Category Archives: Planning

Map of traffic fatalities in Lowndes County related to paving and widening

What do you see when you zoom in on traffic fatalities in Lowndes County, Georgia? Lots of road deaths on roads recently paved, for one thing.

Simon Rogers wrote for the Guardian 22 November 2011, US road accident casualties: every one mapped across America

369,629 people died on America’s roads between 2001 and 2009. Following its analysis of UK casualties last week, transport data mapping experts ITO World have taken the official data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – and produced this powerful map using OpenStreetMap. You can zoom around the map using the controls on the left or search for your town using the box on the right – and the key is on the top left. Each dot represents a life
The national view is very interesting, but let’s look at Lowndes County:

I don’t know what that adds up to, but it looks to me like a lot of dead people, and in just nine years, from 2001 to 2009. Far more dead people than killed by terrorism.

OK, but where are these fatalities happening? All over the county. Let’s zoom in on Hambrick Road: Continue reading →

Baltimore’s place-based model

Growth isn’t everything, and vacant lots can be leveraged to deal with food disparity and obesity, Baltimore is demonstrating.

Vanessa Barrington wrote for Grist 21 November 2011, Baltimore’s can-do approach to food justice

…43 percent of the residents in the city’s predominantly black neighborhoods had little access to healthy foods, compared to 4 percent in predominantly white neighborhoods. Meanwhile, more than two-thirds of the city’s adults and almost 40 percent of high school students are overweight or obese.
That’s the problem.

There are solutions:

Speaking on a panel at the recent Community Food Security Coalition Conference in Oakland, Calif., Abby Cocke, of Baltimore’s Office of Sustainability, and Laura Fox, of the city health department’s Virtual Supermarket Program, outlined two approaches to address the city’s food deserts. Both were presenting programs that have launched since Grist last reported on Baltimore’s efforts to address food justice. And both programs come under the auspices of The Baltimore Food Policy Initiative, a rare intergovernmental collaboration between the city’s Department of Planning, Office of Sustainability, and Health Department. They also show how an active, involved city government and a willingness to try new ideas can change the urban food landscape for the better.

According to Cocke, Baltimore’s Planning Department has a new mindset. She calls it a “place-based” model. “In the past,” she says, “growth was seen as the only way to improve the city, but we’re starting to look at ways to make our neighborhoods stronger, healthier, and more vibrant places at the low density that they’re at now.”

The article outlines the specific solutions, such as: Continue reading →

Militarization of Police and Private Prison Profiteering: the Connection

Occupy UC Davis and the UC Davis Police have suddenly turned militarization of police from an obscure topic to a huge story with more than 3,000 stories found by google news. But what’s the connection between Mic check stops a police riot at UC Davis and CCA charges inmates five days’ pay for one telephone minute? The main cause of the militarization of police is also the main cause of the huge U.S. prison population (5% of the world’s population, 25% of the world’s prisoners: USA #1!). That cause is the failed War on Drugs.

Norm Stanager wrote for YES! Magazine (via AlterNet) 17 November 2011, Police Chief Who Oversaw 1999 WTO Crackdown Says Paramilitary Policing Is a Disaster

Then came day two. Early in the morning, large contingents of demonstrators began to converge at a key downtown intersection. They sat down and refused to budge. Their numbers grew. A labor march would soon add additional thousands to the mix.

“We have to clear the intersection,” said the field commander. “We have to clear the intersection,” the operations commander agreed, from his bunker in the Public Safety Building. Standing alone on the edge of the crowd, I, the chief of police, said to myself, “We have to clear the intersection.”

Why?

Because of all the what-ifs. What if a fire breaks out in the Sheraton across the street? What if a woman goes into labor on the seventeenth floor of the hotel? What if a heart patient goes into cardiac arrest in the high-rise on the corner? What if there’s a stabbing, a shooting, a serious-injury traffic accident? How would an aid car, fire engine or police cruiser get through that sea of people? The cop in me supported the decision to clear the intersection. But the chief in me should have vetoed it. And he certainly should have forbidden the indiscriminate use of tear gas to accomplish it, no matter how many warnings we barked through the bullhorn.

My support for a militaristic solution caused all hell to break loose. Rocks, bottles and newspaper racks went flying. Windows were smashed, stores were looted, fires lighted; and more gas filled the streets, with some cops clearly overreacting, escalating and prolonging the conflict. The “Battle in Seattle,” as the WTO protests and their aftermath came to be known, was a huge setback—for the protesters, my cops, the community.

Did anybody consider informing the protesters of the issues and asking for cooperation, or checking to see if there were alternate routes for emergency vehicles, or…. Hey, I’m not a professional emergency responder, but surely there must be a plan B in case some major intersection is out of commission due to a water main blowout, natural gas leak, earthquake, or whatever.

This article was published a few days before the UC Davis pepper spray events, but the author explicitly cites what happened to Scott Olsen in Oakland and the arrests in Atlanta, saying those are continuations of the same problems he experience in Seattle in 1999.

Then he gets into why: Continue reading →

CCA charges inmates five days’ pay for one telephone minute

That’s $1 a day in pay and $5 a telephone minute. While CCA is collecting as much as $200 a day per inmate in your tax dollars and CCA’s CEO is compensated $3,266,387 from your tax dollars.

Amanda Peterson Beadle wrote for ThinkProgress 16 November 2011, Private Prison Charges Inmates $5 a Minute for Phone Calls While They Work for $1 a Day

Last year the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation’s largest private prison company, received $74 million of taxpayers’ money to run immigration detention centers. Georgia, receives $200 a night for each of the 2,000 detainees it holds, and rakes in yearly profits between $35 million and $50 million.

Prisoners held in this remote facility depend on the prison’s phones to communicate with their lawyers and loved ones. Exploiting inmates’ need, CCA charges detainees here $5 per minute to make phone calls. Yet the prison only pays inmates who work at the facility $1 a day. At that rate, it would take five days to pay for just one minute.

They charge for food, too.

And remember, CCA profits from anti-immigration laws, at taxpayer expense:

Recent anti-immigration laws in Alabama (HB56) and Georgia (HB87) guarantee that neighbor facilities will have an influx of “product.” In the past few years, CCA has spent $14.8 million lobbying for anti-immigration laws to ensure they have continuous access to fresh inmates and keep their money racket going. In 2010 CCA CEO Damon T. Hininger received $3,266,387 in total compensation.
Private CEO profit for public injustice. Does that seem right to you?

We don’t need a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia. Spend those tax dollars on rehabilitation and education instead.

-jsq

FVCS Final Meeting 15 November 2011

Former electoral opponents met Tuesday as FVCS held its final meeting, with Rusty Griffin, Vice-Chair of CUEE, watching at the MLK Monument as Sam Allen, President of Friends of Valdosta Schools (FVCS) announced the dissolution of FVCS.

Sam Allen, as he has before, called for reconciliation of opponents on the recent school consolidation referendum, and support of the two school systems, financially and otherwise.

In addition to FVCS regulars such as JC Cunningham, Chamber Chair Tom Gooding was there, as were current Valdosta Mayor Sonny Vickers and Mayor-Elect John Gayle, plus re-elected Valdosta City Council At-Large Ben Norton. Valdosta School Superintendent Cason was there. I didn’t see Lowndes Superintendent Smith, although various members of Continue reading →

57 year overdue house cleaning —Barbara Stratton

Received today on Repealing the 1928 GA School Consolidation Law. -jsq
The 1926 statute that needs to be removed is OCGA 20-2-370. The 1983 constitutional law had priority of law precedence over the older statute & CUEE was advised before they asked for signatures it could be protested on those grounds before or after the vote. Thankfully we did not have to go that route. I remember in high school I did a project on outdated laws still in the GA Constitution including mandatory hanging for horse theft (which I liked). There was also a law if you hit & killed a cow or pig on the road you were required to get out & slit the throat so the owner could salvage the meat & many others that were outdated & no longer enforced. I trust these have now been removed. The general assembly should be thankful that we are addressing this 57 year overdue need for house cleaning & remedy this in January. Rule of Law should never remain questionable when it is the duty of our lawmakers to provide clarity.

-Barbara Stratton

According to Justia.com:

2010 Georgia Code
TITLE 20 – EDUCATION
CHAPTER 2 – ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
ARTICLE 8 – CONSOLIDATION OF INDEPENDENT AND COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEMS
§ 20-2-370 – Referendum on repeal of special school law and consolidation of systems


O.C.G.A. 20-2-370 (2010)
20-2-370. Referendum on repeal of special school law and consolidation of systems

Whenever the citizens of a municipality or independent school district authorized by law to establish and maintain a system of schools by local taxation in whole or in part are operating a system of public schools independent of the county school system and wish to annul their special school law and become a part of the county school system, they shall present and file with the governing authority of the city a petition signed by one-fourth of the qualified voters of their territory; and the governing authority shall then submit the question at an election to be held in accordance with Chapter 2 of Title 21. A majority of those voting shall be necessary to carry the election. Only qualified voters residing within the municipality or district for six months prior to the election shall vote. An election shall not be held for the same purpose more often than every 12 months.

Disclaimer: These codes may not be the most recent version. Georgia may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.

Only a vote where both city and county residents could take part would reveal the will of the people —Karen Noll

Received yesterday on Repealing the 1928 GA School Consolidation Law. -jsq
While I live in the city as was able to vote on the consolidation issue, I feel that only a vote where both city and county residents would be democratic. Only a vote where both interested parties could take part would reveal the will of the people and be admissible. Although I opposed the effort to consolidate that was recently defeated, I feel strongly that a true vote of both city and county residence is necessary if consolidation should reach the ballot anytime in the future. For this reason it is paramount that the old law that allowed the city only vote be stricken to allow the georgia constitution to prevail. The GA constitution allows for both city and county to vote and a majority in both in order to pass.

Please contact your legislator to support repealing the 1928 law from the GA law books.

Thank you ALL for your commitment to community,

-Karen Noll

Contracts on the south side —John Robinson @ LCC 7 November 2011

John Robinson addressed the Lowndes County Commission about Title III Section 3 of the HUD program, also Title VI of the Civil Rights Act:
No person in the United States on the grounds of race or color or national origin shall be excluded….
He said he has filed a federal complaint against the city of Valdosta, and he wants the County Commission to know that.
….scrutinized for these special groups of people, people of power, instead of the people that’s needing the money.

Chairman Paulk clarified that the Martin Luther King project is totally a city project, and that the county has no Title III projects.

Here’s the video:



Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 November 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

Cobb EMC members win board election in landslide

Cobb EMC wants to build a coal plant in Ben Hill County, about as far from here as the smoke blows as the Okefenokee Swamp. They’ve run into some resistance at the polls.

Tod Rehm wrote for Peach Pundit 12 November 2011, CobbEMC Owners Association 3 for 4 with one runoff in board elections

The CobbEMC Owners Association, a group of customers dedicated to the reform of the EMC’s Board of Directors has made great steps in returning control of the utility to its customers. CEOA-endorsed candidates took three out of four seats today, with the fourth candidate narrowly missing a majority with 49.47% of votes cast.

Only 1.3% of eligible customers voted, with 2471 votes being cast. Winners were:

Area 1, Ed Crowell 79%
Area 6, David Tennant 68%
Area 10, Cheryl Meadows 80%

Hm, 4 to 1 odds! That reminds me of another recent election. Apparently when the people get organized fat cats can lose big. Cobb EMC’s incumbents already lost a special election back in September, that one about mail-in voting.

About the Cobb EMC runoff, Kim Isaza wrote for MDJonline.com today, EMC members elect 3 new directors; Area 7 goes to runoff Continue reading →

Bicyclists at Valdosta City Council 10 November 2011

Courtesy of the camera of George Rhynes, here are the Citizens to Be Heard at Thursday’s Valdosta City Council meeting. Most of them are frequent cyclists, with a surprise ally speaking first. I think that’s all of them.

-jsq