Ashley Paulk, Chairman |
Joyce Evans, District 1 |
Richard Raines, District 2 |
Crawford Powell, District 3 |
This is the Commission that as its first act held a special session to propose adding two new superdistricts.
The pictures for the two new Commissioners, Richard Raines and Crawford Powell, are from Valdosta Daily Times writeups while they were running, since the Commission’s own web pages do not yet have pictures for them.
-jsq
Michael Cooper wrote in the New York Times on 20 May 2010 about
An Incinerator Becomes Harrisburg’s Money Pit:
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Officials here decided seven years ago to borrow $125 million to rebuild and expand the city’s enormous trash incinerator, which the federal government had shut down because of toxic air pollution.The Patriot-News Editorial Board wrote on 12 April 2010 about Harrisburg incinerator fiasco deserves an investigation to understand how it happened:But the incinerator burned through the money faster than the trash, leaving Harrisburg residents feeling like they were living through a sequel to the 1986 movie “The Money Pit.”
There were contractor troubles, delays, cost overruns and squabbles. The city borrowed tens of millions more, shoveling good money after bad into the job.
Over nearly a decade, officials at the Harrisburg Authority and City Hall made a series of decisions that sought to get the trash incinerator working and profitable, but which instead brought Pennsylvania’s capital to the brink of bankruptcy.The 2003 deal that took on $125 million in debt to repair the incinerator neglected to include a performance bond.
Something else sounds familiar about this situation:Inexperienced firms were hired. Fees were paid for work poorly done. Loans were taken on disastrous terms.
Officials were aided, or rather misled, by the advice of numerous attorneys, bankers and engineers apparently far more interested in collecting handsome fees than they were in protecting the interests of taxpayers.
As a result, there is a deep distrust of the fundamental institutions that created this fiasco.
While some of the seats have changed, many of the same people in government today had their fingerprints on these decisions.It’s the same old boy network locally as approved Sterling Chemical, and the chair of the county commission at that time is now on the Industrial Authority. And the VLCIA has taken on what is reputed to be a $15 million bond issue.
How big is Harrisburg? 50,000 people, same as Valdosta. What is Harrisburg considering? Bankruptcy. Who profited anyway? Local developers.
What’s the moral?
All of the guarantees proved worthless.What say we have the investigation now, before the fail-safes fail?All of the fail-safes failed.
-jsq
Continue readingRecently on Thursday December 16th, State Judge Ronit Walker denied air quality permits for a proposed coal plant in Sandersville, Georgia. Judge Walker cited the Georgia Environmental Protection Divisions failure to properly review permits, and their lack of enforcement of basic Clean Air Act standards for several hazardous emissions.
Flashback to April 27th in Valdosta Georgia when Environmental Protection Division Air Branch Manager Eric Cornwell openly admitted to having NOT READ the air permit application for Wiregrass Biomass LLC’s proposal to build a hotly contested 40mw power plant&emdash; during a Valdosta EPD hearing meant to evaluate those permits.
Today, the Valdosta Industrial Authority is hazardously entrenched
Continue readingAt 8:30 AM, I began receiving phone calls from Quitman, Georgia in the County of Brooks where the County Sheriffs Office was arresting citizens at random concerning the recent Absentee Ballot Problems.
These arrests reminded me of the alleged problems Black Voters/Citizens have had with the GBI harassing them during their investigation before and during the last run off election. This included alleged actions by the GBI Investigators that local citizens complained about intimidation before, during and after the election. However little or no Public Media Attention was given to alleged Black Voter intimidation by local media. Moreover, little to nothing was published in the FREE PRESS surrounding citizen’s fear from GBI Investigators. This was a major point of discussion when I along with a local Pastor from Valdosta, Georgia walked the streets to get a better understanding of what Brooks County Voters had to go through during the last election.
Today’s arrest will surely end up in the courts.
Kara Ramos reported in the VDT on 18 Aug 2010 that Private prison company picks Valdosta as potential site:
The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) announced an economic development partnership for future construction of a private prison.
Who is CCA? NPR’s Laura Sullivan reported on 28 Oct 2010 about Prison Economics Help Drive Ariz. Immigration Law:
Continue reading
What is the Industrial Authority’s plan to bring in real clean jobs?
MAGE SOLAR is hiring for the first of 350 jobs in its photovoltaic (PV) solar manufacturing plant in Dublin, Georgia, with half the population of Valdosta, in Laurens County, with half the population of Lowndes County. They’ve parlayed their position between the Atlanta airport and the Savannah seaport for many new clean jobs.
Suniva of Norcross’s second PV plant with its 500 jobs went to Michigan. Saginaw Valley calls itself Solar Valley and collaborates with governments, academia, and industry, winning thousands of clean jobs in wind and solar manufacturing and generating plants.
Here are videos that illustrate the VDT’s point today in
What We Think:
While officials continue to downplay local citizen anger about current projects, citizens are organizing in a variety of ways to affect change the next election cycle. When Sterling Chemical came to Lowndes County in the 1990s, citizens were told the project was a “done deal,” and so it was. Sterling is still here, but those in office at the time aren’t, and the director of the Industrial Authority at the time is no longer here either.Maybe the VDT is referring to this kind of response from the VLCIA panel on 6 Dec 2010:As has been shown worldwide, citizens are tired of being told what’s best for them, having no say so in how their tax dollars are spent, and having their concerns ignored.
Until officials understand that it is coming from all directions and not just led by a few malcontents, the swell will continue to grow. And those who continue to ignore the anger and frustration do so at their own peril.
“these things do prop up the local economy, period, end of discussion.”A previous questioner who had a job in Vietnam notes he was lied to about Agent Orange and asks “can you assure me that I won’t be affected by this?” Continue reading
Here in the U.S., we’re still thinking about maybe doing some high
speed rail lines.
None in Georgia.
And even the slow-speed passenger proposed rail network bypasses Valdosta
and Lowndes County.
Meanwhile, in China:
(Click on the detail map for the full map from johomaps 2010.)
Suniva’s
second solar PV manufacturing plant that Georgia couldn’t keep
went to Saginaw, Michigan,
where the editorial board of The Saginaw News lists it as
just one bullet item:
• Georgia-based solar panel maker Suniva is well along in its federal loan guarantee application so it can build a plant in Saginaw County.So what is the big news that they’re editorializing about?
The Solar Valley is starting to snowball.Continue readingAmid the campaigning and squabbling on the Friday before last week’s statewide election were two electric announcements promising a big buzz for our region’s future.
While
Suniva’s new photovoltaic manufacturing plant went to Michigan,
some of Suniva’s customers are in Georgia,
such as
USFloors, which has commissioned a 365kW solar array
using 1,521 panels from Suniva.
That’s in Dalton, about 300 miles north of here.
It’s sunnier here.
-jsq