My Take on Valdosta Municipal Elections 2015

Well, that's over. The vote is in, the people have spoken, and most of the individuals who will be governing our city for the next four years have been chosen. Since I was running for one of those seats, I suppose I had greater interest than most, and that I have in the past. If you're interested, here's my take on how it played out:

MAYOR- Incumbent Mayor John Gayle vs. former Fire Chief J.D. Rice

Valdosta had an historic chance to elect it's first African-American mayor, as former Fire Chief, J.D. Rice was well known, and well liked in the community. He ran on a message of public transportation and "out of the box" thinking in bringing jobs to the city. The Mayor ran on his doing a good job in his first term, and that he'd continue to do a good job if reelected, and he'd like to see public transportation, too.

Gayle and Rice blanketed the city with campaign signs. They appeared at all the forums, and who knows how many meet-and-greets. It looked to me that J.D. had a formidable campaign, and had a great ground crew of volunteers, who were attending numerous events, and I assumed were canvasing neighborhoods like locusts on a corn field. I think Mayor Gayle was concerned, because in the later days of the campaign, I saw his billboards go up and him appear in TV ads. It is said he outspent J.D. nine to one.

While all that is important in a campaign, in the end, it's all about getting your voters to the polls. And in the end, Mayor Gayle prevailed with 2828 votes, to J.D.'s 2414, a margin of 414 votes.

First, seriously, only 5242 people in our city voted?! That's under 25% of registered voter in the city, i.e., not even one in four citizens turned out to vote for the people to govern them in the closest government that affects them. Secondly, from my viewpoint, I thought J.D. was going to get around four thousand votes. That didn't happen, and Mayor Gayle won with 52.4% of the vote.

Congratulations, Mayor Gayle. Do us proud.

City Council

District 5- Incumbent Tim Carroll vs. Dallas Bennett

Dallas was quick to blanket his district with his yard signs, but was slow to appear at the forums. Tim was at every one that came along. Most importantly, Tim is well known, and well liked. Not sure if it appeared on TV, but I saw an ad for Tim via YouTube.

Tim Carroll won with 85% of the vote, 1431 to 234.

Congratulations, Tim. Do us proud.

District 3- Incumbent Sonny Vickers vs. Marion Ricco Ramsey.

It's not easy to run against an institution like Sonny Vickers, and when the campaign got in full swing, Sonny had his signs everywhere. Mr. Ramsey got his out in the district, and on election day, all around the polling place. The interesting thing was, Sonny seemed to get a respect for him, and even offered, if reelected, to make him his "liaison to the community." Sonny won reelection 337 to 213, with 61% of the vote.

That leaves Ramsey with 39%, which I think very respectable running against Sonny Vickers. I hope Marion takes Sonny up on his offer, and that Sonny does it. Marion Ricco Ramsey didn't make it this time, but could very well be District 3's councilman when Sonny decides to call it quits, perhaps nect time around. He may very well be Valdosta's future.

Congratulations, Sonny! Do us proud.

District 1- Incumbent James Wright vs. Vivian Miller-Cody and Bishop Wade McCrae

This was a hard fought battle. There were yard signs everywhere, mostly for James Wright, but Vivian and Wade were also prevalent. Vivian is a fireball, and one has to admire her passion. She had a great ground game, and came out on top: Vivian Miller-Cody 417, Wade McCrae 247, James Wright 226. Since she didn't get 50% of the vote, Vivian will go to a runoff election December 1 against Wade McCrae. Yep, that  means incumbent James Wright was voted out after three terms.

Congratulations, Vivian for placing on top. Unfortunately, you got another round to go. Just keep doing what you've been doing, and I think you'll win. I'm sorry, Wade. You're a good man, but there's just something about TWO African-American women on the City Council that just appeals to me.

City Council At-Large- Incumbent Ben Norton versus Linda Jurczak and Ronnie Pierce and Jim Parker and Gregory Williams, Jr.

This was my race. Five candidates is unusual for a race. It was basically four opponents to the incumbent Ben Norton. We, opponents, had to realize we split any vote against Ben Norton, and we had to hope to keep Ben to under fifty percent, come in second, and go to a runoff. I saw a TV ad for Ben the Friday before Election Day. In the end, Ben Norton won reelection, 2843, Ronnie Pierce 1098, Gregory Williams, Jr. 446, Linda Jurczak 378, Jim Parker 274 (ouch!). Ben Norton won reelection with fifty six percent of the vote.

Congratulations, Ben. Do us proud.

Conclusion

Five city government seats were up for reelection. If Valdosta citizens had so chosen, they could have changed their governance. Four were reelected, which suggests more of the same. One change may occur. If Vivian prevails against Bishop McCrae, we will have two African-American women on the City Council. Something about that thought makes me feel good.

I'll be honest, I was hoping to be second, but began to think Ronnie Pierce was running a good campaign, and that he could make into second (which he did). I give my congratulations to Gregory Williams, Jr for coming in third, besting me by 172 votes. You might also be the future of Valdosta with Marion Ricco Ramsey. I encourage you to tie into the community. Get to know intimately the various neighborhoods throughout the city. Imho, you're a good, intelligent young man, with a heart toward his community. That's my definition of a city elected official.  And Kudos to Linda Jurczak. You bested me by over a hundred votes 

To my immediate opponents: Congratulations, you kicked my butt. But I think I made you work harder for it. :) I ask you all to keep at it. Keep your eyes on the city and its government, and continue to bring what you each has to offer to the table, and together we can make Valdosta a Strong Town.

Gary Wisenbaker Is So Wrong About Public Transportation

Gary Wisenbaker, commentary writer for ValdostaToday.com, had an op-ed in the Valdosta Daily Times, and a reprint at ValdostaToday.com, poo-pooing the notion of a public transportation system for Valdosta and Lowndes County. I found it telling that he had the opinion published the day before early voting started. It has become a campaign issue in this year's election, with both mayoral and a number of city council candidates expressing their support for a public transportation system, including myself.

Mr. Wisenbaker's chief beef it seems from what he wrote, is that it would

...expand the size and scope of government, [and] justify a multi-million dollar taxpayer subsidized public transportation system.

First, we already have a multi-million dollar, taxpayer funded transportation system that Mr. Wisenbaker uses every day without even thinking about it. It's our roads and streets. To Mr. Wisenbaker, and many that are still stuck in their thinking in the middle of the last century, when they think of transportation, they only think of their own transportation pods, i.e., cars. They want to get get from point A to point B as fast as possible in their cars, and they have no problem with taxpayers picking up the tab for that.

Our cities, Valdosta and Lowndes County included, have been built over the last fifty to seventy years to be auto-centric, not people-centric. This approach was pushed from the federal and state level, with easy money to be had by the local governments. It was easy money that financed new construction, but none for maintenance and rebuilding. It would produce some short term gains in growth and revenue, but it left the local governments with long term liabilities, on the tab for maintenance and replacement when the lifetime of the road wore out in about twenty five years. Many cities got themselves in financial trouble trying to merely keep up with what they had built this way. In fact, they couldn't keep up, and found themselves in real financial trouble. StrongTowns.org calls this a Ponzi Scheme.

Underlying Mr. Wisenbaker's argument is that he would require every resident of Valdosta to own a car. I assume that Mr. Wisenbaker is pretty affluent, and is quite able to handle the cost of auto ownership. He may not even personally know someone who can't afford the cost of owning an automobile. Yet there are many residents that are exactly in that position. Mr. Wisenbaker's solution is for them is to impose upon their family or friends for a ride to take them where they need to go. "If one doesn't own a car, they know someone who does," just doesn't cut it. This is especially true for people trying to claw their way up from the bottom of the economic ladder.

He argues, "Overall, labor availability (transportation) was not seen [by companies] as a concern - relatively easy to identify and hire labor for most common needs," especially since employers ask if one has reliable transportation. It weeds out those that don't at the very beginning. On the other hand, companies have been saying for years they want a transportation system.

 I would wager, Mr. Wisenbaker has never lived in a city with a public transportation system, and has never used one for him to write what he has written.  I grew up in a city with an extensive bus system. My mother road it for years to her job at the National Bank of Detroit. When I was thirteen, I got on the bus, and road it downtown to see the President of the United States come to Detroit to kick off his presidential campaign. I positioned myself next to the entrance of the Sheraton-Cadilllac hotel where I read he was coming and got to shake the hand of LBJ. Pretty cool for a thirteen year old. I have lived in New York, Boston, and Chicago, not to mention Atlanta, along with several cities in Japan, including Tokyo, and used public  transportation extensively.

It's about choices. Mr. Wisenbaker wants to leave us with one: own and drive a car. I believe we should have choices: walking, bicycling, public transportation, or a car, and that all choices should be allowed, thought of, and built for.

Lowndes County Democratic Party Meeting 03.02.15

It was a great meeting. I enjoyed hearing from the three panelists. I was surprised at the spontaneous discussion of the need for a public transportation system. Seems like it's an issue whose time has come. 

The idea of community developed internet also came up in the need for better internet speed that our duopoly of internet providers, AT&T and Mediacom, wish to offer, with the tech person as chief advocate. 

Check out this page: Download speeds: Singapore 111 Mb, Hong Kong 99 Mb, South Korea 96 Mb, US average 33, what AT&T/Mediacom offer us? 3.5 to 15 Mb, something like Belarus or Tajikistan.

Why should We, in Lowndes County, have to buy our electricity from Georgia Power when we could produce it Ourselves?

John Quarterman's post at On the LAKE Front, entitled "Tesla opening market for home solar batteries," inspired this response:

It would be great if we could build the network from the bottom up, beginning with individual property parcels, i.e. your home and land, especially in a combination of production and storage. There is no valid reason individuals should not be able to produce electricity and sell it on the open market, just like the big boys do. There should be no impediment to a farmer that would like to plant a field of solar panels, and reap the fruit of it, or an entrepreneur that stores power than sells it back, and makes a profit. Sounds like the ultimate in free enterprise to me.

Additionally, I believe communities should have the freedom to do this. I have often said Lowndes County could easily supply it's own electricity, along with selling excess on the open market, to such an extent that it could eliminate the need for certain taxes, or provide much more in services to its citizens. The citizens could set their own electrical rates in one model, even zero. Why should we, in Lowndes County, have to buy our electricity from Georgia Power, when we could produce it ourselves? Are we free, or a colony of some sort? 

Why Don't the Email Links Work?

I don't know what to think of this: I've just gone to the Georgia state website for the House of Representatives. Not a one of the links, "email So-and-So," works. You can get senator Ellis Black's email by going through their spam filter, but none of the house representatives worked. I tried Amy Carter (175), Jason Shaw (176), and John Corbett (174).

The Continuing Saga of the Transportation Bill - HB170

HB 170 has been passed out of subcommittee, and moves on to the full transportation committee. Passage of this bill would take twelve million dollars a year from Valdosta/Lowndes County in one fell swoop, to be spent up in Atlanta. It will force local governments to make up this shortfall, that is, increase taxes, or cut services severely.

This is NOT a good thing for us here in Valdosta and Lowndes County. In fact, it's pretty bad. I want to know if our Republican representatives are towing the party line on this, or are they going to bat for their constituents and resisting this money grab.

Yet More on the Transportation Bill

There's definitely some underhanded maneuvering going on in Atlanta right now regarding this "Transportation Bill," aka, HB170. I don't know who came up with this kakamaymee idea, but it might be good to know. 

Last Thursday, the Valdosta City Council passed a resolution against this bill. [The County Commission may do the same tonight. Forgot there was a meeting, so I'll have to wait for the Quarterman Report , that is, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE) ] It takes away a huge amount of money from us locally. Up to twelve million dollars a year. We, locally, would have to make up for it. The city and the county would have to raise taxes to replace that twelve million dollars that the state is unilaterally trying to appropriate for itself. Monies that were originally intended for the local area, Atlanta is trying to appropriate for itself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S5DyMODhmA#t=22

[Sorry, can't get the embed working. It's the County Commission talking about this subject, courtesy of LAKE.]

This is happening in our Republican controlled legislature. This is, evidently, what the Republicans want. Please call your representatives if you reject this bill. That would be State Rep. Dexter Sharper, Amy Alexander Carter, Jay Shaw, and Senator Ellis Black. These representatives need to realize what their constituents want. But they'll only know that if we tell them.

46 mins · Like · 

Valdosta Lowndes County Development Authority's,

formerly known as the Valdosta Lowndes County Industrial Authority, director, Andrea Schruijer, recently did an interview on Metro 17. Being the geek I am, I had to check it out. One thing I learned is that the VLCIA/VLDA claim 3280 jobs created in Lowndes County over the last ten years. I would like to know how many jobs were created in existing businesses over that time, along with how many shut their doors and the resulting job losses.

The Development Authority gets well over a million dollars a year from us taxpayers, for which we have received three hundred twenty eight jobs a year. We spend over three thousand dollars a year for every job the Development Authority says we gain through their efforts. I don't know. Do you think we're getting the bang for the buck?

That Didn't Take Long

The City Council meeting tonight went pretty fast. It was over by a quarter after six. One thing they did do was pass a resolution against the state transportation bill, HB170. The state is looking to take a billion dollars from cities and counties, not to mention schools and police departments. They'll claim they didn't raise taxes, and local politicians will take the heat when they have to to make up the shortfall. This is what the Republican legislative super majority is bringing us.

Here's the article at ValdostaToday.com

Potential issues related to its passing may come from part of the plan to fund about half the money ($500 million) for a new $0.06 a gallon local excise tax on gasoline.  This would be subject to approval locally, but would replace the current SPLOST initiatives many communities and local governments use to fund projects, when those SPLOST initiatives expire.  Lawmakers believe it may be a tough sell to get local communities to hand over their SPLOST money to state politicians and trust they will provide needed improvements. [Emphasis ed.]

Do ya think?  Tonight was a prime example of that.

That’s a neat trick: One billion dollars in new transportation money, without a tax hike? Really? No.

Jay Bookman, at the Atlanta Journal - Constitution, wrote,

That’s a neat trick: One billion dollars in new transportation money, without a tax hike? Really?No.Most of that money is generated through legislative sleight-of-hand. It takes somewhere between $550 million and $700 million a year in revenue sources traditionally used by local governments and converts that money into state transportation funds. In other contexts, you might call that stealing. In Georgia, it’s called leadership.You know what happens next: Local governments, their finances strapped by the recession, will raise other taxes to close the gaping hole left by the state’s raid. But the onus of raising those taxes will be put on county commissions, school boards and city councils, not state legislators. The state gets the revenue; local officials get the heat. It’s beautiful.

They're about to cut Valdosta and Lowndes County out of millions, mostly to benefit Atlanta. It will result in either higher taxes at the local level, or serious cuts in services rendered, including road repair. We must raise a stink with our state representatives.

Transportation Needs in Georgia and Lowndes County

Gary Wisenbaker, editorial director at ValdostaToday.com, I guess recently became aware of the problems of adequately funding our transportation infrastructure, writing about it in his editorial, "Transportation Needs and Funding."

"...there’s a few billion dollars’ shortfall in meeting Georgia’s transportation needs. Indeed, this was the reason given for creation of the TSC; somebody needed to look into the matter... Which, of course, begs the question as to what, exactly, has the Georgia House and Senate transportation and appropriations committees, as well as GDOT and the governor’s office, been doing all these years?"

 Mr. Wienbaker goes on to list what "they've" been doing:

• "They've been siphoning off the fourth penny of the gasoline tax and putting it in the state's general fund,"
• "They've failed to index the gasoline tax to inflation,"
• "They've failed to recognize alternative fuel vehicles also use the states [roads] and ought to pitch in for their maintenance,"
• "They've failed to realize Uncle Sam's 'stimulus money' [] might one day run out,"
• "They failed to consider the prospects of a depleted US Highway Trust Fund account."

All of this is very true, but, the "they" that Mr. Wisenbaker refers to are his beloved republicans in the state house up in Atlanta, and in D.C. for the last one. 

The larger truth is, states and localities throughout the country are struggling with this very same issue. Most, like Mr. Wisenbaker, assume it's a matter of adequate funding. However, there are those that break from the general consensus and say the problem lies in the pattern of development we've had since World War II, what in some circles is known as the Great Experiment of Suburbanization, or more commonly, called sprawl.  The greater problem is that our pattern of development has a design flaw, based as it is in an automobile-centric design. Atlanta is a prime example of this problem. If you've been in Atlanta lately, you know what I'm talking about.

Chuck Marohn, of Strong Towns, USA, writes in his book, "Thoughts on Building Strong Towns, Vol 1,"

Following World War II, the United States embarked on a great social and financial experiment that we know as suburbanization. It created tremendous growth, opportunity and prosperity for a generation of Americans who had just lived through economic depression and war. What we seemingly didn't stop to consider at the time was that the way we were building our places - spread out across the landscape - would be extremely expensive to sustain, far greater than the relative wealth the approach would generate.

While we financed the first life cycle of the suburban expansion with savings and investment, we financed the second by taking on debt. Entering into the third life cycle, our need to keep everything going became so desperate that we allowed our financing to become predatory. We're now at the end of this experiment, unable to prop it up or keep it going. We desperately need to find a different approach.

He has called this pattern, for all intents and purposes, a Ponzi Scheme from which we need to free ourselves.

From a book by Andres Duaney, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck called "Suburban Nation:"

"Suburban sprawl, now the standard North American pattern of growth, ignores historical precedent and human experience. It is an invention, conceived by architects, engineers, and planners, and promoted by developers in the great sweeping aside of the old that occurred after the Second World War. Unlike the traditional neighborhood model, which evolved organically as a response to human needs, suburban sprawl is an idealized artificial system. It is not without a certain beauty: it is rational, consistent, and comprehensive. Its performance is largely predictable. It is an outgrowth of modern problem solving: a system for living. Unfortunately this system is already showing itself to be unsustainable. Unlike the traditional neighborhood, sprawl is not healthy growth; it is essentially self-destructive. Even at relatively low population densities, sprawl tends not to pay for itself financially and consumes land at an alarming rate, while producing insurmountable traffic problems and exacerbating social inequity and isolation. These particular outcomes were not predicted. Neither was the toll sprawl exacts from America's cities and towns, which continue to decant into the countryside. As the ring of suburbia grows around most of our cities, so grows the void at the center."

Even in Valdosta and Lowndes County, we can see this happening. Our public officials, at both the city and county levels, would do well by their citizens to heed these principles, taking them into consideration when they think and talk about transportation.