Tag Archives: Transparency

Agenda @ GLPC 2012-10-29

GLPC Agenda 2012-10-29 The Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) meets tonight. Here’s the agenda.

The agenda was faxed by GLPC Chairman Bill Slaughter to Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, at her request; GLPC itself still doesn’t have agendas online, fifteen months after SGRC stopped posting them.

In his fax cover letter of 23 October 2012, Bill Slaughter noted:

Videos of 30 Club Candidates Forum 2012-10-22

Great Job Last Night!

See You Wed. Evening!

Videos of AAUW Candidates Forum 2012-10-24 Presumably he was referring to her appearance at the 22 October Candidates Forum 30 Club at Serenity Church and the then-upcoming 24 October Candidates Forum by AAUW at Valdosta High School. Gretchen Quarterman and Bill Slaughter are the two candidates for Chairman of the Lowndes County Commission. You can see LAKE videos of all four Candidate Forums online.

There is one Valdosta permit case on tonight’s GLPC agenda, and three rezoning cases, one from Hahira, and two from the county. I have been transcribing these faxes, but I don’t have time today, so here’s a brief summary table.

Valdosta,
Final action
Thursday
8 Nov 2012 		2. CU-2012-07 Stafford Properties
1609 Norman Drive, Valdosta
Request for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP for a Car Wash in a Community Commercial C-C zoning district.
Hahira,
Final action
Thursday
1 Nov 2012 		3. HA-2012-01 Gateway Pines
1022 W. Stanfill Street, Hahira
Request for a Variance to Parking Requirement prescribed by Section 7-1.1, 7-4, and 9-3.2 of the Hahira Zoning Ordinance
Lowndes County,
Final action
Tuesday
13 Nov 2012 		4. REZ-2012-16 Cook County Land Ventures
SW corner of Georgia Highway 122 East and Cat Creek Road, Hahira
Request to rezone ~2 acres from E-A (Estate Agriculture) to C-C (Crossroads Commercial)
5. REZ-2012-17 John Henry Davis dba Lowndes Development, LLC
Davidson Road, Valdosta
Request to rezone 23.49 acres from MAZ-II and MAZ-III (Moody Activity Zone) to R-10 (Suburban Density Residential)

-jsq

Vote No on the charter school amendment —J.C. Cunningham for GA House District 175 @ 30Club 2012-10-22

J.C. Cunningham for Georgia House district 175 @ 30 Club 2012-10-22 J.C. Cunningham, running for statehouse district 175, says vote No on the charter school amendment. At the 30 Club Political Forum at Serenity Church School Monday, he was asked about differences from his opponent, and he answered:

Vote No on the charter school amendment —J.C. Cunningham for GA House District 175
Political Forum, 30 Club
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 October 2012.

This amendment was put on for one reason and one reason only, because there are powers that did not get their way and it was strictly for money-grubbing, for-profit charter corporations that would further take money away from our Department of Education.

J.C. Cunningham’s opponent, the incumbent Amy Carter, only showed up at one of the four local candidate forums in Lowndes County. However, she voted both for HR 1162 that put the referendum on the ballot and for HB 797 that will suck up more money per pupil for charter schools than for public schools, taking the extra out of our local tax dollars.

We know where J.C. Cunningham for district 175 stands: against the charter school amendment.

-jsq

Vote No on Amendment 2 —Charlie in Peach Pundit

Let's cut to the chase on what Charlie wrote for Peach Pundit 18 Oct 2012:

Georgia needs significant ethics reforms. There needs to be greater transparency for those who do business with the state. Trust must be restored. Good governance must be demonstrated.

Paying slightly higher rates for a few more years is a small price to pay to avoid giving away 20 year favors to today's patronage class. Vote no on this amendment. That is the best way to save Georgians money.

Georgia is the worst state for legislative corruption. Do we want those legislators committing us financially for 10 or 20 years? If knowing it's an ALEC bill wasn't enough for you, maybe this will be. Vote No on amendment 2.

-jsq

Vote No on the charter school amendment —Teresa Lawrence for GA House District 174 @ AAUW 2012-10-24

Teresa Lawrence for Georgia House district 174 @ AAUW 2012-10-24 Teresa Lawrence, running for statehouse district 174, says vote No on the charter school amendment. She was asked about it at the AAUW Political Forum at Valdosta High School Wednesday, and answered:

Vote No on the charter school amendment —Teresa Lawrence for GA House District 174
Political Forum, Deborah Van Petten, President (AAUW), Dr. Jim Peterson, Moderator
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta High School, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 24 October 2012.

I believe we should vote no for the charter school amendment. We have a means of passing it at the local level to approve charter schools now, and I don’t believe we need to give that decision over to the state level.

Ellis Black Teresa Lawrence’s opponent, the incumbent Ellis Black, did not show up at any of the four local candidate forums in Lowndes County. However, he voted both for HR 1162 that put the referendum on the ballog and for HB 797 that will suck up more money per pupil for charter schools than for public schools, taking the extra out of our local tax dollars.

We know where Teresa Lawrence for district 174 stands: against the charter school amendment.

-jsq

Library open records request 2012-10-26

The most-organized open records response ever! Well, that we’ve asked for, anyway. Sure, sometimes local government bodies deliver a three-ring binder of papers. Sometimes they deliver a CD. Sometimes they deliver on a USB stick. Nobody ever delivered all of the above. OK, I brought the USB stick and the scanner (not pictured), but look at that CD lying on top of the really thick binder: the CD contains everything that’s in the binder, and that saved us a lot of scanning time.

Thank you, Kelly Lenz, Patrick Spurlock, and Tom Gooding!

It will take a bit of time to process all this information; stay tuned.

Kelly Lenz, Library Director, Tom Gooding, Attorney

Kelly Lenz, Library Director, Tom Gooding, Attorney
Left to right: an extra item, the four architect presentations, the “bible” of what the new library should be (the thick binder and the CD), and agendas, minutes, and board packets (the other two binders).
Picture by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
at South Georgia Regional Library, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 26 October 2012.

I know of at least one open records request somewhere else that, two years later and counting, Continue reading →

Videos of candidates @ AAUW 2012-10-24

Welcome After the fourth and final candidates forum, moderated for AAUW by Dr. Jim Peterson last night at VHS, the statehouse candidate attendance report card is:
Incumbents: Ellis Black (R 174) 0 of 4, Amy Carter (R 175) 1 of 4, and Tim Golden (R Sen-8) 1 of 4.
Challengers: Teresa Lawrence (D 174) 4 of 4, JC Cunningham (D 175) 4 of 4, and Bikram Mohanty (D Sen-8) 4 of 4.
Open seat 177: J. Glenn Gregory (R) 4 of 4, Dexter Sharper (D) 4 of 4.
Local candidates: 4 of 4 for every one of them,
Gretchen Quarterman (D) and Bill Slaughter (R) for Lowndes County Chairman,
Chris Prine (D) and J.D. Yeager (R) for Lowndes County Sheriff,
John Gates (R) and Demarcus Marshall (D) for Lowndes County Commission District 4,
Justin Cabral (R) and Jason Cain (D) for Solicitor General.

Here are videos of the entire forum.

Candidates Forum at VHS by AAUW, Deb Van Petten President,
Videos by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 24 October 2012.

Videos of the previous 3 forums:

Continue reading →

ALEC’s “our state legislators” behind multi-year GA constitutional amendment referendum

Ronnie Chance Look who sponsored Georgia Senate Resolution 1231 which put the second referendum question on the ballot! Two of ALEC’s “our state legislators”, Senators Ronnie Chance of the 16th, and Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers of the 21st, are among the sponsors (Chance is the first sponsor).

SourceWatch’s ALEC Exposed found Ronnie Chance on ALEC’s International Relations Task Force. Rogers himself told CBS News how much he values ALEC, Who is ALEC? By Mark Strassmann and Phil Hirschkorn 30 June 2012. Rogers spelled out the same thing ALEC itself told me: it considers people like Chance and Rogers “our state legislators”. “Our” as in belonging to ALEC, not representing you the voters and taxpayers.

Chip Rogers Guess who sponsored the bill that put the charter school amendment on the ballot, HB 1162 in its Senate form? Chip Rogers. And who sponsored the companion bill that would suck money out of public schools and give more per pupil to charter schools, using our local tax dollars, HB 797 in the Senate? Chip Rogers. And House sponsors Jan Jones (R 46th) and Edward Lindsey (R 54th) of both bills are also ALEC’s “our state legislators”.

I don’t always agree with Adam Smith, but when I do, I quote The Wealth of Nations from 1776:

Continue reading →

Candidates again tonight @ AAUW 2012-10-24

Will any of our incumbent state legislators show up this time? Their challengers have spoken every time. AAUW logo 7PM tonight is the last time to see all the local candidates in one place: Wednesday 24 October 2012, Performing Arts Center, Valdosta High School, 3101 North Forrest Street, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, AAUW presents a Political Forum. This one, unlike some previous ones, is advertised on the sponsoring organization’s website (although oddly not on its facebook page) and in the VDT calendar.

So far, Ellis Black (R 174) 0 of 3, Amy Carter (R 175), 1 of 3, and Tim Golden (R Sen-8) 1 of 3. Challengers Teresa Lawrence (D 174), JC Cunningham (D 175), and Bikram Mohanty (D Sen-8) all spoke at 3 of 3. Videos of the previous forums:

Candidates at 30 Club forum at Serenity Church
Candidates at Homebuilders Association Forum at Rainwater Conference Center
Meet the Candidates by Chamber of Commerce at VSU

vote Don’t forget to vote, today, tomorrow, Saturday, or on that great election day, November 6th 2012.

-jsq

Videos @ 30Club 2012-10-22

Here's a video playlist of the Candidate Forum last night organized by the 30 Club at Serenity Church. Probably more commentary later; for now, in the interests of speed, just the raw videos.

Candidates Forum, 30 Club, J.D. Rice, President
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 October 2012.

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Video of 6 minute meeting @ LCC 2012-10-22

Here’s a single video of this morning’s entire Lowndes County Commission Work Session. The railroad item was neither of the ones on which I was speculating. The animal shelter wants a 24 hour “cooling-off period” with a submitted animal kept at home before “evaluation” by the shelter. The Tax Commissioner wants to refund some taxes they apparently accidentally overcharged. The Fire Chief has bids for equipment for the new fire truck. And there’s going to be an animal health fair. They vote tomorrow evening at 5PM.

Here’s the video, followed by the agenda, with links to the relevant parts of the video, and a few notes.

Video of 6 minute meeting
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 October 2012.
Thanks to Dexter Sharper for use of his video camera.

Here’s the annotated agenda:

Continue reading →