County Manager Joe Pritchard asked the Lowndes County Commission
to spend the funds the citizens of Lowndes County approved on the SPLOST VII referendum for the Naylor Boat Ramp:
We are proposing for the purchase of
4.35 acres of property on the Alapaha River designated for the purpose of a boat ramp.
You have the documentation there before you, the warranty deed.
And as you are aware, this also reserves for an easement by the current owner,
a proposed easement, and the appraisal is for
$24,000, as is the purchase price,
and that is the consideration for the proposed easement.
Due to requests from Greenlaw in Atlanta and Save Our Suwannee in Florida,
WWALS Watershed Coalition asked the City of Valdosta for a presentation
on their wastewater situation.
Valdosta presented less than two weeks later, and brought their entire
hierarchy related to this issue, from the mayor on down.
Plus Lowndes County, which isn’t even responsible for Valdosta’s wastewater,
was represented by their Chairman and a Commissioner.
Not all questions could be answered that quickly, but many were.
Spectra’s Andrea Grover is “disappointed” in Sabal Trail being on the
Georgia Water Coalition Dirty Dozen;
does she also find it “hard to believe” like Sabal Trail’s well-documented
eminent domain threats?
I talked about the Water Trail that WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc.
is developing on the Alapaha River with a tiny grant from the
Georgia River Network, and how that was a plus for local economic
development that wouldn’t cost VLCDA a dime.
They seemed to like that, at the
19 August 2014 Regular Meeting of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Development Authority.
6-8PM tomorrow, Thursday 17 July 2014
Memorial Stadium, 715 Dewey St., Waycross, GA 31501
The Environmental Protection Agency, GA Environmental Protection
Division, and Georgia Department of Public Health will be present to
discuss sample collection and results from the Seven Out Tank site
in downtown Waycross.
EPD will also be available to address issues and answer questions
regarding CSX.
It is clear a full watershed wide study must be completed before any
decisions can be made.
As established in this first study—The
City of Valdosta is the recipient-not the origin- of the flood
waters. While it confirms what we already knew, my job is to try and
keep the ball rolling forward. Engage congressional leaders, secure
funding and find long term, sustainable solutions that benefit all
communities within the watershed basin. A levee by itself is not the
answer.
–Tim Carroll
To the VDT the county government always smells like azaleas
and the city of Valdosta government always smells like sewage.
The local newspaper of record doesn’t seem to smell sewage
or landfill problems from Lowndes County.
Today’s VDT editorial complains about
environmental groups paying attention to “theoretical disasters”
(presumably referring to the Sabal Trail pipeline),
yet the VDT has never covered the group that has
most consistently followed the watershed-wide
flooding issues that cause Valdosta’s flooding problems:
WWALS Watershed Coalition.
The VDT recommends citizens get more involved
in sniffing out Valdosta’s sewage problems, yet it doesn’t seem
to cover Citizens Wishing To Be Heard anymore, nor has the VDT called
for the citizen participation sessions promised by
the local governments for the Army Corps of Engineers flooding studies.
Maybe the VDT could encourage citizen participation, rather than ignore it.
The recent rains have swollen our blackwater rivers, Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, and Little, under our longleaf pines and Spanish-moss-covered oaks, and filled up the tea-colored tannin waters in our frog-singing pocosin cypress swamps here in central South Georgia. But that was only a dent in our protracted drought that ranges from mild to extreme, with projections not much better….
There is no need to use our Floridan Aquifer water to build more
baseload power plants while Georgia lags behind Michigan,
Massachusetts, and even tiny New Jersey and Maryland in solar power.
WWALS calls on the PSC to ask Georgia Power to conserve our water
and to bring jobs to south Georgia through solar power and wind off
the Georgia coast.
Ask Georgia Power to conserve our water –Garry Gentry for WWALS
Georgia Power proposed closing of coal plants,
Administrative Session, GA Public Service Commission (GA PSC),
Doug Everrett (1: south Georgia), Tim Echols (2: east Georgia), Chairman Chuck Eaton (3: metro Atlanta), Stan Wise (5 north Georgia), Bubba McDonald (4: west Georgia),
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
244 Washington Street SW, Atlanta, GA, 30334-9052, 18 June 2013.
We are proposing for the purchase of 4.35 acres of property on the Alapaha River designated for the purpose of a boat ramp. You have the documentation there before you, the warranty deed. And as you are aware, this also reserves for an easement by the current owner, a proposed easement, and the appraisal is for $24,000, as is the purchase price, and that is the consideration for the proposed easement.
