Here is the
Keep Lowndes-Valdosta Beautiful (KLVB)
2012 Executive Director’s Report,
provided to LAKE by KLVB Executive Director Aaron Strickland.
This is the report he discussed at the
10 September 2012 Lowndes County Commission Work Session.
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Yesterday morning’s County Commission Work Session
started on time!
In addition to the open records and open meetings items,
it included a report from KLVB, two rezonings, typo fixes and date changes
in the ULDC, a vanity road name change, an alcohol license and an
alcohol ordinance change, a USGS river gauge, surplus vehicles,
purchase of a new fire truck, and more!
They vote on all this tonight at their Regular Session, 5:30 PM.
Here’s
the agenda.
5.a. Unsurprisingly, the County Manager suggested the County Clerk be appointed the Open Records Officer now required by state law. 5.b. They also have a resolution before them about review and approval of minutes of executive sessions, but of course they don’t allow we the taxpayers to see that before they vote on it.
They considered adopting subdivision infrastructure for 5.c. Glen Laurel and 5.d. Crestwood.
6. Videos of the KLVB report and of applicant Emily Macheski-Preston are in a separate blog post.
7. Public Hearings:
Continue reading
Lowndes County Emergency Management Director Ashley Tye
reported to the Lowndes County Commission at their
Work Session yesterday morning
that
after the floods of 2009, Lowndes County negotiated with USGS to put a
stream level monitor on the Withlacoochee Little River at the GA 122 bridge,
and the county typically renews that funding once a year.
We shall see whether they approve that this evening.
Here's the video:
Lowndes County continuing funding for USGS HWY 122 Stream Gauge —Ashley Tye
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 September 2012.
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In
the 10 September 2012 Lowndes County Commission Work Session,
Aaron Strickland of
Keep Lowndes-Valdosta Beautiful (KLVB)
said there were two applicants for appointement to the
KLVB board: Emily Preston and Deanna Wagner.
They did not speak;
Emily Macheski-Preston and Deanna Wagner.
Ms. Macheski-Preston spoke (included below); Ms. Wagner did not;
maybe tonight.
He gave a brief verbal report, which he said was a summary of a report he submitted last week (which we the taxpayers haven’t seen). He said at their Rivers Alive event last year they had a record number of sites cleaned: seven. Great American Cleanup, KLVB’s signature event used to be 1 day, but this year was 3 days.
He read some statistics on numbers of volunteers and things cleaned up. He listed some future events. There’s more in the video.
Commissioner Richard Raines wanted to know how much time commitment was involved. Answer: an hour per board meeting and helping out with events and committees.
Here’s
the video: video of Aaron Strickland’s aural report:
Haley Hyatt videoed
yesterday’s Remerton City Council
decision about Strickland Mill.
Citizens pled, unsuccessfully, for it to be saved.
Then the owners made a surprise offer.
Here’s Part 1 of 3:
The final plea
was made by Celine H. Gladwin.
Yet another reason why we should take water into account in any development plan: fracking for shale gas uses huge amounts of water, competing with everything else, maybe even using more than power plants and cities.
Delaware Riverkeeper and Protecting Our Waters wrote for Waterkeeper Alliance today, The Water Footprint of Shale Gas Development,
Continue reading
Recent studies examining potable water supplies on a global scale, the current trends in American water consumption and the causes of depletion of this essential resource are helping us to understand that the footprint of shale gas development expands indefinitely when measured in water….
Of the seven nations where the groundwater footprint is greatest, the U.S. is one of the fastest speeding towards disaster. According
to Cynthia Barnett’s Blue Revolution, scientists say the 20th century was the wettest in a thousand years and now drier times are ahead.[3] This means that many of the management schemes we use now—based on 20th C planning—need to be changed to avoid catastrophe. So the 410 billion gallons of water America uses every day will suck the nation dry if we don’t stop over-tapping nearly every river and aquifer.
The biggest U.S. users are power plants and agriculture with private
Tonight the Remerton City Council votes on
the old Strickland Mill at
1853 West Gordon Street,
same item as
discussed 4 June 2012
and
postponed 11 June 2012.
Also, Remerton doesn’t play mysterious about
the Haven.
All that plus signs, water, and alcohol.
I will be there for about half an hour, after which I have to go video something else. Could someone else video the rest of tonight’s Remerton City Council meeting?
Here’s
the agenda,
which for some reason (I’m guessing City Clerk Rachel Tate not being available)
is a scan instead of a text-extractable PDF.
I’ve transcribed it below this time.
Continue readingCITY OF REMERTON
REGULAR SESSION AGENDA
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2012
COUNCIL CHAMBERS
5:30 PM
Apparently the Lowndes County Commission has noticed the
new provisions of the Georgia Open Records and Open Meetings laws
that
VLCIA’s lawyer explained to the Industrial Authority back in May,
seeing these two items on the agenda for Monday morning and Tuesday evening:
5.a. Adopt Resolution Appointing an Open Records Officer
5.b. Resolution Regarding Review & Approval of Minutes of Executive Sessions
Plus infrastructure for two subdivsisions, one of them the famous Glen Laurel, several well/septic rezonings, approval of USGS Funding Agreement for HWY 122 Stream Gauge (one of the four that let us know about river flooding in Lowndes County less than a month ago), a beer license, and approval of the changes to the ULDC that were discussed in the recent Planning Commission meeting, in the public hearing the public didn’t know about. And more.
Here’s
the agenda.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2012, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2012, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
The Industrial Authority apparently listened to its focus groups, and discovered that broadband and solar energy are important to attract industry. Andrea Schruijer even recommends conversation, which has been sorely lacking in recent years. Congratulations, Industrial Authority!
Jason Schaefer wrote for the VDT today, Authority analyzes Valdosta business: Broadband, solar power, professional services targeted for growth,
The Authority also plans to work toward the availability of more broadband Internet service and solar power in Valdosta and surrounding communities. These amenities would help support local industries as well as draw new ones to the greater Valdosta area for the creation of new jobs.
That’s a good start. Although it’s not clear from the writeup that VLCIA quite got it about Internet access.
As part of presenting Valdosta as an attractive package for
prospective industries, the Authority attempts to ready the land set aside for development before beginning the recruitment process. This means investing in infrastructure, including broadband internet.
“It’s not that we don’t have broadband,” Schruijer said. “What we’re looking at is the technology behind the broadband. We have it in certain areas, but in order for us to grow some of these core targets, such as professional services, we need that infrastructure.”
Well, actually, no,
we don’t have broadband.
6Mbps is the fastest most people can get around here,
and 30Mbps is the slowest you can even buy in many countries.
Plus, it’s not just fast Internet to industrial sites that’s needed:
it’s fast Internet access everywhere knowledge-based employees
may want to live.
But they’re on the right track:
Because the Authority can’t “buy” industries into coming to Valdosta—though it can offer tax abatements—it is necessary to make sure that new businesses have what they will need before ground is even broken, Schruijer said. To this effect, the Authority will “stimulate the conversation” to actively attract more broadband companies to the area.
A conversation! Now there’s something we’ve been needing around here. And it’s a refreshing change from only a year ago when all we heard was
“Debate is not allowed.”
Maybe the Industrial Authority will be the organization that will show the rest of us how to hold civil discussions about things that affect all of us!
The VDT’s writeup skips quickly over another big change:
Continue readingTuesday, a talk by a fan from Florida of our own Withlacoochee River, at the VSU Student Center, 7:30 9PM 11 September 2012, free admission. -jsq
Big Little Water by Tom Baird, hosted by Blazer Gardens in conjunction with WWALS
Big Little Water—a survey of the history, geology and archaeology of the Withlacoochee River, with replica artifacts people can handle, and slides.
“I’ll also get into some of the current threats to the river and maybe we can get into a good discussion and Q&A.”
Tom Baird is an education consultant who has previously worked as a high school teacher, community college instructor (oceanography and microbiology), director of a science and environmental center, supervisor of science (K-12) in Pasco Co., FL, Director of Science (PreK-12) in Pinellas Co., FL, Principal of a math/science/technology magnet high school in Pinellas Co., FL. and director of a National Science Foundation program. He is on the boards of the Panhandle Archaeological Society at Tallahassee and the St. Marks Refuge Association. He most enjoys exploring Florida and Georgia rivers by kayak and canoe. He is currently working on a book about the Withlacoochee River of South Georgia and northern Florida.
Address:
VSU Student Union
Oak Street @ Baytree Road
Valdosta GA 31698
Map and Directions
There’s also a
facebook invitation.
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