Tag Archives: drainage ditch

Personnel and trash at Valdosta City Council 2022-08-11

It wasn’t us this time.

Council Sandra Tooley brought up trash, Click ‘n’ Fix, and Valdosta’s favorite excuse for not doing much: “we’re short on staff“ and “A lot of people have a lot of things going on in their departments.” This was in the last five minutes of the August 11, 2022, Valdosta City Council meeting.

[Council Sandra Tooley requests Executive Session about personnel and trash]
Council Sandra Tooley requests Executive Session about personnel and trash

The Mayor said they had a request for an Executive Session, and asked for a motion. Council Tim Carroll wondered why.

Council Sandra Tooley explained, “Citizens have come to me, and they have this thing they like to say, that we do not have enough staff, that we’re short on staff, that we’re not getting things done.”

See for yourself in this excerpt of Valdosta’s own facebook live video of the meeting. Continue reading →

Floating trash in cypress swamp below VLPRA HQ in Valdosta 2022-04-13

Update 2022-08-17: Refurbished Pepsi Adopt-A-Spot sign, Barack Obama Blvd., Valdosta, GA 2022-08-17.

I was told Monday that Valdosta Stormwater had cleaned up at least some of the trash in the two-acre swamp the City of Valdosta owns just south of Parks and Rec. Headquarters on Barack Obama Boulevard.

I’ll give it an A for effort and a C- for effectiveness. They cut in from the side, apparently cleaned up what was right along the edge, and left masses of trash in the water.

[Swamp, path, trash, Adopt-A-Spot]
Swamp, path, trash, Adopt-A-Spot

I could wade to much of the remaining trash with my ordinary mud boots. Why they couldn’t do that, or use waders and nets, is mysterious.

I don’t understand a Stormwater Division that is afraid of water. This is not like the real danger of cleaning up in a flowing river with deadfalls that could suck you under. This is a still swamp with no current and no more than two feet deep.

And a swamp still full of trash that washes down One Mile Branch into the Withlacoochee River, past the future site of Troupville River Camp. Welcome, campers!

I get it that Stormwater needs more funding and people to do larger things such as more regular cleanups and trash traps. And yes, the City Council needs to allocate funds and direction for such things. We’re working on that. But how much can some waders and nets cost? Continue reading →