This is typical of all elected & appointed government bodies locally. The
common opinion is citizens are only valuable for voting. After we vote
we are to go home, never ask questions, never complain, & never comment
until it is time to vote again. The common consensus is we are not capable
of understanding what our elected/appointed officials are doing so we
need to stay out of the process totally. This is nanny state government
via local venues. We the people are reduced to you the unendowed &
unimportant. John – Our political views are usually polar opposites,
but we are always 100% agreed on shinning the light on government
black-outs. Keep up the good work.
Yesterday, the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) released
a report
chronicling the political strategies of private prison companies
“working to make money through harsh policies and longer sentences.”
The report’s authors note that while the total number of people in
prison increased less than 16 percent, the number of people held in
private federal and state facilities increased by 120 and 33 percent,
correspondingly. Government spending on corrections has soared since
1997 by 72 percent, up to $74 billion in 2007. And the private prison
industry has raked in tremendous profits. Last year the two largest
private prison companies — Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)
and GEO Group — made over $2.9 billion in revenue.
JPI claims the private industry hasn’t merely responded to the
nation’s incarceration woes, it has actively sought to create the
market conditions (ie. more prisoners) necessary to expand its business.
Great article John. Thanks for turning me onto the research presented
here, I’ll be looking into and using it. I’d also suggest a book called
“Breakthrough: from the death of environmentalism to the politics of
possibility”. I think you will love it.
Beyond changing the messaging on signs, which I think is a great idea,
I think what the research reflects is a fundamental change in the approach
to the work.
A key to community organizing work, as opposed to activism,
In Harrisburg, PA, same size as Valdosta, in a county of similar size,
a trash incinerator bit the dust once, but got revived anyway,
and will now probably only go away because:
Harrisburg, PA loses solvency and trust over incinerator.
There are many parallels here, especially the old boy network.
However, the main point I want to draw everyone’s attention to
at the moment is that although local activists may have gotten
that incinerator closed down once, it came back anyway.
Why?
Because their local old boys thought it would make money,
and
Continue reading →
Mr. Quarterman, what can we do, do we have to go to the state legislature
to get a law passed to force these so-called public officials to answer
questions and respond to the citizens?
First of all, my compliments to anyone such as Leigh Touchton
who has been doing politics around here longer than me for asking
my opinion, because that indicates they are pretty good at it
and are probably asking many people their opinions.
My answer: carrots along with sticks, and shine some light!
That all builds political capital, which will be needed for elections.
We need many people building a community doing many things.
If I knew a simple answer that would change things magically overnight,
I’d recommend it, but I don’t.
I don’t even know if I know a long answer, but I’m pretty sure that
any answer will require a community, because
Continue reading →
I don’t like to publish hearsay, but since the Industrial Authority
won’t talk, that’s what I’ve got.
According to Leigh Touchton, Ashley Paulk told her Tuesday night:
He said that Jerry Jennett took the biomass vote off the agenda at last
Industrial Authority meeting (April 19) even though Mary Gooding and
Roy Copeland wanted the vote to be taken ( a vote that was to oppose an
extension of the biomass contract since the biomass incinerator had not
met timeline benchmarks like having a buyer, etc). He said that Allan
Ricketts, Industrial Authority attorney Steve Gupton, and Jerry Jennett
went up to Atlanta to meet with Wiregrass officials and that’s when he
(Chairman Paulk) got a call telling him all this and he said he wouldn’t
keep quiet about it. He said the three men asked Wiregrass LLC officials
to rescind their letter asking VLCIA for an extension on their contract
and to substitute a new letter saying they were withdrawing their request
for extension (or not going forward to ask for extension).
This is in addition to what you can see him
on video saying during the meeting.
More after this picture of the cast of characters:
Continue reading →
What will you do? —John S. Quarterman @ VCC 7 April 2011
Regular monthly meeting of the Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 April 2011,
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Before I started, the mayor noted that many people needed to go to an event at 7PM
(he didn’t name it, but it was the
100 Black Men Annual Dinner.)
He offered to proceed with scheduled business and re-open Citizens to be Heard at the end of the meeting.
Nobody objected.
I had already waited until nobody else seemed to want to speak.
Grand Bay Master Gardeners (GBMG) has been holding a class to become
master gardeners, and they just graduated yesterday!
I’m not going to attempt to name all of them, because the ones I missed
would be miffed.
I will say that’s Gretchen Quarterman on the right.
And that these are people from all over the area, city and country,
Democrat and Republican.
Growing food is the universal community builder.
GBMG is “organized as a cohesive working group in Lowndes, Brooks,
Echols, and Lanier Counties”.
They’ll be holding more classes, so you, too, can become a master gardener.
This is typical of all elected & appointed government bodies locally. The common opinion is citizens are only valuable for voting. After we vote we are to go home, never ask questions, never complain, & never comment until it is time to vote again. The common consensus is we are not capable of understanding what our elected/appointed officials are doing so we need to stay out of the process totally. This is nanny state government via local venues. We the people are reduced to you the unendowed & unimportant. John – Our political views are usually polar opposites, but we are always 100% agreed on shinning the light on government black-outs. Keep up the good work.
