First,
Tom Gooding said sports teams won’t change (until there’s a
newly elected Lowndes County school board, which of course can do
whatever it wants to; read the fine print as he speaks).
Then Ronnie Mathis said he’d been through “unification” elsewhere,
and his sports team changed from Vikings to Bobcats.
Oops!
Maybe this is why CUEE won’t post videos of its own meetings. But LAKE has, so you can watch this for yourself.
Here’s Part 1 of 2: Continue reading
Commissioner Raines wished to recognize some Boy Scouts
who are working on Eagle Scout badges.
Here’s the video:
Working on Eagle Scout badges @ LCC 13 September 2011
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 13 September 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
-jsq
This is the clearest statement of the football argument I’ve heard.
This is the same speaker who already mentioned
quality of education, property taxes, and property values,
so this is just one argument among many.
The speaker is associated with FVCS, and if I went to VHS,
I’d know his name right away; I’m an LHS graduate.
The first thing they’ll do is sell that stadium. They’d be crazy not to do…. They’re not going to pay upkeep on two stadiums. Look at Tallahassee, Macon: all the schools play at one stadium….By “those people” I don’t think he means the Lowndes County Board of Education; I think he was referring to CUEE.…
Don’t let those people run the show. Don’t let them take the power away from us.
…
If one day it makes good economic sense for y’all to make the decision to sell that property to Valdosta State and build another stadium and we can come out ahead, I think that’s a great idea.
Like my granddaddy said, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Here’s the video: Continue reading
State Sen. Tim Golden used Yogi Berra to illustrate that solar power
is no longer just a theory: it’s now implemented in practice.
Yogi said, and I quote:A very good point.In theory, there’s no difference between theory and practice, but in practice, there is.…I thought about that quote because solar power at one time was a theory, and now it’s in practice.
(This is also where Sonny Murphy got the idea to quote Yogi Berra.)
Sen. Golden mentioned that he and Sonny Murphy grew up with Gov. Nathan Deal.
He said he met Pete Marte of Hannah Solar at the governor’s office
the previous day, at the signing of HB 346, which includes solar tax credits.
That’s the bill that
Wes Hudson said
“extends the renewable energy tax credit to the year ending Dec. 31,
2014, and for the years 2012, 2013 and 2014 it newly expands the total
statewide credit amount from $2.5 million to $5 million in each of the
years 2012-2014.”
Sen. Golden once again said we’d gone from theory to practice.
He lauded Jimmy Carter for putting solar panels on the White House Continue reading
The VDT
nailed it:
Executives and city officials broke ground together at the site to the mixed cheers from the crowd of protesters: “Hooray for solar! No biomass!”More perceptive text by David Rodock and pictues by Paul Levy online and in the paper paper.
Videos of the protesters here. Videos of the groundbreaking ceremony (with protesters) to come.
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Valdosta has a local museum that may generate some local business,
sort of like the
Homerville Genealogical Library that opened today.
Christian Malone writes in the VDT today,
Valdosta Wildcat museum renamed in Waller’s honor:
The David S. Waller Sr. Valdosta Wildcat Museum is filled with things related to Valdosta High football. Many of Valdosta’s state and national championship trophies reside in the museum. So do many photos of past Wildcat teams and players. There are Valdosta jerseys, jackets, shirts and helmets there. The plaques of the members of Valdosta High’s Sports Hall of Fame are also housed in the museum.Now since I went to Lowndes High School, I must note that the Wildcats have lost to the Vikings pretty much every time they’ve played in the last decade or so. And a county-wide or south-Georgia football or sports hall of fame would be a much bigger draw. But in a sports-mad community any sports museum is a good idea.
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Continue readingFrom: John S. Quarterman
Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2011 1:40 PM
To: Commissioner@lowndescounty.com
Cc: Paige Dukes
Subject: Policies and Procedures for Citizens Wishing to be HeardDear Commissioners,
At your most recent meeting I mentioned I had a few suggestions about your new Policies and Procedures for Citizens Wishing To Be Heard, and at least one of you has indicated he would like to see them, so here they are.
“2. A maximum of 10 persons shall be allowed to speak at any meeting.”I think that number is too low. On the one hand,
-jsq
Valdosta is an innovative city with expanding opportunities for our growing community. Valdosta has recently celebrated 150 years of progress. As a citizen, I have spent most of my adult life experiencing this progress. I’ve seen economic developments through recruitment, retention and expansions that benefit our city, with tremendous support from our communities. I’ve seen job opportunities that improve the livelihood of our citizens, through the recruitment of national companies who have established their businesses in our great city.Continue readingOur school systems are innovative, and they serve as models for other school systems in our state, with great parental involvement and encouragement toward improvements. Our University and College systems are some of the best in the state, with phenomenal enrollment and retention of traditional and non-traditional students in our city and abroad.
Our religious establishments are growing from leaps and bounds with more and more people becoming citizens of our great city, who are leaving larger unsafe, polluted, and unproductive cities, for a safer, less polluted and productive small town lifestyle, such as our wonderful city provides.
The development of small businesses, through our downtown projects, have been a great success story for our city. The innovative improvements make our city one of the most visited in our state. We pride ourselves as a Titletown community, through continuous progress over 150 years.
When I contemplate our shared 150 years of progress, I find it disturbing that our Industrial Authority would make such a bad decision as to bring a Biomass incinerator into our community. As an advocate for the welfare of children, women, and families I am gravely concerned and disappointed that such a project has been endorsed by leaders who were elected to carry out the wishes of the community for the betterment of all citizens.
George Monbiot writes in the Guardian about how
We have allowed developers to rob us of our village green:
Build loose suburbs carved up by busy roads and without green spaces and you help to create a population of fat, lonely people plagued by criminals. Build dense, leafy settlements with mixed uses, protected from traffic, and you help to create safe, fit and friendly communities.
Here’s one picture of what a fit, safe and functional community might look like. There’s nothing radical or new about it: similar developments have been built for centuries (and most are now monopolised by the rich). Houses or apartment blocks are built densely around a square of shared green space. It is big enough for playing ball games, but without fixed goalposts, allowing children and adults to define the space for themselves. It could contain trees; perhaps rocks or logs to climb on. There might be a corner of uncut meadow, or flowerbeds or fruit bushes. The space will work best when it is designed and managed by the people who live there.(An asbo is an Anti-Social Behaviour Order, like a citation for disturbing the peace.)Most important, the houses face inwards, and no cars are allowed inside the square: the roads serve only the backs of the buildings. The square is overlooked by everyone, which means that children can run in and out of their houses unsupervised, create their own tribes and learn their own rules, without fear of traffic accidents or molesters. They have a place in which to run wild without collecting asbos.
Suppose instead of walling off a detention pond and letting it grow weeds and snakes we made most of it high enough not to flood and let it grow trees, flowers, grass for children to play on, and maybe even vegetables.
That wouldn’t cost much more to develop.
The detention pond pictured is in the
Hamilton Pointe development,
where several residents told me they had no place to play football
or basketball.
If the detention pond was turned into a village green, they would have a place
for sports.
-jsq
A growing local food community, anchored by
Jason DeLoach’s F.M. Guess Pecan Company of Valdosta,
the Packhouse Market of Hahira,
and of course
Jim Fiveash’s Food Store of Hahira.
Let’s not forget the Valdosta Farmer’s Market (1500 South Patterson Street)
and Farmer Brown’s Produce.
There’s even at least one local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) starting up.
Businesses moving in to take advantage of the transportation;
working towards enough good jobs that young people don’t have to move away to find one.
Thriving downtowns in
Valdosta and Hahira.
First Friday, Winterfest, Honeybee Festival:
those are doing more to attract attractive businesses than
any number of road projects.
Trees, for forestry, and
for themselves.
See Patterson Street (a little planning kept it from looking like Ashley Street), and the oldest longleaf pines in the county
are on the VSU campus; older than Valdosta.
There are even a few left elsewhere in the county.
Protecting forests is not just the right thing to do, it’s good business.
Sunshine, much more than
Germany, for example, so we can do
solar if we want to.
|
Dites-moi
Pourquoi La vie est belle, Dies-moi Pourquoi La vie est gai? |
Tell me why
The sky is filled with music, Tell me why We fly on clouds above? |
Why stop with what we’ve got? Why not play up our advantages of transportation, natural environment, local culture, etc., and attract jobs for young people and make the place even better for everybody?