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Milledgeville Baldwin County Master Plan
Ever wonder why local residents get very little credit?
While everything is downsizing, Milledgeville and Baldwin County Georgia is creating a master plan. I wonder why so few people know about it? Why is not most wanting to copy it? Why is Milledgeville copying someone else?
Most don’t even know where Milledgeville, GA is, unless they have someone mentally ill or incarcerated. Well, Milledgeville is about 30 miles north and east of the town Oprah visited, Macon, Ga. Plus, it is my hometown.
We have a major project going and that project is to give the housing authorities a major face lift. Basically, the major face lift consist of cutting down 100 plus year old trees, planting new ones and laying high dollar sod. Now, this is a major operation taking place in low income areas.
So while waiting on some of the wood to cook with, I was talking with some of the residents. He told me that it did not make any sense. "While these buildings are more than 50 years old and not up to code. That instead of replacing cut down trees with sod and nice looking plants, the money would have been better spent bringing these low income homes up to code". For more than 50 years these low income homes have been occupied by different families going through financial crisis and have never been remodeled. You can only imagine the state of disrepair, when the only repairs have been patching holes and painting after a family has moved out? Some of the trees were fruit bearing trees which local residents used to make a little money.
At that time, one of the up and coming local politicians came up to observe the wood cutting operation, which was out of control. Afterwards, we had the opportunity to chat. I addressed these issues to him and he told me about the long term plans. That these projects were being done with stimulus money and there was not enough stimulus money to bring all homes up to code, so they opted to spend the money on the grounds and gardens, which would better serve all people. Further, he told this with great pride and confidence and he kind of scolded us for not knowing the master plan. Well, he was sold and there was no way to change his mind. Then, he referred us to the Milledgeville Master Plan.
You can tell he was only telling what he had been told. So feeling a bit out done, I came home and took a look at the Milledgeville Master Plan.
COMMUNITY AGENDA The purpose of the Community Agenda is to lay out a road map for the community’s future, developed through a very public process of involving community leaders and stakeholders in making key decisions about the future of the community. The Community Agenda is the most important part of the plan, for it includes the community’s vision for the future, key issues and opportunities it chooses to address during the planning period, and its implementation program for achieving this vision and addressing the identified issues and opportunities. The Community Agenda is intended to generate local pride and enthusiasm about the future of the community, thereby making citizens wish to ensure that the plan is implemented. The Community Agenda includes the three required components addressed below: Community Vision, Community Issues and Opportunities, and the Implementation Program. Politics-as-usual!
After a quick review, I could see it was just like the projects, the master plan only benefits those working it and those working it are not local residents. As matter of fact, as a result of the master plan, costs are going to skyrocket for local residents. ""thereby making citizens wish to ensure that the plan is implemented"". We are making plans for empty old state buildings when low income housing is substandard.
In the projects, residents are and will not benefit from stimulus money. These outside Makeovers will only cause utility bills to skyrocket, while stimulus monies are being paid to outside contractors hired to do the work, that does nothing to change the hot miserable quality of life for residents. They do nothing to help combat high utility bills. I and family members have lived in these projets for more than twenty years. Further, putting in expensive sod, without sprinkler systems is a waste of time.
Priorities are out of order by investing monies into yards and gardens, when homes are in poor state of repair. As you are going through your financial crisis, would you rather have a well manicured yard while living in low income housing that are not up to code, with a promise that with additional stimulus money we will remodel homes that haven't been remodeled in over 50 years or just the reverse, a little at the time? What's going to happen to all those manicured yards when you start to renovate housing?
Well, it is the same with the Milledgeville Master Plan. These state run buildings and more than 1500 acres of land have run their course. They have served their purposes, purposes that were created over an extended period of time. Facilities that we closed in the blink of an eye because we could no longer afford to operate them. Look what kind of end to which they came.
Further, with the current state of the economy, where are we going to get much needed monies to implement this master plan that has nothing to do with meeting the basic needs of the people? This job thing has been sucked for all it is worth and so far, we have screwed it up every time. All we want to do is to sell you something made somewhere else. Between phone calls, junk emails and junk postal mail, I get literally 100 messages a day offering me something I cannot afford. What is the message behind the message?
Why would someone in Atlanta be more concerned about the business in Milledgeville than the people of Milledgeville? Why are we paying someone in Atlanta to come up with a Master Plan for the people of Milledgeville?
Under current plans, who benefits most from stimulus packages, local residents or outside contractors? Who can do the better job for less, local residents or outside contractors? Who gets the credit?
Guess we'll have to come up with a new master plan, one of our own?
The above photos are of gardens created by local residents prior to the major facelift. These gardens were created by normally one person. The creator of a couple of these gardens is wheel chair bound and on the back of his wheel chair it says, "I am a winner". Why does it take all these outside people and money to create beautiful living areas?
The photo below is the end result after outside contractors completed the work and stimulus monies spent. Can you see how the quality of life has changed for local residents? They are still too hot and miserable to be comfortable inside. Some can't even afford fans, in houses I consider substandard by today's standards.
You know it's bad when you start seeing cops in your neighborhood. What about if all you ever see them do is blow people down. Either they are chasing people, staked out, stiching or casing the joint or giving a ticket. I mean in your neighborhood you never see your local cop doing anything good.
Well, if you weren't doing anything wrong, why would you worry?
Do you see your local cops in a friendly way? If you do, then I commend your community and your cops.
It's all about how you do your job?
Good cops help to make good, strong communities. People when taken advantage of, depend on them to make good, sound, ethical decision, in the heat of battle.
While our soldiers are defending our country, what are our cops doing? Are our cops actually protecting an serving the people or just trying to bust criminals? What kind of parent would you be if all you did was bust your children? What kind of community? If you are not in control, then who is? Police yourself.
your inner voice.com
your inner voice.com
