Tag Archives: Valdosta

LTE: Biomass is Environmental Racism

This is a letter to the editor that appeared in the VDT on about 17 August 2010.

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When Wiregrass Power chose the site for their Biomass plant, they put it near one of Valdosta’s most affluent black communities. There are at least six black churches:  New Life Ministries, Morning Star, Evangel Temple, Southside Church of Christ, Church of Prophecy, Church at Pine Hill. Two predominantly black elementary schools are in the area: Southeast and Moulton Branch. A large senior citizen assisted living community, Sands Horizon, is located in the affected area and serves over 60 families. Scott Park, where the Sands Horizon residents enjoy outings and the local children enjoy baseball games, is located nearby. Huge apartment complexes with several buildings, Park Chase and Brittany Woods, whose residents are primarily people of color, are located near the proposed site.
Continue reading →

Bike-sharing in town

A truly friendly city can also bike-share. Paris, Montreal, and DC do it. London does it. How they do it can be applied stateside.

Georgia Tech is spinning off a startup to make it even easier to implement bike-on-demand networks.

Here’s the mayor of London on a bike-share bicycle:

Let’s see a video of the mayor of Valdosta on a bike-share bicycle. Riding with the president of VSU.

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Bike-sharing on campus

I keep hearing VSU students say “I don’t have a bike here”. There’s a solution for that, as Didi Tang writes in USA Today, Bike-sharing programs spin across U.S. campuses:
Shelenhamer, 20, is one of a number of students across the USA taking advantage of free or low-cost bike sharing programs, which have become increasingly popular. Drury students agreed to pay a $20-a-year sustainability fee, which funds the bike program. The Springfield, Mo., school purchased 40 new bikes for use by students in time for the fall semester.

“It’s helped me so much,” Shelenhamer said. “It’s been fun.”

That was at Drury University. Similar programs are available elsewhere. Continue reading →

Critical Mass this Friday

Critical Mass is riding again this Friday, September 24, starting from the Bleu Pub downtown.
The gathering starts at 6pm, followed by a 30 minute ride at 6:30pm.

Help raise awareness for the need of bike lanes and improved bicycler safety in Valdosta. Come and experience Valdosta in a new way- on a bike ride through the city with a few dozen friends!

All level-riders welcome and encouraged to participate.

Coming from VSU? Meet us at the Student Union at 5:50pm, a group will leave from the Student Union at 6pm and head to the Bleu Pub starting point downtown.

It has been happening in Valdosta since July 2009:

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If it’s sunny enough in Buffalo….

Charlotte Hsu writes in the UB Reporter about Site preparation to begin on ‘Solar Strand’:
Workers will begin mowing, clearing and grading land adjacent to Flint Road next month to make way for “The Solar Strand,” a 1.1 megawatt solar-energy array designed by internationally renowned landscape architect Walter Hood and funded by a $7.5 million grant from the New York Power Authority.

The installation, with 5,000 photovoltaic (PV) panels powering more than 700 student apartments at UB, is calculated to reduce carbon emissions by more than 500 metric tons per year. That will bring the university closer to its goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2030 under its Climate Action Plan. But the project is more than a means of generating energy.

Buffalo is at 42 degrees 53 minutes north, about a thousand miles north of Valdosta at 30 degrees 49 minutes north. On the NREL solar radiation map, Buffalo shows significantly less solar radiation than Valdosta.

So if Buffalo can do it, why can’t Valdosta? Continue reading →

Videos: McDonald’s vs. Foxborough Sign Variance

The corpulent corporate giant asked for a variance, and met with unexpected opposition, as well as unexpected results. The formal title of the item was VAR-2010-15 McDonald’s Corp. (4601 Foxborough Avenue), on the agenda of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBOA). McDonald’s was “Requesting a Variance to the maximum square footage allowed for drive-thru signage.” Lowndes County Zoning Administrator Carmella Braswell. introduced the case, and Chair Allan Strickland mentioned pictures of other fast food restaurants with signs within ordinance limits.

A McDonald’s employee and his lawyer presented their case, in which we learned that McDonald’s wants two signs for a large total variance and that McDonald’s doesn’t want to do custom signs.

Well-known local lawyer Gary Moser stepped up to speak for over 200 residents of the Foxborough neighorhood who don’t want a McDonald’s at their entrance. Continue reading →

On What Basis Does ZBOA Decide?

How does the Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBOA) base its decisions? Well, its members are appointed by two different local governments, of the City of Valdosta and Lowndes County, and each government provides its own criteria. Here they are: Continue reading →

Who is ZBOA?

The current members of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBOA) are:
City of Valdosta
Allan Strickland, Chair
Laverne Gaskins
Scott Orenstein, Vice-Chair
Nancy Hobby
Paul Alvarado 		Lowndes County
Gretchen Quarterman
Dr. William Houseal
Dave Kirk
Here they are at their 14 Sep 2010 meeting:

Left to right: Laverne Gaskins, Gretchen Quarterman, Paul Alvarado, Allan Strickland (Chair), Scott Orenstein (Vice-Chair), and Dr. William Houseal. (Nancy Hobby and Dave Kirk were not present at that meeting.)

According to the city’s web page about them:

The ZBOA is a joint board consisting of eight appointed citizens, four each for the City of Valdosta and Lowndes County. Members are appointed for three year terms. City board members are appointed by the Mayor-Council based on their experience in land development, their familiarity with the City of Valdosta Zoning Ordinance, and their willingness to commit sufficient time to the board in order to be an effective board member.
What do they do? Continue reading →

McDonalds Denied Sign Variance for Foxborough Store

Update: Videos are here.

Fast-food giant McDonalds applied for a sign variance so they could have signs the same size as everywhere else, so they wouldn’t have to do a custom job. The Technical Review Committee (TRC) recommended against. Attorney Gary Moser summed up the opinions of 200 Foxborough residents who don’t want the added light from the sign and headlights. He also mentioned Vince Schneider is being deployed to Afghanistan and doesn’t want the added lights when he gets back in six months.

Surprise speaker Gary Minchew, a well-known local developer, spoke against the variance, citing the arrogant behavior of McDonalds, which he said insisted on keeping a variance through his property he had granted First State Bank, even though he had not intended it to be used by a fast-food buyer of the bank property.

The Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously to deny the variance. Pictures and videos to follow.

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Corporate McDonalds Please Don’t Build A Store In My Front Yard While I’m Deployed To Afghanistan

Here’s a letter Vince Schneider sent on Thursday 9 September to Vivian Valdivia, Development Director, Atlanta Region, McDonalds, copied to Kay Harris of the VDT, Fox News, MSNBC on the Internet, and NBC News:
Vivian Valdivia, et al.

Corporate McDonalds=2C please don’t build a store in my front yard while I’m deployed to Afghanistan. And please continue this policy after my return. Since 30 June 2010 when I first learned of Corporate McDonalds’ plan to build a store in my front yard this Fall=2C I believe I’ve done everything that I could to stop it. My local and state governments refuse to help by simply saying that there is nothing they can do. I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything else from an elected official. This is my last appeal to Corporate McDonalds to not build a store in my front yard this Fall.

I am deploying next Friday to Afghanistan to help secure the rights and liberties of the Afghan peoples. Because of this 6 month deployment I will not be able to prosecute any more actions in the attempt to dissuade Corporate McDonalds from building a store in my front yard. Now, because of Corporate McDonalds’ greed, it’s only a wish that I could enjoy some of the same rights and liberties that I am helping to secure for the Afghanis, at my home upon my return. Rights and liberties that Corporate McDonalds is effectively taking from me to name a few include the right to peace, prosperity, and the pursuit of happiness.

Continue reading →