Category Archives: Economy

NAACP calls for end to War on Drugs

Nafari Vanaski, wrote for Gateway newspapers 18 August 2011, NAACP calling for truce in nation’s drug war
If you grew up at the same time that I did, you’ll remember the “Just Say No” anti-drug campaign that became popular in the mid-1980s and early 1990s.

It manifested itself in many ways, from the posters and talks in class to the “very special episodes” of shows such as “Blossom” and “The Facts of Life,” where a character encounters a kid from the wrong side of the tracks who is pressuring him or her to try drugs. Inevitably, good prevailed and the druggie turned out to be from a broken family and needed only a good face-to-face with Nancy Reagan, the driving force behind the campaign, to overcome his addiction. (She appeared on “Diff’rent Strokes,” and considering the real-life histories of Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges and Dana Plato, she probably should have stuck around for a five-episode story arc.)

“Just Say No” was part of the larger war on drugs the Nixon administration declared in 1971. For grown-ups, that war symbolized a lot more than sappy primetime television. Especially for black adults. For them, it meant stricter laws for those found buying, selling and distributing illegal drugs.

To that end, the NAACP took an interesting step at its national convention last month. It approved a resolution to end the war on drugs because of its devastating effect on the black community.

Interesting how the headline writer watered that down: NAACP called Continue reading →

Growing talent instead of population

What are some ideas for economic and cultural growth that don’t require huge population growth? Richard Florida has many ideas for large and mid-sized population areas in the article discussed below. Who’s the Richard Florida for places the size of Lowndes County?

Richard Florida wrote in the Atlantic in December 2009, How the Crash Will Reshape America:

Big, talent-attracting places benefit from accelerated rates of “urban metabolism,”
The question we need to address is how to be a small talent-attracting place, and even more a smallish place that grows its own talent and jobs.

This part is especially relevant: Continue reading →

“about as fruitful as trying to squeeze information out of the Kremlin”

Which organization was this judge referring to?
Schuster told the directors that he thought [that organization] was supplying “vague” information and he directed that henceforth the sides meet monthly in his office for updates on the liquidation process. In short, Schuster is learning first hand — just like members, the media and the public at large have learned — that prying information out of [that organization] is usually about as fruitful as trying to squeeze information out of the Kremlin.
No, not that city council! No, not that county commission! Not even the state board of corrections. (Although some of them might want to try that bureaucratic shoe on to see if it fits.) Here’s who: Continue reading →

Retrofitting suburbia —Ellen Dunham-Jones

There are many jobs in this. The Five Points redevelopment is an example of what she’s talking about. It’s a lot better than building more sprawl: safer, less expensive, more jobs, less energy cost, more energy independence, better health, and more community.

Georgia Tech Professor Ellen Dunham-Jones spole January 2010 at TEDxAtlanta, Retrofitting suburbia

In the last 50 years, we’ve been building the suburbs with a lot of unintended consequences. And I’m going to talk about some of those consequences and just present a whole bunch of really interesting projects that I think give us tremendous reasons to be really optimistic that the big design and development project of the next 50 years is going to be retrofitting suburbia. So whether it’s redeveloping dying malls or re-inhabiting dead big-box stores or reconstructing wetlands out of parking lots, I think the fact is, the growing number of empty and under-performing, especially, retail sites throughout suburbia gives us actually a tremendous opportunity to take our least-sustainable landscapes right now and convert them into more sustainable places. And in the process, what that allows us to do is to redirect a lot more of our growth back into existing communities that could use a boost, and have the infrastructure in place, instead of continuing to tear down trees and to tear up the green space out at the edges.
Here’s the video: Continue reading →

Jack Kingston from Valdosta to Tifton to Atlanta

You may have seen by the front page of the VDT this morning that Jack Kingston was in Valdosta yesterday morning and by the VDT editorial that he will be in Atlanta today. The VDT whines:
Why do you have to take the one politician that actually works for us?
Well, some farmers in Tifton didn’t take kindly to the main idea Kingston was pushing yesterday. Said a farmer:
I have tried working with probationers and I’ll just say that it was a very inconsistent supply of workers.
Hm, the VDT previously was of a similar opinion, an opinion that got quoted in the AJC. Maybe the VDT didn’t know Kingston was pushing HB 87, even though they sat down with him yesterday morning?

We don’t need an ALEC-organized private prison law like HB 87 to profit private prison company CCA, and we don’t need a CC private prison in Lowndes County. Spend those tax dollars on rehabilitation and education instead.

-jsq

Comprehensive Plan Update Due

Hm, does Lowndes County also have to provide an update for the Comprehensive Plan? If so, where is it? And how are we to find out about it?

Found in the August Valdosta Planners Post:

STWP Update Due Fall 2011

The five‐year Short Term Work Plan (STWP) for the 2030 Greater Lowndes County Comprehensive Plan is due for an update later this year. The STWP is a key implementation tool that reflects the activities and strategies to support the Comprehensive Plan goals, which the City of Valdosta has undertaken for the past five years (2007‐2011). It also sets future activities and strategies for the next five years (2012‐2017). A ‘report of accomplishments’ that identifies the current status of each activity in the current STWP must be submitted to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. A local public hearing must be held and a local resolution passed in order to adopt a the STWP update. Please check our website at www.valdostacity.com/planning for news and meeting schedules related to the STWP update.
According to the FAQ for the 2030 Greater Lowndes Comprehensive Plan: Continue reading →

Planners Post for August —Alexandra P. Arzayus

City of Valdosta Planning and Zoning is trying to keep people informed about Five Points redevelopment and other things.

Received 12 August 2011, with attached PDF. -jsq

Hi all,

We have some really interesting projects and events this issue. Since school is back in session most are planning for football games and other semester activities. Since we are in the planning mode, please read our article on Community Planning Month in October. We have lots of fun and exciting events for citizens to participate in this year. Our theme is “New Ideas for America’s Future”. Since the youth are our future, we want to extend this invitation to any youth groups that may be interested in government and planning. Please contact us to RVSP for a lunch & learn or tour. We look forward to seeing you there!!

Also, check out an update on the Five Points Project and Tax Incentives for Historic Preservation.

August 2011 Planner’s Post
http://www.valdostacity.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=3D4017

Continue reading →

Solar roads

Let your road charge your car, house, or business?

Liane Yvkoff wrote for cartech today, Solar Roadways to build solar-powered parking lot

Solar Roadways received a $750,000 grant from the Federal Highway Administration to build a parking lot paved with solar panels.

Last year the green infrastructure company demoed a 12 square-foot prototype of its solar road as phase 1 of this new technology. The prototype was made up of solar panels, heating elements, and a grid of wireless LED lights encased in durable glass that has the same traction as asphalt and doesn’t cause glare. The panels generate a total of 7.6 kilowatt hours of electricity per day that can be used to melt snow and ice, spell warnings for motorists, or be connected to weight sensitive panels that illuminate a crosswalk when activated. The solar road can also be connected to a smart grid to power nearby homes and businesses, or even electric cars.

-gretchen

And poverty, and ignorance, shall swell the rich and grand —Charles Dickens

You, too, can end up in debtor’s prison, much more easily than you might think.

How America criminalised poverty: The viciousness of state officials to the poor and homeless is breathtaking, trapping them in a cycle of poverty:


Photograph: Robyn Beck/EPA
The most shocking thing I learned from my research on the fate of the working poor in the recession was the extent to which poverty has indeed been criminalised in America.

Perhaps the constant suspicions of drug use and theft that I encountered in low-wage workplaces should have alerted me to the fact that, when you leave the relative safety of the middle class, you might as well have given up your citizenship and taken residence in a hostile nation.

Maybe you think you’re safe, because you’re not out on the street. Think again: Continue reading →