Update 10:15 AM 5 October 2012: Ignore this version and go directly to the complete version.
Here is the first set of LAKE videos from the Meet the Candidates event at VSU Monday.
Introduction
Ron Borders, Introduction
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Category Archives: VLCoC
Meet the candidates tonight at VSU
Who’s running?
What are they for?
Come see tonight!
According to the Chamber’s facebook event:
Continue readingThe Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber will host a Meet the Candidates event on Tues. Oct. 2 from 5-7 p.m. at the VSU Continuing Education Building located on 903 N. Patterson Street.
The event is an opportunity for the public to meet and hear from contested candidates running in the Nov. 6 general election. Attendees can speak one-on-one with candidates and candidates will be given three minutes to discuss his or her main initiatives.
“The election is quickly approaching and it is important to know who i s on the ballot and their stance on key issues. This event provides a way for the public to have personal interaction with the future decision-makers of our community,” said Chair of the Chamber’s Government Affairs Council, Ron Borders (Real Living Realty Advisors).
Attendees should look forward to meeting the following candidates:
Want knowledge-based jobs? Welcome gays and lesbians
The Chamber, the Industrial Authority, and various other local leaders
say they want knowledge-based jobs, or creative jobs.
We won’t get those just by teaching students to show up on time and
do what they’re told: that’s how you train factory workers,
not knowledge-based employees.
For creative jobs we also need Technology, Talent, and Tolerance.
How do you measure Tolerance?
One key component is the concentration of gays and lesbians.
So today’s
South Georgia Pride Festival
is a good sign for creative jobs in south Georgia!
Richard Florida wrote 16 July 2012 for The Atlantic, The Geography of Tolerance,
The map above shows how metros across the U.S. score on the Tolerance Index, as updated for The Rise of the Creative Class, Revisited. The chart below shows the top 20 metros. Developed by my Martin Prosperity Institute colleague Kevin Stolarick, it ranks U.S. metros according to three key variables—the share of immigrants or foreign-born residents, the Gay Index (the concentration of gays and lesbians), and the Integration Index, which tracks the level of segregation between ethnic and racial groups.
Do you recognize that shape in the middle of south Georgia?
That’s the Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area,
consisting of Lowndes, Echols, Lanier, and Brooks Counties.
Looks like about 0.4 on the Tolerance Index.
So sure, we’re no Austin, Texas, but we’re in the same range as oh,
Charlotte, NC.
If you want to help promote creative jobs in south Georgia, there’s a festival going on today:
South Georgia Pride Festival
noon until 6PM
John W Saunders Park
1151 River Street
Valdosta, Georgia
food and music all day
Who knows, the Mayor of Valdosta might even be there; what do you think? He certainly gave the festival plenty of earned media.
-jsq
Government Affairs Council, Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce, 2012-07-31
The Chamber’s Government Affairs Council (GAC) met 31 July 2012, and Gretchen
was there with video camera. In the first video, they’re talking about sales tax on energy, tax holidays, and about business partnerships in support of the arts. I readily admit I have not watched these videos all the way through: we have so many videos in the queue I’m trying to work off the backlog. If any of you see something especially interesting in these videos, please
let us know so we can blog about it.
Even better, send us what you think so we can consider posting that.
The Chamber’s web page about GAC appears to be empty. Maybe it works in IE or something. Over on Chamberorganizer, there’s a page about Erika Bennett:
Hello, and welcome to the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce. I am the Business Advocacy & Marketing Coordinator. I coordinate the Chamber’s Government Affairs Council, which watches business legislation throughout the year to ensure that Valdosta is business-friendly.
Here’s a video playlist:
Government Affairs Council, Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce, 2012-07-31
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Here’s an update about a GAC meeting of 17 January 2012.
Here’s Chamber PR about the GAC 2011-01-11, New Government Affairs Council Gives Voice to Local Businesses:
Continue readingSPLOST, LOST, TSPLOST Forum: Tuesday, July 10
The Chamber is holding a T-SPLOST event tonight. According to the announcement:
Make Sense of the 1 Cent Tax and know before you vote. Valdosta Lowndes Industrial Authority to host TSPLOST, LOST and SPLOST Forum for Young Professionals providing an opportunity for an informative discussion regarding the upcoming referendum.TSPLOST Referendum
Presenters at the forum will be Mayor John Gayle (City of Valdosta), Larry Hanson-City Manager (City of Valdosta), Andrea Schruijer (Valdosta Lowndes Industrial Authority) and Caitlyn Cooper (ConnectGeorgia).
At this forum YPs are encouraged to exchange and share ideas, questions and concerns about the legislation above. Leave more informed as a knowledgeable voter regarding the upcoming referendum on July 31. Please join other YPs in a supportive setting to listen, learn and voice your opinions.
LOCATION:
bas bleu
123 N. Patterson Street.
Valdosta, Ga 31601TIME:
5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Click here to RSVP or call 229-247-8100
*Drinks and menu items available
Of these speakers, Mayor Gayle is famously for T-SPLOST, Larry Hanson previously appeared to be against it. I don't know Andrea Schruijer's position on T-SPLOST. ConnectGeorgia is pro-T-SPLOST, so presumably Caitlyn Cooper is, too. So this is likely to be a pro-T-SPLOST forum.
In any case, remember T-SPLOST is on the primary ballot for 31 July 2012, and early voting has already started, so you can vote on it today.
-jsq
Internet speed and access —John S. Quarterman @ LCC 2012-05-08
At a recent Lowndes County Commission meeting, I said:
I was interested to learn two weeks ago that my neighbor Timothy Nessmith was interested in getting DSL on Hambrick Road.
He said you can get it as close to him as Quarterman Road. I can attest to that because I have 3 megabit per second DSL, due to being just close enough to Bellsouth’s DSL box on Cat Creek Road, but most of Quarterman Road can’t get DSL due to distance. There are some other land-line possibilties, involving cables in the ground or wires on poles.
Then there are wireless possibilities, including EVDO, available from Verizon,
with 750 kilobit per second (0.75 Mbps) wide area access from cell phone towers.
Verizon’s towers could also be used for WIFI antennas, for up to 8 Mbps Internet access, over a wide scale.
Then there’s metropolitan-area Internet. Chattanooga has the fastest such network, with 1 Gbps (1,000 Mbps). But hundreds of communities around the country have such networks, including (continued after the video)…
Internet speed and access —John S. Quarterman
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 8 May 2012.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
…Lafayette, Louisiana, Bowling Green, Kentucky, Lagrange, Georgia, and Thomasville, Georgia. They use it for public safety, education (Wiregrass Tech, VSU), and
It attracts new industry. If you want knowledge-based industry, they’re going to be expecting Internet access not just at work, but at home, whereever they live.
Other uses include Continue reading
The Chamber reports on economic numbers without much leadership
The Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce’s annual “economic summit” of invited participants has a report for 2012 called “Lowndes County by the Numbers” that compares our local area with fourteen other places. Curiously none of those places is known for Internet access speed or solar energy. I wonder what comparisons with places like Thomasville or LaGrange or Chattanooga or Lafayette or Bowling Green, Kentucky (all of which have fast community-wide Internet access) would have shown?
It looks like the peer communities may have been chosen for proximity to military bases. That’s fair, but what about medical facilities, regional universities, or agriculture?
Establishing a plan for economic success and growth requires an unbiased knowledge of a community’s endowments and economic indicators. While community endowments are the unique characteristics that arise from location and geography and therefore are not likely to change, economic indicators such as demographics and labor market structure can be cultivated and enhanced in ways to improve the economic growth and prosperity of a community. Progress toward achieving these desired outcomes can only be assessed by comparing oneself to peer and aspirant communities. This report identifies the peer and aspirant communities for Lowndes County and compares economic indicators that measure the strengths and opportunities for this community.
Why is economic growth listed before prosperity? Is growth a goal in itself? If so, why? Population growth without more jobs just results in Continue reading
Catch the governor before May Day
Don’t want to wait until May Day to see Governor Deal? Breakfast with him Wednesday!
According to email from the Chamber:
I wanted to let you know that this year’s State Legislative Luncheonwill be a breakfast on Wed. April 25 from 7-8:30 a.m. featuring Gov. Deal and all members of our local delegation. Registration is $25 and there is limited seating as it is being held at Valdosta State University’s University Center Magnolia Room. You can register online or simply let me know how many you will have attending and I will register for you.
More on the Chamber’s website:
Registration is $25 for Chamber members and $40 for all others. Chamber members can purchase a corporate table for eight for $200. Attendees must register by noon on April 20.
Except:
Registration has closed for this event
Tut tut.
Also, is this Wednesday morning thing a rescheduling of the May Day event? Apparently so, since the Chamber’s calendar doesn’t list the May Day one and it does list this one. Why did they change the date, time, and location? Didn’t get as many subscribers as they wanted? Didn’t want it to be as public? Other?
-jsq
Nathan Deal coming to Valdosta on May Day
The “right to work” governor of Georgia is visiting Valdosta and Lowndes County on May Day, which is a worker’s holiday many other places.
According to the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce, 2012 State Legislative Luncheon 05/01/12 – 05/01/12,
The Chamber’s annual state legislative luncheon will feature Governor Nathan Deal, who will share highlights from the 2012 Legislative Session. Hosting the Gov. along with the Chamber is Sen. Tim Golden and Reps. Ellis Black, Amy Carter, and Jason Shaw.
Registration is $25 for Chamber members and $40 for all others. Chamber members can purchase a corporate table for ten for $250. Attendees must register by noon on April 20.
Location: James H. Rainwater Conference Center
In many countries May Day is a holiday celebrating workers’ rights. Georgia is a “right to work” state (translation: workers can be fired at any time for any reason), and the Chamber promotes that:
Continue readingLowndes County and Valdosta history: origins of the old boys
If we want good clean industry for jobs for local people, we need good clean local government, too.
Why do our local government bodies
hide when they discuss public goods like waste disposal,
try to
avoid stating public positions on issues,
and
fail to publish minutes of elected bodies?
A little reading in local histories of the area or talking to people
who were involved even a generation or two back indicates that Lowndes
County has always been a cliquish sort of place, mostly run by old boys,
for reasons that made some sense in the early days (lack of resources,
mainly), but doesn’t so much anymore in these days of I-75 and I-10,
airport, railroads that still go everywhere, Moody AFB, VSU as a regional university, technical and community colleges,
two hospitals and medical industry, TitleTown, Grand Bay WMA, Wild Adventures,
and south Georgia sunshine we can export to Atlanta and points north.
Here are a few books about the old days, all available in local libraries and possibly in local bookstores: Continue reading