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Want knowledge-based jobs? Welcome gays and lesbians



The Chamber, the Industrial Authority, and various other local leaders
say they want knowledge-based jobs, or creative jobs.
We won’t get those just by teaching students to show up on time and
do what they’re told: that’s how you train factory workers,
not knowledge-based employees.
For creative jobs we also need Technology, Talent, and Tolerance.
How do you measure Tolerance?
One key component is the concentration of gays and lesbians.
So today’s

South Georgia Pride Festival
is a good sign for creative jobs in south Georgia!

Richard Florida wrote 16 July 2012 for The Atlantic,

The Geography of Tolerance,

The map above shows how metros across the U.S. score on the
Tolerance Index, as updated for The Rise of the Creative Class,
Revisited. The chart below shows the top 20 metros. Developed by my
Martin Prosperity Institute colleague Kevin Stolarick, it ranks U.S.
metros according to three key variables—the share of
immigrants or foreign-born residents, the Gay Index (the
concentration of gays and lesbians), and the Integration Index,
which tracks the level of segregation between ethnic and racial
groups.



Do you recognize that shape in the middle of south Georgia?
That’s the Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area,
consisting of Lowndes, Echols, Lanier, and Brooks Counties.
Looks like about 0.4 on the Tolerance Index.
So sure, we’re no Austin, Texas, but we’re in the same range as oh,
Charlotte, NC.

If you want to help promote creative jobs in south Georgia,
there’s a festival going on today:




South Georgia Pride Festival

noon until 6PM

John W Saunders Park

1151 River Street

Valdosta, Georgia

food and music all day

Who knows,

the Mayor of Valdosta might even be there; what do you think?
He certainly gave the festival

plenty of earned media.

-jsq

Valdosta Street Railway 1899-1924

 

What’s that little shelter by the front gate of VSU?
It’s the last physical remnant of the Valdosta Street Railway,
an early 20th century streetcar
system, when Valdosta was the smallest city in the country to have one.
Valdosta had

5,613 people in 1900,
about twice as many as present-day Hahira.


Dean Poling described the origins of Valdosta’s streetcars in

Valdosta Scene 26 February 2010:

Continue reading →

Streetcars and bicycles: upcoming movies at VSU

You do know that Valdosta was the smallest city in the U.S.
that had a streetcar system, right?
Here’s a movie about what probably happened to it, like all the others,
followed by a movie about another mode of transportation: bicycles.


“Taken for a Ride” and “Pedal Power!” screening



Public Event · By Valdosta State University Social Issues in Film Series

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

7:00pm

VSU University Center room 1171

DOUBLE-HEADER!

“Taken for a Ride” focuses on the Great American Streetcar Scandal
(or Conspiracy), in which major US companies deliberately bought-up
and dismantled the public light-rail streetcar lines in dozens of
American cities. The guilty companies? General Motors, Firestone
Tire, Standard Oil, Phillips Petroleum, and Mack Trucks—all
companies that wanted to replace the public streetcars with buses
and then private cars.

“Pedal Power!” is an inside look at the world’s growing cycling
movement and how bikes are pushing-up against a dominant car culture
in North America. From Critical Mass bike rides and “bike-to-work”
programs, to increasingly popular “public bike” programs, bicycles
are becoming an ever-important component of cities.

Co-sponsored with the Valdosta Community Cycling Center.

-jsq

 

Resigning from Planning Commission; suggest appoint Jody Hall —John Page @ LCC 2012-09-11



John Page, recent winner of the Republican Primary for
Lowndes County Commission District 5,
spoke as a citizen wishing to be heard in

yesterday’s Commission meeting.
He said he was resigning from his appointed post on the Planning Commission
effective 31 December 2012


because he sees it as a conflict with his upcoming elected position as a
County Commissioner, plus he said he does not have time to do both.
(Since there is no Democratic or other candidate for District 5,
Page will be the Commissioner.)
Page recommended

his primary runoff opponent Jody Hall
as his replacement on the Planning Commission.

Update 2012-09-20: Fixed video embedding.

Here’s

the video:


Resigning from Planning Commission; suggest appoint Jody Hall —John Page

Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 September 2012.

I commend John Page for both of his decisions, and for announcing all this
in a public meeting in front of a video camera.
Maybe as a County Commissioner he will support transparency.
And I commend Jody Hall for being willing to serve on the Planning Commission.
Maybe as a Planning Commissioner he will support transparency.

-jsq

Europe: no shale gas, more renewables

Europe has no shale gas, so, unlike the U.S., natural gas will
not be getting in the way of quickly moving to renewable wind and solar energy.

Barbara Lewis and Henning Gloystein wrote for Reuters 23 August 2012,

EU Green Energy Drive Says No To Shale Gas, Looks Towards More Renewable Power Sources,

In the medium term, the value of conventional gas is in providing
reliable baseload power to supplement unpredictable renewables,
which depend on the sun shining or the wind blowing.

Danish state-owned utility

DONG Energy, which has relied heavily on
coal-fired power generation, sees a combination of gas and
renewables as the way to go.



“We see gas-to-power and wind energy as the ideal mix, together
comprising clean and stable energy. Wind energy as the clean energy
source, and gas-to-power as the balancing power,” Carsten Krogsgaard
Thomsen, DONG Energy’s acting CEO, said.

Meanwhile, Windpower Monthly reported 13 August 2012,

Dong issues 2012 profit warning,

Continue reading →

Video Playlist @ LCC 2012-09-10



Yesterday morning’s County Commission Work Session

started on time!
In addition to the open records and open meetings items,
it included a report from KLVB, two rezonings, typo fixes and date changes
in the ULDC, a vanity road name change, an alcohol license and an
alcohol ordinance change, a USGS river gauge, surplus vehicles,
purchase of a new fire truck, and more!
They vote on all this tonight at their Regular Session, 5:30 PM.
Here’s
the agenda.

5.a. Unsurprisingly,
the County Manager suggested

the County Clerk be appointed the Open Records Officer
now required by state law.
5.b. They also have a resolution before them about

review and approval of minutes of executive sessions,
but of course they don’t allow we the taxpayers to see that
before they vote on it.

They considered adopting subdivision infrastructure for

5.c. Glen Laurel
and

5.d. Crestwood.

6. Videos of the
KLVB report
and of applicant Emily Macheski-Preston
are in a separate blog post.

7. Public Hearings:

Continue reading →

Lowndes County continuing funding for USGS HWY 122 Stream Gauge —Ashley Tye @ LCC 2012-09-10



Lowndes County Emergency Management Director Ashley Tye
reported to the Lowndes County Commission at their

Work Session yesterday morning
that
after the floods of 2009, Lowndes County negotiated with USGS to put a
stream level monitor on the Withlacoochee Little River at the GA 122 bridge,
and the county typically renews that funding once a year.
We shall see whether they approve that this evening.

Here's

the video:


Lowndes County continuing funding for USGS HWY 122 Stream Gauge —Ashley Tye

Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 September 2012.

-jsq

County to renegotiate bonds for the county palace @ LCC 2012-09-10



In

yesterday morning's Work Session,
County Finance Director Stephanie Black
proposed a letter of understanding
for Morgan-Keegan to act as underwriter for
approximately $17 million
to refund the original bonds done for this building as well
as the water-sewer bonds only if the terms are favorable and
the net value savings are at least 3%.
Current projections show a savings of
$1.2 million or a little over 7% at this time.
Chairman Ashley Paulk remarked that:

The bond market has changed drastically.

At least the county palace that former Chairman Rod Casey got
a former commission to approve at his last Commission meeting
now won't cost we the taxpayers quite as much as we thought.
They vote on this tonight.

Here's

the video:


County to renegotiate bonds for the county palace

Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 September 2012.

-jsq

KLVB report —Aaron Strickland @ LCC 2012-09-10



In

the 10 September 2012 Lowndes County Commission Work Session,
Aaron Strickland of
Keep Lowndes-Valdosta Beautiful (KLVB)
said there were two applicants for appointement to the
KLVB board: Emily Preston and Deanna Wagner.
They did not speak;
Emily Macheski-Preston and Deanna Wagner.
Ms. Macheski-Preston spoke (included below); Ms. Wagner did not;
maybe tonight.

He gave a brief verbal report, which he said
was a summary of a report he submitted last week
(which we the taxpayers haven’t seen).
He said at their Rivers Alive event last year
they had a record number of sites cleaned: seven.
Great American Cleanup, KLVB’s signature event
used to be 1 day, but this year was 3 days.

  1. Valdosta asked for help with a creek project.
  2. Helped emergency management after the

    tornadoes,
    through

    Ashley Tye     and a group called Vision 388(?).
  3. Traditional cleanup day in Valdosta, Lowndes County, and Lake Park.

He read some

statistics on numbers of volunteers and things cleaned up.
He listed some

future events.
There’s more in the video.

Commissioner Richard Raines wanted to know how much time commitment was involved.
Answer: an hour per board meeting and helping out with events and committees.

Here’s

the video: video of Aaron Strickland’s aural report:

Continue reading →

Citizens plead for Strickland Mill, then a surprise offer @ RCC 2012-09-10



Haley Hyatt videoed
yesterday’s Remerton City Council
decision about Strickland Mill.
Citizens pled, unsuccessfully, for it to be saved.
Then the owners made a surprise offer.

Here’s

Part 1 of 3:



The final plea

was made by Celine H. Gladwin.

Continue reading →