Category Archives: Moody AFB

Lowndes County: commuter rail hub

Look at all those other railroads converging on Valdosta in that GFRR project proposal map. Valdosta is a historical rail hub for passenger traffic to Atlanta, Savannah, Jacksonville, Orlando, Thomasville, Tallahasssee, and beyond. All the tracks are still in place and still in use for freight. With some rolling stock and a few deals with the railroads, Valdosta and Lowndes County could become again a passenger rail hub with a mass transit system for local commuting to jobs and for long distance travel.

Add a bus system and local commuting becomes very practical. People could take the train to town and catch a bus to work. Many people could walk or take a bicycle to their work from the train station. This could work the other way around, too. People could live in Valdosta and work in Ray City or Lakeland or Hahira or Lake Park or Clyattville and not have to drive to get there. That would save a lot of wasted time and wasted fuel.

This kind of mass transit would attract the knowledge-based workers we supposedly want around here. Including jobs our high school and college graduates could take, so they wouldn’t have to move elsewhere.

And upgrading the railroads, building stations, building and refurbishing houses and apartments near the stations, etc., would employ a lot of construction workers; probably as many as road projects and sprawling subdivision projects, but without the sprawl.

-jsq

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 →

Private prisons considered harmful —Gretchen Quarterman to Jack Kingston

Gretchen Quarterman
3338 Country Club Road #L336
Valdosta GA 31605
26 August 2011
PDF
 
Hon. Jack Kingston
Member of Congress
First District of Georgia
 
Dear Mr. Kingston,

You asked me last week in Tifton to provide you with evidence that private prisons have fewer guards per prisoner than public prisons.

Here is an example:

“The largest juvenile prison in the nation, Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility houses 1,200 boys and young men, between the ages of 13 and 22, and is run by a private contractor, the GEO Group based in Boca Raton, FL. … State audits over the last several years had already indicated the burgeoning problem. While it is recommended at youth facilities to have an inmate-to-guard ratio of 10:1 or 12:1, Walnut Grove had a ratio of 60:1.”
“When the Wolves Guard the Sheep,” by Mariah Adin in Kids and Crime, 28 March 2011
It’s not just less staff, it’s less qualified staff: Continue reading →

What it takes to run for Mayor of Valdosta

People ask me: what does it take to run for mayor of Valdosta? A few qualifications, a few skills, and a vision would sure help.

Well, you have to qualify. That costs $750 down at the Board of Elections.

According to the City of Valdosta’s website, there are a few other requirements:

Qualification Mayor. To be eligible for election or appointment and service as Mayor, a person must be a minimum of 21 years of age, be a resident of the City of Valdosta for one year prior ro the date of qualifying, and a registered and qualified voter of the City of Valdosta at the time of qualifying.
Then you have to campaign and win. Some people will doubtless spend a lot of money running for mayor. However, some recent elections to Lowndes County Commission and Valdosta Board of Education indicate Continue reading →

Gerrymandering Georgia for Jack Kingston to get Moody AFB

Jack Kingston told Gretchen last week in Tifton that he was heading to Atlanta the next day to try to retain Moody Air Force Base in his district. Looks like he may get that, by chopping just the Moody area out of Lowndes County, and splitting the Pine Grove precinct.

Walter C. Jones wrote for the Rome News-Tribune yesterday, Revised congressional map passes House committee

The House redistricting committee voted along party lines Wednesday to approve a revised congressional map with multiple changes from the one made public Monday.

The changes restore Valdosta’s Moody Air Force Base to Republican Jack Kingston’s district and about 16,000 people in Effingham County to Democrat John Barrow’s to keep the two equal in population.

Yeah, they restore it all right. Here’s before and after:

Before
After

Hard to see? Look at the detail map on the right here. This latest proposed gerrymander gives Kingston Clinch and Echols Counties just so Jack can send a green tongue out from Echols to lap up Moody with as little of the rest of Lowndes as possible.

It gets better. Look at the Lowndes County precinct maps: Continue reading →