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.
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
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.
Back to the VDT editorial: Continue reading
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”.
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
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).
So you’ll have some idea what to expect, here’s Corey Hull’s explanation of T-SPLOST to VLCIA in February.
Here’s a very interesting
question by Norman Bennett at that same meeting.
You can come ask questions tonight!
-jsq
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!
As mentioned,
there are plenty of open records requests still to be filed.
If you want suggestions, inquire at
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.
Also remember that any communications you may receive from an elected Continue reading
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:
All three of Moultrie, Thomasville, and Cairo use CNS, whose brochure for Moultrie says you can get:
| Downstream | Upstream | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Mbps | 1 Mbps | $29.95 |
| 12 Mbps | 2 Mbps | $35.95 |
| 22 Mbps | 3 Mbps | $49.95 |
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
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.
Here’s the video:
-jsq
don’t interact with their communities.
Well, paraphrasing what Yakov Smirnoff used to say,
in Lowndes County, community interact with officials!
Here is her comment from 15 March 2011 on this blog:
Not to be rude, although honesty is very often perceived that way these days, but, the industrial authority executives rarely thank their communities. In the six states I’m most familiar with, these fellows see themselves as beholden only to their employers. After all, they work with their directors, elected officials, a few bankers and city/county department heads. Rarely do they come in direct contact with the average voter, employee or homeowner, although all those people often pay a large part of their salaries and office operating expenses. Despite the public funding, these groups are usually tight lipped about how they do business and rarely provide the public with records or audits. We’ve all put up with that manner of doing business for so long we now see it as just that — the way you do business. We’d never accept that from a nonprofit organization, a charity group or most elected officials. Shame on us all.Susan, you’re helping by reading, and you’re helping more by posting. Many local officials have noticed LAKE and this blog because they know people read it.
Anyone who wants to help still more, you, too, can go to a meeting. The Industrial Authority is a good one to attend, but I hear the Tree Commission isn’t trying as hard to enforce things, and does anybody know anything the Hospital Authority does? The Airport Authority? Continue reading
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2011, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
- Call to Order
- Invocation
- Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
- Minutes for Approval – Regular Session – March 8, 2011
- Resolutions
- Adopt Resolution accepting infrastructure for Cypress Lakes Subdivision Phase V
- Grant Re-Application for the Rural Transportation Program and Associated Resolution
- Public Hearing – Grant Re-Application for the Rural Transportation Program Public Hearing
- Citizens Wishing to be Heard Please State Name And Address
- For Consideration
- Proposal from Hulsey, McCormick, and Wallace, Inc. for Groundwater Sampling and Analysis at the Clyattville Landfill
- Beer & Wine License – Thai Chang Restaurant, 5913 Bemiss Road
- Service Contract for the Mobile Data Terminals
- Bid – Bridge Repairs
- Reports-County Manager
See you there.
-jsq