Cobb County rethinks throwing people in jail for renting bootleg parking spaces to Braves fans

After more reports of just how awful the Atlanta Braves nobody-can-rent-parking-spaces-but-us ordinance is — the Atlanta Journal Constitution revealed this week that anyone offering parking within half a mile of the Braves’ new stadium could be subject to up to 60 days in jail — Cobb County has finally decided maybe this isn’t the best way to throw a bone to the Braves owners:

In a statement Wednesday, the county announced that the Board of Commissioners had formally requested changes to the Accessory Special Event Parking ordinance “to ensure that the language reflects the original intent of public safety and does not produce unintended consequences for private property owners and citizens.”

That’s awfully vague, mind you, and doesn’t preclude continuing to use the ban on anyone other than the Braves renting parking spaces on game days as a stick with which to arm-twist local parking lot owners into renting their spaces to the team at cheap rates. (Can you twist arms with a stick? Enh, poetic license.) If Cobb County leaders are indeed walking this back, we should find out on July 26, when the county will be holding their first public hearing on the proposed ordinance. That’s also the day that current county commission chair (and Braves stadium deal architect) Tim Lee and his opponent Mike Boyce face a runoff election, so that could be a very interesting 24 hours.