Monthly LAKE Meeting
When: 5:30-6:45 PM, Tuesday 1 March 2011
Updated meeting location
Where: home of Thomas Ieracitano
414 East Main Street, Hahira
229-251-2462
That’s on US 122, just east of the Masonic Lodge.
Thomas says:
“Bring a lawn chair, laptop (I will have Mediacom wireless)
and your own food and drink.”
If it rains or there are too many bugs or something,
we will move to:
Down Home Pizza
103 South Webb Street, Hahira
229-794-1888
Help cover food, water, transportation, incarceration, solar energy,
biomass, and regular local government meetings: you never know when
news will be made!
Here’s the
text of Valdosta Mayor Fretti’s State of the City speech of yesterday.
I thought they said it would be available on the web today,
but if so, I’m not sure where.
Pictured is Rudy the K9 dog, who is mentioned in this passage:
Now Wally was purchased with grant funds. Rudy was trained with grant
funds. Our mobile command center was purchased with grant funds. Several
other pieces of equipment for Police and Fire departments are purchased
with grants. Now, there are those that scream and shake their fist at
government to say, “Take no grants, for they are evil”.
“…solar is an important component of our electricity needs
and our power energy needs, and that it will continue to be.
We need to take into consideration all renewable energy resources
such as solar, and wind, and bio, and bring those together
to eventually make them more efficient and effective to supply
our grid with energy sources.”
He also talked about eventual lower rates to the customers.
And he bragged about how big it is:
Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Still, it’s a start, and I congratulate VLCIA on doing it.
I’m in favor of solar plants, and it was good to see the participants
helping out at the groundbreaking for the Wiregrass Solar LLC plant
at the Valdosta Mud Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant yesterday.
But wait! What’s that behind them?
Seems like even solar supporters aren’t all in favor of the
proposed neighboring biomass plant.
In this post are videos of the speeches by VLCIA personnel;
speeches by other dignitaries will follow.
Brad Lofton,
Executive Director of the
Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
said they’ll have a commissioning reception in a few months
(currently scheduled for
Wednesday 16th April 2011)
to which they’ll invite “the entire City Council
and the County Commission.”
Interestingly, there was nobody from the County Commission
at this groundbreaking ceremony.
They’ve said they’re in favor of biomass;
are they not in favor of solar?
Lofton says they’ll also invite
“…the governor of Georgia who has about half a million
dollars invested in this project.”
Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Lofton also said:
“We’ll go around and if anybody has any comments,
I’d like you to make them.”
All these protesters were in favor of the groundbreaking today for the
Wiregrass Solar LLC plant, but they wanted to object to the
related biomass plant proposed for next door.
Here you can see Valdosta police saying they’re going have to
issue a summons to some protesters because they didn’t have a permit,
Valdosta Mayor Fretti saying the permit process is simple,
and Dr. Michael Noll president of Wiregrass Activists for Clean Energy (WACE)
explaining that they only heard of the event recently,
and besides he’d be happy to pick up a shovel and help with the
groundbreaking for the solar plant:
Wiregrass Solar LLC groundbreaking, 21 Feb 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Regular meeting of the Lowndes County Commission, 8 February 2011,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Valdosta Utilities Director Henry …
Hicks addressed the sewage spills, saying they are caused by excess rain
which overloads the Withlacoochee River Water Pollution Control Plant. He
said growth along the river and throughout the regional watershed area
has contributed to the amount of excess water running into the river.
“When you have all this growth and you create more impervious surface
area (through paving and development), more and more water is running into
the Withlacoochee. On average, the plant handles six million gallons a
day and is equipped to accommodate twice that, but in recent rain events,
we’ve gotten upwards of 15 million gallons extra in stormwater runoff
and the system can’t handle that,” Hicks said.
Some of the comments on the VDT page are also interesting.
Guest remarked:
Continue reading →
When, at first, we went to print the comic book, a security officer
blocked publication. So we called him and demanded a meeting. He agreed,
and we read through the comic book over coffee to address his concerns. At
the end, he granted permission to print and then asked: “Could I have
a few extra copies for my kids?”
Dr. Noll
talks about air pollution and children.
He asks if the council thinks numerous medical associations and doctors
are lying to us.
Mayor Fretti asks if that’s a rhetorical question.
Dr. Noll indicates Rev. Rose and others seem quite disappointed
in lack of response.
Mayor Fretti falls back on process.
Regular meeting of the Valdosta City Council, 10 February 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Where does that
$3 million a year in VLCIA tax revenue go?
