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Rezonings at LCC work session 9 May 2011

Lowndes County Commission met in work session yesterday morning, and meets in regular session to make decisions this evening. A couple of rezonings and an alcohol ordinance are on the agenda. Remember rezonings affect sprawl which affects schools and everything else.

Citizens Wishing to be Heard has moved to the end again.

Here’s the agenda with videos from the work session interleaved. Gretchen got there one minute late and they were already on item 4. The whole meeting lasted about 20 minutes.

Yes, we know the sound is bad. LAKE will be using a different camera tonight.

-jsq

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MAY 9, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2011, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
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Chastity tells us about Healthy Options of Days Gone By

Healthy Options had a table at the first Valdosta Downtown Farm Days, and Chastity told us about their products with no preservatives and no synthetics.

Here’s the video:


Chastity tells us about Healthy Options of Days Gone By
Downtown Valdosta Farm Days, Courthouse Square,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 May 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

Cairo in Mexico City

The U.S. media paid little attention to Mexico’s Arab moment: Protesters demand the resignation of Mexico’s top drug war official.
But while such stories have become tragically common in Mexico, this was the first time the mourners could vent their grief in front of tens of thousands of sympathizers and TV cameras from across the world.

And in this media spotlight, the protesters made a new demand — amid the failure of the government to provide security, they cried, the Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna must resign.

“We don’t want more dead. We don’t want more hate,” protest leader Javier Sicilia told the crowd. “President Felipe Calderon — show you are listening to us, and make the public safety secretary resign.”

The demand announced at Sunday’s rally gave a new edge to a movement that has been steadily rising amid the massacres and mass graves of Mexico’s drug war.

Up until then, protesters had come out with a mix

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Neither wind nor solar power “need to be purchased by Halliburton”

Continuing to see what “the indigenous” think about solar power:
Today, a number of Native tribes, from the Lakota in the Dakotas to the Iroquois Confederacy in New York to the Anishinaabeg in Wisconsin, battle to preserve the environment for those who are yet to come. The next seven generations, the Lakota say, depend upon it.

“Traditionally, we’re told that as we live in this world, we have to be careful for the next seven generations,” says Loretta Cook. “I don’t want my grandkids to be glowing and say, ‘We have all these bad things happening to us because you didn’t say something about it.’

Part of this family and spiritual obligation to preserve

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Dialog and VSEB —John Robinson

Mr. John Robinson pointed out that school board problems and biomass are not the only issues around here, and for example the south side of town needs money so people there can become more productive citizens. At the 21 April 2011 Valdosta City Council meeting, He specifically recommended getting Valdosta Small Emerging Business (VSEB) up and running.

Here’s the video:


Let us try to come together and find some method —John Robinson
Regular monthly meeting of the Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 21 April 2011,
Videos by George Boston Rhynes for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

George Rhynes posted a complete transcript. Here are a few excerpts: Continue reading →

Georgia clean energy tax credits: yes, they are available

Inquiring minds want to know if Georgia still has its energy rebate program. The answer is yes.

The usual place to look for state tax incentives is DSIRETM (Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency). That database shows for Georgia not only state financial incentives but also a local loan program for Athens-Clarke County and a local rebate program for Atlanta. There’s a thought! Valdosta or Lowndes County could do a loan program for real clean renewable energy! or the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) could do that using some of its $15 million in bonds and other debt, assuming it hasn’t already spent all of it on locking up land.

Or Georgia Power or Colquitt Electric could do that, Continue reading →

Amanda Peacock explains it all (Downtown Valdosta Farm Days)

Food and other vendors on the historic Lowndes County Courthouse Square, in Valdosta, Georgia, every first and third Saturday, 9AM to 1PM.

Here’s the video:


Amanda Peacock explains it all (Downtown Valdosta Farm Days)
Downtown Valdosta Farm Days, Courthouse Square,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 May 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

More about that in this previous post.

-jsq

Lot size and code enforcement on Old Pine Road, 8 June 2010

Ashley Paulk said he is code enforcement! Let’s go back a year to the rezoning of Old Pine Road on 8 June 2010, as an example of how some things fit together around here. First a bit more about lot size, and then code enforcement and traffic.

Commissioner Richard Lee wanted to know if Coy Brightwell was the spokesperson for the people against. Brightwell said some others would also speak, but R-10 was the closest to a quarter acre lot, and that’s what they were for.

Here’s Part 1 of 3:


Lot size and code enforcement on Old Pine Road, 8 June 2010 Part 1 of 3:
Rezoning REZ-2010-06, Glen Laurel, Old Pine Rd,
Regular monthly meeting of the Lowndes County Commission (LCC)
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 8 June 2010,
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman and John S. Quarterman
for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

A Mr. Mulligan of Bemiss Road wanted to know A Mr. Mulligan of Bemiss Road wanted to know

Who develops these plans, the county, or the developer?
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Solar as electricity for remote people

PR from Sandia National Laboratories News 13 December 2005, Light-bringer Debby Tewa provides advice about solar power to people on Indian reservations: Most lived without electricity like Tewa did growing up
Debby Tewa spent her first 10 years living without electricity, water, or a telephone in a three-room stone house in an isolated area of the Hopi Reservation in Arizona.

Today, as a contractor to the Sandia National Laboratories Sandia Tribal Energy Program, she provides technical advice about maintaining photovoltaic (PV) units to people on Indian reservations who live remotely like she did. For many, it’s the first time they’ve had electricity in their homes.

“I can identify with the people I’m helping,” Tewa says. “Many live the way I grew up, and I fully appreciate their excitement in having electricity and light at night.”

As part of Tewa’s job, she and program director

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I sold 40 pounds of potatoes in an hour! —Gretchen Quarterman

People said they’d come back, but I sold out in an hour and had to tell them you need to come at 9! Downtown Valdosta Farm Days is a success.

I don’t have any pictures of me or my potatoes, though; sorry. But here you can see me digging the same potatoes.

Lots of vendors of food-related items, such as Continue reading →