Industrial Authority presentation @ LCC 2012 03 26

Andrea Schruijer, Executive Director of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA), made a presentation to the Lowndes County Commission at their Work Session 26 March 2012. VLCIA Board member G. Norman Bennett was also present. Congratulations to VLCIA on proactively getting the word out about what they are doing!

Here's a playlist:


Industrial Authority presentation
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 26 March 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

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Conservation records @ LCC 2012-03-13

Update 21 May 2012: Fixed meeting date. See also Planning Commission discussion of this item.

An issue of conservation records came up at the 28 February 2012 13 March 2012 Lowndes County Commission meeting, regarding a rezoning at Lake Alapaha, in far northeast Lowndes County, near the Alapaha River.

County Planner Jason Davenport described the problem, which came up in a request to rezone a piece of property that was partly zoned RA (Residential Agriculture) and partly Conservation:

We did get help from the clerk’s office to try to clear up when this property was zoned and why it was zoned conservation. I just don’t have anything [unintelligible]. We have minutes that say one thing and a zoning map that says another.

He said they had had limited time to investigate, and had not been able to resolve this issue.

That issue is still on the table. I would just remind you that in the grand scheme it is a minor issue.

Commissioner Richard Raines made the motion:

For my part I’m for rezoning the entire property RA and eliminating the conservation.

And that’s what they did. Which raises issues of what we should do.

Here’s a playlist:


Conservation records
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 28 February 2012 13 March 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

The issue here is at least fourfold:

Continue reading →

Human rights and American rights —JC Cunningham @ SCLC 2012 03 22

Excerpts:

It may have been a civil rights violation. But let’s talk about human rights violations. That young man was a human, and he deserved his human rights to be expected. And until we as a people — a people, black, white, Latino — come together and demand our human rights, this will continue to happen.

That young man didn’t deserve this because he was black. He didn’t deserve it because he was a human.

Here’s a playlist:


Human rights and American rights —JC Cunningham
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 March 2012.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

More excerpts:

But they didn’t even respect basic human rights basic American rights….

Ladies and gentlemen, we must write, we must continue to march, we must continue to speak, not amongst ourselves. Tonight I ask when you go home look to the right of you, to the left of you. I mean the houses to the right of you, the houses to the left of you. Ask them where they were tonight. Ask them what their thoughts are. What if it would have been their child. They would have been here. They would have been appalled if you were not here….

Don’t be afraid to talk to your white colleagues, don’t be afraid to talk to your hispanic colleagues. There’s nothing to be ashamed of to be out here and to demand, to demand your basic human rights.

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Videos @ LCC 2012 03 13

Here are videos of the entire 13 March 2012 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission (LCC).

See separate items on the appointment of Sheila Cook to the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Addictive Diseases Region Four Planning Board and “We expect you to run a clean, quiet establishment” —Ashley Paulk.

Other notable parts of this meeting were when staff said conservation status was a small detail and and Commissioners proceeded to get rid of it in a rezoning.

At the end of the meeting, County Manager Joe Pritchard didn’t listen to Commissioner Powell’s request and proceede to recount details of road paving property signatures until Chairman Paulk nudged him that the question was about tornadoes, after which Pritchard gave a recap of Ashley Tye’s tornado report of the previous morning.

Here’s the agenda. Here’s a playlist:


Videos
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission, (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 13 March 2012.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

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“We expect you to run a clean, quiet establishment” —Ashley Paulk @ LCC 2012 03 13

A month ago (28 February 2012), Chairman Ashley Paulk chastised the VDT for how it reported on recent changes to the alcohol ordinance. This month he singled out an applicant for an alcohol license and said:
We expect you to run a clean, quiet establishment. If not, we expect the Sheriff to enforce the law.
Sheriff Chris Prine nodded.

Here’s the video:


“We expect you to run a clean, quiet establishment” —Ashley Paulk @ 2012-03-13
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission, (LCC), Lowndes County Commission,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 13 March 2012.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

What’s this about, and what’s the connection with the meeting of a month ago? The Chairman was referring to Continue reading →

Appointment of Sheila Cook @ LCC 2012 03 13

Previously (28 February 2012), Sheila Cook introduced herself as an applicant for appointment to the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Addictive Diseases Region Four Planning Board. At the 13 March 2012 meeting, the Commission appointed her.

Here’s the video:


Appointment of Sheila Cook, Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 13 March 2012.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

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ALEC, Trayvon Martin, CCA’s private prisons, and charter schools?

What’s the connection between the Florida law that’s letting the killer of Trayvon Martin hide, the private prisons CCA runs in Georgia and other states, and HB 797, the Georgia charter schools bill that’s on the floor today for Senate debate today? ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Paul Krugman wrote yesterday for the NYTimes, Lobbyists, Guns and Money,

ALEC seems, however, to have a special interest in privatization — that is, on turning the provision of public services, from schools to prisons, over to for-profit corporations. And some of the most prominent beneficiaries of privatization, such as the online education company K12 Inc. and the prison operator Corrections Corporation of America, are, not surprisingly, very much involved with the organization.

What this tells us, in turn, is that ALEC’s claim to stand for limited government and free markets is deeply misleading. To a large extent the organization seeks not limited government but privatized government, in which corporations get their profits from taxpayer dollars, dollars steered their way by friendly politicians. In short, ALEC isn’t so much about promoting free markets as it is about expanding crony capitalism.

And in case you were wondering, no, the kind of privatization ALEC promotes isn’t in the public interest; instead of success stories, what we’re getting is a series of scandals. Private charter schools, for example, appear to deliver a lot of profits but little in the way of educational achievement.

Same as private prisons. The only real benefit goes to private prison company executives and shareholders.
Think about that: we seem to be turning into a country where crony capitalism doesn’t just waste taxpayer money but warps criminal justice, in which growing incarceration reflects not the need to protect law-abiding citizens but the profits corporations can reap from a larger prison population.
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote from a Birmingham jail in 1963:
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
And today we have an organized threat to justice everywhere. That threat is called ALEC.

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The bird that could speak nine languages —Rev. Floyd Rose @ SCLC 2012 03 22

A man sent a bird to his mother as a gift….

Here’s the video:


The bird that could speak nine languages —Rev. Floyd Rose
Sanford Florida where 17 year Trayvon was murdered, and the killer has not been arrested,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 March 2012.
Video by George Boston Rhynes for bostongbr on YouTube.

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Land Bank appointment by Lowndes County Commission @ LCC 2012 03 26-27

Two appointments at this week’s Lowndes County Commission meetings:
5.a. Metropolitan Planning Organization Citizen Advisory Committee
5.b. Valdosta/Lowndes County Landbank Authority
We know who’s on the Land Bank Authority now: Burke Sherwood, Frank Morman, James Wright, and Joyce Evans, because the Georgia Department of Community Affairs publishes that information (neither the Lowndes County Commission nor the City of Valdosta does so). Which slot is up for appointment? Who is the County Commission considering appointing?

This is tacked onto the end of the agenda:

Immediately following the Work Session, the Commissioners will receive reports from the Valdosta/Lowndes County Industrial Authority & Valdosta/Lowndes County Parks & Recreation Authority
So the Industrial Authority reports to the County Commission! That’s good news.

Also this item:

6.e. Proposals for Groundwater Sampling and Analysis at the Clyattville Landfill
And did you know they had a Special Called Meeting on 15 March 2012? Approval of minutes for that is on this agenda.

Here’s the agenda for the Monday morning Work Session and Tuesday evening Regular Session.

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LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

  1. Call to Order
  2. Invocation
  3. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
  4. Minutes for Approval
    1. Work Session — March 12, 2012
    2. Regular Session — March 13, 2012
    3. Special Called Meeting — March 15, 2012
  5. Appointments
    1. Metropolitan Planning Organization Citizen Advisory Committee
    2. Valdosta/Lowndes County Landbank Authority
  6. For Consideration
    1. Greater Lowndes 2030 Comprehensive Plan Update & Resolution
    2. Rental Agreement for space occupied by the Department of Human Services, Family and Children Services, located at 206 S. Patterson Street, 2nd and 3rd Floors
    3. Declaration of Copiers as Surplus
    4. Copier Leases
    5. Proposals for Groundwater Sampling and Analysis at the Clyattville Landfill
    6. Abandonment of unopened Right of Way of Fiveash Road
  7. Reports-County Manager
  8. Citizens Wishing to be Heard Please State Name And Address
Immediately following the Work Session, the Commissioners will receive reports from the Valdosta/Lowndes County Industrial Authority & Valdosta/Lowndes County Parks & Recreation Authority

Videos @ LCC 2012 02 28

Here are videos of the entire Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission of 28 February 2012.

Here’s a playlist:


Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 28 February 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

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