Category Archives: Valdosta City Council

Our honest responses to HUD —George Rhynes and John Robinson

Received today. -jsq

September 26, 2012
George Boston Rhynes
5004 Oak Street
Valdosta, Georgia 31605 		TO: U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development
Valdosta City Government
Valdosta Housing Authority
Valdosta Industrial Authority

The following is our honest responses to HUD and in response to the City of Valdosta’s 8th Year of responding to HUD CPMP Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report. This includes Narrative Responses to CAPER questions in relations to and with the Consolidated Planning Regulations and questions from the general public as highlighted on page 5, paragraph 1.

CITIZENS VIEW POINT AND RESPONSES: {GEORGE BOSTON RHYNES AND JOHN ROBNISON} after reviewing all previous CAPTER’S and the city’s responses to them, I commend the City of Valdosta for responding to HUD in an extremely professional manner on paper. One can see and feel the professional prowess involved in providing these answers the City of Valdosta has placed on paper over the city’s (long) historic past. However, when one looks deeper into the problems facing our beloved community, one will find the following to be as Paul Harvey would say the rest of——-the story!

GENERAL QUESTIONS: The City of Valdosta’s response on the issues remains the same as reported in many other CAPERS such as:

  • City attained the goal of:
  • # of homes was brought up to code.
  • Worked in conjunction with——
  • to train, resident information sessions were held that yielded nearly 30 attendees etc.
  • Staff continues to…., Overall, the city is pleased with the second Consolidated Plan Submission.
  • (3.a) The city hosted several Section 3 Information Sessions and will continue to provide more information to…. Work with local community and faith-based organizations to identify and address.
  • I could go on and on with these highly professional lines of what some see as solutions to the real problems in the City of Valdosta, Georgia. However there is another side and forgive me for not going through the complete CAPER in the above manner. I am sure your time is valuable; therefore I will cut through the chase and provide the following in response to the City of Valdosta RESPONSES. Not only to this CAPER but others we have read and taken into consideration:

A recent meeting held in the Valdosta City Annex about Community Housing etc. perhaps exemplifies

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SPLOST VII campaign kicks off

Update 2012-09-27 8:50AM: Added video, stills, and notes about the County Palace and Internet access.
The seventh Special Local Option Sales Tax, SPLOST, will be on the November ballot. Not to be confused with the just-defeated bogus regional transportation T-SPLOST, or last year’s successful educational ESPLOST, or the currently renegotiating property-tax-relief LOST, SPLOST Campaign SPLOST VII will follow up on SPLOST VI in supporting local infrastructure projects.

Greg Gullberg reported for WCTV today, Campaign Kicks Off For Valdosta Tax (no video appears to be available): The text story link has vanished, but video has appeared.

There is a campaign in Lowndes County to rally for the tax called SPLOST, or the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. It could bring in as much as $35 million, but that is only if voters say it’s worth the extra pennies.

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Industrial Authority has to be congratulated —Michael G. Noll

Received yesterday on WCTV on biomass site VLCIA v. Sterling Planet. -jsq

Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy (WACE) have made it clear from the start that biomass plants have a number of issues: 1) biomass plants bear significant health risks; 2) biomass plants waste enormous amounts of water; 3) biomass plants are risky investments in an increasingly competitive energy sector; and 4) biomass plants contribute to global warming.

In the light of rising global temperatures, worsening drought conditions, and dropping prices for solar panels, an increasing number of people are understanding these simple truths.

The Industrial Authority has to be congratulated for the courage to admit that energy from biomass plants is indeed more expensive than energy from solar plants, and we have not even figured in the costs associated with the consequences of air pollution coming from biomass plants.

(For more information on biomass plants, here a testimony I recently gave: http://www.bredl.org/pdf3/120828_WACE-Comments-Docket_NO-E-100_SUB113.pdf)

Although this point has already been made earlier, note again that solar plants are much better alternatives, economically and environmentally: they do not pollute our air, they do not need any water, and a huge spill of solar energy is simply called a sunny day … of which we have plenty here in the south.

-Michael G. Noll

-jsq

 

WCTV on biomass site VLCIA v. Sterling Planet

Greg Gullberg WCTV does what VDT dares not: Greg Gullberg mentioned last year’s biomass protests in the first sentence of this story about the Industrial Authority threatening to sue Sterling Planet to get clear title to the former proposed biomass plant site.

Greg Gullberg reported for WCTV yesterday, Dispute Over Land For Proposed Biomass Plant,

Gullberg and Ricketts

The vocal protests in Valdosta are long gone, but the controversy over the proposed Biomass plant lingers. This time not for concerns of health safety, but over the land.

The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority plans to sue Wiregrass Power LLC to end its contract.

Protesters at City Hall Ban the Burn Go 100% Solar
Ban the Burn Go 100% Solar.

The proposed Biomass Plant was supposed to be a low-cost source of efficient energy. Supporters say it would have created hundreds of jobs. But opponents say the health risks include cancer, lung disease and respiratory disease.

750,000 gallons of water each day Biomass site plan
750,000 gallons of water each day

Tell me, Col. Ricketts, doesn’t it feel better to be visibly on the side of the people, instead of having to defend a bad business deal?

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LOST Lawsuits Ahead?

Looks like history may repeat itself like last decade, now that LOST negotiations between the cities and the county have failed. Except this time apparently the law has changed so they can’t sue each other directly. Gretchen on LOST Instead next it goes to Superior Court “baseball arbitration”. However, I bet that still involves lawyers at taxpayer expense, not to mention the Court’s time.

Greg Gullberg reported for WCTV yesterday, Tax Negotiations Hit Another Dead End In Lowndes County, and asked Gretchen down at the County Extension, who said,

It’s sort of sad because it is a waste, if you will, of taxpayer dollars. That the elected officials can’t get together and come to some agreement to say that they all understand how the money has to be divided up Yeah, it’s sad that more money has to go to lawyers insted of being spent on services.

I continue to think the local governments could spend their time together better trying to increase the size of the pie instead of squabbling over slices of it.

-jsq

Valdosta LMIG resurfacing and transparency

The City of Valdosta almost wins for transparency about some upcoming road resurfacing work, except the details are in some Windows-only non-web format.

20 August 2012, In the City This Week, Aug. 20-25, 2012,
Aug. 20: LMIG Work Continues Today. The street resurfacing made possible through a Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant (LMIG) will continue Aug. 20 with the removal and replacement of curb and gutter on a dozen designated streets in the city. Road resurfacing of these streets is scheduled to begin on Aug. 27. Click here for more information.

That leads to Project News and Updates which has a link LMIG Resurfacing Schedule and Desiginated Areas which gets:

You have chosen to open
LMIG
which is a: BIN file (63.9 KB)
from: http://www.valdostacity.com
Would you like to save this file?

And that’s actually a ZIP file containing a bunch of XML files. We should trust Valdosta’s website enough to be secure that we should download random ZIP files? Fail!

Gretchen decoded that ZIP bomb and sent it in plain text, which I include here. My question is: why didn’t Valdosta simply put it on the web that way to start with?

-jsq

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Another sewage overflow after FEMA finally decides about Valdosta wastewater plant

Since the floods of 2009 Valdosta had been waiting on FEMA to say whether it would grant some funding for improving the wastewater treatment plant that flooded then. Finally, FEMA gave a decision, no, which allowed the Valdosta City Council to choose another path. But not in time for improvements before the same plant had another wastewater overflow.

WCTV posted PR from the City of Valdosta of 17 August 2012, Major Sewage Overflow from Withlacoochee Water Pollution Control Plant,

At approximately 1 a.m. on Aug. 16, 2012, the pumps in the Influent Pump Station of the Withlacoochee Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) stopped working.

An emergency bypass pump system was placed into service at 12:45 a.m., on Aug. 17; and as a result, the sewer spills are no longer occurring. Contractors are currently on site investigating the cause of the failure, which has not yet been determined, while also making necessary repairs to the damaged equipment.

Sewer overflows were recorded at the following locations within the sewer collection system:

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Mayor starts walking back gay pride comments on WALB

Rainbow flagsValdosta Mayor John Gayle starts practicing the non-apology apology by saying he’s sorry people aren’t happy while complimenting the content of the anti-bullying proclamation he wouldn’t sign. He continues to provide earned media for the South Georgia Pride Festival.

Lydia Jennings reported for WALB yesterday, Valdosta Mayor denies Gay Pride event proclamation,

Raynae Williams Asst. Director South Georgia Pride “I’m not asking him to proclaim that he’s for gay marriage, I’m not asking any of that. It’s just simply stating that we’re here and we’re apart of the community,” said Williams.

Valdosta Mayor John Gayle “Too many times we give up our strong beliefs to make people happy, and I’m sorry that my decision didn’t make a lot of people happy,” said Gayle.

The Mayor says he compliments the organization for bringing awareness and education to bullying and hate crimes against the gay community. The event will be September 15 at the John W. Saunders Park in Valdosta.

Well, he looks apologetic, and he said he’s sorry, Valdosta banner but he for sure ain’t signin’ that proclamation, which was against bullying and hate crimes not just for the gay community, but “for all sexual orientations, races and religions.” Is he not against bullying other races and religions?

Those rainbow flags seem quite festive, as do those Valdosta banners.

-jsq

Jobs at the City of Valdosta

Valdosta City Council James R. Wright reminds us there are jobs open at the City of Valdosta. Here’s the online list, which currently looks like this the table below.

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JobTypeApplication DeadlineSalary
Police Officer Full Time 7/30/2012  $32,042.46
Neighborhood Development Coordinator Full Time 8/10/2012  $35,773.66
Laborer (Streets) PartTime 8/15/2012  $18,068.18
Public Works Director Full Time 8/8/2012  $62,994.88
Operations Superintendent Full Time 8/8/2012  $35,773.66
Automotive Service Worker Full Time Open Until Filled  $21,961.67
Refuse Collection Driver Full Time Open Until Filled  $23,059.92
Heavy Equipment Mechanic Full Time Open Until Filled  $26,694.72
Heavy Equipment Mechanic PartTime Open Until Filled  $12.83/hour
Human Resources Director Full Time Open Until Filled  DOQ

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WCTV T-SPLOST pro and con, 27 July 2012

Greg Gullberg has updated his WCTV story about T-SPLOST with a new video, this time interviewing private citizen John Gayle (for T-SPLOST) sitting at the Valdosta Mayor’s desk, Gretchen Quarterman (against T-SPLOST) at the Lowndes County Extension Office, and some other people.

Vote No T-SPLOST 31 July 2012The major issue driving people to the polls and dividing them is the TSPLOST Transportation tax. The TSPLOST Transportation Tax is a hot issue here in Georgia.. because it effects everybody. Organizers say with an extra penny of sales tax—when you add all those pennies up over the next ten years— that could be almost 20-billion dollars for the state. One side says it will ease your troubled commute. The other says the measure is so flawed it won’t really help at all.

Another excerpt:

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