The 75% pot of T-SPLOST funds is what the project lists recently
submitted by Lowndes County
and the City of Valdosta are about,
according to
Corey Hull, continuing his presentation on T-SPLOST at the Lowndes County
Democratic Party (LCDP) meeting.
Those are projects of regional significance that the local jurisdictions want the voters to actually vote on that project.The other 25% goes to local jurisdictions, like this:
| $1,300,000 | Lowndes County (unincorporated portion) |
| $600,000 | Valdosta |
| $30,000 | Hahira |
| $5,000 | Dasher |
| $14,000 | Lake Park |
| $9,000 | Remerton |
Here’s the video:
Corey Hull of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Metropolitan Planning Organization (VLMPO)
explains T-SPLOST (HB 277) and the Transportation Investment Act of 2010
at the monthly meeting of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
Gretchen Quarterman (Chair), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Next: penalties if the voters don’t approve.
-jsq
Continuing:
Hm, instead of
taking out $15 million in bonds to be paid back by the taxpayers,
the community around Dublin joined together and made available
just as much money:
Continue reading
Back to the VDT editorial:
Continue reading
So I called Col. Ricketts this morning to see if it was back on for today,
considering that the weather had already passed by.
He said no, they had cancelled it, not wanting to chance having people
in a tent in bad weather.
He also said the press release had gone out yesterday.
I asked him to let me know when it was rescheduled,
reminding him that LAKE likes to take videos of VLCIA events,
and we like the Wiregrass Solar plant, so it would be a bit
of free publicity for them.
He said he would, and he expected it to be probably
within the next couple of weeks.
I asked him to send LAKE a copy of the new press release when it was
sent out.
He said he would.
We’ll be happy to post such a press release.
-jsq
So you’ll have some idea what to expect, here’s
Corey Hull’s explanation of T-SPLOST to VLCIA in February.
You can come ask questions tonight!
-jsq
As mentioned,
there are plenty of open records requests still to be filed.
If you want suggestions, inquire at
Also remember that any communications you may receive from
an elected
Continue reading
All three of Moultrie, Thomasville, and Cairo use CNS,
whose brochure for Moultrie says you can get:
If Moultrie, Thomasville, and Cairo, and yes, Doerun can do this,
why can’t Valdosta and Hahira?
And then how about add on a wireless network to reach the rest of us
rural folk?
Maybe then we wouldn’t be the
Internet backwoods.
-jsq
I wrote that article more than a year ago, and Internet speeds in rural
Georgia have not improved much if at all.
This isn’t just about playing Farmville.
It’s about communicating with your relatives,
about competing in business,
Continue reading
Here’s
the video:
-jsq
T-SPLOST Business plan —Corey Hull of VLMPO at LCDP (Part 2)
Corey Hull continued
his presentation on T-SPLOST at the Lowndes County
Democratic Party (LCDP) meeting by talking about
the statewide business plan for the state of Georgia.
It is not a project list; it’s estimates of how much money is needed
and how much money can be raised.
The plan identifies
$35 billion to meet the needs in Georgia today.
However, $72 billion are needed to meet the transportation
needs to sustain Georgia’s economy into the future.
Of course, that’s according to the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT),
which notoriously is not interested in trains or other mass transit:
if it’s not a road or a road bridge, forget it.
And $1 billion is needed here in Lowndes County.
Lowndes County’s transportation plan through the
Metropolitan Planning Organization
has about a billion dollars in projects.
A billion dollars right here in Lowndes County?
Continue reading
Meanwhile in Dublin and Laurens County, Georgia
Jerome Tucker
mentioned that it was
Willie Paulk who enticed MAGE SOLAR
to Dublin and Laurens County, Georgia.
She’s
president of the Dublin Laurens County Chamber of Commerce.
Here’s
a writeup in GeorgiaTrend
about what’s going on there.
VDT says VLCIA illegally made up a document
Presumably that would be the “Project Critical Path time-line is attached”
that wasn’t actually attached to
documents returned for an open records request of 17 February 2011.
Hm, since VLCIA did supply such a document to the VDT,
presumably it is now a VLCIA document subject to open records request,
even though it was not what VLCIA told VDT it was.
The reporter who conducted the interview with Industrial Authority Project
Manager Allen Ricketts has been subsequently repeatedly contacted by
Ricketts for what he deems “false reporting.” According to Ricketts,
the timeline was never official and was only something the Industrial
Authority threw together to appease the Times when given an official Open
Records Request. Ricketts is apparently unaware that legally he cannot
produce a document that does not exist to comply with said request. If
he knowingly did so, as he now claims, that is a clear violation of the
Open Records Act.
Commissioning ceremony cancelled for Wiregrass Solar plant
Yesterday I heard that the commissioning ceremony for the Wiregrass Solar
plant was cancelled by VLCIA due to impending weather.
Perhaps you didn’t know it was scheduled; I didn’t.
Back at the March VLCIA board meeting,
they said they would discuss that “later”.
T-SPLOST explained by Corey Hull and Ashley Paulk, tonight, LCDP
Come hear Chairman Ashley Paulk and MPO Director Cory Hull give
us information about T-SPLOST. The special local option tax for
Transportation.
Ashley Paulk is Chairman of the Lowndes County Commission.
Corey Hull is Coordinator for the
Valdosta-Lowndes County Metropolitan Planning Organization (VLMPO).
Here’s a very interesting
question by Norman Bennett at that same meeting.
More about Open Records Requests
Some local councils don’t even have open records request forms,
and many don’t have them posted online.
But that doesn’t have to stop you!
information at l-a-k-e.org (the dashes are part of the address).
For how, see the previous post on the
Open Records Act.
Send LAKE the results of your request and we may publish them.
If you want your name mentioned in a LAKE post as the open records requestor,
please say so.
Gigabit Internet in Chattanooga
Such publicly owned networks can offer services that incumbents don’t,
such as the 1Gbps fiber network in Chattanooga, Tennessee, run by the
government-owned electric power board. And they sometimes have more
incentive to reach every resident, even in surrounding rural areas,
in ways that might not make sense for a profit-focused company.
According to this map of
Community Broadband Networks
by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance,
quite a few small cities in south Georgia have municipal cable networks:
Now that’s not 1 Gbps, but it’s a darn sight faster than the
allegedly 3Mbps AT&T DSL!
Downstream Upstream Monthly Cost 5 Mbps 1 Mbps $29.95 12 Mbps 2 Mbps $35.95 22 Mbps 3 Mbps $49.95
The Internet backwoods: that’s south Georgia
What do you need to see to conclude this biomass plant is a bad idea? –Dr. Mark Patrick George @ VCC 24 March 2011
Dr. George gets to the point!
After talking to several Valdosta City Council members, he has
observed that people make up their minds regardless of evidence.
So he wants to know:
What evidence would you need to see to conclude this is a bad idea?
Dr. George also gets at something even deeper that Council might
consider a wakeup call:
The public outcry about this across the political spectrum, from conservative to liberal.
People against the biomass plant are not just black or white
or young or old or conservative or liberal or college professors
or unemployed: they are all of those things.
The intransigence of elected and appointed officials is causing
citizens to stand up and be heard on this and other issues around
the county.
This issue is serving as a catalyst for people to demand
more transparent and responsive government.
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.