Council committee moves forward with International Street Fair closure; members debate returning street-closure approvals to council

The Transportation Committee of the Athens City Council on Jan. 27 advanced the International Street Fair street-closure request and spent extensive time debating whether the city should stop approving a single, annual omnibus ordinance of all expected street closures and instead review each petition individually.

Member Spieltjes, Transportation Committee chair, explained that the administration's deputy service safety director, Andrew Czczyki, prepared a detailed application form for event organizers and that the administration will continue to coordinate logistics (meter bagging, electrical needs, coordination with staff) once council approves closures. Spieltjes said the administration will submit draft legislation to council on behalf of the administration for city-run initiatives such as Halloween and the Athens Community Arts and Music Festival.

Several council members and public speakers disagreed about the workload implications of returning to individual approvals. Alan Swank (4th Ward) and others argued that approving every closure individually is an…