“I believe it is an excellent and realistic plan for the future development of the University of Georgia, to help us achieve a more pedestrian-friendly campus and a richer academic community. It also will assist us in determining our priorities for capital requests for years to come.”

Michael F. Adams
UGA President

“It looked like a very aggressive and exciting plan. It had a lot of appeal to me--to make the campus more pedestrian friendly and get rid of some of the asphalt and combine parking into parking decks.
“There are some community issues that we’ll have to work through, but they’ve been working with the city planners all along.”

Doc Eldridge
Mayor-elect, Athens--Clarke County

“We’re very pleased by what we saw. The plan addresses some important issues, from updating technology, to increased dorm space and study space, to traffic and safety issues.
“I worry about implementation--over such a long period of time, it may not all get done. I was disappointed that nothing could be done about safety issues on Baldwin Street, but I was ecstatic about reclaiming Herty Field and turning D.W. Brooks into green space and concentrating parking.
“It’s an incredible plan--it would be awesome, and I’m sorry I’ll be gone before it’s done.”

Brett Newman
UGA senior and President,
Student Government Association

“Everybody I’ve talked to, both on and off campus, has said they think this is a very good plan, a very sound plan, a very realistic plan.
“Yes, it will cost some money--but the plan doesn’t hinge on any one piece, so if one piece doesn’t come to fruition, the plan still works. It frames a period longer than 10 years because it may take longer than that to get the funding.”

J. Thomas Bowen
Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs

“The Staff Council Executive Committee had an opportunity to view the newly devised physical master plan prior to the officially scheduled campus sessions. Overall, I believe the committee was generally pleased with the direction in which our campus architecture is heading.
“One item that we, as a council, have been dealing with over the past several years is the lack of available parking. While I am interested in how this issue will be affected by the plans to relocate parking to perimeter locations, I believe that decreasing traffic in heavily populated areas will help reduce the number of pedestrian-vehicle incidents. This is definitely something we all can be happy about.”

Stephanie Watson
University Housing, President of Staff Council

“I think it’s really very exciting. From the perspective that we all are living and working and learning in this community, it’s a very sound plan.
“I would love to see some of these things done to make it a more pleasant and safer place. I think the university has been moving in this direction already.”

Jo Anne Lowe
Associate Director, Institutional Research and Planning, and
Chairman, University Council Facilities Committee

“I think it is important to step back and try to gain some perspective when first overwhelmed by the ambition of the master plan. I have heard several remarks to the effect that it’s ‘pie in the sky.’
“But if I had taken those same individuals out to what was horse pasture and gravel commuter lots in the early ’80s and described a student physical activities center larger than Sanford Stadium, a thousand-car parking deck, performing halls, an art museum, a music school, a visitors center, a health center . . . I would have been described as a dangerous and wild-eyed dreamer of impossible schemes.
“Most of what is described in the plan is going to be built. It can be built badly, or we can try to create a physical atmosphere that is conducive to learning and contemplation.
“I do think it is a mistake to place too much value on the drawings and that we should instead focus on a process which gives open space equal footing with building construction.”

Dexter Adams
Manager, Grounds Department