Tag Archives: Economy

Display the kind of responsibility that will benefit our university, community, region, and world –S.A.V.E. to VSU Foundation

A copy of what the VSU Foundation called the “
“well-intentioned request” by

Students Against Violating the Environment (S.A.V.E.).
I added the links and images.
-jsq

October 17, 2013

Dear VSU Foundation and Board of Trustees,

Recent years have brought climate change to the forefront of public
discussion.

A newly released report from the United Nations
indicates with 95% certainty that humans are the primary cause of
the issue. It is our concern that the continuation of our current
practices and our dependence on fossil fuels will only result in
continued environmental degradation and human struggle. Knowing the
impact that anthropogenic climate change has upon our environment,
our health, and our economy, we are asking Valdosta State University
to take a stand and join in the effort to address this issue, as
social responsibility is part and parcel to the role of public
institutions.

As a public institution, Valdosta State University has a
responsibility to shape the debate about climate change through its
voice, and fossil fuel divestment is another medium for that voice.
We are asking that VSU immediately Continue reading →

Your well-intentioned request is impractical –VSU Foundation

The VSU Foundation knows more than 98% of climate scientists,
and also sneers at former divestment from tobacco and apartheid companies.

Nevermind that

fossil fuel divestment is going faster than either of those.
Is it good fiduciary responsibility to stay invested in the stranded investments
of fossil fuel stocks while

solar stocks are skyrocketing?
Is this really how to encourage people to

give to VSU?
Is that how

the alumni
want their investments used?

Seen today on

S.A.V.E.’s facebook page,

VSU Foundation’s response
to

S.A.V.E.’s fossil fuel divestment request:

October 29, 2013

Danielle Jordan, President

S.A.V.E.

Valdosta State University

Dear Ms. Jordan,

The Investment Committee of the VSU Foundation Board of Trustees has
reviewed the request from your organization that securities issued
by companies engaged in the production of fossil fuel energy be
excluded from the foundation’s endowment portfolios. Compliance with
your well-intentioned request is impractical for a number of reasons
and perhaps even a breach of the fiduciary responsibility that all
of our trustees take very seriously.

The various VSU Foundation endowment portfolios are managed Continue reading →

Video of citizens in Athens opposing Georgia Power solar tax

Another city, more citizens opposed to Georgia Power’s solar tax,
and to Georgia Power’s rate hikes for fossil fuels and nukes.

Hyacinth Manacap Empinado wrote for Athens Patch today,

“No” To Rate Hike for Georgia Power, Say Residents at Athens Meeting:
People urged Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols to vote against the Georgia Power rate hike request.,

Echols says that part of the money will be used to clean up older
coal plants and convert some plants to burn cleaner, natural gas.

If approved, Continue reading →

No solar tax –citizens in Gainesville GA

Solar advocate PSC Commissioner Bubba McDonald joined Tim Echols for this one.
Citizens said no to

Georgia Power’s proposed solar tax,
just like in

Savannah
and

Columbus.

Sarah Mueller wrote yesterday for Gainesville Times,

Public gives thumbs-down to Georgia Power rate hike,

The Georgia Power Co. rate hike proposal and suggested fees on solar
energy installation didn’t get a lot of support from residents who
attended a town meeting in Gainesville on Tuesday night.

The Georgia Public Service Commission is reviewing a $482 million
three-year rate increase request from the energy company that would
add about $7.84 to the average ratepayer’s monthly bill. The Georgia
Sierra Club and Georgia Watch has sponsored town meetings around the
state this month to let commissioners hear public input on the
request. Commissioners Tim Echols and Lauren “Bubba”
McDonald participated in the meeting at the Brenau Downtown Center.

Pursuing solar energy as state policy was also a hot topic at the
meeting, which was lightly attended. About 10 people spoke,
criticizing the proposed hike, the company’s proposed guaranteed
profit increase to 11.5 percent and Continue reading →

Videos: VLMPO Policy Committee @ VLMPO 2013-10-29

I commend VLMPO for addressing real issues and getting a broad variety of organizations to show up.
However, map after map on
the consultant’s slides
showed a straight-line highway going from Moody’s
front gate to Hahira:

There is no such road.
There better not be, since it would go straight through my property
and would drive development right through agricultural and forestry
areas that the Comprehensive Plan says aren’t supposed to be developed,.
not to mention the Moody MAZ.
I’m told the consultant is going to fix this.

I have my doubts, because Continue reading →

Videos: Special bid review meeting @ VLCIA 2013-10-29

With
a bare quorum of 3 out of 5, VLCIA
Chair Mary Gooding

said they had finally purchased their own office space
and would henceforth pay neither lease nor rent
using our tax dollars.
I’d like to congratulate them for a thorough public bid review.

Project Manager Allan Ricketts reviewed the project
including the bids on “the second document in front of you”
that the taxpaying public didn’t get to see.
He did summarize the bids, and they even showed them
on a slide:

$273,595	Cauthan
$232,445	Kellerman
$274,900	Quillian Powell
$262,557	Taylor
$244,000	True North

A board member wanted to know if the bids were all local.
Ricketts said they were.

Mr. Matt Hart, with IPG, project manager on the project,
clarified Continue reading →

Special bid review meeting @ VLCIA 2013-10-29

The Industrial Authority’s
new office is urgent enough for a special called meeting.
Inquiring reporter Gretchen is going to see what the fuss is about.

Maybe it’s just because this office search has had
more episodes than Star Wars.
Before Roy Copeland was appointed to the VLCIA board, they were
considering buying the old Board of Elections site from him.
Now he’s even been Chairman twice and given that up, and they
still don’t have a new office.
Or maybe it’s something to do with

who owns 103 Roosevelt Drive.

Interestingly, HG Pinnacle Properties, Inc. also owns the much larger surrounding lot,

2318 N Patterson Street,
on which

a Valdosta Electric trailer has been parked
across from the hospital for so long it shows up on Google Maps.

On VLCIA’s website
and
facebook page
(although oddly not in their

current news page:

There will be a Special Called Meeting of the Valdosta-Lowndes
County Industrial Authority 12 noon Tuesday, October 29, 2013 at the
Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority Offices.

The purpose of this meeting is to review bids regarding the
renovation and construction of 103 Roosevelt Drive.

-jsq

The SPLOST Debate –Tim Carroll

Received 27 October 2013. -jsq

I have had a number of folks contact me about the upcoming SPLOST
VII referendum and inquiring about a MOST. Trying to talk about all
of this in as few a words as I can is not easy. But to give you
some perspective—the city’s general fund budget is $32M.
$5.9M of the revenue for this fund comes from property taxes. Based
on the city tax digest a mill is worth $1.5M. The experts say
50.2% of the sales tax is paid by out of towners. In the opinion of
some folks, it is closer to 30%. Pick the experts or local guesses
….it still is a significant amount. It clearly is very beneficial
to the citizens of Valdosta and Lowndes County.

By now many have heard about a MOST or Municipal Option Sales Tax.

In the first part of this year—the city of Valdosta was faced
with Continue reading →

U.S. broadband among most expensive worldwide: why?

We don’t have to continue letting the duopoly gouge us for
slow and expensive Internet access.

We don’t have to wait for Washington

or Atlanta, either.
We do need our local leaders to stop defining away the issue
and get on with doing something about.

Tom Geoghegan wrote for BBC News 27 October 2013,

Why is broadband more expensive in the US?

Home broadband in the US costs twice as much as it does in Europe
and three times as much as it does in South Korea, according to a
new report. Why?

Because we let the duopoly get away with it,
as

Susan Crawford has been reminding us for a while now. Continue reading →

Fossil fuel divestment fastest

Not just

faster than apartheid divestment;
faster than divestment from tobacco, armaments, and others:
fossil fuel divestment.
It’s not about direct reduction of market capitalization;
it’s about making it socially unacceptable to buy from stigmatized
companies, and it works, and it’s working faster than ever for fossil fuels.
Oh, and fossil fuel companies are a tiny sliver of university endowments,
so ditching them is pain free,
especially now that

fossil fuel stock prices are not rising while solar stocks skyrocket
(and nuclear stocks don’t).
Go fossil free, go VSU.

Stranded Assets and the Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign: What Does Divestment Mean for the Valuation of Fossil Fuel Assets?
8 October 2013 | Authors: Atif Ansar, Ben Caldecott, James Tilbury

Damian Carrington wrote for the Guardian Monday 7 October 2013

Campaign against fossil fuels growing, says study:
Investors being persuaded to take their money out of fossil fuel sector, according to University of Oxford study,

A campaign to persuade investors to take their money out of the fossil fuel sector is growing faster than any previous divestment campaign and could cause significant damage to coal, oil and gas companies, according to a
study from the University of Oxford.

The report compares the current
fossil fuel divestment campaign, which has attracted 41 institutions since 2010, with those against tobacco, apartheid in South Africa, armaments, gambling and pornography. It concludes that the direct financial impact of such campaigns on share prices or the ability to raise funds is small but the reputational damage can still have major financial consequences.

Continue reading →

On the LAKE front

Citizen dialog for transparent process by the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange