Category Archives: Valdosta City Council

CALL TO ARMS –James Wright @ VCC 2013-07-11

Received a few minutes ago. -jsq

A call to arms, I wanted to share with you a e-mail I received from Nolan Cox. I find his message offensive and seem as if he has a real issue with low income residents. It would mean a lot if you can make it to the Council meeting (5:30 p.m.) as I plan to address this during Council Comments and hope that we can get input from the community regarding this statement below. Your presence will help us get the point across that our community mean something.

I have also included my response to Mr. Cox

Nolan Cox- Tea Party/Republican Party President

“As I listened to your discussion at the City Council work session about the “need” to give away $800,000 of taxpayer’s money through the Federal Home Loan Bank Program grant, I was thinking that only about half of Americans pay federal income taxes, and 43% of every federal dollar spent is borrowed, with the interest on the nation’s $17 trillion debt soon to be larger than the nation’s defense budget. Defense spending is a legitimate constitutional function of the federal government, but repairing houses, like most welfare giveaway programs, is not a legitimate Continue reading →

See what Valdosta wants to spend your SPLOST pennies on @ VCC 2013-07-09

What would you be willing to vote for in SPLOST VII this November?

There will be a presentation on the proposed SPLOST VII projects at the work session.

in Valdosta News posted yesterday Valdosta City Council Holds Work Session and Council Meeting This Week. And as an ad in the VDT Sunday:

SPLOST VII presentation, Valdosta Work Session
Scan by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 July 2013.

-jsq

Valdosta SPLOST ad in the VDT 2013-07-07

Valdosta’s proposed SPLOST list will be presented Tuesday at the city’s Work Session 5:30PM Tuesday 9 July 2013: be there, or be blindsided by what’s on that list.

SPLOST VII presentation, Valdosta Work Session
Scan by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 July 2013.

You know that if you read to the middle of the ad in today’s VDT about the Work Session and Regular Session. That’s in the paper paper; ads in the paper don’t get put online. There’s no agenda online for the Work Session. The agenda for the Regular Session says nothing about SPLOST. There’s nothing on the city’s calendar about SPLOST. There’s no PR about this on the city’s website. There’s nothing about it in any of the city’s TV videos that I can find. Don’t be surprised if nobody shows up….

-jsq

Portland’s Clean Economy of Place

Ironically, Portland is the prime example in both Amy Liu’s slides and the book The Metropolitan Revolution: How Cities and Metros Are Fixing Our Broken Politics and Fragile Economy by Jennifer Bradley and Bruce Katz.

Here’s Bruce Katz in the Guardian 23 April 2012, Urbanization and Inventing a Clean Economy of Place,

Portland, Oregon, is also internationally renowned for its commitment to sustainable development. The Portland metropolis has an expansive public transit system and an urban growth boundary to control development at the urban periphery. The city boasts a green investment fund to provide grants for residential and commercial building projects.

Now the city is striving, like Copenhagen, to reap the economic rewards of sustainable development through business formation, firm expansion, job growth and private investment. In February, Portland released its first regional export plan to double exports over five years by building on the region’s distinctive economic and physical attributes. A critical pillar of this strategy involves increasing the export orientation of firms in the burgeoning clean technology sector to serve growing markets in Asia, Latin America and elsewhere.

Hm, a clean economy of place; there’s an idea. Here’s one of Portland’s green investments: 12W (Indigo) Project Report, Continue reading →

Four SPLOST town hall meetings –Joyce Evans @ LCDP 2013-07-02

“Hopefully” there will be four town hall meetings before the final SPLOST lists are settled, said Lowndes County Commissioner Joyce Evans (District 1) at last night’s Lowndes County Democratic Party Annual 4th of July Barbecue.

We’re beginning to put things together for the SPLOST.

Joyce Evans, District 1, Lowndes County Commission Hopefully we’ll be able to do several…. I know the mayor has stated that they were going to do two town hall meetings and the county’s going to do a couple of town hall meetings and then we’re going to come together with the information that we’ve received from the community and go and put together an overall SPLOST for the city and the county.

So please, take time, think about it, and be involved.

We shall see. At least it’s a small change in the old boy backroom behavior so popular among elected officials around here that the famously reclusive commissioner said this in front of a video camera.

Here’s the video:


Four SPLOST town hall meetings –Joyce Evans
July 4th BBQ, Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
Gretchen Quarterman (Chair), Dennis Marks (Vice-Chair / Elections), Amanda Hall (Vice-Chair / Membership), Richard Saeger (Vice-Chair / Qualifying), Jerrell Anderson (Secretary), James J. Parker (Treasurer),
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 2 July 2013.

-jsq

The stars all lined up for the homeless –Deidra White @ LCDP 2013-07-02

The homeless formerly living under the James Beck Overpass now have homes and most have jobs, said Valdosta City Council Deidra White at last night’s Lowndes County Democratic Party Annual 4th of July Barbecue.

White said the encampment under the overpass had been growing for some time, and people in her district, which contains the overpass, were increasingly concerned yet had had little success in dealing with the situation.

Deidra White speaking at Lowndes County Democratic Party July 4th BBQ So I contacted many people in the community, homeless advocates, churches, governmental, civil, nonprofits; anyone that I’ve ever come across who has ever worked in any capacity helping with the homeless situation. And in a very,almost seemingly the stars all lined up a couple of weeks ago. Many people came together to do something about the specific eleven homeless persons who were living under the James Beck Overpass.

A private citizen donated property and said that they could stay on this property for a temporary time until we find a permanent solution. Members of the homeless coalition immediately began identifying potential employers….

She referred listeners to the recent newspaper stories for some details, and then continued:

Continue reading →

Valdosta home repair grant assistance

Is your home unsafe? DRA Map If you live in certain parts of Valdosta, you may be able to get a grant to help fix that.

PR from the City of Valdosta, 27 June 2013, City Helps Valdosta Home Owners Apply for Grant Funding for Home Repairs

From July 1 to August 15, 2013, the City of Valdosta Neighborhood Development Division will be accepting applications for owner-occupied home rehabilitation grants from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta. Valdosta home owners who qualify as low to moderately-low income residents (according to HUD FY 2013 Income Limits) may be eligible to use this grant funding to make much-needed home repairs.

Grants are limited to home repairs which cost under $10,000, and each applicant must meet the following criteria: Continue reading →

Ashley Paulk to be reappointed to Parks and Rec. Any questions? @ LCC 2013-06-24

I guess some things are just not to be questioned, at least at this morning’s Lowndes County Commission Regular Session. However, although Commissioners did not, I do have a question.

5.b. Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority

County Chairman Slaughter:

“Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority Appointment.”
County Manager Pritchard:
“The term currently held by Ashley Paulk will expire June 30th. Mr. Paulk has expressed an interest in being reappointed if the board so chooses.”
Any questions? --Bill Slaughter @ LCC 2013-06-24 County Chairman Slaughter:

“Any questions?

OK, hearing none, let’s move on to agenda item number 6.”

I have a question. Why isn’t it Continue reading →

LOST decision coming from GA Supreme Court

Local Lowndes County and city officials are awaiting breathlessly the news from Atlanta today about new rules on LOST negotiations. Currently, negotiators have to choose one of the positions submitted by the contending parties. The GA Supreme Court may decide to let negotiators pick some other division of LOST funds. Valdosta Mayor John Gayle cancelled a meeting here yesterday so he could be in Atlanta for this court decision. Lowndes County Commissioners are rumored to be planning a meeting tomorrow morning after the decision.

Fox 31 posted 30 May 3012, Supreme Court of Georgia to hear Turner County LOST case

On June 4th, the Georgia Supreme Court will hear the case between Turner County and three cities over the distribution of Local Option Sales Taxes. Below is the entirety of the facts in the case as released by the court:

In this dispute between the governments of Turner County and three cities over how Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) proceeds should be distributed, the county is appealing a superior court ruling which picked the cities’ plan for distribution over the county’s.

There’s much more detail in that article. Also, Tim Omarzu wrote for timesfreepress.com 9 May 2013, Georgia top court to consider LOST negotiations.

-jsq

Valdosta Utilities Department 5-Year Action Plan

Received 26 April 2013. Basically Valdosta is accelerating its plans to do something about wastewater, including adding pumpstations and force mains, as well as relocating the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant uphill. Here are the summary pages; there’s much more detail in the plan. -jsq

Utilities Department 5-Year Action Plan:

Since 1992, the City has received $179 million in SPLOST funding and over the same time period has invested nearly $168 million in capital projects for the Water and Wastewater system. This includes SPLOST funding, system revenues, bonds, and GEFA loans.

Since 2009, the Utilities Department has expended over $49 million on sewer system improvement with approximately $5.6 million spent on the Withlacoochee Treatment Plant. When the projects listed below are completed by December 2018, the City will have invested approximately $230 million in capital projects for its Utilities system from 1992 to 2018, a 26-year period.

PUMP STATION, FORCE MAIN, HEADWORKS AND EQUALIZATION BASIN PROJECT

Continue reading →