Industrial Authority board meetings have turned into sidewalk cultural events. This was outside the 17 May 2011 meeting.
A couple of different signs:
Susan Wehling with her traffic signal stop biomass sign,
and a Honk for Clean Air sign.
-jsq
Danny Carter wrote in the Albany Herald 14 May 2011, Solar power meeting set: A solar power conference is scheduled for Tuesday in Albany.
We already did a smaller version of this, but what have we done since? Continue readingMAGE SOLAR, looking for both customers and installers, is hosting a program at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Albany Civic Center.
Susanne Fischer Quinn, communications manager for MAGE SOLAR, said there are just 13 certified installers of solar panels in Georgia.
The opportunity for growth in this area is tremendous, she said. Tuesday’s program will open with remarks by Jeff Sinyard, chairman of the Dougherty County Commission, and Albany City Commissioner Roger Marietta
Then, a panel of representatives from MAGE, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Georgia will present information about solar power in Georgia.
Continue readingGreat 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,
Alden Hathaway of Sterling Planet said he hopes to expand the Wiregrass
Solar array in Valdosta to an additional megawatt, taking it from being
one of the largest in Georgia to one of the largest in the southeast.
This is the man
Sterling Planet Chairman Sonny Murphy singled out for praise.
This is the expansion project
Sonny Murphy promoted in the Sterling Planet press release.
Alden Hathaway knows what needs to be done, and
Pete Marte and Hannah Solar stand ready to do it.
Alden Hathaway also talked about how solar helps load distribution on the electric grid, lowering electric rates for everybody. He remarked that once power companies realized that, they’d be for solar. More on that later.
But meanwhile, let’s ask Mayor Fretti and Commissioner Crawford Powell when they’re going to do this: Continue reading
It is unfortunate that such a wonderful event ; the commissioning of the large solar facility in our community, was sullied by Mr. Sonny Murphy’s comments about the viability of biomass. I was then compelled to ask the players in attendance the very pressing question, so where is the biomass issue. Mr Murphy & Mr Ricketts spoke of milestones to be met. The mystery continues.
THE BIOMASS MYSTERY: We all love a good murder mystery. The sleuth that finds the murderer of the dead biomass plant. Oh, that would be fun, but for the plot to work we need a dead biomass plant.
If they want to quietly disappear Mr. Murphy is sending the wrong messages. A disappearance has been the favored outcome from the officials I’ve spoken with. If they want to walk away quietly- fine. I can handle that. Just give us the proper clues that this monster is simply going to wander into the woods to die…, we’ll all look away politely, and then take a peek before celebrating. The mixed messages make for a very poor mystery novel.
-Karen Noll
Allan Ricketts (Acting Executive Director, VLCIA),
Georgia Power rep.,
Roy Copeland (VLCIA Board member),
Crawford Powell (Lowndes County Commissioner),
John J. Fretti (Mayor of Valdosta),
Therrell “Sonny” Murphy (Chairman of Sterling Planet),
Tim Golden (Georgia State Senator),
Pete Marte (CEO of Hannah Solar).
LAKE aims to provide transparency through citizen involvement and publishing information on the web and through the press.
There is a balance between citizen participation when saying things which one believes may be controversial and being protected from retaliation for having those potentially unpopular views. Because retaliation can happen there are times when anonymity is appropriate. If someone were to obtain, and want published, important documents about a local issue, they might choose to remain behind the scenes. This does happen with press sources and could happen here.
However, in the realm of community participation and community building, it is important for those who have a say to do so in public: both citizens and elected officials. Leigh Touchton has commented on this comparing people who speak at the citizen portions of public meetings or signing petitions with those who only meet privately with elected officials. People who are willing to put their name on their opinion are more respected than those who will not.
We recognize that people often share an IP address because they have one DSL or Cable connection at their home (like John and Gretchen Quarterman do). Or, they are using a shared network (say at the library or at a coffeeshop, as Gretchen Quarterman and George Rhynes have also been known to do). So, we recognize that an IP address is not a personal identifier. However, when comments from mulitiple people come from the same IP address (leigh.touchton, wow, duh, amen, thankyou, sludge) it behooves the address owner to take care with their network access. We agree with what jsq wrote about sockpuppets .
Everyone has a voice and this forum is an opportunity to have yours heard, if you choose. If you are too ashamed of your opinion to put your name on it, perhaps this forum is not for you. Community building comes from people building relationships and having dialog. We may not all agree, but if light is shined on issues, informed decisions might be made and in building community, fears may be decreased.
– Carolyn, Gretchen and jsq for
LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange
Pete Marte of Hannah Solar predicted that within a generation cars will run on electricity
generated by solar arrays like the one commissioned last Thursday.
Col. Allan Ricketts introduced Pete Marte, CEO of Hannah Solar.
Here’s Part 1 of 3: Continue reading
Continue readingDate: Friday, May 13, 2011, 8:07 PM
All –
I wanted to share the attached council district map changes with all of you. This map shows in the dark lines the existing city council districts. The color area shows the changes.
As you can see my district, which is purple will change some as a result of the census numbers. District 5 is giving up a little on the south border to District 6 and picking up on the eastern middle borders from District 4. The target average was 9084 citizens per district based off of the city wide count of 54,518. District 5 will end up with a little more than that, but within the margin allowed by the census department.
I have enjoyed representing those that will move to district 6,
He may be gone, but he’s still up to his old tricks, and he’s using us for a reference.
Adva Saldinger wrote in The Sun News 8 May 2011, Lofton hits ground running in new post; CEO asking taxpayers for $1.6 million:
The new Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corp. president and chief executive is by many accounts aggressive and personable, and he says, ready to take charge and bring much needed jobs to the area quickly.And a pony!Brad Lofton said he will bring 500 jobs in the first 18 months, and an average of 500 jobs each year over the next five to 10 years.
Has anybody verified the jobs Lofton claimed he brought to Lowndes County? Continue reading