Lowndes County Board of Commissioners Work Session Meeting held February
27, 2012, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Here’s
the agenda.
Here’s a playlist:
Videos of Lowndes County Commission Work Session 2012 02 27
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 27 February 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
-jsq
Lowndes County has been in a Mutual Aid Agreement for 10 years. This is
a renewal of the agreement for 4 years. Having this agreement in place
makes cooperating with neighboring counties and municipalities easier.
-gretchen
Here’s the video:
6c. Statewide Mutual Aid Agreement @ LCC Work Session 2012-02-27
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 27 February 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
I didn’t see any commissioners object this time. Instead they didn’t say anything at all. We’ll see tomorrow. Some context in this previous post. Plus this appears to be the actual agreement on the GEMA website.
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Georgia Power trots out the same old tired disinformation it’s been peddling
for years.
As if we didn’t already know that almost all solar installations in Georgia
are installed by certified solar installers.
Or that pretty much every inverter these days comes with built-in
automatic cutoff if the grid goes down to which installers add
air-gap cutoff knife switches plus breakers.
And as if Georgia Power didn’t know
it and EMCs could charge a percentage on electricity arbitraged
across their networks,
which gapower could use to finance any needed grid improvements, while
retaining a hefty profit for doing not much of anything else.
Meanwhile, those of us who chose to participate in solar electricity arbitrage
would get lower rates for customers.
We do know all that,
but maybe your state senator doesn’t, so maybe you should call your
senator today and tell them you want to be able to buy and sell solar
power without having to get it from the utility monopoly.
Greg Roberts, Vice President of Pricing and Planning for Georgia Power in Atlanta, wrote for the Savannah Morning News today, The solar sleight of hand. I’ll only quote part of his concluding paragraph.
Georgia Power is involved in many efforts to expand the use solar energyUsually dragged along behind reluctantly, Continue reading
Dr. Sidney Smith explained how the electric meter he’s developed
uses cellular technology to facilitate direct billing from
solar generator and customer.
Gretchen asked him what if they generate more than they use.
Dr. Smith said they wouldn’t.
I asked what if they added more panels.
He said they could, but there are trees in the back.
Here’s Part 1 of 5:
Enabling a commodity market in solar power: Dr. Smith’s electric meters Part 1 of 5:
South Eastern Pathology Associates,
Selling Power, Lower Rates for Customers LLC (LRCLLC),
Richmond Hill, Bryan County, Georgia, 17 February 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
He forgot about the parking lot out front where the panels he just connected are located: no shading there, and plenty of room for more solar panels.
Dr. Smith said the best places for solar are where there is no shade and near power poles. Gretchen asked how do you finance? Dr. Smith answered, Continue reading
to buy
the private prison site from a private landowner.
But who did that landowner get the site from?
The Industrial Authority!
And the sale prices involved are rather interesting: the landowner gets almost 100% profit in five years.
One person I showed them to immediately said, “sweetheart deal.”
What do you think?
The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA)
bought the site back in 1998 for $1,243,200, and
sold it to the landowner in 2007 for 1,463,512, which is an increase of
about 18%
in almost 10 years or about 2% per year.
CCA can buy it from the landowner in 2012 for $2,907,000,
for an increase of 99% in about five years or almost 20% per year.
Which is far more than the 20% in five years or about 4% per year shown by the assessed value.
And this remarkable surge in the price of that land
is during the worst real estate market since the Great Depression.
Does this look like a sweetheart deal to you?
| Date | Price | $ Increase | % Increase | % /year | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012? | $2,907,000 | $1,443,488 | 99% | 20% | N.L. Bassford Jr | CCA |
| 2012 | $1,756,320 | $ 292,808 | 20% | 4% | Assessed Value | |
| 2007 | $1,463,512 | $ 220,312 | 18% | 2% | VLCIA | N.L. Bassford Jr |
| 1998 | $1,243,200 | Camellia Investment Co. | VLCIA | |||
|
Prices in this table are taken directly from the legal documents.
All percentages are rounded and approximate. | ||||||
Here is a petition for VLCIA to reject the private prison.
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Drs. Sidney Smith and Pat Godbey and their customer
cut the solar ribbon in Richmond Hill, Georgia,
17 Febuary 2012:
To commemorate the future of power in Georgia and the future for our children.I didn’t get the customer’s name; sorry.
You, too, could be a customer or a seller of distributed solar power if SB 459 gets out of committee and through the Georgia Senate and legislature into law. Contact your state senator today!
-jsq
Here’s the video:
Cutting the solar ribbon in Richmond Hill 2012 02 17
South Eastern Pathology Associates,
Selling Power, Lower Rates for Customers LLC (LRCLLC),
Richmond Hill, Bryan County, Georgia, 17 February 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
-jsq
Yet in only four states — Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and Kentucky Mdash; are third party power purchase agreements disallowed, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.But Georgia Power convinced that committee that it would raise rates for everybody else. Which is pretty rich coming from the same gapower that is already charging customers Construction Work in Progress for its nuke boondoggle. So SB 401 sponsor Sen. Buddy Carter found another way.
Mary Landers wrote for the Savannah Morning News Friday, Solar bill jolted back to life:
To revive his bill, Carter tacked it onto to one already sent to theHelp him feel even better about it. Contact the committee chair and tell him we want solar cogeneration:Regulated Industries Committee — SB 459, which would allow consumers to opt-out of smart meters like the ones Georgia Power is currently installing in Savannah. The committee held a hearing on the bill Thursday, ultimately tabling it, and saying they wanted more information about how power purchase agreements work in other states.
Carter was elated.
“It’s out there now and people are aware of it,” he said. It’s getting media attention. I feel good about it.”
Senator William LigonOh, regarding the meter opt-out in the main body of the bill, why let gapower charge people for that? You can mention to Sen. Ligon that people should be able to opt out for free.
404-656-0045
william.ligon@senate.ga.gov
-jsq
PS: Owed to Bob Ingram.
CCA is the leading participant in, and in many ways the embodiment of, one of the most controversial industries ever created—the incarceration of people for profit. While the company is looking back through rose-colored glasses, there is a need for a critical analysis of what CCA has brought to the world of corrections. That is the purpose of this report.Continue readingEven by its own standards, CCA has not been a success. Rather than taking the industry by storm, it still manages only about three percent of prison and jail beds in the United States, and its global aspirations had to be abandoned.
Only a few years ago, CCA was being widely vilified
Subject: Meeting with AndreaContinue readingJust a quick recap of a meeting I had yesterday with VLCIA’s Andrea
Schruijer. When asked where we were with the private prison issue, she responded, “we contractually agreed to a 3rd extension with a term of 365 and CCA has until March 13, 2012 to request that extension.” So I asked,” if CCA doesn’t request a 3rd extension, then the issue is over, right?” She replied, “If there’s no response from CCA, then it is up to the board to determine how to move forward.” When I asked her why they would even consider honoring a contract extension to CCA knowing some of the controversy over CCA’s business practices, she replied, “because there is a partnership between the VLCIA and CCA and we are contractually bound to a 3rd extension.”
I pointed out that the private prison industry wasn’t interested in public safety and rehabilitation they simply wanted to make a quick buck off the lives of others. I informed her of the chronic employee turnover, understaffing, high rates of violence and extreme cost cutting which all have been attributed to CCA.
I told her that Lowndes County already had its own share of air
pollution and that amount of air pollution here is directly proportionate to the amount of lung and bronchial caner in our area. I encouraged her to consider sustainable businesses for the future economic growth of our community, not smoke stack business. Her reply, “so what you are saying is that you think the industrial should just close its doors?” I actually hadn’t thought about that but the question did make me ponder.
I left her with a 91 page research report which takes a critical look at the first twenty years of CCA’s operations. I requested an email response of her thoughts about the report and am currently awaiting the response…
Biomass did come up in the conversation and Mrs. Schruijer was quick to assert that
Jakada Imani wrote for HuffPost 23 February 2012, Private Prisons Profit From Pain,
CCA’s CEO Damon Hininger stands to benefit should the states provide him with prisons well-stocked with prisoners. In 2010, for example, his total compensation equaled $3,266,387.That would be Damon Hininger, number 4 on America’s 20 Most Powerful CEOs 40 And Under (by Jacquelyn Smith, 14 February 2012).
4. Damon T. HiningerHow do you like that euphemism? “Property management.” Does that refer to the real estate, or to the prisoners? Or maybe to captive local government agencies that cede CCA “absolute discretion”?
Corrections Corporation of America
Market cap: $2.83 billion
Age: 40
Industry: Property management
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