Apparently VLCIA has few or no tracts of 200 acres or up
out of their 577 acres.
New Executive Director Andrea Schruijer said:
We’re looking at having prospects in,
or existing industries are looking to come here,
we don’t actually look like we have a 577 acre tract that we can market.
It’s actually a lot smaller than that.
So when a company comes in and wants 200 acres
that’s something we have a gap in.
She’s following up on former chairman Jerry Jennett’s request.
Jennett remarked at this meeting
Continue reading →
The first Lowndes County Lunch and Learn was Thursday, 11 August, 2011.
Paige Dukes, County Clerk and Public Information Officer, presented.
“I work in everyone’s business, just a little bit.”
Commissioner Joyce Evans made a brief viridian green appearance.
Gretchen Quarterman videoed for LAKE.
I think that’s Jody making the loud paper crackling noises.
I hear Paige is sending her slides for posting on the LAKE web pages.
Looks to me like they could use some more attendees.
They’re going to the trouble to do this; y’all come and help them out!
LCC Lunch and Learn 11 August 2011
Lunch and Learn, Lowndes County Staff (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 August 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
We have some really interesting projects and events this issue. Since
school is back in session most are planning for football games and other
semester activities. Since we are in the planning mode, please read our
article on Community Planning Month in October. We have lots of fun and
exciting events for citizens to participate in this year. Our theme is
“New Ideas for America’s Future”. Since the youth are our future, we
want to extend this invitation to any youth groups that may be
interested in government and planning. Please contact us to RVSP for a
lunch & learn or tour. We look forward to seeing you there!!
Also, check out an update on the Five Points Project and Tax Incentives
for Historic Preservation.
Solar Roadways received a $750,000 grant from the Federal Highway
Administration to build a parking lot paved with solar panels.
Last year the green infrastructure company demoed a 12 square-foot
prototype of its solar road as phase 1 of this new technology. The
prototype was made up of solar panels, heating elements, and a grid of
wireless LED lights encased in durable glass that has the same traction
as asphalt and doesn’t cause glare. The panels generate a total of 7.6
kilowatt hours of electricity per day that can be used to melt snow and
ice, spell warnings for motorists, or be connected to weight sensitive
panels that illuminate a crosswalk when activated. The solar road can
also be connected to a smart grid to power nearby homes and businesses,
or even electric cars.
The most shocking thing I learned from my research on the fate of the
working poor in the recession was the extent to which poverty has indeed
been criminalised in America.
Perhaps the constant suspicions of drug use and theft that I encountered
in low-wage workplaces should have alerted me to the fact that, when
you leave the relative safety of the middle class, you might as well
have given up your citizenship and taken residence in a hostile nation.
Maybe you think you’re safe, because you’re not out on the street. Think again:
Continue reading →
Traffic on Old Pine will be regulated by the amount of people who
use the highway;
traffic on Bemiss since you and I moved out there forty years ago.
…
I’m not going to argue Bemiss Highway, it’s not a pertinent fact.
That’s right, traffic and traffic safety are considered not pertinent
to building subdivisions, according to the Chairman of the Lowndes County
Commission, and the actions of the Commissioners and staff.
The developer gets to consider only their one property and
the neighbors get to deal with all the effects on all the related roads.
Privatization of profits and socialization of problems
such as traffic accidents.
Does that seem right to you?
If not, it’s going to go on until more people argue and
debate.
In fact, many of Lowndes County’s T-SPLOST tax request would make the problem worse.
See
next post.
Maybe people are starting to notice that far more people die in traffic
accidents in the U.S.A. than in foreign wars.
The projects submitted by Lowndes County for
TSPLOST funding
would make this problem even worse,
except the bus system, which wouldn’t require road widening.
In recent years a little noticed shift has been transforming suburbia:
the home of the middle class has become the home of the working poor. As
a result, roadways that were built for the car are now used by a growing
population that can’t afford to drive. The consequences can be deadly.
According to a recent report, by two national transportation groups,
about 43 thousand pedestrians were killed in the U.S. in the last decade;
“the equivalent of a jumbo jet going down roughly every month.”
Of course, the problem didn’t start with an increase in pedestrians.
Continue reading →
Imagine you are a drug lord in Mexico, making unfathomable profits
sending your illegal product to the United States. What is the headline
you fear the most? “U.S. to build bigger fence”? “U.S. to send
troops to the border”? “U.S. to deploy tanks in El Paso”? No. None
of those would give you much pause. They would simply raise the level of
difficulty and perhaps cause you to escalate the violence that already
has turned the border region into a war zone. But would they stop you
or ultimately hurt your bottom line? Probably not.
But what if that drug lord opened his newspaper and read this: “U.S. to
legalize and regulate marijuana”? That would ruin his day, and ruin
it in a way that could not be fixed with more and bigger guns, higher
prices or more murder.
As a Republican, he manages to say legalize and regulate but forget
to mention tax, and he didn’t mention
Jimmy Carter
or Javier Sicilia
calling for an end to the drug war,
but he did mention (I added the links):
Continue reading →
August 16, 2011 Industrial Authority Board Meeting 5:30 pm at the Industrial Authority Conf. Room
