According to
GDOT’s facebook event:
Southern Regional Commission Roundtable Meeting
Time Wednesday, July 6 · 10:00am – 1:00pm Location Nashville Community Center
102 N Jefferson Street
Nashville, Georgia-gretchen
Category Archives: Community
The health of the community is way more important than the job —Leigh Touchton
Leigh Touchton, president of the Valdosta-Lowndes NAACP,
says the local and state NAACP are opposed to the biomass plant
because the community that is most affected is the minority community.
She referred to her previous presentation of a letter from
Dr. Robert D. Bullard.
She also brought up an incident with Brad Lofton and recommended
that VLCIA hire an executive director who wouldn’t act like that.
And she said she deals with VSEB all the time:
I’ve taken men through there, I’ve signed them up.
She referred to me when she said that, so what I said before
is appended after the video.
Here’s
the video:
The health of the community is way more important than the job —Leigh Touchton
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Acting Executive Director,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 17 May 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
What I actually recommended regarding VSEB, in response to
a specific request from Leigh Touchton for recommendations,
was maybe schedule a meeting with Roy Copeland to talk about
VSEB and solar job opportunities:
Birmingham U.K. municipal solar didn’t wait for larger governments
Banks and power companies can fund municipal solar projects;
cities and counties don’t have to wait for state or federal governments
to provide them grants.
Or at least Birmingham, U.K. has done it for public housing.
And
Quitman, Georgia did it last year, too.
According to Larry Elliott in the Guardian, 3 October 2010,
10,000 Birmingham council homes to get solar panels:
City agrees £100m scheme, partly funded by banks and energy suppliers, to meet target for cutting carbon emissions
Plans to fit power generating solar panels to council-owned properties
in Birmingham will be pushed forward this week after the council agreed a
“green new deal” scheme covering 10,000 homes.In the biggest proposal for retrofitting houses through an energy
efficiency upgrade yet seen in the UK, the council agreed a £100m
proposal last week designed to create jobs and meet the city’s ambitious
targets for reducing carbon emissions.The plan – Birmingham Energy Savers – will be jointly funded by
Birmingham council and investment from energy suppliers and commercial
banks, and follows two successful pilot schemes conducted in Europe’s
biggest local authority.
Energy efficiency and solar power to create jobs!
We have local proof of concept right next door
Valdosta budget hearing: no citizens spoke
Valdosta city officials advertised a budget hearing and no citizens spoke.
David Rodock wrote today in the VDT,
Valdosta’s 2012 budget reviewed by citizens and public officials
City officials and staff gathered Wednesday night to discuss and review
the fiscal year 2012 budget. Public participation was advertised, but
no citizens presented any concern at the meeting. This is the first
budget hearing, with the final adoption of the budget taking place at
the upcoming regular City Council meeting on June 23 at 5:30 p.m.
No citizens.
I don’t live in Valdosta, so I didn’t go.
Apparently no
Valdosta residents who have any economic concerns went, either.
That’s too bad, because among the items discussed was this:
- Energy and fuel prices are a threat, since the private sector controls
the costs. Public Works, the Valdosta Fire Department and the Valdosta
Police Department use significant amounts of fuel.
And I bet the city spends significant funds air conditioning its buildings.
Costs that could be offset by investment in solar panels for those same
buildings.
Solar panels that would limit ongoing electrical expenditures,
and would also be a visible sign to residents and potential
investors that Valdosta means renewable and sustainable energy business.
According to Hanson, for every dollar spent by residents, $1.17 is spent
by non-residents.
And many of those non-residents would see those solar panels,
which would spread the green reputation of Valdosta back to whereever
they came from.
If Valdosta wants to be forward-looking,
“I’m obviously here on one issue.” —Karen Noll @ VLCIA 14 June 2011
Karen Noll asked the VLCIA board to put a no-biomass clause
in any purchase agreement regarding the proposed biomass site.
She began with these words:
I’m Karen Noll.
I hope some of you already have seen my writing and
have read my letters to you in the past.
I’m obviously here on one issue.
I hope that in the future I can be talking to you about other issues.
But right now I’m talking to you about biomass.
And we celebrated that it was dead and it was gone and now it’s not.
Because we really don’t know … what the plan is.
By “we” I’m guessing she meant WACE.
Some of us who are not members of WACE warned that
it ain’t over until it’s over,
and it only took a week to discover that
VLCIA already knew Sterling Planet wanted to buy the proposed biomass site.
Karen Noll made a pitch based partly on saving taxpayer money.
In addressing health concerns, she handed the board a letter from local doctor
Craig Bishop.
She handed the board a petition with “at least 700 signatures”
and she said for each signature there was probably at least one more
that didn’t sign.
Some of what she said appeared to be drawn from a letter
that is appended in this post after the video.
Here’s
Part 1 of 2:
Georgia moving people out of mental hospitals
The state of Georgia is stopping admitting to state mental hospitals
people with developmental disabilities and is starting to move many people with
severe and persistent mental illness out of state hospitals into
the communities.
According to
DBHDD Summary of October 2010 Settlement
by Georgia Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Disabilities,
Frank E. Shelp, M.D., M.P.H., Commissioner:
By July 1, 2011, Georgia will stop admitting to its state hospitals
people for whom the reason for admission would be a primary diagnosis of
a developmental disability, including Temporary and Immediate Care (TIC).Enhanced community services will be provided for people whose primary
diagnosis is a developmental disability and who are either currently
hospitalized in state hospitals or who are at risk of hospitalization in
state hospitals. Those with forensic status may be included in the target
population if the relevant court finds community placement appropriate.In all cases, the individuals served will be able to make an informed
choice about where they’d like to live. Unless they choose otherwise,
everyone in the target population will be served in their own homes
or the homes of their families and none will be served in a host home,
congregate living setting, skilled nursing facility, intermediate care
facility, or assisted living facility. All of the waiver participants
will receive support coordination.
And a larger group of people:
Transparency and leadership for the local good —John S. Quarterman @ VLCIA 14 June 2011
Noting that I was there on behalf of the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
which takes these videos and puts them on the web,
I recommended to the Industrial Authority board that they
put their agendas on the web,
since they give those away at the door
and they don’t contain any of the details that they’re concerned
about revealing to competitors.
Recalling that I had previously had the audacity to
read their own charter to them,
or at least the parts about the general good and welfare of the community,
I reminded them that some areas that had successfully attracted industry,
such as Raleigh, NC, Austin, TX, and Portland, OR had said what kinds of
industry they wanted.
Expanding on the example of Austin, TX, I noted that they emphasized
clean industry, music, and arts, and that helped attract the kinds
of knowledge-based workers that our local Chamber of Commerce wants
for knowledge-based jobs.
Then I noted that I had
complimented Mayor Fretti
The other immigration reaction
Probably everybody has heard that
Alabama followed Georgia down the Arizona lock-’em-up anti-immigration path.
According to
Albor Ruiz in the New York Daily News, 12 June 2011,
Washington’s inaction on the immigration crisis is no longer sprouting
only hostile and inhumane local laws. But there is growing evidence an
increasing number of local and state officials have tired of playing an
abusive and costly anti-immigration game they don’t believe in.Two weeks ago, Gov. Cuomo pulled New York State from the Secure
Communities federal deportation program, following Illinois Gov. Pat
Quinn who had done the same weeks before. And days after Cuomo’s decision
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick took the same courageous step. All
three governors are Democrats and strong allies of President Obama.They had plenty of reasons to quit the controversial Department of
Homeland Security program. Promoted as a tool to deport undocumented
immigrants convicted of serious crimes, in reality Secure Communities
targets mostly low-level offenders or those never convicted of any crime
at all.
And who benefits by arresting such people?
Private prison companies, which hold the new prisoners.
It’s not just northeast state, either.
Here’s a city and state on the frontline of immigration, Los Angeles, California:
Economic opportunity and cooperation —John Robinson @ VCC 9 June 2011
Discussing the VSEB program, John Robinson remarked:
We need the council up here to show us interest in this program.
He recommended everybody work together, including city and county.
Here’s
the video:
Economic opportunity and cooperation —John Robinson @ VCC 9 June 2011
Regular Meeting, Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 4 June 2011.
Videos by Barbara Stratton for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
-jsq
Juneteenth in Valdosta
There are at least two Juneteenth celebrations scheduled in Valdosta
this year:
7PM Tuesday June 14, 2011, Mathis Auditorium
Minister James Robinson, Guest Speaker
Greater Morning Star Baptist Church
$10/ $5 (Children 4-10)
Call 253-8313 or 460-4889 for Tickets.
10AM – 6PM Saturday June 18, 2011, Pinevale Learning Center
From free food to a Gospelfest, there will be various vendors,
organizations, and sponsors from all over in attendance.
Jane Osborn’s
Community Calendar says: