On the Monday Dec. 19 edition of Georgia Today: Gun violence claims more teen lives over the weekend in Atlanta, holiday travelers should be on the lookout for human trafficking victims, and more jobs are coming to Georgia
The Rome City Commission issued a proclamation Monday recognizing the efforts of the Rome-Floyd League of Women Voters and other nonpartisan womenâs organizations involved in voter education.
It marked the 100th anniversary of both the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote, and the first presidential election in which women voted.
The proclamation, read by Commissioner Sundai Stevenson, recognized the Rome chapter of the LWV, which was originally established in 1919, for their work in voter registration and encouraging women to vote.
It went on to say that the 19th amendment itself âwas instrumental in the eventual passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (amended in 1975) which largely eradicated citizen disenfranchisement by racial discrimination.â
Itâs not the kind of opening R.H. Ledbetter Properties had hoped for at the new East Bend shopping center, but given the nature of 2020, the developers are happy to have four of the new retailers open.
The pandemic has delayed most of the tenants who signed on to the development on the former Kmart site on Hicks Drive. But at this point, everyone who signed up to open in Rome is still committed to the project
âObviously we would have preferred to have opened the whole shopping center at the same time,â said Bob Ledbetter Jr.
Still, the trickle opening this fall, spreading out into 2021, might not be such a bad thing in the long run.
Two proposals to redevelop the city-owned property on West Third Street were submitted by the deadline this week.
Rome Purchasing Director Becky Smyth said Friday that both would put a combination of retail, restaurants and residences on the 2.2-acre tract next to the Courtyard Rome Riverwalk hotel. The property consists of the site used as a parking lot and the adjacent glass store.
âWe were impressed by the submissions and the use of the space,â Smyth said.
Proposals came from Broad Street LLC, formed by developer Ira Levy, and FSRE Impact Rome River District LLC out of Atlanta. The principals are Alex Dominguez and Jeff Warwick of Four Stones Real Estate but theyâve put together a team that includes Bob Ledbetter, whose Rome company is building the East Bend shopping center on the former Kmart property.