Tag Archives: History

Yes VDT, but —Save Strickland Mill

On facebook,

Save Strickland Mill
just posted

a critique of

certain parts of

the VDT’s writeup on the

Remerton City Council’s Strickland Mill vote.
-jsq

Valdosta Daily Times,
September 12, 2012

Mill to come down:
Buildings to be razed, historic tower to remain

by Quinten Plummer

VALDOSTA — The iconic smoke stack will still tower over the


City of Remerton, according to local officials, but

the majority of
the historic Remerton Mill complex will be demolished and converted
into a park

after the City Council gave the mill’s owners the
go-ahead for demolition during Monday evening’s regular session.

This is not a factual statement: the city council’s motion is as
follows: Councilman Bill Wetherington made the following motion
which was unanimously voted in by the council members present that
night (note that councilman Sam Flemming was not in attendance)

“I move to approve the certificate of appropriateness 2012-04 for 1853
W. Gordon to be issued and effective as of October 25th 2012 for a
period of one year from that date with the condition that the cotton
mill smokestack remains intact and shall continue to remain intact
in accordance with title 18 of the code of City of Remerton.”

The mill’s ownership group simply wants relief from its obligations
to the property, and Remerton

Mayor Cornelius Holsendolph said the
restoration of the mill is just too large of a project for a city of
Remerton’s size.

That is the reason why

Continue reading →

Valdosta Street Railway 1899-1924

 

What’s that little shelter by the front gate of VSU?
It’s the last physical remnant of the Valdosta Street Railway,
an early 20th century streetcar
system, when Valdosta was the smallest city in the country to have one.
Valdosta had

5,613 people in 1900,
about twice as many as present-day Hahira.


Dean Poling described the origins of Valdosta’s streetcars in

Valdosta Scene 26 February 2010:

Continue reading →

Streetcars and bicycles: upcoming movies at VSU

You do know that Valdosta was the smallest city in the U.S.
that had a streetcar system, right?
Here’s a movie about what probably happened to it, like all the others,
followed by a movie about another mode of transportation: bicycles.


“Taken for a Ride” and “Pedal Power!” screening



Public Event · By Valdosta State University Social Issues in Film Series

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

7:00pm

VSU University Center room 1171

DOUBLE-HEADER!

“Taken for a Ride” focuses on the Great American Streetcar Scandal
(or Conspiracy), in which major US companies deliberately bought-up
and dismantled the public light-rail streetcar lines in dozens of
American cities. The guilty companies? General Motors, Firestone
Tire, Standard Oil, Phillips Petroleum, and Mack Trucks—all
companies that wanted to replace the public streetcars with buses
and then private cars.

“Pedal Power!” is an inside look at the world’s growing cycling
movement and how bikes are pushing-up against a dominant car culture
in North America. From Critical Mass bike rides and “bike-to-work”
programs, to increasingly popular “public bike” programs, bicycles
are becoming an ever-important component of cities.

Co-sponsored with the Valdosta Community Cycling Center.

-jsq

 

Citizens plead for Strickland Mill, then a surprise offer @ RCC 2012-09-10



Haley Hyatt videoed
yesterday’s Remerton City Council
decision about Strickland Mill.
Citizens pled, unsuccessfully, for it to be saved.
Then the owners made a surprise offer.

Here’s

Part 1 of 3:



The final plea

was made by Celine H. Gladwin.

Continue reading →

Remerton City Council votes today @ RCC 2012-09-10


Strickland Mill For Sale
Tonight the Remerton City Council votes on

the old Strickland Mill at

1853 West Gordon Street,
same item as

discussed 4 June 2012
and

postponed 11 June 2012.
Also, Remerton doesn’t play mysterious about
the Haven.
All that plus signs, water, and alcohol.

I will be there for about half an hour, after which I have to go video
something else.
Could someone else video the rest of tonight’s Remerton City Council meeting?


City Clerk Rachel Tate
Here’s

the agenda,
which for some reason (I’m guessing City Clerk Rachel Tate not being available)
is a scan instead of a text-extractable PDF.
I’ve transcribed it below this time.

CITY OF REMERTON

REGULAR SESSION AGENDA

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2012

COUNCIL CHAMBERS

5:30 PM

Continue reading →

Change the Atomic Energy Act? How about change the Georgia Electric Territorial Act?

In reaction to

the NRC denying a nuclear permit for Calvert Cliffs,


some nuclear backers suggest

changing the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to permit majority foreign ownership
of nuclear reactors.
What will they suggest next?
Asking Iran to invest in U.S. nukes?

Steve Skutnik wrote for http://theenergycollective.com 5 September 2012,

A cost-free way to open up nuclear investment,

If this seems entirely backward in a world of global production and
investment, that’s because it is. The current regulation is an


artifact of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, which first authorized
private ownership of nuclear facilities. (Prior to this—per
the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, all nuclear technology was considered
a state secret, during the short time in which the U.S. enjoyed a
monopoly on the technology.)

Is there any real compelling reason for restrictions on foreign
ownership and investment in nuclear facilities to exist at a time
when the U.S. holding a monopoly on the technology has long since
passed? Issues of safety here of course are irrelevant—the
facilities would be licensed and regulated by the NRC, just as any
other nuclear facility is now. About the only salient objection is
the political one—i.e., the implications of a foreign entity
maintaining controlling ownership in key infrastructure. (Although
it’s hard to see anyone getting particularly upset about the
reverse—U.S. entities owning a controlling stake in
infrastructure in other nations.)

Yeah, sure, strict regulation
will deal with that, just like it prevents fracking from setting
drinking water on fire, or BP from poisoning the Gulf.
The new NRC head is

maybe well-meaning,
but it’s the same NRC

that gave Vogtle 1 a clean bill just before it had to shut down
and the same NRC that’s ignoring

cancer in Shell Bluff.

Oh, by the way, the article gets to the main point eventually:

Continue reading →

NRC rejects nuke permit for EDF in Maryland

French nuclear operator Électricité de France (EDF)



was denied a license last week for the proposed Calvert Cliffs
nuclear reactor in Maryland, because the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954 prohibits majority foreign ownership
of nuclear plants.
EDF now has 60 days to find a U.S. partner, or give up the project.
Who could the possible suitors be?
Hint: think southeast.

The handwriting was on the wall two years ago when
Constellation Energy pulled out of the project.
Jim Polson and Alan Katz wrote for Bloomberg 10 October 2010,

Constellation Drops Nuclear Plant, Denting EDF’s U.S. Plans,

Constellation Energy Group Inc. pulled out of negotiations on a $7.5


billion loan guarantee to build a nuclear reactor in Maryland with
Electricite de France SA, potentially damaging the French utility’s
U.S. expansion plans and the companies’ partnership.

The cost of the U.S. government loan guarantee that the companies’
joint venture, UniStar Nuclear Energy, would need to build the
Calvert Cliffs 3 reactor is too high and creates too much risk for
Constellation, the Baltimore-based utility said in a statement
yesterday. The statement said the next step is up to EDF. Enlarge
image U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman

In a letter Oct. 8 to Daniel Poneman, deputy secretary of the U.S.
Department of Energy, Constellation said it received a government
estimate that the venture would have to pay about $880 million to
the U.S. Treasury for the loan guarantee, “dramatically out of
line with both our own independent assessments and of what the
figure should reasonably be.”

Constellation’s decision may make it more likely that the U.S.
utility will exercise a put option forcing EDF to buy as much as $2
billion of Constellation’s non-nuclear power plants, said Ingo
Becker, head of utilities sector research at Kepler Capital Markets.

“EDF very clearly said if they exercise the put, this thing is
over,” Becker said. “Constellation may have just turned
around the calendar and pulled out of the new build before
exercising the put, anticipating EDF’s reaction.”

In a letter Oct. 8 to Daniel Poneman, deputy secretary of the U.S.
Department of Energy, Constellation said it received a government
estimate that the venture would have to pay about $880 million to
the U.S. Treasury for the loan guarantee, “dramatically out of
line with both our own independent assessments and of what the
figure should reasonably be.”

Meanwhile, Southern Company

is still trying to reduce what it has to pay for its
$8.3 billion federal loan guarantee.

Back in Maryland, the news got worse for the nuke last year.
EDF

asked for the state’s help,
but didn’t get the answer it wanted.
Scott Dance wrote for Baltimore Business Journal 16 December 2011,

EDF: Constellation-Exelon settlement hurts Maryland nuclear industry,

Continue reading →

Who are the owners of the Remerton Mill?

Somebody asked:

Who are the owners of the Remerton Mill?


Remerton Mill Map by Lowndes County Tax Assessor database
It’s not a secret; some of them are usually at the Remerton City Council
meetings that discuss the mill.

According to

the Lowndes County Tax Assessor’s database,
the owner of the property at 1853 W Gordon Street (aka Old Mill Site)
is Remerton Mills, LLC.
According to

Georgia Secretary of State’s corporation database,
the registered agent is Joseph H. Tillman, Sr.,
its articles were filed by Barry Chapman, and the LLC’s management
consists of
Richard J. Nijem,
Joseph H. Tillman, Sr.,
Jesse L. Maranville,
J. Glenn Gregory,
and Eric M. Tillman.

According to the Tax Assessor’s Database,
the adjoining property at 1415 Baytree Road is owned by
Richard J. Nijem, Jesse L. Maranville, Eric M. Tillman, Joseph H. Tillman,
and J. Glenn Gregory:
the same people as Remerton Mill, LLC.

-jsq

Save the Remerton Mill! —Ransom Gladwin

LTE in the VDT yesterday. -jsq

Part of my teaching load as a professor consists of supervising


student teachers at schools throughout Valdosta State University’s
46-county service area. I have traveled many South Georgia back
roads. What was once a charming rural landscape of unique little
towns has slowly morphed into sameness. Chain-brand retail stores,
fast food, and gas stations are interrupted by strip malls and
storage units. The region’s character has receded in the face of
nationalization and globalization. However, historical features, be
they a restored courthouse or a crumbling tobacco barn, light this
bleakness. They give character, history, and pride to communities.
One such structure is Remerton’s Strickland Mill, now in danger of
complete destruction.

As a member of the Save the Strickland Mill Committee of the
Valdosta Heritage Foundation, we recently toured the mill, with the
approval of the owners and accompanied by Remerton officials. The
original mill is structurally solid. The 1899 structure reflects

Continue reading →

Green from the Grassroots —Elinor Ostrom



On the day she died, Nobel Prize-winning economist Elinor
Ostrom published
her last article, in Project Syndicate, 12 June 2012,

Green from the Grassroots,

This grassroots diversity in “green policymaking” makes
economic sense. “Sustainable cities” attract the
creative, educated people who want to live in a pollution-free,
modern urban environment that suits their lifestyles. This is where
future growth lies. Like upgrading a mobile phone, when people see
the benefits, they will discard old models in a flash.

Of course, true sustainability goes further than pollution control.
City planners must look beyond municipal limits and analyze flows of
resources —

energy,

food,

water, and

people —

into and

out of their cities.

Worldwide, we are seeing a heterogeneous collection of cities
interacting in a way that could have far-reaching influence on how
Earth's entire life-support system evolves. These cities are
learning from one another, building on good ideas and jettisoning
poorer ones. Los Angeles took decades to implement pollution
controls, but other cities, like Beijing, converted rapidly when
they saw the benefits. In the coming decades, we may see a global
system of interconnected sustainable cities emerging. If successful,
everyone will want to join the club.



And counties, and regions, and watersheds, of course.
As Mayor Julian Castro of San Antonio said, there is a

"nexus between sustainability and job creation."
We don't have to wait for San Antonio or Los Angeles or Beijing or
Atlanta to lead the way:

we can get on with it right here where we are.

-jsq