Gretchen reports from Macon that Lowndes County Commissioner Clay Griner (District 5), Paige Dukes (County Clerk), Joyce Evans (District 1), Scott Orenstein (District 2-elect), and Valdosta City Clerk Theresa Bolden (not pictured)
are all at the
VDT Open Government Symposium in Macon.
Congratulations, Jim Zachary and the VDT, on getting them to show up! Continue reading
Category Archives: Valdosta City Council
VDT Open Government Symposium: in Macon?
Yay open government symposium!
But why in Macon, why not in Valdosta,
if it’s organized by the new VDT editor?
Sure, Macon is the geographic center of the state, but it’s only
about an hour from Atlanta, and one thing most people in Atlanta don’t
understand is how big Georgia is, so asking them to drive four hours
to Valdosta would be educational for them.
And if the VDT is so interested in government transparency,
why doesn’t it investigate the county’s lawsuit against local business Deep South Sanitation
at the expense of the local taxpayers that benefits nobody but
“exclusive franchise” ADS and its investors in New York City?
Why is the VDT’s front page story that gave a platform for
Spectra’s Andrea Grover no longer online, especially now that
the Sabal Trail deadline she announced has been busted?
Let’s see the VDT lead the way.
Here’s a first test:
Gretchen is going to Macon with the LAKE video camera.
Will the VDT let her video?
Unsigned article, VDT, 11 October 2014, VDT leading way in open government, Continue reading
Georgia Power plans to change all streetlights to LEDs
Terri Lupo. South Region Vice President at Georgia Power, has provided further information on Valdosta converting to LED streetlights.
She said on the telephone yesterday that
Georgia Power met with Valdosta City Manager Larry Hanson last week.
Georgia Power plans over next four years to change out all the streetlights
in Georgia, from high pressure sodium (or whatever they’re currently using)
to LED lighting.
She says that will be more efficient, and will provide more
light, with a better pattern of coverage.
Valdosta had already expressed interest, so they were one of the first
to join this LED streetlight program.
She said it’s not surprising Tim Carroll was a little vague on the details, since Georgia Power is Continue reading
Valdosta converting to LED streetlights
Council Tim Carroll says that City Manager Larry Hanson
announced at the City Council meeting Tuesday
that Valdosta will be converting all its streetlights to LEDs.
This conversion is at least partly funded through a pilot program
with
Georgia Power.
Apparently Georgia Power keeps the savings until they recoup the
expenses.
Valdosta was one of only four or five cities in the state selected
for this program.
More detail when the approved minutes are available in two weeks.
-jsq
Nichols House frat no longer; maybe historic preservation @ VCC 2014-09-11
LAKE has video, but meanwhile, so you can prepare for the Oct. 1st talk about that historic Nichols House, here’s some background.
Chip Harp wrote for Valdosta Today 17 September 2014,
In last week’s Valdosta City Council meeting, Council voted 5-2 in favor of re-zoning nearly 4 acres of land in the Alden Park Community, near the campus. Some neighbors in the community stand firmly against the development, which would include a 180-bed student housing complex, and say it takes away from their neighborhood, based on a report from WCTV’s Winnie Wright.
Winnie Wright reported for WCTV 16 September 2014,
The Historic Standing Of One Home Could Determine Future Of Surrounding Community, Continue reading
Valdosta’s Ultramodern Masterpiece: The Nichols House on Baytree —Alfred Willis Lecture 2014-10-01
Received yesterday in PDF. This is the historic structure where Turner Brooks wants to build a subdivision. -jsq
7:00pm – Wednesday, October 1st, 2014
Valdosta State University
Bailey Science Center, Room 1011
This event is FREE and open to all.
Parking is also free in the Georgia Avenue Parking lots.
* For more information please contact Colleen McDonough,
229-333-5759 or cmcdonou@valdosta.edu
The Nichols house is a replete instance of the diffusion of Californian on the Nichols House & Valdosta Architecture design ideals in the postwar decade, the work that brought architect Lloyd Greer’s career to its culmination, and the starting point for the careers of several leading Valdosta architects of the next generation. Continue reading
Alternative 4: Richland, Preston, Americus, Cordele, Ashburn and I-75 FERC to Sabal Trail
Richland in Stewart County,
Preston in Webster County, Americus in Sumter County, Cordele in Crisp County,
Ashburn in Turner County,
if you thought you were off the Sabal Trail path, think again!
You’re in FERC’s eye for a 36-inch fracked methane pipeline
just like Tifton, Adel, Hahira, and Valdosta in Tift, Cook, and Lowndes
Counties Georgia, and in Florida Jennings in Hamilton County, Lake City in Columbia County, Alachua and Gainesville in Alachua County, Ocala in Marion County, Wildwood in Sumter County, and Ferndale in Lake County, and probably some other cities and counties you can find on the map.
And Alternative 4 would cross the Withlacoochee River in Lowndes County
just before passing right next to Lowndes High School and an exploding
pipeline segment’s throw from Valdosta Mall.
Alternative 4 in
FERC’s recent instructions for Sabal Trail to “include analyses” would start
even farther north on I-75 than
Alternative 1.
Alternative 4 beginning from Alternate 2 near Richland, Georgia and following Highway 280 to near Americus, Georgia; then following a high voltage transmission line (along Sabal Trail’s Hillabee Alternative route); then following Alternate 1 starting near Tifton, Georgia and extending to the proposed endpoint.
Alternative 2: MP 141 -> US 82 -> I-75 -> FL Turnpike FERC to Sabal Trail
Watch out Albany Mall, Deerfield-Windsor School, Kerr Gardens Park and Pond,
Miller-Coors Albany Brewery, Pilot Travel Center and of course the Flint River at the US 82 bridge!
If Sabal Trail’s mile point (MP) 141 is still on the Lee-Dougherty County
line just west of Armena, GA on US 82, then
Alternative 2 in
FERC’s recent instructions for Sabal Trail to “include analyses” would look very
much like
Alternative 1, plowing through the north edge of Albany, GA
and much of Dougherty County,
before heading on through Sylvester, Tifton, Adel, Hahira, Valdosta, Jennings, Lake City, Alachua, Gainesville, Ocala, Wildwood, past The Villages, to Ferndale, FL.
Alternative 2 extending along other pipeline and road rights-of-way from near MP 0 to approximately MP 141 (near Albany, Georgia), and then following Alternate 1 to the proposed endpoint.
Here’s MP 141 in the maps Sabal Trail sent to FERC in November 2013: Continue reading
Alternative 1: US 82 -> I-75 -> FL Turnpike FERC to Sabal Trail
After Dawson and Albany, new Georgia cities Sylvester, Tifton, Adel, Hahira, Valdosta in Georgia (right past Lowndes High School), and Jennings, Lake City, Alachua, Gainesville, Ocala, Wildwood, and Ferndale in Florida. If you thought this pipeline wouldn’t affect you, think again. Or some later pipeline if we let this one through. See also Alternative 2 (watch out, Albany!), Alternative 3 Camilla, Thomasville, Monticello, Capps and a row of north Florida counties), and Alternative 4 (Richland, Preston, Americus, Cordele, Ashburn and yet again down I-75 as in Alternative 1).
Update 2014-09-15: Added first paragraph and fixed typos.
FERC’s recent instructions direct Sabal Trail to “include analyses” of
Alternative 1 Alternative 1 extending from near MP 0 to MP 460.6 (the proposed endpoint) following the Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC (Sabal Trail) proposed Sabal Trail Project (Project) route until reaching Highway 82 near Dawson, Georgia; then following Highway 82 to Interstate 75 (I-75); then following I-75 to Highway 91 near The Villages, Florida; then following Highway 91 to Highway 27 near Ferndale, Florida; and then following a Florida Gas Transmission (FGT) pipeline to the proposed endpoint.
Here’s a very rough map of that route, and then let’s name some cities and towns thus targetted by the yard-wide fracked methane pipeline: Continue reading
Water issues in rezoning near VSU, appointments to Hospital and Tree Authorities @ VCC 2014-09-11
WWALS adds some water issues about that
Turner Brooks rezoning,
and there are appointments to the
Hospital
and
Authorities
at tonight’s Valdosta City Council meeting.
Here’s the agenda.
AGENDAContinue reading
REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL
5:30 PM Thursday, September 11, 2014
COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL