Here’s a video playlist for the entire Greater Lowndes Planning Commission
(GLPC) Regular Session of 28 November 2011.
We’ve already blogged a couple of them separately:
Video playlist, GLPC 28 November 2011
Comprehensive Plan,
Regular Session, Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 28 November 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
We’re not done working on this.
But if you think it’s time to bring it before y’all.
Later, at about 11:40 in, Davenport clarified:
And the only that’s different right now is Lowndes County.
Because Lowndes County did not hold
a public hearing as required, so we’re on a different timeline.
And if Mrs. Quarterman would have given me about until December 13th
she would have seen that.
Because our initial resolution was not the same as the other communities.
We’re on a little bit of a different timeline
because we have to address that issue.
That’s one thing;
the county in this instance will be handled a little different
than some of the smaller cities and Valdosta.
Anyway, the County Planner has said there will be a public hearing.
However, remember it was the County Chairman who said that
the public hearing item on the agenda was not really a public hearing.
It’s the Chairman, not the Planner,
who sets the agendas for the County Commission.
We’ll see what’s on the 13th December County Commission Agenda,
and whether it really is handled as a public hearing in that meeting.
Then GLPC Board Member John Page expressed his concerns:
Continue reading →
After Valdosta and Hahira City Planner Matt Martin explained
how all the local city governments had or were going to have
hearings about their
Comprehensive Plan Short Term Work Program updates,
the GLPC Chairman asked if any citizens wanted to speak on that topic.
One citizen did, Gretchen Quarterman.
She apologized for missing the September GLPC meeting
because she would have raised some of these issues then.
I have an appointment with [Lowndes County Planner] Jason [Davenport]
tomorrow to address some of my questions.
But I want to let you know that at the County Commission
did not hold a public hearing after the changes.
I was at the [Valdosta] City Council meeting,
and the City Council did hold a public hearing,
but the County Commission did not.
And I believe that is
in violation of DCA’s guidelines.
They sent a transmission letter that said they followed
DCA’s guidelines.
DCA’s guidelines say hold a public hearing.
It was on the agenda, the public hearing, but no public hearing was held.
So I didn’t have an opportunity to see
the document, or to comment, before the county sent it.
She said she would provide written comments to Jason the next morning,
and asked if GLPC would like to hear some of them.
They said they would, so she read some of them.
For example:
In Section 1.3 it was struck from the document:
Ensure supporting senior services such as health care,
I repeatedly apologized to County Planner Jason Davenport
about an earlier misunderstanding about the
“public hearing” agenda item, which the Chairman stated was not really
a public hearing and for which no citizens were allowed to speak:
7.b. Greater Lowndes 2030 Comprehensive Plan Updates – Lowndes County Report of Accomplishments (ROA) and Short Term Work Program (STWP)
Then I said:
Transparent government is totally what my heart is about.
And I think that people trust the government more when we can see
the business done in public.
And I really appreciate when you do things in public and you ask questions
in the work sessions so everybody can hear.
The lone citizen to be heard, Gretchen Quarterman, thanked commissioners
for their observance of open government and apologized to County Planner
Jason Davenport for things she said to him prior to the meeting, due to
a “misunderstanding,” she said.
After the meeting adjourned, Chairman Ashley Paulk apologized to me in public
Continue reading →
Before any rezoning case gets to the Lowndes County Commission
or the Valdosta City Council for final approval,
it first goes to the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC),
an appointed advisory body that decides nothing, yet has
significant weight in the decisions of the elected bodies.
Here’s
a playlist for the GLPC 29 August 2011 meeting.
I would post an agenda, but
where those used to be
there is now this cryptic red comment:
As of July 1, 2011 there will be no more updates to this site. For question contact:
I would label these videos, but that’s difficult to do without an agenda.
There’s
a GLPC meeting tonight; maybe they’ll have an agenda for that
at the door.
GLPC: Greater Lowndes Planning Commission, 29 August 2011
Regular Session, Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 29 August 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Former electoral opponents met Tuesday as FVCS held
its final meeting,
with Rusty Griffin, Vice-Chair of CUEE,
watching at the MLK Monument as
Sam Allen, President of Friends of
Valdosta Schools (FVCS) announced the dissolution of FVCS.
In addition to FVCS regulars such as JC Cunningham,
Chamber Chair Tom Gooding was there,
as were current Valdosta Mayor Sonny Vickers and
Mayor-Elect John Gayle, plus re-elected Valdosta City Council At-Large Ben Norton.
Valdosta School Superintendent Cason was there.
I didn’t see Lowndes Superintendent Smith,
although various members of
Continue reading →
In the last few weeks, our community has seen an unprecedented effort from
left, right, and center, city and county, town and gown, all working
Let us not focus on the things that have divided us in the past,
but rather use this opportunity to build a stronger community,
a stronger education system.
together as a community to achieve a goal that the overwhelming
majority see as in our best interest.
We have an opportunity that we should not squander.
It doesn’t take a lot of money. It takes dedicated people, calling their
friends and neighbors, canvasing every neighborhood, holding open and honest
forums, and answering questions to the very best of their ability.
Let us not focus on the things that have divided us in the past,
but rather use this opportunity to build a stronger community,
a stronger education system.
Let us find opportunities to work together to benefit our students,
teachers, police, firefighters, farmers, small local businesses and
all the rest of us who call this community home.
We have an opportunity that we should not squander.
Let us work as one community for the benefit of all our
citizens; students, seniors, family, friends, urban, rural,
conservatives, progressives, Wildcats and Vikings.
One community out of many, with liberty and justice for all.
Gretchen Quarterman
Chairman
Lowndes County Democratic Party
This is what democracy looks like at the Chamber @ Occupy Valdosta 14 October 2011
We are the 99%,
Marching to Occupy Valdosta, Occupy Valdosta,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 14 October 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
As my mother, who used to teach at Pine Grove Elementary School (not a High School at that time), used to say, it takes a big man to admit it when he’s wrong,
and
Fred Wetherington is a big man
because he thought it was a good idea.
He looked at the evidence; he looked at the research;
and determined it was not a good idea.
I look forward to the members of CUEE standing up and being big men and women
because the research, their own research, and the research that
we’ve heard tonight,
the research from Tennessee, and the research from Troup County:
consolidation is not a good idea.
And I’m still waiting for some CUEE big men or women….
Sam Allen offered his head as a
crystal ball.
Dr. Smith replied it wasn’t clear enough.
Everybody laughed at that as this video started, in which Allen, president of
Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS), and former
superintendent of Valdosta City Schools, asked several
questions, most of which Dr. Smith would have had to have had
a crystal ball to answer.
The questions included what will happen to certain programs,
and what will happen to Valdosta School SPLOST funds.
Lowndes County School System Attorney Warren Turner did clarify a bit of what
would happen if consolidation passes:
If consolidation occurs, there is no such thing as the Valdosta
City School System, from the date the Georgia Secretary of State approves it.
Once they certify the election, there is no
central office of the Valdosta City School System.
There is a property located on William Street that is part of the
Lowndes County School System….
The real question is where would the funds desginated for those facilities go,
and can you even spend it?
Tax Commissioner doesn’t know; Attorney General doesn’t know; and we don’t know.
What will happen to programs and SPLOST? —Sam Allen @ LCBOE 4 October 2011
Why we oppose consolidation,
Community Forum, Lowndes County Board of Education (LCBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 4 October 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Here’s a video playlist for the entire Greater Lowndes Planning Commission
(GLPC) Regular Session of 28 November 2011.
We’ve already blogged a couple of them separately:
