[Larry Felton Johnson]

I've posted a brief blog entry on Georgia's decision to remove 488 communties from its official map.

It's at http://larryfeltonjohnson.typepad.com/atlantalarry/2006/12/the_map_room_an.html

[Pillsbury Doughboy]

What's really stupid is that of some of the places removed are actually quite large towns. Boths Evans and Martinez are wealthy suburbs of Augusta (I believe Martinez has over 30,000 people and Evans has something like 18,000 people)---both of them were removed.

[Teshadoh]

^ But Martinez is an unincorporated area. But it is certainly a well known location, which for a map's purpose is intended to provide guidance.

[Pillsbury Doughboy]

^ Good point. Neither is Evans really. But I would think they would leave those towns (villages??) on there just for clarification purposes.

[shanthemanatl]

My tiny hometown, Round Oak (Jones County, just north of Macon), will not be on the new map.

My mother tells me folks are quite upset. They lost their post office about 10 years ago and now this.

Though small and unincorporated, this community has existed since the late 1700's.

[Andrea]

Seems like they could have two maps -- one "easy to read" version that leaves out towns below a certain size, and a full version which continues to recognize smaller communities. Once you take somebody off the map, it's just a matter of time before people start forgetting they were even there.

:(

[alon504]

I don't see the reasoning behind this proposal, at all. Actually, I find it to be quite silly.

[Teshadoh]

^ The GA state maps have gotten crowded & harder to read due to the numerous small towns.

[Marypearl]

Why do you suppose Bonaire isn't on the list, it isn't incorporated

[alon504]

^ The GA state maps have gotten crowded & harder to read due to the numerous small towns.

Then make a bigger map. There is no need to chop off villages and towns that are along the highway, IMO.

[Teshadoh]

Then make a bigger map. There is no need to chop off villages and towns that are along the highway, IMO.

And they have a huge map already - but no typical travellor wants a huge map. They want a map just large enough to fold out in their car, GA DOT makes maps for travel purposes, not as a community service for small towns.

[shanthemanatl]

Why do you suppose Bonaire isn't on the list, it isn't incorporated

Maybe because Bonaire is Governor Sonny's hometown?

[Chris Creech]

I'm surpised this is left up to some sort of arbitrary decision making process that would just lead to trouble.

It seems like they should just have a population number set up, and if a city falls under it after any census then it's dropped. If a city gets over that magic number, then it would be added.

Maybe work in some exceptions for towns with recognized historic sites.

You have to have some sort of system for that, or otherwise people are going to be crying fowl, calling their congressmen, getting political about it, etc.

[alexjon]

You have to have some sort of system for that, or otherwise people are going to be crying fowl, calling their congressmen, getting political about it, etc.

They might be a bit too chicken for that and will probably duck the issue.

[Fiorenza]

Too cute.

[Stratosphere 2020]

Woh, Bonaire, I thought that island in the Caribbean. ;)

[RobMidtowner]

Tiny towns going back on highway map

By ARIEL HART
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 01/04/07

The state Department of Transportation has met its Waterloo. And it's putting it back on the map.

Along with Lifsey Springs, Dry Branch, Smarr and Hickory Level, Waterloo and more than 400 other small towns will return to print in all state highway maps, starting with the large-print map to be published this summer, said DOT spokesman David Spear. The department, which had removed the names to make the map less "cluttered," said last month it intended to put those with ZIP codes back in and possibly the rest.

The DOT has faced an avalanche of "pretty impassioned" comments on its decision to simplify the map, said Spear, and has seen the issue hit newspapers and airwaves across the country. The last straw appeared to be laid by the complaint of yet one more Georgian: Gov. Sonny Perdue.

Perdue's office on Wednesday publicized a letter he sent to DOT board Chairman Mike Evans, noting that Perdue himself was from a small town and asking the board to "revise the guidelines" and "restore the references to our state's small towns" in all the maps to be printed in the future, starting with the large-print map scheduled for summer publication. The regular maps for this year already have been printed.

"It has been a constant source of discussion and talk wherever the governor goes as he travels around the state," said Perdue's spokesman, Bert Brantley. Brantley said Perdue did not intend to dictate that every single town go back in, but just asked the board to "take another look at it."

Evans did not return calls for comment but said through a spokesman he would refer to the DOT's announcement.

The authority for the decision was not entirely clear, though Spear said Evans and DOT Commissioner Harold Linnenkohl agreed on it. Leaders of the DOT board, which approves the map in an annual vote, have taken the hit in board meetings for approving the map, saying it was their decision. However, there has been no open vote on restoring the names and Spear said Wednesday the content of the map was up to the commissioner.

At least one small-town resident was just glad to hear of the apparently total reversal.

"Super, that's great," said Dennis Holt of Hickory Level in Carroll County, whose outcry has torn through fax machines throughout state government. "We wish we didn't have to go to all this trouble."