{"id":2411,"date":"2011-02-11T11:31:53","date_gmt":"2011-02-11T16:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/02\/why-jobs-jobs-jobs-isnt-good-enough.html"},"modified":"2011-02-11T11:31:53","modified_gmt":"2011-02-11T16:31:53","slug":"why-jobs-jobs-jobs-isnt-good-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/02\/why-jobs-jobs-jobs-isnt-good-enough.html","title":{"rendered":"Why &#8220;jobs, jobs, jobs&#8221; isn&#8217;t good enough for the public good and the general welfare &#8211;John S. Quarterman"},"content":{"rendered":"<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xOJQWjr6fHA\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"   src=\"http:\/\/i1.ytimg.com\/vi\/xOJQWjr6fHA\/default.jpg\"><\/a>\nSure, everyone wants jobs for the people right now and jobs\nso the children don&#8217;t have to go somewhere else to find one.\nBut what good is that if those jobs suck up all the water\nthose children need to drink?\n<p>\nThis is the problem:\n<blockquote>\n&#8220;What I believe the three most important things are,\nnot only for our community, and our state, and our country,\nbut for our country,\nthats jobs number 1, jobs number 2, and jobs.&#8221;\n<\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"center\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" width=\"480\" height=\"390\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xOJQWjr6fHA\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<br>\n<center>\n<small>\nBrad Lofton, Executive Director,\nValdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),<br>\nspeaking at the\nLake Park Chamber of Commerce annual dinner,<br>\nLake Park, Lowndes County, Georgia, 28 January 2011.<br>\nVideo by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.\n<\/small>\n<\/center>\n<p>\nI shook Brad Lofton&#8217;s hand after that speech and told him I liked it,\nbecause I did: in general it was a positive speech about real accomplishments.\nI&#8217;ve also pointed out I had <a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/02\/brad-lofton-asks-for-your-ideas.html\">a few nits with that speech.<\/a>\nThis one is more than a nit.\nThis one is basic philosophy and policy.\n<p>\nNow one would expect an executive director of an industrial authority\nto be all about jobs.\nAnd that would be OK, if\n\n<!--more-->\nthe industrial authority listened to other\npeople or organizations who had larger concerns for\nour community, our state, and our country.\nBut that isn&#8217;t what&#8217;s happening.\n<p>\nThe speaker immediately before Brad Lofton at the same event,\nBen Copeland, asked\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/02\/ben-copeland-on-water-and-growth-in-south-georgia.html\">&#8220;How much growth do we want?&#8221;<\/a>\nCopeland even\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/02\/biomass-water-usage-as-a-problem-ben-copeland.html\">\nspecifically remarked on a project Brad Lofton is famous for promoting:<\/a>\n<blockquote>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/02\/ben-copeland-on-water-and-growth-in-south-georgia.html\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"  width=\"206\" height=\"130\"  src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5180\/5410660637_2d156bf4fa.jpg\"><\/a>\n&#8220;One of the things that keeps some of these rivers going is the treated effluent that goes into them.\n<p>\nNow Brad Lofton wants to use some of that up in a biomass plant. We have a problem there.&#8221;\n<\/blockquote>\nLofton took no notice of Copeland&#8217;s criticism except\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dOwWPvOCcUM\">\nto take personal offense in the childish remark,<\/a>\n<blockquote>\nBen Copeland beat me slap silly.\n<\/blockquote>\nJust because we are all accustomed to that kind of reaction from Brad Lofton doesn&#8217;t mean it&#8217;s an appropriate response from someone in\nhis position.\n<p>\nFortunately, Lofton can&#8217;t dismiss Copeland as\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/01\/we-are-satisfied-with-the-safety-of-this-plant-brad-lofton.html\">\n&#8220;folks come into the community&#8221;,<\/a>\nlike VLCIA staff tried for Dr. William Sammons.\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/01\/crept-up.html\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"   src=\"http:\/\/i2.ytimg.com\/vi\/eZVVMJXDo9U\/default.jpg\"><\/a>\nNor was Lofton foolish enough to try to ridicule Copeland\nas <a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/01\/environmental-justice-community.html\">\nsome opposition that has &#8220;crept up&#8221;,<\/a>\nlike he tried for the NAACP.\nBen Copeland has a scholarship named for him at Wiregrass Technical College,\nwhere he used to be chairman.\n<a href=\"http:\/\/valdostadailytimes.com\/local\/x180462991\/Boy-Scouts-dedicate-new-Ben-Copeland-Conference-Center\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"   src=\"http:\/\/valdostadailytimes.com\/archive\/x1941088264\/g0a000000000000000057d9c1870073da07899e34a63526c2fd624405a9.jpg\"><\/a>\nSomebody correct me if I&#8217;m wrong here, but is this not the same Ben Copeland\nwho has\n<a href=\"http:\/\/valdostadailytimes.com\/local\/x180462991\/Boy-Scouts-dedicate-new-Ben-Copeland-Conference-Center\">\na Boy Scout Conference Center named after him?<\/a>\nCopeland is on the state water council,\nand, in addition to education,\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0SNAAVsJ440\">\nthat&#8217;s what he talked about in his speech.<\/a>\n<blockquote>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0SNAAVsJ440\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"   src=\"http:\/\/i2.ytimg.com\/vi\/1Z_sjB86mkA\/default.jpg\"\n><\/a>\nWater is going to be very important as we expand our industrial base. Because we&#8217;re going to have folks who like to start up jobs here because of the water we have. How much of that water can be used to sustain jobs. Those are the questions&#8230;.\n<\/blockquote>\nQuestions that Brad Lofton and VLCIA repeatedly ignore.\nAnd Lofton also ignored them when Ben Copeland asked them.\n<p>\nLofton even ignored the man who introduced him,\nCrawford Powell,\nformer chairman of the Lake Park Chamber of Commerce\nand present County Commissioner,\nwho in his thanks to Sheriff Carter,\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZJHewdjBslc\">\nremarked that greatness is:<\/a>\n<blockquote>\n&#8220;to be able to lift the next generation higher&#8221;\n<\/blockquote>\nIt&#8217;s not lifting the next generation higher to suck up all their\nresources before they get a chance to use them.\n<p>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/01\/once-again-you-ignore-suggestions-john-s-quarterman.html\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"  width=\"125\" height=\"100\"  src=\"http:\/\/www.brighterenergy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/usfloors-ga.jpg\"><\/a>\nThis isn&#8217;t just about one project.\nThis is about VLCIA\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/01\/once-again-you-ignore-suggestions-john-s-quarterman.html\">\nignoring suggestions on other topics.<\/a>\nThis is not just about Brad Lofton.\nThis is about the entire VLCIA board, as stated by their chairman,\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/01\/jerry-jennett-answers-bobbi-anne-hancock.html\">\ntrusting government agencies who are running down checklists<\/a>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/topics\/biomass\/\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"   src=\"http:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1354\/5120631437_847a83150d_m.jpg\"><\/a>\nwhile repeatedly\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/topics\/biomass\/\">\nignoring massive evidence brought by numerous other parties.<\/a>\n<p>\nThis isn&#8217;t good enough:\n<blockquote>\nI&#8217;m not prepared to answer questions.\n<\/blockquote>\nIf VLCIA board and staff aren&#8217;t prepared to answer questions brought\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/01\/we-are-satisfied-with-the-safety-of-this-plant-brad-lofton.html\">\nby medical professionals<\/a>\nor by eminent local pillars of the community such as Ben Copeland,\nthen they need to hire somebody who can.\n<p>\nMore generally, it&#8217;s not good enough\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/01\/jerry-jennett-answers-bobbi-anne-hancock.html\">\nto say,<\/a>\n<blockquote>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/01\/jerry-jennett-answers-bobbi-anne-hancock.html\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"   src=\"http:\/\/i4.ytimg.com\/vi\/g2XUO-Rw1H4\/default.jpg\"\n><\/a>\nThis business has come here and asked us,\n<br>\n&#8220;Can we come here if we comply by the law.&#8221;\n<br>\nWe said, &#8220;Comply with the law, and yes we want you here.&#8221;\n<\/blockquote>\nVLCIA needs to take into account resource use,\nspecifically water, but also air, forests, and other resources,\nin ways that are verifiable by independent third parties.\nVLCIA needs to take into account existing communities.\nIndividually, VLCIA board members may be able to say\n<blockquote>\n&#8220;I am not a scientist; I am a business man.&#8221;\n<\/blockquote>\nBut as members of the VLCIA, and collectively as the VLCIA board,\n<table><tr valign=\"top\">\n<td align=\"center\">\n<a href=http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/govt\/localappt.php#RoyCopeland\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border:none;\"   title=\"Roy Copeland\" alt=\"Roy Copeland\" width=\"50\" height=\"70\" src=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/php\/include\/govt\/vlcia\/roy.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<br>\nRoy Copeland\n<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\">\n<a href=http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/govt\/localappt.php#TomCall\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border:none;\"   title=\"Tom Call\" alt=\"Tom Call\" src=\"http:\/\/images.plaxo.com\/fetch_image?path=210454321661_0_629081604&#038;width=114&#038;size=114\"><\/a>\n<br>\nTom Call\n<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\">\n<a href=http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/govt\/localappt.php#MaryBGooding\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border:none;\"   title=\"Mary B. Gooding\" alt=\"Mary B. Gooding\" width=\"50\" height=\"66\" src=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/php\/include\/govt\/vlcia\/mary_gooding.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<br>\nMary Gooding\n<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\">\n<a href=http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/govt\/localappt.php#NormanBennett\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border:none;\"   width=\"50\" height=\"70\" title=\"Norman Bennett\" alt=\"Norman Bennett\" src=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/php\/include\/govt\/vlcia\/Norman.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<br>\nNorman Bennett\n<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\">\n<a href=http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/govt\/localappt.php#JerryJennett\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border:none;\"   title=\"Jerry Jennett\" alt=\"Jerry Jennett\" width=\"50\" height=\"70\" src=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/php\/include\/govt\/vlcia\/jerry.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<br>\nJerry Jennett,\n<br>Chairman\n<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\nthey are making decisions that affect not just their own individual\nbusinesses.\nDecisions that affect not just the individual businesses they\nare evaluating.\nThey are making decisions that affect the whole community.\nIn their role as the VLCIA board, they are not just business people.\nThey are policy makers for the whole community.\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/01\/industrial-authority-and-the-general-welfare-dr-william-fuller.html\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"   src=\"http:\/\/i2.ytimg.com\/vi\/MD4gR1_YcZQ\/default.jpg\"\n><\/a>\nPolicy makers who need to be taking into account the health, safety,\nand livability of the community.\n<p>\nAs\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/01\/industrial-authority-and-the-general-welfare-dr-william-fuller.html\">\nDr. William Fuller pointed out to the Lowndes County Commission,<\/a>\nVLCIA&#8217;s\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/01\/valdosta-lowndes-county-industrial-authority-act.html\">\nown charter says<\/a>:\n<blockquote>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/01\/valdosta-lowndes-county-industrial-authority-act.html\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"   src=\"http:\/\/www.georgiaencyclopedia.org\/media_content\/m-4195_thumb.jpg\"><\/a>\nThis act, being for the purpose of developing and promoting the public\ngood and the welfare of the County of Lowndes and the City of Valdosta\nand their inhabitants, shall be liberally construed to effect the\npurposes hereof.\n<\/blockquote>\nNot just promoting the bottom line of the companies coming here;\nnot just trusting government agencies to check boxes on checklists;\nnot just bragging about numbers of jobs brought into the community.\nTo develop and promote the public good and the welfare of the community.\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/01\/jerry-jennett-answers-bobbi-anne-hancock.html\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"   src=\"http:\/\/i3.ytimg.com\/vi\/zw6liX000qg\/default.jpg\"><\/a>\nTo do that job, they need to listen to the whole community,\nand take into account what people not in their club say.\n<p>\nVLCIA needs to step up to the job and,\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZJHewdjBslc\">\nas Crawford Powell said, get on with<\/a>\n<blockquote>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZJHewdjBslc\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"   src=\"http:\/\/i3.ytimg.com\/vi\/ZJHewdjBslc\/default.jpg\"><\/a>\n&#8230;planning in this generation\nto be able to lift the next generation higher\nthan you&#8217;ve seen, higher than you can go,\nso they can see further and better than you do.\n<\/blockquote>\nAccepting businesses that come in just because they pass\ngovernment agency checklists is not planning.\nThat is abdicating VLCIA&#8217;s responsibility to the next generation.\n<p>\nVLCIA needs to step up to the job they&#8217;re actually in.\nIt&#8217;s not good enough\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/01\/jerry-jennett-answers-bobbi-anne-hancock.html\">\nto say,<\/a>\n<blockquote>\nYou either trust them or you don&#8217;t.\nI happen to trust them.\n<\/blockquote>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.industrialauthority.com\/index.php\/qualityoflife.html\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\"   src=\"http:\/\/fusioncreativemarketing.com\/ia\/images\/stories\/DSCF4734.JPG\"><\/a>\nTrust isn&#8217;t enough.\nVLCIA needs to verify that a business is appropriate for the public good and the general welfare.\nIf they&#8217;re not willing to do that in-house,\nthey need to start listening to the numerous people\nnot on their staff or board who are doing it for them.\n<p>\nIt&#8217;s a hard job they&#8217;re in.\nAnd they&#8217;re not used to all this citizen involvement.\nBut we who are interested, all of us, are not their enemies:\nwe are their allies as part of the same community, state, and country.\n<p>\n-jsq\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sure, everyone wants jobs for the people right now and jobs so the children don&#8217;t have to go somewhere else to find one. But what good is that if those jobs suck up all the water those children need to drink? This is the problem: &#8220;What I believe the three most important things are, not [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[97,556,120,48,14,15,16,321,740,2,41,19,20,88,21,32,23,73,289,3,178,55],"tags":[193,2554,8738,1747,5016,8717,623,300,969,8705,1031,685,1877,8701,8791,876,5067,793,189,186,847,548,8702,8792,3536,12,7,8734,1169,185,181,813,1876,4349,183,8731,5068,8714,182,6,180,8749,8727,4139],"class_list":["post-2411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-air","category-biomass","category-code-enforcement","category-economy","category-education","category-environment","category-food-and-drink","category-forestry","category-government","category-health-care","category-history","category-law","category-lowndes-county-commission","category-planning","category-pollution","category-renewable-energy","category-safety","category-science","category-transparency","category-vlcia","category-water","tag-allan-ricketts","tag-ben-copeland","tag-biomass","tag-brad-lofton","tag-christopher-teaf","tag-community","tag-crawford-powell","tag-development","tag-economics","tag-education","tag-efficiency","tag-g-robert-carter","tag-general-welfare","tag-georgia","tag-hahira","tag-health","tag-industrial-development","tag-industry","tag-j-stephen-gupton","tag-jerry-jennett","tag-jobs","tag-john-s-quarterman","tag-lake","tag-lake-park","tag-lake-park-chamber-of-commerce","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-lowndes-county-commission","tag-marketing","tag-mary-gooding","tag-norman-bennett","tag-policy","tag-public-good","tag-refitting","tag-roy-copeland","tag-safety","tag-scholarship","tag-solar","tag-tom-call","tag-valdosta","tag-valdosta-lowndes-county-industrial-authority","tag-vlcia","tag-water","tag-wiregrass-technical-college"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-CT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2411\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}