Tag Archives: Valdosta

Local elections affect you most: time to vote

It’s time to vote, today and tomorrow in early voting at the Board of Elections, 2808 North Oak Street, Valdosta, or Tuesday May 20th at your polling place. Turnout is very low for elections that will affect everyone in Lowndes County and beyond.

Two of the Lowndes County Commission districts will be decided May 20th (District 5 is a Special Election and District 2 has only candidates in one party): they will affect your water, sewer, trash, rezoning, road building, and taxes. All the Lowndes County School Board elections Continue reading →

Test now to protect our children –Waycross citizens group to GA EPD

Waycross citizens have not ceased trying to get answers since they first met with GA EPD in November. -jsq

For Immediate Release:
Silentdisaster.org Meets with Judson Turner, Director of Georgia EPD
May 12, 2014
By: Silentdisaster.org, a citizens group in Waycross, Georgia

After over a year of delays and disappointments, Members of Silentdisaster.org Group met with Judson Turner, Director of EPD on Monday, May 5th to discuss the harmful chemicals found in the Waycross area which the group believes points to CSX as the source of the community’s toxic contamination which is killing local residents. With several children having died and a new childhood case being reported, the Members of Silentdisaster.org want immediate action to protect the children from environmental exposure.

The list of chemicals found in soil and water tests include Continue reading →

Primary candidate debate 6PM tonight at VSU

Hear from the people who want to represent you in the Lowndes County Commission, on the Lowndes County School Board, and in the Georgia State Senate. Here’s who’s running, and details of tonight’s event are below.

When: 6-8PM Tuesday May 13th 2014
Where: Room 1011
Bailey Science Center Auditorium,
1500 N. Patterson Street,
Valdosta State University
Moderator: Scott James of 92.1FM talk radio
Parking:Gravel lots off of Georgia Avenue

This debate is organized by the South Georgia Young Republicans, VSU College Republicans, Lowndes County Republican Party, and the Young Conservatives of America.

CONTACT: Ben Smith, SGYR President, 229-412-5610, sgyrrocks@gmail.com

-jsq

The Making Of Gretchen on WALB at Okra Paradise Farms 2014-04-02

Ever wonder what goes into the few seconds of video you see on TV news? As I promised reporter Colter Anstaetts when he interviewed Gretchen for WALB TV Friday May 2nd about Valdosta Farm Days (coming up again this Saturday 9AM to 1PM at the historic Lowndes County Courthouse in Valdosta), here’s The Making Of…, including birds singing, dogs rolling in the grass, Brown Dog frolicking and bouncing across, Yellow Dog prancing, red potatoes, and red, white, and blue corn at Okra Paradise Farms.

300x225 WALB report and camera, Gretchen and LAKE camera, in Valdosta Farm Days â??Gretchen on WALB, by John S. Quarterman, for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), 2 May 2014 You can see both the WALB TV camera and the LAKE video camera in this picture.

After some initial discussion Continue reading →

Videos: airport appointment, water, sewer, alcohol, and surplus right of way @ LCC 2014-05-12

They vote tomorrow evening on paying for an emergency road fix and several discrepencies. James Road dropped 10 inches in 48 hours in front of Westside Elementary School, due to faulty road construction in 2008. Also due to that same hasty 2008 James Road widening and realignment for the James Road second mall and massive subdivision mega-project that never happened, there is Excess Right of Way on James Rd & Riverside Dr. that the County Engineer wants to quit claim and give back to the neighboring landowners. In other discrepencies, MIDS, Inc. found three in its contract of last year and wants a Transportation Service Contract Addendum to fix the work the county didn’t check. A Commissioner wanted to know why the three bids for a lift station pump varied so much.

Airport Authority Chairman Steve Everett wants to be reappointed for another four-year term. The 911 center has surplus items out back it wants to sell off. County staff want to abandon Old Statenville Road SE because they say only seven cars a day use it and there are no houses on it. Nobody had any questions about the a beer license.

Here’s the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MAY 12, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 13, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

Agricultural Workshop in Douglas May 29 2014

Agriculture is Georgia’s biggest industry, and USDA is holding a workshop on that in Douglas at the end of May.

On Team Agriculture Georgia‘s blog, Team Ag Georgia is coming to Douglas!

The Spring 2014 TAG workshop will be held at the City of Douglas Central Square Complex in Douglas, GA (click here for directions) on Thursday, May 29, 2014.

Courses being offered during the Spring Workshop include:

  • Google Map
    Organic/Naturally Grown Certification
  • Financing Small Farms – Ag Aware
  • Olive Production
    • Continue reading →

Airport Authority appointment, water, sewer, alcohol, and surplus right of way @ LCC 2014-05-12

If anybody knew about upcoming appointments, like this one to the Valdosta-Lowndes County Airport Authority, they might want to apply, or suggest a likely applicant. Which surplus items? Which Transportation Service needs a Contract Addendum? Why is the Commission considering abandoning Old Statenville Road SE and Excess Right of Way on James Rd & Riverside Dr.? Does this mean the infamous 2007 James Road second mall and massive subdivision mega-project is finally really dead and gone? Or something else? Is it comforting to know the only thing that is clear on your Lowndes County Commission’s agenda for tomorrow morning is a beer license?

Here’s the agenda.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
    PROPOSED AGENDA
    WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MAY 12, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
    REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MAY 13, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
    327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Continue reading →

One ULDC variance @ ZBOA 2014-05-06 @ ZBOA 2014-05-06

You can see in this video that ZBOA granted the one Lowndes County ULDC variance, for lot access and road frontage.

Even though according to the Lowndes County Tax Assessors’ maps, 3041 Touchton Road doesn’t actually touch Touchton Road, or any other road, it does have a 25 foot easement through adjoining property. The owner wants to record a survey for the property, and perhaps to sell it. The question was whether that existing easement could be used instead of the usual 60 foot easement.

This was one of the briefest ZBOA meetings (14 minutes, of which two and a half were introductory material, since there was only one case, and it was quick to decide. And ZBOA does actually decide, unlike the Planning Commission, which only recommends.

Here’s the agenda. The City of Valdosta puts ZBOA agendas and minutes online in real PDFs. Continue reading →

Videos: Valdosta City Council Work Session @ VCC 2014-05-06

Here’s the Call to Order. See separate post for details of the Army Corps of Engineers flooding study. The Work Session continued after that, but Gretchena and I both had to go to other events, so there’s no video of the rest.

If Valdosta videoed its own meetings, Continue reading →

Videos: Flooding study by Army Corps of Engineers @ VCC 2014-05-06

In these videos of the initial flooding study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the Valdosta City Council Work Session, you can see they’re the Corps, all right: they want to build a levee. They did emphasize that this was just an initial study on what could be done inside Valdosta, and their main conclusion was that there was enough need to indicate federal interest, as in possibilities of getting federal funding for solutions. City Manager Larry Hanson got the Corps to confirm (several times) that Valdosta alone couldn’t stop the flooding, since the vast majority of floodwaters comes from upstream on the Withlacoochee and Little Rivers.

Later that same evening in response to citizen questions at the Valdosta City Hall Annex, the Corps clarified more that they did understand there were issues of impervious surfaces and development and loss of wetlands and they wanted to do a much larger study of the entire watershed, which could take several years to accomplish. They kept emphasizing that the Suwannee River watershed is one of the largest in the country, and there are also flooding problems on the Suwannee River, which could be important for obtaining federal dollars.

As we already knew, Valdosta has funded projects already started to move the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) uphill and to add a force main to prevent manhole overflows. People downstream in Florida may be relieved to hear something is being done.

Here’s a video playlist, followed by images of the Corp’s slides and of the City Council, and some notes.

Continue reading →