Category Archives: Trash

Nuke overruns already causing distributed solar in south Georgia

People are tired of

irresponsible trash government at the state level
colluding with monopoly utilities to hold Georgia back in distributed
solar power, and some of us are doing something about it;
you can, too.

Jigar Shah
wrote for SaportReport 15 September 2013

Solar more viable as Georgia’s new nuclear power plants face overruns,

I am seeing Georgia’s nuclear financial woes starting to prompt a
boon for distributed energy including solar, wind, biomass,
geothermal, low-impact hydro, high efficiency cogeneration, and
other sources of electricity.

Biomass?

Let’s not go back to that carbon-polluting forest-destroying factory-exploding waste of time and resources.
Solar, wind, efficiency, and conservation are the main events, with solar increasingly leading the pack.
And those nuke cost overruns are already driving solar up even faster: Continue reading →

Japan or south Georgia?

How is our local landfill like Fukushima?
No, not radiation: nobody seems to be responsible.

Colin P. A. Jones wrote for The Japan Times 16 September 2013,

Fukushima and the right to responsible government,

Rather, the means of holding a member responsible for bad judgments
are internalized as part of the rules and discipline governing the
hierarchy to which they belong, with mechanisms for outsiders to
assert responsibility — to assert rights — being
minimized and neutralized whenever possible.

Sure, it’s not exactly the same.
Our local governments live in fear they’ll get sued (or so they claim),
and even sheriffs and judges occasionally get convicted around here.
But it’s quite difficult to get local elected officials to take their responsibility to the
people as seriously as “we’ve invested too much in that to stop now”
where “we” means the local government or more frequently a developer.

And privatizing the landfills and

now trash collection is not that
dissimilar to the Japanese government keeping TEPCO afloat so they
have an unaccountable scapegoat for Fukushima.
Locally, nobody seems to even know, much less care, that the landfill
is Continue reading →

September LAKE meeting Tuesday 10 September 2013

Same agenda as usual, local governance: Water (sinkholes, aquifer recharge,
runoff,
drinking water, and wastewater), trash (how about that Exclusive Franchise!),
and money (no-bid contracts and plus SPLOST VII).
If you want to help, we have a little list of tasks you can do.

What:	Monthly LAKE Meeting
When:	about 6:30PM Tuesday (after the County Commission meeting) 10 September 2013
Where:	Michael’s Deli 1307 N Ashley St. Valdosta, GA 31601

If you're on Facebook,
please Like the

LAKE facebook page.
You can sign up for

the meeting event there,
Or just come as you are.

-jsq

Dollar General, trash, a tobacco warehouse, and alcohol @ Hahira 2013-09-05

The Teramore Development items are for a Dollar General
(like

the one in Naylor),
even though the agenda doesn’t say (see Planning Commission videos).
Since City Council District 2 Allen Bruce Cain, Sr.
resigned to run for Mayor
the

ever-contentious,

ethically–
investigated
garbage contract
last voted on
2 August 2012
could go differently this time.
Thanks to City Clerk Jonathan Sumner for providing the agenda upon request,
even though it’s not on the web.
Stay tuned for LAKE videos.
-jsq

Hahira City Council

September 5, 2013

Agenda

7:30 pm- Hahira Courthouse

Call to order

Establish quorum

Pledge of allegiance

Invocation

Review/Correction of Minutes

July 29, 2013 Work Session

August 1, 2013 Council Meeting

August 22, 2013 Special Called Meeting

Public Hearing

HA-2013-01: Rezoning Request by Teramore Development (Planning
and Zoning Administrator)

HA-2013-02: Variance Request by Teramore Development (Planning
and Zoning Administrator)

FY14 Budget Preliminary Adoption (City Manager)

Citizens to Be Heard

Review of Bills/Budget Overages

Discussions Continue reading →

Getting our road fixed after garbage trucks –Anita Armstrong @ LCC 2013-08-13

Yet another side effect of that

exclusive franchise to Veolia (excuse me, ADS):
dirt roads being damaged by garbage trucks,
came up
at the

13 August 2013 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

County resident and taxpayer Anita Armstrong
said now that garbage trucks are coming
down her road it’s in bad shape and they need help.
Commissioners seemed to think that was comical.

Here’s

the video:

Getting our road fixed after garbage trucks –Anita Armstrong

Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 13 August 2013.

-jsq

Ashley Paulk’s Guardian Bank sues Hahira

Hahira declared a moratorium on water and sewer taps in a subdivision
financed by Guardian Bank, apparently in hopes of getting the bank
to do something about a drainage problem there.

Instead, the bank is suing Hahira, echoing a lawsuit the county is pursuing
about a contract let when the bank’s Chairman was Lowndes County Chairman.

According to

Stuart Taylor in the VDT Friday,
Guardian Bank’s chairman said, perhaps using the royal “we”:

“We’re a little disappointed with Hahira,” said Ashley
Paulk, Chairman of the Board of Directors for Guardian Bank.
“We’ve actually helped them build up their tax base up
there…Over the years, we’ve encouraged builders to be up
there.”

Me, I think Hahira should have Continue reading →

Videos: Attorney set different prices, Commissioners set millage date @ LCC 2013-07-09

The most interesting developments were not on the agenda.
Commissioners approved dollar amounts

for two purchase orders
that were completely different
from the ones they were quoted the morning before, with no discussion:
the County Attorney quoted the new figures, asked for approval,
and immediately got it.
Commissioner Richard Raines still didn’t want to enforce
a neighborhood covenant
yet it was Commissioner Raines

who made the motion last fall to let

an Exclusive Franchise
with

Advanced Disposal Services;
a covenant the county is now trying to enforce

by having the County Attorney
sue local business Deep South Sanitation.
They said nothing about

that 100 foot wide pipeline barrelling through the county.
They could have the County Attorney investigate that, but they aren’t.
They approved meeting for millage rate approval 8:30 AM Friday 26 July 2013:
that’s for the property taxes they collect, which presumably
partly go to pay the County Attorney.
And the Chairman refused to let a citizen speak on a technicality.

Here’s

the agenda with links to the videos and a few notes.
See also

videos of the previous morning’s Work Session.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, JULY 8, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, JULY 9, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2^nd Floor

Continue reading →

Attorney declares prices @ LCC 2013-07-09

Commissioners approved dollar amounts for two purchase orders that were completely different
from the ones they were quoted the morning before, with no discussion:
the County Attorney quoted the new figures, asked for approval,
and immediately got it
at the

9 July 2013 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

For Consideration

Video Arraignment for Magistrate and Juvenile Court Contract

Enterprise and Backup Storage Solution Scope of Work

Chairman Slaughter said they would “conjoin a and b together”.

What we have at this time are the work orders and what we would like
to get at this time is a motion to approve and ratify the purchase orders.

County Attorney Walter G. Elliott asked to clarify: Continue reading →

Valdosta budget with goals and accomplishments for each department

It’s too bad nobody came to Valdosta’s two public budget hearings,
because the city prepared
183 slides with details for each
department, including goals and accomplishments.

On

the LAKE website is that presentation sent on request by City Clerk Teresa Bolden,
and
converted to HTML by LAKE.
Plus the actual budget.
No open records requests were required.
Oh, and Valdosta runs garbage collection on a balanced budget
without any exclusive franchises.

Valdosta News PR 20 June 2013,

City Delivers a Balanced Budget:
No property tax increase proposed for citizens,

The Valdosta City Council approved the fiscal year 2014 budget for
the City of Valdosta at the June 20 City Council meeting, after
having the opportunity to hear the proposed budget at the hearings
on June 11 and 12. City staff presented the council with a balanced
budget, as required by the City Charter, possibly one of the most
challenging and difficult budgets prepared in years.

City leaders decreased the overall city budget from $86.2 million to
$77.3 million, a result of Continue reading →

Videos: Water, Sewer, Video Arraignment, and Backups @ LCC 2013-07-08 @ LCC 2013-07-08

Not big enough, I guess:

I don’t have any interest at all in this board enforcing covenants like that.

Commissioner Richard Raines said that at yesterday morning’s Work Session about
a covenant the neighbors want
a rezoning applicant to sign, yet it was Commissioner Raines
who made the motion last fall to let an Exclusive Franchise
with Advanced Disposal Services;
a covenant the county is now trying to enforce by suing
local business Deep South Sanitation.
They said nothing about

that 100 foot wide pipeline barrelling through the county.
They vote tonight, 5:30 PM.

County sound still wasn’t working, going on a month now, back in the videoing pen in the
back of the room, so what you hear is what we hear back there, as recorded by the LAKE camera.

Here’s

the agenda with links to the videos and a few notes.