Athens-Clarke Commission candidate Jared Bailey has a website up at www.jared-acc5.com.

Bailey is citing his experience as a 30-year Athens resident who founded AthFest, ran small businesses, worked in economic development and is involved in many community organizations. According to the site, he is in favor of strong neighborhoods, sustainable land use, environmental stewardship, fiscal responsibility, big hunting dogs and plaid.

He faces lawyer Dave Hudgins and homebuilder Tom Ellis in District 5.

Facebook. Twitter. E-mail.

Mayor Heidi Davison recently said that she did not see a way to significantly cut a $195 million, approximately nine-year plan to spend sales-tax revenue that the Athens-Clarke Commission will approve tonight, despite concerns that such a lengthy SPLOST will not pass muster with voters in November.

Well, I did it. Here’s my project list for a six-year, $126 million SPLOST.

• Jail expansion: $60 million

• Fire protection services and safety equipment: $4 million

• Integrated public safety/judicial integrated computer system: $1 million

• Public safety communications system improvements: $8 million

• Bicycle transportation improvements: $4 million

• Transit vehicles and bus stop improvements: $1 million

• Rails-to-trails: $7 million

• Oconee rivers greenway: $6 million

• Athens-Clarke library improvements: $2 million

Mayoral candidate Spencer Frye recently came out against building the tennis center at Bishop Park, saying in a news release that the Athens-Clarke Commission should scale it back.

Tom Ellis, the latest candidate in Athens-Clarke Commission District 5, has this to say for himself:

Tom Ellis announced his candidacy for Athens-Clarke County Commission (district five) today. Ellis moved to Athens in 1993 and graduated from Terry College of business in 1998. Tom specializes in quality and thoughtful in-fill and historic preservation, where he has received five historic preservation awards from the Athens Clarke Heritage Foundation. Tom lives in the historic Boulevard Neighborhood with his wife, Sarah Ellis, their three children, and their Labrador Retriever. They are members of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Athens Clarke Heritage Foundation, University of Georgia Alumni Association, and are supporters of the Athens Land Trust.

Sara Bickerton is dropping out of the District 1 Athens-Clarke Commission race, as Beyond the Trestle reports, and Dustin Baker is in.

Baker, best known as the mastermind behind political blog Georgia Liberal, will go up against Farley Jones for the seat currently held by Doug Lowry, assuming they both qualify later this month and no one else does (which is not a very safe assumption).

The Blairsville native is a 2008 University of Georgia graduate who is seeking his master’s in public policy, works at UGA in student services and has decided to settle here.

“I felt like I needed to give back to the community that fostered my education,” he said.

Brett at Georgia Liberal is arguing against a SPLOST referendum to, in part, fund a new Clarke County jail.

The answer to our inmate population is not to build more jails. We need to radically decrease incarceration periods for non-violent offenses, and for first-time drug offenses, incarceration should not even be on the table. We need to stop throwing people in jail for failing to pay probation fees and instead implement more efficient collection methods (this one especially makes no sense — we’re not collecting money from you, so we’re going to spend our money to house you in prison). We need to make marijuana the lowest-level priority for our officers, with simple possession being a simple fine with no possibility of incarceration.

Or, The Unemployed Cats Need Somewhere to Live Lest They Turn to a Life of Crime.

Somebody better bring some coyotes to the next Athens-Clarke Commission meeting, because commissioners have cats on the brain.

Tuesday night’s end-of-the-meeting round robin, for some reason, included a laundry list of all the housing reforms gathering dust on a shelf somewhere in the bowels of Dougherty Street. Mayor Heidi Davison mentioned recommendations from a county infill housing study, a law allowing in-law suites or granny flats recommended by Commissioner Andy Herod’s workforce housing committee and a Friends of Five Points’ McMansion study. What’s the Planning Department’s work schedule? she asked.

Pretty busy, considering everything the M&C piles on them, and it sounds like it’s about to get worse.

Then Commissioner Alice Kinman chimed in, asking to revisit a report by a TNR committee she chaired.

We interrupt our regularly-scheduled program to bring you this breaking news: Cobbham is under attack by coyotes!

"Believe it or not I just saw a coyote in my backyard on Hill Street,” one resident wrote on the neighborhood listserv this afternoon. “My niece saw it as well. We've seen it twice in the last 45 minutes. I am not drunk.”

A neighbor wrote in to confirm the coyote sighting. Personally, I think it must have been a panther, but I’m no wildlife expert.

Commissioner David Lynn, a Hill Street resident, said he heard about Coyotegate and wasn’t surprised. He’s seen them in Atlanta as well, he said.

“Maybe this is the solution to our feral cat problem,” he joked.

Democrat Russell Edwards is expected to announce Wednesday afternoon that he is running against U.S. Rep. Paul Broun.

Edwards released the following statement on Friday:

It's time to bring commonsense to Congress. It's time to bring jobs back to District 10. It's time to support our schools.

This weekend, I am spending Easter with my family. During my time with them, I'll make my final decision regarding my candidacy for Georgia's 10th Congressional seat. Regardless of my decision, I will work the people in District 10 to bring commonsense to Congress.

This Wednesday, April 7th, on the steps of City Hall in downtown Athens, I plan to announce my intentions for the upcoming election. Please make every effort to stand with me during this important time. Together, we can work to make it right. …

Via Beyond the Trestle, a candidate announced for Athens-Clarke Commission today.

Sara Bickerton, 28, is program coordinator for the Athens Literacy Council and assistant program manager at the Jack R. Wells Boys & Girls Club. She has a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Georgia. Her Facebook page describes her political views as liberal/progressive. She is also listed as “special commandante for charitable outreach / sign making czar” in the Washington Street Liberation Army, a group of young political activists who describe themselves, tongue-in-cheek, as breaking the "Republican ... monopoly on fear-mongering, macho-posturing, and willful ignorance."