Tag Archives: Economy

Insurers suing for lack of preparation for record floods

What if, in addition to the record floods of 2009 and 2013 and 2014
apparently caused by local lack of planning in our watersheds,
what if we got 15 inches of rain in one 24 hour period like
Pensacola did a few weeks ago?


Local governments might get sued by insurers for lack of planning,
like 200 communities in the Chicago area already got sued.
Maybe we should plan ahead for greater weather variability
caused by climate change.

Eric Holthaus wrote for Future Tense on Slate 30 April 2014,

The Calamitous Climate Responsible for Florida’s Record Rainfall, Continue reading →

Nimble –Videos of Gretchen at VSU @ YR 2014-05-15

Elected officials need to adapt to new information and new circumstances,
while all working together.


Here are videos of Gretchen saying she will be nimble if elected,
at VSU last Tuesday
at an event

organized by the South Georgia Young Republicans and others.
Remember, this Special Election is tomorrow, Tuesday May 20th,
because the seat is vacant.
The winner will take office immediately upon certification of the
election results.
LAKE supports
Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes County Commission District 5, with her calling for financial stewardship and community transparency for economic development.

Here’s

a video playlist,
followed by links to the individual videos with transcriptions.

Continue reading →

No to Brookhaven rezoning @ Lake Park 2014-05-06



After

the Planning Commission meeting of 31 March 2014
and

the Lake Park City Council meeting of 1 April 2014,
and

a special public hearing,
the Lake Park City Council

voted 3 to 1 to deny the Brookhaven apartment building
rezoning.

Mayor Eric Schindler’s statement about how the hornet’s nest
of the Brookhaven rezoning LP-2014-02-26, or any rezoning,

is a process and not a snap decision
is well worth watching.

The City of Lake Park does not appear to have posted an agenda,
or at least where I expected to find it
there are no details.
Below are links to the videos in the order items appeared at the Lake Park City Council Regular Session of May 6th 2014, with a few notes.

Continue reading →

Agricultural Workshop in Douglas May 29 2014

Agriculture is Georgia’s biggest industry, and USDA is holding
a workshop on that in Douglas at the end of May.

On

Team Agriculture Georgia‘s blog,

Team Ag Georgia is coming to Douglas!



The Spring 2014 TAG workshop will be held at the City of Douglas Central Square Complex in Douglas, GA (click here for directions) on Thursday, May 29, 2014.

Courses being offered during the Spring Workshop include:

  • Google Map

    Organic/Naturally Grown Certification

  • Financing Small Farms – Ag Aware
  • Olive Production

    • Continue reading →

Videos: Valdosta City Council Work Session @ VCC 2014-05-06



Here’s the Call to Order.
See
separate post
for details of the Army Corps of Engineers flooding study.
The Work Session continued after that, but Gretchena and I both
had to go to other events, so there’s no video of the rest.

If Valdosta videoed its own meetings, Continue reading →

Videos: Flooding study by Army Corps of Engineers @ VCC 2014-05-06



In these videos of

the initial flooding study
by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the Valdosta City Council Work Session,
you can see they’re the Corps, all right: they want to build a levee.
They did emphasize that this was just an initial study on
what could be done inside Valdosta, and their main conclusion
was that there was enough need to indicate federal interest,
as in possibilities of getting federal funding for solutions.
City Manager Larry Hanson got the Corps to confirm (several times)
that Valdosta alone couldn’t stop the flooding, since the vast
majority of floodwaters comes from upstream

on the Withlacoochee and Little Rivers.



Later that same evening in response to citizen questions
at the Valdosta City Hall Annex, the Corps clarified more that
they did understand there were issues of impervious surfaces
and development and loss of wetlands and they wanted to
do a much larger study of the entire watershed,
which could take several years to accomplish.
They kept emphasizing that the Suwannee River watershed
is one of the largest in the country, and there are also
flooding problems on the Suwannee River, which could be important
for obtaining federal dollars.

As we already knew, Valdosta has funded projects already started

to move the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) uphill
and to add a force main to prevent manhole overflows.
People

downstream in Florida may be relieved to hear something is being done.

Here’s

a video playlist, followed by images of the Corp’s slides and of the City Council, and some notes.

Continue reading →

ICLEI and sustainability

Have you heard there’s a U.N. agency going around getting
local governments to sign “Agenda 21” into ordinances that
will take away your private property through eminent domain?
If not, you’ve avoided the propaganda put out by
fossil fuel companies to subvert sustainability.
If you have, here’s why it’s bunk.

There is an organization that promotes measures for
sustainability to local governments.
Sustainability as in arranging for local resources to
be available for us and our children and grandchildren.
Clean air, clean water, forests, education, and private property
rights including not letting developers or big corporations
damage your private property.
Are you against any of those things?

An organization promoting sustainability with local governments is called

ICLEI–Local Governments for Sustainability.
ICLEI says it is:


the leading global network devoted to local governments engaged in
sustainability, climate protection, and clean energy initiatives. The
organization was formerly known as the International Council for Local
Environmental Initiatives.

ICLEI has heard about the conspiracy theories and has written up

a rebuttal. Continue reading →

VSU up there with Harvard about fossil fuel divestment



VSU is with the big schools, leading the stigmatization of fossil fuel
companies and the exodus from those stranded assets.
Students are leading on that and related issues,
more than our local elected bodies, but there’s an election going on.

Mary Schellentrager posted for PowerShift 29 April 2014,

NATIONAL PHOTO ROUND-UP: BOLD ACTION FOR #BEYONDEARTHDAY: Continue reading →

Videos: church parking withdrawn @ ZBOA 2014-04-01




North Valdosta Church of God came to a decision.
Plus

a house variance in
Lowndes County was approved unanimously,
and

a gas station variance got its building variance approved, but its other variance requests denided, all on a split vote.
in
Valdosta.
See

the Meeting Results Summary,
which also lists all of ZBOA members as present.

Here’s

the agenda, with links to the videos and a few notes.
The City of Valdosta puts ZBOA agendas and minutes

online in real PDFs. Continue reading →

A newspaper opposes the pipeline: the Spectator



A major big city daily?
A local newspaper of record along the proposed pipeline path?
Nope: the Valdosta State University student newspaper, The Spectator,
has done what its bigger newspaper colleagues have not dared:
oppose the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline and demand renewable
energy instead.
Where students lead, maybe their elders will follow.

Editorial in The Spectator 1 May 2014 (I added the links and images),

Pipeline a risk to Valdosta, Continue reading →