Outgoing chairman Jerry Jennett asked nominating committee chair Tom Call
to read the slate of officers discussed
last time
to server for FYE 2012.
They were:
Roy Copeland Chairman, Mary Gooding Vice-Chairman, and Norman Bennett Secretary-Treasurer.
The board voted unanimous to approve that slate, and Jennett
practically threw the Here’s Part 1 of 3: Continue reading
John Robinson congratulated Roy Copeland for accepting the position
as chair of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA)
and said:
We’re looking forward to working along with you guys, because we truly need the help now on the other side of the railroad track over there.
…
And we do believe that if everyone try to work together we can get something done.
Update: What the VDT said:
Received a thank you from John Robinson of the Black Businessmen’s Association during the Citizens to be Heard portion of the meeting for agreeing to work with small and emerging businesses, with the goal of removing the “social divide” in the city;
Here’s the video:
Small emerging businesses —Mr. Robinson @ VLCIA 19 July 2011
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Tom Call, Roy Copeland chairman, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett,
Andrea Schruijer Executive Director, J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Project Manager,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 July 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
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I promise one can only imagine what it’s like to have a loved one die in your arms from a chronic lung disease like COPD, when every breath is a struggle and each day that passes a long and horrible death is the inevitable, my mother moved here with me from south Florida, her quality of life changed until her death from COPD in 2003. Biomass affects everyone, not just in the county it’s built in.
I personally have children which I would love to see grow with strong healthy lung functions. Some children and adults already have asthma and other lung disorders. I’m not quite sure of the long term effects biomass consist of but I am quite sure were going to be the ones that suffer in the end each and every one of us! It does raise my concern when Dr. Noll speaks about biomass and we all might need to rethink the potential danger it will bring with it. Previously I thought it was a good energy source, I now think otherwise. Speak now or forever hold your peace because I get this feeling… there sneaking in!
-Susan Leavens
Outgoing Industrial Authority Chairman Jerry Jennett thanked all who helped him, and offered to help incoming chairman Roy Copeland.
Here’s the video:
Thanks to all who helped —Jerry Jennett @ VLCIA 19 July 2011
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Tom Call, Roy Copeland chairman, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett,
Andrea Schruijer Executive Director, J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Project Manager,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 July 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
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Dr. Noll, president of WACE, welcomed VLCIA’s new executive director Andrea Schruijer, and
then reminded the board that the honking cars outside
indicated an ongoing community assessment of biomass,
and he encouraged them to consider previously presented
materials and to prevent the biomass plant from
finding a back door to come back in.
He remarked that he had visited his mother in Germany:
One and half years ago she was in the intensive care unit for about three weeks because she had severe lung issues. She moved away after that to an area where there isn’t the kind of air pollution she was exposed to before hand, and every single day she wakes up she feels like she’s on vacation.
Here’s the video:
Because of my mother —Dr. Noll @ VLCIA 19 July 2011
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Tom Call, Roy Copeland chairman, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett,
Andrea Schruijer Executive Director, J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Project Manager,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 July 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
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These videos are not all labeled, which is unfortunate,
since some of them reflect quite well on some things the
Industrial Authority is doing.
But after all, they have paid staff who could be taking,
labelling, and posting their own videos, and
their new executive director says she wants transparency,
so who knows? Maybe VLCIA will do this kind of thing themselves.
They meet again tonight. You could go ask them.
A few of these videos have already been posted. Here’s a playlist of all the videos of that meeting.
Irregular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Acting Executive Director,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 14 June 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
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David Rodock wrote in the VDT 14 July 2011, Industrial Authority welcomes new director,
That sounds like Industrial-speak for they’re going to “move on to” things that do work. However she chooses to phrase it, it’s about time.When it comes to the proposed biomass facility and maintaining a healthy relationship with the Georgia Department of Economic Development, which assisted the Industrial Authority in attracting the project, Schruijer believes staff and board members will be able to work through the situation.
“With economic development, it can be difficult to juggle a lot of different items,” said Schruijer. “It’s a balancing act to make sure you have all the parties involved and educated on the situation. The Department of Economic Development was there to help us recruit the project and they did just what they were supposed to do. In fact, they went above and beyond their duties by brushing over this project with a fine tooth comb. We worked with them and they worked with us. It seemed like a good project, and I think we’ll be able to work through this, maintain a good relationship with them as long as we keep the avenues for communication open.”
Regarding transparency: Continue reading
Hm, a billion a year, like Georgia’s “950 plus million budget” that we also can’t afford.The Arizona Department of Corrections has given a green light to four private, for-profit correctional management corporations for the construction and management of an additional 5,000 state prison beds.
The American Friends Service Committee condemns this action as unnecessary and deeply irresponsible given the state’s economic crisis and the dismal safety records of all four of the corporations involved.
Arizona’s Auditor General estimates this expansion will cost us over $640 million by 2017. Yet our prison population only grew by only 65 inmates in 2010.
This year, our corrections budget is over $1 billion, consuming 11% of the state general fund. The Department of Corrections was the only state agency whose budget saw an increase this year.
The Tucson article cites the NY Times article that demonstrations private prisons don’t save money, continues with examples of worse public safety at private prisons, and concludes: Continue reading
It seems to me the burden of proof is on the people proposing to make massive changes in the local education system. And CUEE has not provided any evidence for their position. Sam Allen of Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS) pithily sums up CUEE:
“It’s not about the children. It’s about somebody’s ego.”
I don’t think the children should have to suffer for somebody’s ego.
CUEE’s unification push isn’t about education. It’s about a “unified platform” to attract industry. That alone is enough reason to oppose “unification”. It’s not about education!
As former Industrial Authority Chair Jerome Tucker has been heard to remark on numerous occassions, “nobody ever asked me how many school systems we had!” The only example in Georgia CUEE points to for this is the Kia plant that came to Troup County, Georgia. It’s funny how none of the locals seem to have mentioned any such connection in the numerous articles published about the Kia plant. Instead, the mayor of the town with the Kia plant complains that his town doesn’t have a high school. That’s right: he’s complaining that the school system is too consolidated! The only actual education between Kia and education in Troup County is with West Georgia Tech, the local technical college.
CUEE has finally cobbled together an education committee, but it won’t even report back before the proposed ballot referendum vote. CUEE has no plan to improve education.
If CUEE actually did want to help the disadvantaged in the Valdosta City schools, Continue reading
According to testimony by a nonpartisan research institute:
“The biggest source of Ohio’s budget problem is not overspending or compenstation for public employees. It is a reduction in revenue.According to a recent poll, the people of Ohio think this is unfair and don’t believe the governor can fix the budget without raising taxes.
…
The tax changes also were weighted to high-income Ohioans. More than 40 percent of the income-tax cuts are going to the five percent of families with income of $135,000 or more a year. Meanwhile, the bottom three-fifths of Ohio families will receive just 13 percent of the total tax cut.
There are other reasons selling off prisons to private prison companies such as CCA is a bad idea.
Mark Niquette wrote for Bloomberg 29 June 2011,
Kasich Tries to Avoid Arizona’s Mistakes in Ohio Prison Selloff:
Still, Democratic lawmakers, including Representative Matt Lundy of Elyria, question whether Ohio is making a wise move.
“The buyer wins and the taxpayers lose when we sell in the middle of a recession,” Lundy said during press conference last month, calling the move “a yard sale.”
Selling assets for “one-time” money is a mistake, Louisiana Treasurer John Kennedy said. He opposed a plan by Republican Governor Bobby Jindal to sell three prisons to raise $90 million, a proposal the Legislature didn’t approve.
“A junkie can sell his TV or his stereo or his iPod and generate money for his next fix,” Kennedy, also a Republican, said in a telephone interview from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. “But if he’s going to ever get well, he needs to face his addiction.”
An even better quote in that story comes from CCA’s own Steve Owen: Continue reading