back into poverty again? It seems that the blue collar working class folks in Blue Ridge have never been out of poverty. They sure don't seem to benefiting from any so called tourism in the past and are really just in fact hindered and pestered by it. If "Discovered" means having a bunch of random out of towners renting "Cabins" and treating the local neighborhoods like playgrounds and motels...then F&%k being discovered. Well sorry for my rant ....support your local farmer and tip your server

Don't even get me started on the horrid courthouse or should I say the 'house the Vollrath built'? So fits with our town, doesn't it??

The town leaders should look at other successful small mtn towns and see what works. Cashiers, Highlands, etc.

The locals will not benefit until we have industry here, not tourism. My uncle moved back to his wife's small south Ga. town after a long Naval career. There was no industry there. He brought several large companies into the area, brought in a voc/tech college, which he became President of, and worked to provide jobs for those that graduated by getting those companies to build there.

Vision is required.

Oh, my, my, my, don't get me started on the trash. I live out in Mineral Bluff and I'm afraid that Marie Woody at the Land Development Office knows me too well. She had received my phone calls numerous times about people dumping their household garbage on my property, and the county has come out and collected the mess and poor Marie has to sift through it to see if she can find any ID to go after them. Believe me, if she finds anything and can locate them, then they do take out warrants and take them to Magistrate Court, fine them heavily, put them on trash pick up detail. She even had the county put up a No Dumping/Fine sign at the most popular dump site on my property, and damned if someone did not steal it within 2 weeks - I guess for the aluminum. The county probationers don't come out on my county owned/maintained gravel road, so I have to pick up the McDonald's and Wendy's bags, beer and soft drink bottles/cans, empty cig packs/cartons, but I have the County come when it's a large "dump". I was driving to work this morning thinking it's time for me to pick up the 3/4 mi. of trash strewn along our road, now that it's warming a bit and before the ticks start coming out.

I don't know if the Fannin school system teaches anything about not littering. I'm guessing the adult low-life that tosses out their empties along our roadways don't really care. There is no way the sheriff or police can stop all the littering. It is also done in the big cities, take my word for it. Maybe it's just not so noticeable because it's not as green as we are blessed with here. Nothing stands out more than a white piece of trash or a shiny aluminum can lying in the otherwise pristine woods.

We are putting up remote cameras (at our expense) now to try to catch the litterers. Damn tired of it. Worst of all is the old tires that they roll down the hill into my woods, that I have to climb down like a mountain goat and drag back up. Then stack them somewhere and wait for the county to have another old tire round-up.

Oh my, I feel heartburn coming on. This is my number 1 pet peeve.

MountainMama

You SHOULD comment! You actually need to WALK to see what I was talking about. Maybe since you have been here longer, you no longer "see" what bothers me when I speak of holes in the sidewalk and trash throughout the town and roads. I can only post my opinions and you know what "they" say about opinions huh? Being a concerned "transplant" and speaking up for what is wrong makes me a whiner? Then I am glad to whine!

You should comment on however you feel. But how quickly you forgot that you were one of those out of towner probably worse a "Floridian".
I'm really tired of the us against them mentality instead of thinking of what's best for the community for all that live here.

I was born and raised in Ga. although my job took me to Florida for 15 years. I own a shop on E Main and when people ask me where I am from I say Georgia.
As far as the trash goes I think a lot of it is just people not caring. It is a nasty eyesore. I live on a gravel road in Mineral Bluff where I can assure you no tourist drive through and it has more trash than 515. There are the same brand of beer cans all up and down the road. We pick them up and a month later it looks the same. Garbage service should be mandatory. Some folks feel why pay when I can just toss it out the window.