Do you ever wonder what your regular SPLOST 1% sales tax goes for?
Some of it goes to buy vehicles for Valdosta Public Works.
Here’s the video:
6.a) Four F-650 Trucks for Public Works, some from SPLOST @ VCC 7 April 2011
Regular monthly meeting of the Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 April 2011,
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
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Solar power is the fastest growing industry in the world,
and south Georgia is an excellent place for it to grow
and produce jobs, with plenty of rooftops and parking lots
for solar panels.
This is despite the misinformation people with vested interests in other energy sources put out about solar power. After Dr. Matthew Richard made some points about solar vs. biomass, one of the members of the 6 December 2010 panel that VLCIA spent more than $17,000 to assemble to defend biomass responded that he was in favor of the nearby 300kWatt solar plant, but: well, I’m going to interleave his buts with what he’s ignoring. Continue reading
It’s really unfortunate when City Councilmen like Vickers and Wright don’t care that:Continue readingWhen politicians vote for the interests of rich Atlanta investors
- The black infant mortality rate in Valdosta is twice as high for black babies as for white babies
The asthma rate nationally for African-Americans is 3 times higher than for white Americans
- The death to asthma rate nationally for African-Americans is 5 times higher than for white Americans.
- 75% of the biomass incinerators in Georgia have been proposed for black communities, and the rest for poor white communities.
Could the Industrial Authority try any harder to make it look like
they’ve got something to hide?
Of all things to go to the mattresses about: their board minutes?
The VDT picked up on our series about a local citizen being overcharged for an open records request for VLCIA agendas and minutes. In a front page Sunday VDT story, David Rodock reports:
In response, The Valdosta Daily Times submitted their own Open Records Request for the salaries of all Industrial Authority employees.The salary quoted on the invoice is not the same as either Continue readingAccording to the information provided by the Authority, the lowest paid fulltime employee, the Operations Manager, is paid an annual salary of $46,526.
When this number is divided by 2080, (52 weeks multiplied by 40 hours per week) it shows that the lowest paid full-time employee is making $22.40 per hour.
A great honor and a terrible burden.
I think he meant not only the people in front of him but also everyone willing to do something.
As for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce:
We cannot stop money but we can strip them of their credibility.That applies to some other organizations, as well.
We need to fight with art and music, too.10,000 young people went to DC to hear him in Power Shift 2011. We are all late to the fight. As he says:
Try to change those odds.
Here’s the video.
-jsq
PS: Owed to Raven.
Joe Gullen writes in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, 21 March 2011, that
Private corrections company with ties to government officials will not get special treatment while Ohio sells five prisons, director says
A private corrections company with ties to both the governor’s office and the corrections department will get no special treatment as Ohio moves to privatize a chunk of its prison system, the corrections department director said Monday.Oh, my, how would any of that produce an appearance of conflict of interest?Gary Mohr, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, has pledged to remove himself from Gov. John Kasich’s recent proposal to sell five Ohio prisons to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Mohr is a former consultant and managing director for Corrections Corporation of America, a Nashville-based company that is eligible to bid on the state prison contracts once they are made available next month.
The company, which bills itself the leading private-sector provider of corrections services to governments, also hired Kasich’s former congressional chief of staff, Donald Thibaut, as a lobbyist in January.
As for hiring Kasich’s former congressional chief of staff as a lobbyist, Owen said CCA has long had a lobbyist in Ohio to educate elected officials on the services the company provides. CCA owns and operates a Youngstown facility that houses federal prisoners.Well, in that case, CCA should have no objection to finding out, for example, who they had lobbying the Georgia legislature lately.“There’s nothing hidden and no agenda,” Owen said.
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George Boston Rhynes said he had recently been to a Brooks County Commission
meeting and there was a lot of actual dialog.
He said here in Lowndes County is the only place he’s seen the kind
of refusal to answer questions he’d just observed earlier in this same
Valdosta City Council meeting.
Here’s Part 1 of 2:
George Boston Rhynes says Brooks County does it better @ VCC 7 April 2011 Part 1 of 2:
Regular monthly meeting of the Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 April 2011,
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Here’s Part 2 of 2: Continue reading
5. Public Hearings
d. Consideration of an Ordinance to rezone 0.75 acres from Single-Family Residential (R10) to Single-Family Residential (R-6) as requested by Martha Rock, represented by Ken Garren (File No. VA-2011-07). The property is located at 1 Brookwood Circle. The Planning Commission did not review this request at their March Regular Meeting because the case had been withdrawn.
e. Consideration of an Ordinance for a Conditional Use Permit for a townhouse (SingleFamily Attached) development in a Single-Family Residential (R-6) Zoning District as requested by Martha Rock, represented by Ken Garren (File No. CU-2011-02). The property is located at 1 Brookwood Circle. The Planning Commission did not review this request at their March Regular Meeting because the case had been withdrawn.
f. Consideration of a request to change the name of a portion of Jackson Street Lane to Bivins Lane.
Here’s the video: Continue reading
I’m pretty sure this is the picture Robert Hall showed the Valdosta City Council.
He was showing it to VDT reporter David Rodock outside before the meeting.
It’s not a pretty picture, which I think was part of his point.
He said he was also exposed to dioxin in Vietnam, and continues
to suffer several medical consequences.
Here’s the video:
Robert Hall on consequences of Dioxin @ VCC 7 April 2011
Regular monthly meeting of the Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 April 2011,
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
-jsq
From
the agenda:
5.c) Consideration of an Ordinance for Text Amendments to the Land Development Regulations (LDR) for Section 106-1(C), Definitions, and Section 218-13 (TTT) Temporary Use – Commercial Retail as requested by the City of Valdosta (File No. VA2011-04). The Planning Commission reviewed this request at their March Regular Meeting and recommended approval (8-0 vote).Valdosta City Council also approved.
Here’s Part 1 of 1:
5.c) LDR changes @ VCC 7 April 2011 Part 1 of 2
Regular monthly meeting of the Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 April 2011,
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Update 5:30 PM 17 APr 2011: added the vote video. Continue reading