Don't Forget to Vote Tomorrow

This bears repeating.

The special election, for Sunday alcohol sales and the renewal of the educational sales-tax, is tomorrow from 7 AM to 7 PM. Also, voters in Atlanta Public Schools District 2 are set to choose a new school board member from a pool of five candidates: Byron Amos, Angela Brown, Dwanda Farmer, Michael E. Jeter, and Donald Walker. More can be read about all five candidates in Creative Loafing and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

As I've already stated, I am voting 'yes' for Sunday alcohol sales in Atlanta, and 'no' for a renewal of the education tax. I just barely live in APS District 1, and thus am not voting for a new school board member, but wanted to compile some information about the candidates for those readers who do live in District 2.

One random, final thought: from where I live, I can see the APS headquarters building with, usually, either three or four of its eight floors lit up every night, after the parking deck has cleared out. I have yet to see another office building in town waste so much electricity after hours, and take this to be a hint of fiscal recklessness on the part of APS. To be fair, Superintendent Erroll Davis has enacted a hiring freeze to save some money, but obviously, more can be done.

For the most part the alcohol vote can be distilled, if you will, into a decision of personal moral convictions. For me, however, it is also an economic question. Although it is true that anybody who truly wants to drink on Sunday will remember to buy their beverages earlier, people forget, and if outlying residents can make beer runs to an Atlanta where they can buy on Sunday, the economic benefits, I believe, will be real and measurable.

The deadline to register was 11 October. Happy voting, everyone.