Category Archives: Elections

Georgia and Florida Railway (GFRR) – Valdosta to Willacoochee Rehabilitation $6.25 million T-SPLOST

Now here’s a T-SPLOST project I like: upgrading the railroad that runs from Valdosta to Moody AFB and on to Ray City and Nashville in Berrien County, and Willacoochee in Atkinson County. This proposal is to aid freight, but with this upgrade to the track, the same track would be even more readily usable for passenger rail. That same track was used for passenger travel up into the 1950s. My mother used to catch the train at Barretts (just north of Moody) to go visit her relatives in Pearson (a bit east of Willacoochee).

It’s true the project sheet talks about “potential customers in the region”:

This project will provide for more efficient train operations along the rail corridor to accommodate the increase rail traffic serving the existing and potential customers in the region.
However, rail promotes development in existing population centers and at stations, unlike all along automobile roadways.

This project is also another example of how the economic area of Moody AFB includes Continue reading →

$12M to widen US 41 N is more than $7.5M for a bus system

There is no public transit in Lowndes County, except for the tiny MIDS bus system (I like it, but it’s small). Meanwhile, the county proposes to spend more in a new sales tax to widen one road, $12 million dollars for Old US 41 North, than a bus system would cost, $7.5 million.

One short stretch of road vs. a three-line bus system to connect Wiregrass Tech, Five Points, Downtown, Moody, East Side, South Side, West Side, and the Mall.

Road and bridge proponents usually mutter that a bus system won’t pay back for years, if ever. And that’s right: bus systems usually operate at a loss because local governments subsidize them for the social and economic benefits they bring, such as these:

This project will provide mobility options for all travelers; improve access to employment; and help mitigate congestion and maximize the use of existing infrastructure by promoting high-occupancy travel.
Employment, safety, and less sprawl, all from a bus system.

What road and bridge proponents don’t ever mention is: Continue reading →

Videos of entire Lowndes County Board of Education meeting of 30 August 2011

Here’s a playlist of the entire 30 August 2011 Lowndes County Board of Education meeting of 30 August 2011. As you can see, it really was almost all about approving a resolution against school consolidation. We’ve already posted that resolution and the unanimous vote.

The actual resolution is a model of such things: simple and easy to read, yet complete enough to cover the territory, and leaving no doubts as to the board’s position. Congratulations to LCBOE on that resolution!


Playlist, called meeting, Lowndes County Board of Education (LCBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 30 August 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman and John S. Quarterman
for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Let me also take a moment to thank some LCBOE staff. Continue reading →

Videos of entire VBOE 29 August 2011 meeting

Here’s a video playlist for the whole meeting: teacher hiring, board member training, and a statement against school consolidation, with additional comments by many citizens. Many of these videos have already been published in the VBOE 29 August 2011 category in this blog.


Videos of entire VBOE 29 August 2011 meeting
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
Work Session, Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 29 August 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

The playlist also includes other video material, such as Continue reading →

Jack Kingston has a green tongue —Gretchen Quarterman

VDT LTE today. -jsq
Georgia has gained enough population in the past ten years to add a congressional seat. This means redrawing the Congressional district lines not only to balance population, but to also add another representative in Congress. Lowndes County has been split between the first and second districts, and all spring rumors of where we might end up were circulating. Eventually we saw a draft map that had Lowndes completely in the 8th District,

Before
along with other counties along Interstate 75. That map made some sense south of Macon. Some communities of interest were preserved (most of the Lowndes-Valdosta MPO was in the same district) and the hospitality corridor of I-75 was in one district, along with the rural farms that surround it. Valdosta to Macon is easier to traverse than Valdosta to Savannah, or Valdosta to Columbus.

But then Congressman Jack Kingston stuck out his green tongue.

Continue reading →

School Consolidation Public Forum tonight: VHS PAC 7-8:30 PM

The first Public Forum presented by Valdosta City Schools on the subject of School Consolidation is tonight at Valdosta High School’s Performing Arts Center (PAC), 7PM to 8:30 PM. That’s after the Valdosta City Council meeting, so you can even go to both.

The Valdosta Board of Education voted last week to oppose school consolidation. Note plenty of FVCS people there, many speaking against consolidation. If there were CUEE people present, they were awful silent.

If “unification” is about education, where was CUEE at that meeting or at the Lowndes County Board of Education meeting the following day when LCBOE unanimously passed a resolution supporting VBOE in opposition to consolidation? Maybe CUEE will show up tonight and say something. Unless VDT is right, and CUEE can’t answer the relevant questions.

-jsq

Public comment form on T-SPLOST Roundtable

Received today on T-SPLOST meeting in Waycross today. -jsq
The SGRC website has been updated to correct the error for the public comment form. Thank you for letting us know and helping to spread the word about these public meetings.

-Southern Georgia Regional Commission

The correction has this new link to the form. The form says:
Public Comment Form
Southern Georgia Regional Transportation Roundtable
and asks for your name, address, phone, email, and your comments. I bet you could email that information if you don’t want to print out the form and write on it. The public notice about the regional T-SPLOST meetings said:
Comments are being accepted by email at chull@sgrc.us, by fax at 229-333-5212, or by mailing them to SGRC, ATTN: SG RTR, 327 W Savannah Ave., Valdosta, GA 31601.

For more information please call Corey Hull at 229-333-5277.

-jsq

First thing they’ll do, is sell that stadium —? @ VBOE 29 August 2011

This is the clearest statement of the football argument I’ve heard. This is the same speaker who already mentioned quality of education, property taxes, and property values, so this is just one argument among many. The speaker is associated with FVCS, and if I went to VHS, I’d know his name right away; I’m an LHS graduate.
The first thing they’ll do is sell that stadium. They’d be crazy not to do…. They’re not going to pay upkeep on two stadiums. Look at Tallahassee, Macon: all the schools play at one stadium….

…

Don’t let those people run the show. Don’t let them take the power away from us.

…

If one day it makes good economic sense for y’all to make the decision to sell that property to Valdosta State and build another stadium and we can come out ahead, I think that’s a great idea.

Like my granddaddy said, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

By “those people” I don’t think he means the Lowndes County Board of Education; I think he was referring to CUEE.

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it —? @ VBOE 29 August 2011

Research quality of education, property taxes, and property values after school consolidation, and you’ll find down, up, and down, said this speaker. Didn’t get his name; sorry.

I don’t have kids, but I have plenty of friends that do. that are in Valdosta city school system, and they like the direction that the school system is going. They like the quality of education that their children are getting at this time.

My grandfather used to say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. It ain’t broke, so why are we going to let them try to fix it?

Do the research; I’ve done the research. Do the research on other communities that have consolidated two systems. When you get a big huge system, the quality of education goes down. Check it out. Research it.

Property taxes go up. Property values go down. Do the research.

You know, the research CUEE either did and rejected, according to Sam Allen about the questions VDT claims CUEE can’t answer. There are answers; just not ones CUEE likes.

Here’s the video:


If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it @ VBOE 29 August 2011
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
Work Session, Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 29 August 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

Sonny Vickers, Mayor of Valdosta?

A usually-reliable source says Sonny Vickers will be appointed interim Mayor of Valdosta tomorrow by the Valdosta City Council at its 5:30 PM 8 September meeting.

Since he’s running unopposed for City Council District 3, Sonny Vickers can resign from that post, get appointed mayor, and get re-elected as Council 3 in November.

This is the same method used in 2003 when former Mayor James H. Rainwater died before the election. Council appointed David Sumner interim mayor. According to the VDT 31 August 2011:

At that time, Councilman David Sumner assumed the role of mayor, but had to resign his council seat to do so. He had already qualified to rerun for his seat in the November 2003 election, was re-elected to his seat and stepped down as mayor at the end of 2003, re-assuming his duties as a newly elected councilman at the beginning of 2004.

If they don’t appoint Vickers interim mayor tomorrow, the Valdosta City Council will probably appoint somebody else. According to the VDT today:

Vickers is among those being considered for appointment by council, along with Dexter Sharper and David Sumner, who are also former council members. Vickers pointed out that he did not submit his name for consideration, but rather it was mentioned in conversations with other council members.
We’ll see.

In the November election, one of Brooks D. Bivins, John Gayle, or Gary Minchew will be elected mayor (unless of course there’s a runoff).

-jsq