So many they need their own power substation. And there’s corn growing in the same fields.
20120811_161355
Pictures by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 August 2012.
20120811_161358:
Here are the rest of the videos from the Hahira City Council meeting of 2 August 2012, including the very interesting scheduled agenda items in which each Council member, the City Manager, and the Mayor give their thoughts on issues relevant to the City of Hahira.
12.A. Council Ralph Clendenin 
12.A. Council Allen Cain 
12.A. Council Terry Benjamin 
12.A. Council Rose Adams 
12.B. City Manager Jonathan Sumner 
12.C. Mayor Wayne Bullard Here’s a video playlist of the entire meeting:
Regular Session, Hahira City Council (Hahira),
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Hahira, Lowndes County, Georgia, 2 August 2012.
Other city employees present included Continue reading
Here’s a video playlist of most of the Hahira City Council Regular Session of Thursday 2 August 2012. Hahira City Council (population about 2,800) spent more time in open public discussion about each of
several individual agenda items than the Lowndes County Commission (population 111,000+) typically spends on an entire “open meeting”.
They held a millage hearing and lowered the milage. They discussed developer tap fees (nay), discussed the now-ritual topic of bidding for waste disposal ( nay), and approved a GEFA loan for a new water well (yea). A surprise vote on fixing a tractor (yea) was not on the agenda.
Near the beginning they still have Citizens to Be Heard. Maybe they’re not afraid of their citizens? Citizens mostly wanted to talk about the police chief’s proposal to fine people who didn’t mow their lawns.
A few more videos will be added, probably today, (now available as
Council Comments)
of the votes on cost of living increases (yea), SPLOST VII (yea), the consent agenda (yea), and council comments at the end of the session.
The agenda is below after the videos; thanks to City Manager Jonathan Sumner for sending it. Here’s the video playlist:
-jsq
Video Playlist Hahira City Council
Regular Session, Hahira City Council (Hahira),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Hahira, Lowndes County, Georgia, 2 August 2012.
Received yesterday on Hahira approved for water well loan by state. -jsq
It’s nice to know Hahira will get a break in interest, but tax
payers will still have to pay back the loan. I missed the council meeting which is unusual for me. Does the video show anything about the fact some council members voted not to raise the tap fees for new construction which would certainly help pay back the loan instead of depending so much on tax monies? Developers should not be allowed to come in and make huge profits from new construction, then take their profits and let the citizens pay the price for increased water demands. Raising the one time tap fees would have distributed some of the costs to the developers who enjoy the profits from increased demands on the infrastructure and water usage.
-Barbara Stratton
Yes, we have video of the entire Hahira City Council meeting, which will be posted soon. LAKE is always happy to accept help in taking or labeling videos.
-jsq
With
all counties reporting, only Bacon, Clinch, Coffee, and Irwin went for T-SPLOST: voters defeated it in Region 11 by 38,514 no votes (58%) to 28,040 Yes (42%) votes.
Update 2017-03-27: And Atkinson, with final tally 38,731 no votes (58%) to 28,217 Yes (42%). Plus it’s back as a regional proposal.
Lowndes County voted 2 to 1 against. That’s the result of hard work by a broad coalition across the political spectrum, including everybody from Gretchen Quarterman to Nolen Cox.
The only regions to vote Yes were 7-Central Savannah River, 8-River Valley, and 9-Heart of Georgia, all 2 of 3 of them state border regions. Even 12-Coastal rejected T-SPLOST 58% to 42%. Atlanta metro Region 3, the real excuse for the whole failed exercise, resoundingly defeated T-SPLOST by a whopping 63% to 37%.
Georgia Sierra Club and Atlanta Tea Party have already drawn up Plan B for metro Atlanta. 
How about a Plan B for the entire state, with passenger rail from Atlanta to Valdosta and Savannah, bus systems in every metro area, and airport improvements?
-jsq
Doyle Kelly is running for Tax Assessor; he is the incumbent in Post 1.
Here's the video:
Doyle Kelly for Tax Assessor Post 1
Candidates,
Annual BBQ, Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
Gretchen Quarterman (Chair), Dennis Marks (Vice-Chair / Elections), Lou McClendon (Vice-Chair / Membership), Laverne Gaskins (Vice-Chair / Qualifying), Joyce Gibson (Secretary), James J. Parker (Treasurer),
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 6 July 2012.
-jsq
Three City of Valdosta cases (two conditional use and one rezoning) and five Lowndes County rezoning cases at the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) Regular Session Monday 30 July 2012. The agenda was faxed to Gretchen Quarterman of LAKE by GLPC Chairman Bill Slaughter at her request.
The cases are listed below, as nearly as I can transcribe them. You may wonder, as I do, why anyone should need to transcribe them, since they were composed in electronic form in the first place before they were printed and faxed. The answer is: because both the Valdosta City Council and the Lowndes County Commission refuse to make them available online. Gretchen Quarterman and Bill Slaughter are the two candidates running for County Commission Chair, by the way.
-jsq
City of Valdosta Cases
FINAL ACTION by the City of Valdosta Mayor-Council
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Valdosta City Hall, 216 E. Central Avenue, Valdosta, Georgia
Council Chambers (2nd Floor)
5:30 p.m.
2. CU-2012-04 Jonathan Kendall
Property Location: 2209 Pineview Drive, Valdosta, GA
Conditional Use Permit (CUP) request for an existing hospital facility in a Residential Professional (R-P) zoning district3. CU-2012-05 Ombudsman Educational Services
Property Location: 1200 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, GA
Conditional Use Permit (CUP) request for a specialized school facility in a Highway Commercial (C-H) zoning district.4. VA-2012-09 Jim Sineath
Property Location: 2516 & 2518 Jerry Jones Drive, Valdosta, GA
Request to rezone 1.37 acres from Single-Family Residential (R-15) to Multi-Family Residential (R-M)Lowndes County Cases
FINAL ACTION by the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Lowndes County Judicial and Administrative Complex
Commission Chambers, 2nd Floor
327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia
5:30 p.m.
5. REX-2012-08 Barrington
Property Location: Bemiss Road, Sara Road, and Mac Road, Valdosta, GA
Request to rezone 12.11 acres from R-A (Residential Agriculture), R-21 (Medium Density Residential), and C-G (General Commercial) to Planned Development (P-D)6. REZ-2012-10 Cain
Property Location: U.S. Highway 41 North, Hahira, GA
Request to rezone ~22 acres from R-A (Residential Agriculture), R-21 (Medium Density Residential), R-1 (Low Density Residential), and E-A (Estate Agriculture) to Rural Planned Development (PD-R)7. REZ-2012-11 Stone
Property Location: Old U.S. Highway 41 North, Valdosta, GA
Request to rezone 40 acres from R-1 (Low Density Residential), to R-10 (Suburban Density Residential)8. REZ-2012-12 Patten
Property Location: Parker Place Road, Hahira, GA
Request to rezone 3.4 acres from E-A (Estate Agriculture) to R-1 (Low Density Residential),9. REZ-2012-13 Bailey
Property Location: Mulligan Road, Valdosta, GA
Request to rezone 2.88 acres from C-H (Highway Commercial) and C-G (General Commercial) to P-D (Planned Development)
Agenda Page 1:
Page 1
Agenda Page 2:
Page 2
TIF of fax:
-jsq
Greg Gullberg has updated his WCTV story about T-SPLOST with a new video, this time interviewing private citizen John Gayle (for T-SPLOST) sitting at the Valdosta Mayor’s desk, Gretchen Quarterman (against T-SPLOST) at the Lowndes County Extension Office, and some other people.
The major issue driving people to the polls and dividing them is the TSPLOST Transportation tax. The TSPLOST Transportation Tax is a hot issue here in Georgia.. because it effects everybody. Organizers say with an extra penny of sales tax—when you add all those pennies up over the next ten years— that could be almost 20-billion dollars for the state. One side says it will ease your troubled commute. The other says the measure is so flawed it won’t really help at all.
Another excerpt:
Continue readingIn his Tuesday T-SPLOST story WCTV reporter Greg Gullberg noted that current Lowndes County Chairman Ashley Paulk said "the Commission is not taking a stance." Indeed, but Ashley Paulk himself took a stance against T-SPLOST as far back as April 2011, when 
he said:
I think what disturbs me, is when you've got to put something in the law that's a stick, carrot and stick, you don't do what I've said you're going to get punished….
Right now if I had to vote for it I could not find the interest to get out there.
He also said:
Right now, I do not have a good or warm fuzzy feeling about this. That could change.
He said he'd tell us if it changed. Last time I checked with him, his position had not changed.
-jsq
Gregg Gullberg reported for WCTV yesterday, Georgia Voters To Decide… What Can An Extra Penny Do For You?
“Sales tax falls unfairly on the poor and middle class,” said Gretchen Quarterman, who is running for Chair of the Lowndes County Commission. “So as a percentage of their income, poor people and middle class people will pay more. And that’s just not fair.”
The current chair says the Commission is not taking a stance. But we did talk to Valdosta Mayor John Gayle by phone.
“Valdosta is a growing city. And TSPLOST gives us the means to keep it on track. The entire region can benefit from improved transportation,” said Mayor Gayle.
Each region will hold its own independent election, so there is no need to worry how a different region will vote. Residents will vote on this tax next Tuesday, July 31st.
As Gullberg promised on-air, the WCTV online story contains a list of T-SPLOST projects and more information. Here’s the WCTV video.
And here’s more about how T-SPLOST doesn’t include any public transportation projects that would help people get to work, about the two I-75 interchange projects, about GDOT changes to costs of projects and about how we can make a Plan B.
-jsq