Here’s
a video playlist of the 20 November 2012 South Georgia Regional Library Board meeting.
And here’s
George Rhynes’ editorial on what he saw, heard, and was asked at that meeting.
He’d prefer SPLOST being spent first on sidewalks
than on moving the library where people would have
to go farther to get to it.
Also, like many of us, he’s tired of a few people controlling
the purse-strings without input from the rest of us.
He gave an example:
Tag Archives: tax
SPLOST VII @ SGLB 2012-11-20
At
Tuesday’s South Georgia Library Board meeting.
a board member (his nameplate said Willis Miller)
wanted to know about SPLOST:
How we know it’s going to come up next November or at another time?
Good question.
Here’s video of the discussion as
it resumed later in the meeting:
SPLOST VII discussion at Monthly Meeting, South Georgia Library Board (SGLB),
Video by George Boston Rhynes for K.V.C.I. and bostongbr on YouTube,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 20 November 2012.
Kay Harris said there had to be a minimum of twelve months, so November 2013 would be the next possible time. She said County Commissioner Richard Raines had expressed full support for the new library, and she was talking to the other commissioners. She was asked whether the SPLOST lists would be the same, and said there might be some changes, but she hadn’t heard anyone suggest that the Five Points property might be deleted. That’s curious, because she quoted Valdosta Mayor Gayle in the VDT 7 November 2012 as saying:
Continue readingGeorgia Power raising rates
Georgia Power is raising rates
in January, despite its recent announcement that it would lower
rates because of lower fuel bills.
Why raising?
Mostly the new nukes and for a new natural gas plant.
And 16% of the rise is for energy efficiency.
Does that seem like the right proportion to you?
Kristi Swartz wrote for the AJC 1 Nov 2012, Georgia Power bills to increase,
The average Georgia Power bill will increase about 44 cents a month starting in January, not decrease as many might have expected when the company announced last month its fuel costs had dropped.
The utility, which serves 2.4 million customers, notified state regulators in October that it would be applying for a residential rate reduction because the amount it pays for fuel has fallen 7 percent, saving $122 million. The utility cannot profit from lower fuel costs and must pass those savings on to customers.
So why are customer rates going up?
About $1.05 of the typical residential bill will go toward paying for a new natural gas unit at Plant McDonough-Atkinson in Smyrna. That increase already was approved as part of a three-tiered rate hike set in 2010.
Yep, that’s that set-in-2010 and keep-rising-’till-2013 natural gas rate hike that Georgia Power got away with while complaining about any potential solar subsidies. The one AJC complained would be “on autopilot”: Continue reading
Vote No on the charter school amendment —J.C. Cunningham for GA House District 175 @ 30Club 2012-10-22
J.C. Cunningham, running for statehouse district 175,
says vote No on the charter school amendment.
At the 30 Club Political Forum at Serenity Church School Monday,
he was asked about differences from his opponent, and
he answered:
Vote No on the charter school amendment —J.C. Cunningham for GA House District 175
Political Forum, 30 Club
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 October 2012.
This amendment was put on for one reason and one reason only, because there are powers that did not get their way and it was strictly for money-grubbing, for-profit charter corporations that would further take money away from our Department of Education.
J.C. Cunningham’s opponent, the incumbent Amy Carter, only showed up at one of the four local candidate forums in Lowndes County. However, she voted both for HR 1162 that put the referendum on the ballot and for HB 797 that will suck up more money per pupil for charter schools than for public schools, taking the extra out of our local tax dollars.
We know where J.C. Cunningham for district 175 stands: against the charter school amendment.
-jsq
Vote No on the charter school amendment —Teresa Lawrence for GA House District 174 @ AAUW 2012-10-24
Teresa Lawrence, running for statehouse district 174,
says vote No on the charter school amendment.
She was asked about it
at the AAUW Political Forum at Valdosta High School Wednesday, and
answered:
Vote No on the charter school amendment —Teresa Lawrence for GA House District 174
Political Forum, Deborah Van Petten, President (AAUW), Dr. Jim Peterson, Moderator
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta High School, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 24 October 2012.
I believe we should vote no for the charter school amendment. We have a means of passing it at the local level to approve charter schools now, and I don’t believe we need to give that decision over to the state level.
Teresa Lawrence’s opponent, the incumbent Ellis Black,
did not show up at any of the four local candidate forums
in Lowndes County.
However, he voted both for
HR 1162 that put the referendum on the ballog
and for
HB 797 that will suck up more money per pupil for charter schools than
for public schools, taking the extra out of our local tax dollars.
We know where Teresa Lawrence for district 174 stands: against the charter school amendment.
-jsq
Videos of candidates @ AAUW 2012-10-24
After the fourth and final candidates forum,
moderated for AAUW by Dr. Jim Peterson last night at VHS,
the statehouse candidate attendance report card is:
Incumbents:
Ellis Black (R 174) 0 of 4, Amy Carter (R 175) 1 of 4, and Tim Golden (R Sen-8) 1 of 4.
Challengers: Teresa Lawrence (D 174) 4 of 4, JC Cunningham (D 175) 4 of 4, and
Bikram Mohanty (D Sen-8) 4 of 4.
Open seat 177: J. Glenn Gregory (R) 4 of 4, Dexter Sharper (D) 4 of 4.
Local candidates: 4 of 4 for every one of them,
Gretchen Quarterman (D) and Bill Slaughter (R) for Lowndes County Chairman,
Chris Prine (D) and J.D. Yeager (R) for Lowndes County Sheriff,
John Gates (R)
and
Demarcus Marshall (D)
for Lowndes County Commission District 4,
Justin Cabral (R)
and
Jason Cain (D)
for Solicitor General.
Here are videos of the entire forum.
Candidates Forum at VHS by AAUW, Deb Van Petten President,
Videos by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 24 October 2012.
Videos of the previous 3 forums:
Continue readingCandidates again tonight @ AAUW 2012-10-24
Will any of our incumbent state legislators show up this time?
Their challengers have spoken every time.
7PM tonight is the last time to see all the local candidates in one place:
Wednesday 24 October 2012,
Performing Arts Center, Valdosta High School, 3101 North Forrest Street, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia,
AAUW presents a Political Forum.
This one, unlike some previous ones, is advertised on the sponsoring
organization’s website
(although oddly not on its
facebook page)
and
in the VDT calendar.
So far, Ellis Black (R 174) 0 of 3, Amy Carter (R 175), 1 of 3, and Tim Golden (R Sen-8) 1 of 3. Challengers Teresa Lawrence (D 174), JC Cunningham (D 175), and Bikram Mohanty (D Sen-8) all spoke at 3 of 3. Videos of the previous forums:
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Don’t forget
to vote,
today, tomorrow, Saturday, or on that great election day, November 6th 2012.
-jsq
Videos @ 30Club 2012-10-22
Here's
a video playlist
of the Candidate Forum last night organized by the 30 Club at Serenity Church.
Probably more commentary later; for now, in the interests of speed, just the raw videos.
Candidates Forum, 30 Club,
J.D. Rice, President
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 October 2012.
-jsq
Another $3.5 billion nuclear cost overruns coming —David Staples @ HBA 2012-10-18
David A. Staples
running for the Georgia Public Service Commission for District 5,
talked about the ethical conflicts of the incumbents who take
almost all of their campaign contributions from people associated
with the utilities they regulate.
Then he mentioned that the new nuclear reactors Georgia Power
is building for Southern Company at Plant Vogtle
have
another $3.5 billion in cost overruns coming.
This is after the PSC incumbents just rubberstamped the Vogtle budget in August, and on top of the $900 million in cost overruns we already knew about. That $900 million was already more than 6% of the originally-projected $14 billion total cost. If it’s now $3.5 + $0.9 = $4.4 billion, that’s more than 31% over the original total. Maybe we should vote in some PSC members and legislators who will stop this nonsense.
Here’s the video:
Continue reading4,460 have voted early in Lowndes County —Chris Beckham @ HBA 2012-10-18
Chris Beckham announced at the end of
last night’s political forum
that 4,460 people have voted in Lowndes County as of 5PM yesterday.
That’s up from
2,861 by end of Tuesday.
Here’s the video:
4,460 have voted early in Lowndes County —Chris Beckham
Candidates Forum, The Home Builders Association of South Georgia (HBA),
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 18 October 2012.
-jsq