Tag Archives: opportunity

Video of Gretchen on Scott James radio show 2014-05-01

Lowndes County as the Jewel of the South, and how to get there, was the topic on drive-time radio Thursday.

Local policy issues include what would happen to us if we got 20 inches of rain like Pensacola just did? The county needs to be appropriately staffed and prepared for emergencies. The Army Corps of Engineers study on flooding will be presented at the next Valdosta City Council Work Session (5:30 PM May 6th at City Hall) with a public presentation afterwards (6:30 PM at City Hall Annex). Gretchen added that Ashley Tye will be giving a Lowndes County Emergency Management Continuity of Business Workshop 5:30-6:30 PM 5 May 2014 at the Lowndes County Administrative Building, 327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta.

Radio host Scott James noted,

In case nobody picked up on it, I just quizzed Gretchen and she is involved. She answered both very well.

Gretchen added that having things online for people who can’t go to the meetings because they’re at work would be very useful in getting more people engaged. Scott James advocated livestreaming videos of meetings, “or at least recorded and played back”. Gretchen recounted an anecdote about wishing she could have heard the recent Valdosta City Council meeting livestreamed.

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

Rooftop solar: the most direct route to clean energy industries

Austin vs. San Antonio in solar power Around here I hear local leaders say “we’ll never be Austin.” Well, Austin may be letting San Antonio pass Austin as far as rooftop solar and the jobs that generates. It’s not a matter of size or pre-existing advantages. It’s a matter of political will. Do we have that will here?

TexasVox wrote a white paper in February 2012, Solar Austin: Rooftop Solar & Job Creation,

…the most direct route to attracting and encouraging the development of clean energy industries is through the

the scale of future development will be orders of magnitude greater than what has occurred to date.
mass deployment of local rooftop solar, which is probably why solar has by far the most significant presence of any clean energy generation technology in Austin.

But the paper’s point is that Austin is falling short. Look at the graph: Austin seems to have settled for linear growth in solar power, while San Antonio gets it about compound growth. As San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro said in 2011, solar power is in

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Gretchen canvassing 2012-10-30

Gretchen Quarterman, running for Lowndes County Chairman, will come to your house to remind you that early voting is 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. this week at the Board of Elections, 2808 N Oak St., Valdosta.

Down a street To a house

He already voted for her, so she’s on to the next house. After early voting, Election Day is Tuesday November 6th at your precinct.

Talking to a constituent Here she comes

Here’s a video playlist:

Pictures and videos by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Lowndes County, Georgia, 30 October 2012.

-jsq

Solar and broadband are good for the economy and for PR

When the Industrial Authority came out for solar and broadband WCTV noticed. It seems solar and broadband are good not only in themselves, but also for good PR for the community. PR that might attract the kinds of businesses the Industrial Authority is looking for.

WCTV wrote 9 September 2012, Solar Power and Broadband Internet Could Boost Local Job Growth,

The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority has put a spot light on solar power and broadband internet. That’s according to a new analysis of regional businesses and employment. They say it will be a way to generate job growth going forward. Many in the community agree.

Valdosta Resident Mark Yates said “if they could bring those all in, it would be great for the economy and bring a lot of jobs for a lot of people in town here.”

That’s how Saginaw, Michigan, attracted that second Suniva plant away from Georgia: it has a plan for solar industry and it gets it in the news. Way better than worrying what Albany thinks, don’t you think?

By the way, Saginaw also goes for wind manufacturing jobs, and we already have one wind manufacturing business right here; more on that later.

It sure would be good if the Industrial Authority, with its 1 mil tax rate or almost $3 million a year, could succeed in attracting some jobs here:

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Industrial Authority goes solar, broadband, and conversational!

The Industrial Authority apparently listened to its focus groups, and discovered that broadband and solar energy are important to attract industry. Andrea Schruijer even recommends conversation, which has been sorely lacking in recent years. Congratulations, Industrial Authority!

Jason Schaefer wrote for the VDT today, Authority analyzes Valdosta business: Broadband, solar power, professional services targeted for growth,

The Authority also plans to work toward the availability of more broadband Internet service and solar power in Valdosta and surrounding communities. These amenities would help support local industries as well as draw new ones to the greater Valdosta area for the creation of new jobs.

That’s a good start. Although it’s not clear from the writeup that VLCIA quite got it about Internet access.

As part of presenting Valdosta as an attractive package for prospective industries, the Authority attempts to ready the land set aside for development before beginning the recruitment process. This means investing in infrastructure, including broadband internet.

“It’s not that we don’t have broadband,” Schruijer said. “What we’re looking at is the technology behind the broadband. We have it in certain areas, but in order for us to grow some of these core targets, such as professional services, we need that infrastructure.”

Well, actually, no, we don’t have broadband. 6Mbps is the fastest most people can get around here, and 30Mbps is the slowest you can even buy in many countries. Plus, it’s not just fast Internet to industrial sites that’s needed: it’s fast Internet access everywhere knowledge-based employees may want to live.

But they’re on the right track:

Because the Authority can’t “buy” industries into coming to Valdosta—though it can offer tax abatements—it is necessary to make sure that new businesses have what they will need before ground is even broken, Schruijer said. To this effect, the Authority will “stimulate the conversation” to actively attract more broadband companies to the area.

A conversation! Now there’s something we’ve been needing around here. And it’s a refreshing change from only a year ago when all we heard was

“Debate is not allowed.”

Maybe the Industrial Authority will be the organization that will show the rest of us how to hold civil discussions about things that affect all of us!

The VDT’s writeup skips quickly over another big change:

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A community united! —Gretchen Quarterman

LTE in the VDT today. -jsq
In the last few weeks, our community has seen an unprecedented effort from left, right, and center, city and county, town and gown, all working
Let us not focus on the things that have divided us in the past, but rather use this opportunity to build a stronger community, a stronger education system.
together as a community to achieve a goal that the overwhelming majority see as in our best interest. We have an opportunity that we should not squander. It doesn’t take a lot of money. It takes dedicated people, calling their friends and neighbors, canvasing every neighborhood, holding open and honest forums, and answering questions to the very best of their ability.

Let us not focus on the things that have divided us in the past, but rather use this opportunity to build a stronger community, a stronger education system. Let us find opportunities to work together to benefit our students, teachers, police, firefighters, farmers, small local businesses and all the rest of us who call this community home.

We have an opportunity that we should not squander. Let us work as one community for the benefit of all our citizens; students, seniors, family, friends, urban, rural, conservatives, progressives, Wildcats and Vikings.

One community out of many,
with liberty and justice for all.

Gretchen Quarterman
Chairman
Lowndes County Democratic Party

Yes, I do have solar

Here’s my LTE in the VDT today. -jsq
A letter last week asked, “Do you have solar energy yourself?” Why yes, I do. When we installed solar panels on our farm workshop in 2009, the closest certified solar installer was in Marietta. There were only four in the state. Now there are forty. Georgia may yet catch up with North Carolina and even New Jersey!

Hannah Solar had all the paperwork ready when Okra Paradise Farms applied for a USDA REAP grant for more solar panels a few weeks ago. Much to our surprise,

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Let’s put Lowndes County on the Clean Economy Map!

Look where those clean economy jobs are:
Among regions, the South has the largest number of clean economy jobs though the West has the largest share relative to its population. Seven of the 21 states with at least 50,000 clean economy jobs are in the South. Among states, California has the highest number of clean jobs but Alaska and Oregon have the most per worker.

A per-county map is included, on which you can see North Carolina and Atlanta, but nothing in south Georgia. Let’s put Lowndes County on the clean energy map!

The gigaom article recommends:

To help boost the clean energy economy even more, the Brookings report suggests that Congress could pass a national clean energy standard, put a price on carbon, use the government as a chief customer of cleantech goods (Obama has been strong on this), find more ways to help proven clean technologies pass the so-called Valley of Death, as well as increase funding for basic science and early-stage high risk projects (like the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program).
That’s good stuff, but we don’t have to wait for the feds. The Wiregrass Solar plant sets a precedent that we can build on. That plant is readily expandable to an additional megawatt. It can also be used to attract financing for other projects, projects that can use local labor, for example solar electricity and hot water like the example in Quitman.

Lots of places have forged ahead into real clean energy on their own, such as Birmingham, England and San Antonio.

Sure, we’re not nearly as big as those places, or so local “leaders” remind me. So let’s find some projects of our scale that we can do, and let’s do them! A real leader might say, as Mayor Julian Castro of San Antonio did, that renewable energy is

“…the nexus between sustainability and job creation. Every now and then, perhaps once in a generation, there presents itself a moment, an opportunity, for those cities that are willing to seize it, to truly benefit the region for generations to come.”
That opportunity is right here in south Georgia, waiting for us to seize it.

-jsq

Andrea Schruijer’s Opportunity —John S. Quarterman

Here’s my op-ed in the VDT today. -jsq
Welcome Andrea Shuijer Schruijer to a great opportunity as the new Executive Director of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA)!

For a year I’ve been asking for a list of jobs attracted by the Authority. We welcome your marketing expertise so we’ll know the Authority’s successes!

We welcome your communications expertise to inform the community affected by the process of bringing new jobs. VLCIA could publish its agendas, minutes, and videos of its meetings, events, and new jobs on its web pages, and facebook, maybe even twitter.

We welcome your stewardship of the Authority’s $3 million/year in taxes. Maybe some

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New Jersey is #2 in solar power: where’s Georgia? —Richard Polich of Kema @ Solar Summit

Did you know New Jersey generates more solar energy than any other state except California? New Jersey, hundreds of miles to the north of Georgia, has 320 megaWatts installed and 329 megaWatts in the pipeline. This is according to Richard Polich of KEMA at the Georgia Solar Summit this morning.

New Jersey, not even Arizona is number 2 in solar in the U.S. According to a recent Arizona State University study, Georgia is the third top state “that would benefit from solar deployment through generating and exporting energy to other states”. Here’s a business opportunity for Georgia!

-jsq