Friday, May 29, 2009

Adult Literacy Funding not done yet

Several off-the-record conversations have led me to believe that the Adult Literacy initiative that was born out of Baldwin 20/20 and is being championed by Maj. Gen. Peter Boylan (ret.) will not be without funding from the City of Milledgeville.
The $5,000 initially budgeted for funding the city's end of the Adult Literacy initiative was about the only thing this reporter saw stripped from what City Manager Scott Wood characterized as a healthy FY2010 budget.
And furthermore, this reporter saw some poignant finger pointing going on after City Council passed it's roughly $20.7 million budget Tuesday without the adult literacy funding in tact.
Not to let the details out yet, but this sounds like it could be a sweetheart story for those persons who've seen fit to make it happen.

Milledgeville Ex-Pat washes ashore

Heather Holder was back in the State's Antebellum Capital again last week, and I think we'll be seeing a lot more of her soon.
Holder was one of two candidates making the final round of interviews for the director position on Georgia College & State University's John S. and James L. Knight Foundation funded Digital Bridges initiative.
You might remember that Holder is available following her brief run as President of New Town Macon, a downtown development kind of thing similar to MainStreet Milledgeville.
With Holder's experience in Milledgeville and her penchant for making things happen, she'll be hard to beat for the top wireless position. Whomever the chosen one is, they're expected to begin work next week.
Stay tuned for more details.

The Griff, above and below the fold


Former Mayor Floyd Griffin pulled headlines in both Baldwin County papers this week. And if that wasn't enough, he'll be appearing again this weekend on WMAZ's "Close Up with Randall Savage" Saturday at noon and if you really must, Sunday at 6:30 a.m.
To the right is a picture of the Griff providing 12th District U.S. Rep. John Barrow with a copy of his autobiography "Legacy to Legend: Winners Make It Happen."
Griffin was actually giving Barrow a book as a barter for Milledgeville's Congressman to slip a copy of the book under President Barack Obama's door at the White House. I had another shot of Griffin showing the long inscription he wrote to the First Couple. He also included some local clips about last year's Presidential Election with the autobiography.
I got a look at the clips and the U-R's coverage did not make the cut, but of course we didn't explicitly link Floyd to the then soon-to-be Commander in Chief.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

I wonder if they'll extend these new rules to Peach Pundit as well?

The Telegraph had this story on their site today (or some other time, I don't really keep track).
Funny.
I really should research more about the rules for commenting at Milledgeville City Council meetings. You never hear the random thoughts of our fellow citizens in Asylum City on a Tuesday night. And you hardly ever see them show up on Tuesday Night, either.
I for one wouldn't mind getting an earfull from joe citizen.
I mean heck, I expect that I'm not doing anything else that evening.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Truth Revealed

Nevermind the post below. This is much better.
Thank you Blake Odd

Bleeding Red, White & Blue

Expect the chest beating and saber rattling to begin shortly

Friday, May 15, 2009

Milledgeville Ex-Pats afloat again

The Telegraph had this to say about former M'ville MainStreet Director Heather Holder.
Seems a bit sudden, but there seems to be a tempest brewing over at our neighbor to the west in regard to tourism development.
To bolster my argument, I'll point you in this direction.
Not to say that the Convention & Visitors Bureaus and MainStreet/New Towns of the world are necessarily intertwined, but I believe that downtown development and tourism share some common interests.
But another thing about the first story, it seems that both Milledgeville Ex-pats, Holder and Lindsay Hornsby (M'ville MainStreet's former number 2), will be in the job market soon. I know that Hornsby's old job is open. And Holder's name made a cameo at this week's City Council meeting in reference to Frank Pendergast's Community Development Block Grant proposal.
Needless to say, a recession is a terrible thing to waste.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

It Is Only A Paper Moon

I'm just going to believe that Governor Sonny Perdue signed Milledgeville's hotel/motel excise tax and the Milledgeville-Baldwin County Public Health Facilities Authority bills into law after reading our blog here.
But however it really happened, it did.

Overwhelming Unsupport

During an interview about Baldwin County Commissioners' Town Hall Meeting concerning proposed curbside pickup for solid waste, Commission Chair James "Bubba" Williams told me that the volume of calls he's received about the proposal has exceeded the number of calls he used to receive about rising property values on Lake Sinclair.
And not one call has been in support of proposal, he said.
Williams said that "with this type of overwhelming unsupport, it doesn't require a genius to interpret the desires of Baldwin residents."
(And yes, he said "overwhelming unsupport," for lack of a better term.)
County Commissioners will host a town hall meeting Thursday at the Walter B. Williams Rec Center to solicit ideas on solid waste collection and other ways the county can save monies to avoid a property tax increase in the coming fiscal year.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Little Love for the former State Capital

Governor Sonny Perdue signed a number of pieces of local legislation into law last week, as evidenced by this press release that you can read here.
Of the long list of local legislation signed into law last week, the Governor saw fit to sign one piece recognizing the Milledgeville Mayor's 2009 Commission on Youth Leadership, one of three pieces of Milledgeville-Baldwin County legislation that passed the General Assembly during the last session.
The two other pieces of legislation include authorizing local authorities to increase the local hotel/motel excise tax up to 8 percent to fund improvements to Milledgeville's Historic District and another bill to create a Milledgeville-Baldwin County Public Health Facilities Authority, which would act as a vehicle for creating a bond issuance should Baldwin County be chosen as the location for the state's proposed forensics hospital.
Now I haven't confirmed this date, but I believe that the 40-day time period, in which the Governor must sign legislation into law or it goes into effect automatically, ends Wednesday. I can't imagine that he'd veto these pieces of local legislation, but I wouldn't surprise me if he doesn't sign them either.
Oh yeah, and where is that writ of election?

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Fall Line Freeway inches closer

The AJC gave mad shout outs to Middle Georgia's WunderRoad Tuesday in this story about stimulus funding for Georgia's transportation system.
"The most expensive project on Perdue’s list Tuesday was a $48 million project to build part of the Fall Line Freeway in Wilkinson County in Middle Georgia."
The story says Perdue's office is "95 percent there" in determining shovel-ready projects to fund with the state's $187 million share in roads funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
If it makes the cut, the Fall Line Freeway will be about 95 percent into Baldwin County, but who knows where the funding to actually build it into Baldwin will come from.
Don't exhale just yet.