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The nomination period for Community Heros has closed. An internal team will review all the submissions and identify a winner per category. Winners for each category will be announced at a special event in November. Details on this event are to come.Winners for each category will be announced at a special event in November. Details on this event are to come.
Albany Police Department Officer Travis Goodson, known for his national #hugacopchangetheworld campaign and for giving awards to people doing good work in the community, presented his second City of Heroes award to developer Pace Burt Jr. After coming across the website of Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a nonprofit based in the Midwest that builds bunk beds for children in need, Burt said he decided to bring the idea to…
Albany Police Department Officer Travis Goodson, known for his national #hugacopchangetheworld campaign and for giving awards to people doing good work in the community, presented his second City of Heroes award to developer Pace Burt Jr. After coming across the website of Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a nonprofit based in the Midwest that builds bunk beds for children in need, Burt said he decided to bring the idea to Albany.
“(Sleep in Heavenly Peace’s) whole story was just about how children actually sleep on the floor and how getting a child up off the floor helps them with their dignity and their health and just overall well-being,” the developer said. “And you (look at) Albany with a 30-something, 40 percent poverty level that you obviously don’t need to look too far to realize you had that problem here.”
Worried about the price of assembling and delivering bunk beds, Burt said he turned to Robert Brooks, the CEO of Albany-based Brooks Furniture, for assistance.
“I told him what I wanted to do,” Burt said. “He called back and said, ‘I can get you a really nice bunk bed, mattress and everything, for $350.’ So I said, ‘I want 100 of them,’ and he was willing to set them up and deliver them for free, which is huge.”
Burt added that he funded the project for a year. He added that he reached out to several other organizations, and Girls Inc. and Boys & Girls Clubs of Albany expressed interest in helping with the project. He said he has since turned over most of the operations to Boys & Girls Clubs of Albany, which has renamed the program “Sweet Dreams.”
Read the full story here, from The Albany Herald.
PART I:
Albany and Dougherty County government officials have over recent years been at odds over issues that affect both. And members of the community have often expressed their displeasure with both city and county groups.
But the feeling of unity, of commonality of purpose, was palpable at the downtown Convention and Visitors Bureau on Friday as some of the heaviest of…
PART I:
Albany and Dougherty County government officials have over recent years been at odds over issues that affect both. And members of the community have often expressed their displeasure with both city and county groups.
But the feeling of unity, of commonality of purpose, was palpable at the downtown Convention and Visitors Bureau on Friday as some of the heaviest of heavy hitters from local government and of community stakeholders gathered to announce a five-year plan to build out the Flint River Trails system.
The group also announced the formation of a Friends of the Flint River Trails group that, according to Friends member and Dougherty County Attorney Spencer Lee, has established a goal of helping find the funding needed to accommodate the five-year build-out plan.
“This is not a pig in a poke anymore,” Lee said near the end of Friday’s meeting. “We’ve been talking about doing this for more than 20 years. We’re through talking. You can call this our jumping-off point.”
Among the presenters at Friday’s public announcement/news conference were Albany Mayor Dorothy Hubbard, Dougherty County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas, Friends of the Flint River Trails President Lonnie Wormley, Albany/Dougherty Planning Services Director — and long-time trail advocate — Paul Forgey, South Georgia Rails to Trails President Bo Johnson, Albany City Manager Sharon Subadan, Albany State University interim President Marion Fedrick, Albany Area Chamber of Commerce President and University System Regent Barbara Rivera Holmes, interim County Administrator Mike McCoy, Dougherty County Engineer Jeremy Brown and Chehaw Executive Director Don Meeks.
Each spoke of specific elements of the trail system and the effect it will have on the community and the region.
“This is a puzzle that has many parts and has required time, planning and resources to make it come together,” Hubbard said. “We are here today because many people have worked to bring these parts together to benefit the future of our city, our county and our region.”
Cohilas too spoke of the unity that had been required for the Flint River Trails picture to come into focus.
“Too long our community has lived divided,” Cohilas said. “I’m proud today to be a part of a plan that literally connects us. I’m proud that this plan takes us through areas that had become blighted and areas that were devastated by natural disasters. This truly is a project for all of Albany and Dougherty County.”
Over the course of the event, presenters outlined the disparate elements of the trail system that, when completed, will stretch from Radium Springs and Putney in southern Dougherty County to Chehaw park at the northern end of the county. The trail system, whose hub sits downtown and extends in all directions, will encompass waterways, various parks in the community, Albany State University, the Paul Eames Sports Complex, Chehaw, health care facilities in Albany and Lee County, and stretch westward from downtown Albany to Sasser, 13.6 miles away.
In all, the trail system’s nine segments will incorporate all or parts of 1,560 acres of greenspace along the Flint River; walking trails along land that once was the Radium Springs Golf Course; and the 13-plus-mile rail trail that runs from downtown Albany, through Lee County, into Terrell County and finally terminates in Sasser. That small community has already secured a $100,000 grant to construct a trailhead at the terminus, and Dougherty County has been granted $200,000 for a similar structure at Radium Springs.
Johnson said, ironically, that South Georgia Rails to Trails was formed 20 years ago, in 1998, in an effort to make happen what is now taking place.
“I want to commend the leadership of the communities and agencies involved for having the vision to see the benefits this trail system will have for our entire community and region,” Johnson said. “Our trail emanates downtown, but it encompasses two neighboring counties in our MSA. And, I can tell you those folks are on board. The people in Sasser can’t wait to get started.
“You look at what just this one part of the trail encompasses: through the farmland of Terrell County, out to that Oakland development in Lee County that is exploding, past the new Lee hospital, bringing in Phoebe North and connecting to downtown. We with South Georgia Rails to Trails are quite proud to have gotten this conversation started. We think we’re kind of the catalysts for this, and we’re proud of that.”
Money, the assemblage agreed, will be the primary factor moving forward. In addition to the $300,000 in trailhead grants, the University System Board of Regents has pledged $750,000 as part of the $1.75 million project to connect Albany State with the trail system. Dougherty County has earmarked the other $1 million in SPLOST funds to complete that project.
The city of Albany, as part of its agreement in purchasing the Albany-to-Sasser rail trail for utility uses, will spend an as-yet undetermined sum to build a 12-foot-wide asphalt walking trail on the 13 miles of the railway. City officials estimated the cost of that trail at around a million dollars five years ago.
“Frankly, I think those estimates were low,” Subadan said Friday. “I’m reluctant right now to commit to a figure, and, of course, the talk of return-on-investment for utility uses covering the city’s cost of building the trail is based on long-term usage. But we feel that we have a fiscal plan in place to ensure that the city meets its commitment to build the trail.”
Fedrick said the ASU-to-downtown and ASU-to-Radium Springs segments of the trail system will at last allow for the long-term goal of connecting the university with other parts of the community.
“This is but one effort to make that happen, but it’s a big one,” the ASU president said. “I think all of us share the idea that we want our students to be part of this community, not just part of the college.”
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PART II:
Just as downtown Albany is considered the “hub” of an in-the-works city revitalization project, the downtown district is also the hub from which segments of the Flint River Trails System originate and extend into all parts of the community.
Downtown Albany already is home to the 2-mile-plus Riverwalk, which snakes alongside the Flint River to Cleve Cox Landing in the northern portion of the city. A project is in the planning stages currently to tie Albany State University southward to Radium Springs and northwestward to the city’s downtown district.
But perhaps the most compelling component of the 20-mile-plus Flint River Trails system is the Albany-to-Sasser rail trail project whose history dates back 20 years. The president of the South Georgia Rails to Trails Inc. organization spoke proudly of that history during a news conference held by stakeholders to announce plans to build out the trail system over a five-year period.
“We’re quite proud to have got this conversation started, and it’s a conversation that’s been going on now for more than 20 years,” Billups “Bo” Johnson said. “We’ve gone through a lot over those 20 years to get to this point, but I think we’re here now because of leadership that sees the benefits of this trail.”
The Rails to Trails group attempted to create a trail along the 13.6-mile rail bed that starts in downtown Albany and continues to the tiny Sasser community in Terrell County. Along the way, it runs through strategic segments of Albany, Dougherty, Lee and Terrell counties. Their talks, while generating often heated discussion in the community, got nowhere for years and became something of a dead issue.
But the concept of developing a trail along the rail bed resurfaced in 2014 when a new set of city leaders saw uses far beyond those proposed by the rails to trails group.
“One day, Col. Jim Taylor, who was city manager at the time, and Mr. Tom Berry, who was our interim utilities director, were discussing the future of our (city-owned) utilities,” Hubbard said. “Later, in September of 2014, Mr. Berry led a discussion of benefits that might come from that land along the trail. We all knew the possible health, social and economic development benefits of the trail, but we started talking about possible utilities benefits.”
“The City Commission gave Mr. Berry and Col. Taylor the go-ahead to continue that investigation and, in April of 2015, at their urging, the commission signed an agreement to purchase the rail trail property. As part of that agreement, South Georgia Rails to Trails would maintain and manage the property, and the city would build a 13-mile-long, 12-foot-wide asphalt walking, biking, hiking trail the length of the property.”
In making that agreement, the city paid $150,000 for the property and agreed to build the trail within five years, making the due date April of 2020. Early estimates were that the trail would cost around $1 million, but Berry told city commissioners that the city would easily make that money back in additional utilities revenue generated through access to the property.
Subadan, Albany’s current city manager, acknowledge that the city has laid gas and fiber lines along trail property, some of which is already bringing additional income to the city. Future growth along the trail, especially near the Oakland development in southern Lee County, is expected to offer additional utilities opportunities that would connect with the infrastructure now in place.
“What we like to say with that rail trail is there will be work underground and play aboveground,” Subadan said. “We’ve been able to bring new gas customers online already, and there is promise of future utilities growth. Certainly measuring return-on-investment (to recoup costs to build the trail) is a long-term thing. I believe early estimates of the cost of that trail were low, but the city has a plan in place that will ensure that we meet our commitment to build the trail.”
Once that trail stretches through Terrell and Lee counties and comes into Albany and Dougherty county, it will run adjacent to both the pending Lee County Medical Center and Phoebe North health care facilities, run near the Walmart and other shopping outlets on both the Lee and Dougherty sides of Ledo Road, connect with downtown Albany’s Tift Park and tie in with the Riverwalk near the Thronateeska Heritage Center.
“Certainly the utilities piece is important to the city’s future economic growth, but it can’t be overstated the other benefits that will come from the trail,” Subadan said. “From a quality-of-life standpoint, the potential is unlimited. There are the health benefits of being active along the trail, but there’s also the reality that the trail will bring people downtown, increase tourism, lead to more economic development along the trail and enhance Albany’s reputation as a great place to live, work, stay and play.”
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PART III:
In action that mirrors that of the Friends of the Greenbelt Trail in Carrollton, recognized by many as the state’s “gold standard” for trail systems, officials in Albany and Dougherty County announced Friday at a news conference the official “coming out” of the Friends of the Flint River Trails.
The Friends of the Flint River Trail’s 13-member board will, according to some of those members, be advocates to secure funding and construction of the trail’s nine segments over the next five years.
“We’re here to secure the framework that will allow us to coordinate these projects,” Friends President Lonnie Wormley said at the news conference.
The genesis of the Friends group — which includes Wormley, vice president Rachelle Bitterman, secretary-treasurer Rachelle Beasley and members Chris Cohilas, Paul Forgey, Dorothy Hubbard, Marvin Laster, Spencer Lee, Michael McCoy, Michael Persley, Kevin Sproul, Sharon Subadan and Jacquelyn Teemer — came in 2017 when most of those members served as the implementation team for the Flint River Trails Master Plan.
It was incorporated as a not-for-profit organization to bridge the interest of the public and private sectors, generate public support and increase usage of the trail system.
“Look out that window there,” Lee said to the group gathered at the Front Street Convention and Visitors Bureau adjacent to the Flint. “Every community in this state would love to lasso that river and take it with them to their city.”
Under the Friends’ guidance, a plan is being developed to find funding for the trail system that will run the length of Dougherty County, north to south, and from downtown Albany westward through Lee County into Terrell County and to Sasser.
Some $300,000 in grant money has already been secured for the trail, while the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents has pledged $750,000 and the Dougherty County Commission $1 million to complete the segment of the trail that connects Albany State University with downtown Albany.
Asked about additional funding outside the public sector, Cohilas said the plan now in place will allow the Friends of the Flint River Trails to seek private funds.
“It’s important for the private sector to see the public sector, through the city and county governments, put a plan together,” Cohilas, the Dougherty County Commission’s chairman, said. “We’ve done that. As the various parts of the plan started coming together, there was a need for a master plan. The County Commission saw that need and agreed to finance that part of the system.
“To have a true public-private partnership, you have to demonstrate you have a plan and the capability of implementing that plan. We’re committed at some point in the process to asking the private sector to get involved.”
Hubbard, Albany’s mayor, noted another benefit of having a master plan in place and starting the process of building out sections of the trail.
“As you know, we’ve already secured two grants for trailheads,” Hubbard said. “As we move forward with the plan, there will be more grant opportunities.”
Chehaw park Executive Director Don Meeks noted that businessman Pace Burt, as an amenity for residents who have moved downtown to his Flats @ 249 development, has already put up seed money to develop a mountain bike trail on land between Chehaw and downtown Albany.
“There has been a desire to have a mountain bike trail, but there has always been a need for funding,” Meeks said. “Pace Burt came up with the seed money to make that happen. Now, our staff has developed a partnership with Pace to take on the task of building the mountain bike trail.
“So, there already is private funding that’s a part of this process.”
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PART IV:
As he talked about the significance of the role Albany State University will play in development of the Flint River Trails, Dougherty County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas noted how, over the years, tragedies involving ASU students being hit by vehicles while attempting to cross busy Oglethorpe Boulevard became all too common.
Development of the trail element that will connect Albany State’s East Campus with downtown Albany is, Cohilas noted, a vital step in not only fostering the “college town” culture long sought by school and community officials but also in ensuring the safety of college students at the university.
“The safety of our students is one more reason this partnership with the city, the county, Albany State and the University System of Georgia Board of Regents is a win-win-win all around,” Cohilas said.
ASU interim President Marion Fedrick and Regent Barbara Rivera Holmes, who is also the president of the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce, lauded the $1.75 million ASU-downtown connector project as vital to the continued growth of the university.
“As we continue to make changes at Albany State University that will allow our students to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world, it is vital that we continue the connectivity that allows our students to feel more like a part of this community, not just part of the college,” Fedrick said.
Holmes said the Board of Regents agreed to donate a significant sum to the trail project to enhance the quality of life of ASU students.
“For our students at Albany State and for the city of Albany, this is one more feather in our cap as we continue to work to grow and build a stronger community,” she said.
The Dougherty County Commission has earmarked $1 million in SPLOST funds that, with the $750,000 investment by the Board of Regents, will allow for completion of a 1.7-mile multiuse trail. The 12-foot-wide concrete trail is expected to run along the berm between the ASU campus and the Flint River and continue underneath both the Oglethorpe and Broad Avenue Memorial bridges. That element assures the safety that Cohilas spoke of.
After continuing under the bridges, the trail is projected to loop back up to Broad Avenue on the north side of the Memorial Bridge, providing students safe access not only to the downtown region that is currently under renovation, but also to the Riverwalk that will, eventually connect downtown — and Albany State — to Chehaw park.
“One of the regrets many of us have is the absence of a ‘college feel’ when it comes to Albany State’s relationship with the city of Albany and the rest of the community,” Cohilas said. “This connection, this joining of the ASU campus and the renovated downtown district, is the kind of thing that provides what’s long been a missing element.”
While the trail segment that connects Albany State with downtown Albany and points north and west is recognized as vital to the Flint River Trails system, ASU will also be connected to a highly regarded recreational element of the trail system to its south, the under-progress Radium Springs element.
Dougherty County Public Works employees have begun work on the 6 miles of trails in and around Radium Springs that will be part of the overall trail system. The project at Radium will encompass Radium Gardens and a planned natural disaster memorial, plus miles of interconnecting trails on property that once was the Radium Golf Course. Other amenities that will be a part of the Radium Springs portion of the trail include an observation deck that looks out on the Flint River and a trailhead along the area that was the site of the golf course’s clubhouse.
“We are fortunate that former ASU President Art Dunning and now Ms. Fedrick worked with the Board of Regents to secure a large portion of the funding that has allowed us to move forward with the planning and engineering for the portion of the trail that will connect the campus with our downtown,” Albany Mayor Dorothy Hubbard said. “That’s one of the ways we will be able to finance the trail system, by being creative in our search for funding sources.”
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PART V:
As Dougherty County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas reminded stakeholders and media representatives at a recent news conference, the devastation wrought by 2017 storms on Radium Springs has done little to diminish the natural beauty of the area.
That’s one of the primary reasons county officials, and the Flint River Trails implementation team, stressed the value of including Radium Springs in the trail system that stretches the north-south length of the county and westward from downtown Albany to Sasser in Terrell County.
“There’s a reason that place was referred to as one of the seven scenic natural wonders of Georgia,” Cohilas said. “And, yes, that whole area around Radium Springs was devastated by the Jan. 22 (2017) tornado. But I don’t look at that as an impediment. I see it as an opportunity.”
Dougherty County Engineer Jeremy Brown gave stakeholders an overview of the work being done in the Radium Springs area in the lead-up to the trails project that will connect Radium with Albany State University.
“We’ve already dug a retention pond out there that has a path around it, and we have some trails in place that people utilize now, so Radium is something of a destination already before all the pieces of the trail system are interconnected,” Brown said. “There are about six miles of hiking trails that will be located on property that once was the Radium Golf Course, and there will be a trailhead where the old clubhouse used to be.
“We’re already out there clearing land and working to develop the walking trails. There’s a lot of excitement about that project already. Pretty much any day you go out there, you’ll see work going on.”
Dougherty County applied for and was awarded a $200,000 Department of Natural Resources grant to develop the trailhead.
“The trail will bring people to Radium Gardens, which is already heavily utilized,” Cohilas added. “The county has been fortunate enough, through the efforts of our Greenspace Committee, to acquire a tremendous amount of greenspace property that we’re able to convert into beautiful segments of the trail.
“There is also a plan to build an observation deck at a strategic site that gives you a view of the Flint in both directions.”
The County Commission, which with the city of Albany and other stakeholders has been instrumental in development — and funding — of the trail master plan, also voted earlier this year to build a memorial adjacent to Radium Gardens recognizing the resiliency of the people of the county as they rebuilt after 500-year floods in 1994 and 1998 and the 2017 tornado that killed five people in the county.
On Tuesday afternoon, as county Public Works personnel worked on the Radium grounds, Suntania Livingston and her daughters — Diamond Bronner, 15, Destiny Bronner, 13, and Desire’ Livingston, 9, as well as her niece, Zion Cross, 7 — were making good use of the walking paths already in place.
“We live in Putney, and we utilize a lot of the parks around Albany,” Suntania Livingston said as she and her older daughters took a break from their walk/run progress along the paths. “I’m a big advocate of healthy living; I’ve lost 50 pounds since I’ve been exercising in our area parks.”
Livingston said she’s excited that officials have formalized plans to complete the trail system throughout the county.
“I’ve been reading about that,” she said. “I think it’s a beautiful thing. It’s something that all the people in Dougherty County can take advantage of. To think that we’ll have the opportunity to take advantage of a trail system that goes all throughout Albany and Dougherty county — to Albany state, here to Radium, to all of the parks even out to Chehaw and on to Sasser — that’s just a wonderful thing.”
Cohilas, too, lauded the “connectivity” of the trail plan as the Friends of the Flint River Trails, city and county governments, and private stakeholders work to finance and build out the trail system in five years.
“Too long, our community has been divided,” he said. “I’m proud to be a part of a plan that literally connects us as a community.”
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PART VI:
While each of the nine segments of the planned Flint River Trails System is crucial to the overall development in its own way, it’s the proposed connection to Chehaw park that is easily one of the plums of the trail master plan.
The segment is only a mile long, but it’s one of those golden miles that could open up all kinds of opportunities for the trail system.
“The question has always been, how do we extend the trail across (busy) Philema Road from Cleve Cox Landing (where the Flint Riverwalk terminates),” Friends of the Flint River Trails board member and Dougherty County Attorney Spencer Lee said. “Well, the folks who worked on the master plan (Kaizen Collaborative of Atlanta) came up with the solution. We don’t go across Philema, we go under it.”
The plan calls for the trail to continue under the bridge at the area where Lake Worth runs into the Flint River and loop back up to the north side of Philema. The trail will continue the mile or so to Chehaw, past apartment complexes and other businesses.
“Chehaw is adding more sites for RVs and campers, so there is going to be a bigger potential group that will want access to the Flint River Trails,” Lee said. “And these folks, the ones who camp out, are the kind of people who are active, who like to do things. The trail system is perfect for folks like that.”
Chehaw Executive Director Don Meeks agreed that the proposed trail plan will benefit the park.
“That’s an additional recreational piece that’s not only going to impact Chehaw in a positive way, it’s going to benefit the city and the county as well as the park,” Meeks said during a recent news conference to announce plans to finance and build out the trail in five years. “Connectivity to downtown has always been something that everyone saw as a big plus, but there was that hold-up at Philema. Now, I think we’ve worked through that.”
As questions circulated about private funding being utilized to offset the public and grant funding that has so far been used to finance the trail system, Meeks noted that private funding has already begun to have an impact on the trails.
“There has long been talk from off-road and mountain bike enthusiasts about having a trail for them as part of this overall system,” Meeks said. “We started mapping out a plan for a mountain bike trail, but just like everything else, you have to have money. Pace Burt is a supporter of the healthy lifestyle associated with these kinds of facilities, and he put up seed money for a trail that will be used as an additional amenity for residents of his downtown development.
“We have a group of volunteers — led by trail manager Josh Fix — who are working in partnership with Pace to create the mountain bike trail.”
Burt, the renowned developer whose work is lauded all over the Southeastern United States, decided to bring his talents to his hometown in an effort to kickstart development of Albany’s long-floundering Central Business District. He worked with the city of Albany to purchase the old Albany Heights building with the idea of bringing modern urban living downtown.
His 64-unit Flats @ 249 development has been a big hit, filling up quickly and generating a waiting list of interested tenants. Burt said he put up the funding to help develop a mountain bike trail because those types of amenities are the elements that bring the younger demographic to a downtown development.
“They’re making progress on the mountain bike trail,” Burt said Thursday. “It’s more of a hit-and-miss, volunteer thing right now, but I’m sure work will ramp up once the momentum continues to grow with the overall trail system.
“Off-road biking and trails are huge among active young people and adults, and I figured helping bring one to the planned trail system would be something that would help draw residents to our development. I’m not sure what’s happening with the (planned) canoe outfit, but I think the more amenities we provide, the more interest there’s going to be in downtown living and development.”
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PART VII:
There will always be those who, when evaluating the benefits of a community project, focus only on the bottom line: What’s it going to cost and where is the money coming from?
If the group that now makes up the Friends of the Flint River Trails, comprising Albany and Dougherty County officials and citizens who have been part of the local trail system’s implementation team, were to throw a single figure out on the amount it would take to complete the 20-plus miles of trails that are part of the system’s master plan, it would no doubt be staggering.
That’s why, Friends board member and long-time trail supporter Spencer Lee said Saturday, it’s important that citizens realize the development of the trail system is a process, one that may evolve even over the relatively short five-year period in which the Friends hope to secure funding for development of the trails.
“I believe the pricetag for the 12 1/2 miles of the Carrollton GreenBelt Trail was somewhere around $18 million,” Lee said. “I don’t think it would be wise to try and put a price like that on our system because we’re not planning just to build everything out right now without consideration of cost.
“I believe if we just went in and poured a bunch of concrete on the entire mileage we’ve designated as part of the Flint River Trails, it probably would come at a cost of around $18 million or more. But that’s not what we’re doing. We’ve devised a plan where we hope to find funding to allow us to have some part of the trails in the design stage and some in the construction stage going on at the same time from this point on.”
And while the Friends have boldly made public their plans to “complete” the trail system in five years, Lee said that completion does not at this time come close to covering every element of the trail system.
“There are elements — the one that connects Eames Park with downtown, for instance — that are part of our plan, but they are not on what I’ll call our ‘priority list’ right now,” Lee said. “In fact, there are various elements of the trail system that we may create as a ‘primitive trail’ initially and re-address at a later date, when it makes sense to do so. You look at that Broad Avenue-to-Eames Park element: a primitive trail might cost $500,000 where a concrete or even asphalt trail might cost more than $4 million.
“Priorities are going to change over the course of the five years that we’ve targeted to complete the trail system, and there are funding sources that may come available that allow us to alter our priorities. What we do hope is to design and develop what, if you want to call it that, the ‘skeleton’ of the system. And we’ll work off that as funding and opportunities become available.”
The primary elements of the trail system are well-documented and, most believe, are clear in the minds of the citizens who will utilize the trails. Less well-known, though, are several less-documented elements of the trail system.
For instance, the “downtown connector” segment of the trail, which will link the 13.6-mile Albany-to-Sasser rail trail with Albany’s downtown, could end up being the most utilized segment of the trail. Even for those who are less likely to walk, run, hike or bike on the longer segment of the trail, the downtown connector will touch both the Lee County Medical Center and the north and main campuses of Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital. It will pass by the Ledo Road commerce center that includes Walmart and a number of restaurants and other retail outlets.
The connector will make Tift Park part of the trail system and allow users to walk from the park to the downtown Thronateeska Heritage Center and, ultimately, connect to the Riverwalk that will eventually traverse the county in a north-south direction from Chehaw park to Radium Springs.
Flint Riverkeeper board member David Dixon has mapped out 11 sites where water enthusiasts will be able to put their craft into waterways along the trail system, and a number of parks — Eames, Robert Cross, Radium Boat Landing and Park, Mary Young Cummings, Charles Sherrod, Riverfront, Shackleford and Cox Landing — will all eventually be connected to the trail system.
There are other “primitive” elements of the system: mountain bike trails, equestrian trails, bike paths, water access, connectivity to the Old Dixie Highway, which would not be an actual element of the trail but would allow adventurous types to make a historic journey from Albany to Thomas County on a path that once was recognized as a major thoroughfare through the state.
Albany-Dougherty County Planning Services Director Paul Forgey, who has long been an advocate of a unified trail system in the community, said the benefits that the Flint River Trails could offer will dramatically alter the city, county and the region.
“The people of Albany and Dougherty County are going to be able to note some dramatic changes in the next few years, and they’ll start seeing them in the very short-term,” Forgey said. “It’s well-documented what health, economic development and quality-of-life benefits we’ll get from a well-planned trail system. But the benefits go beyond that. We’re talking about a level of connectivity like nothing that’s been seen around here in a long time.
“The Flint River Trails project is a terrific project. It’s going to forever change the face of Albany and Dougherty County.”
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*The above articles are written by Carlton Fletcher and originally appeared in The Albany Herald*
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Official Emergency Management Website:
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Official Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/DoCoEMA
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For Emergency Management Assistance call: 229-483-6226 / 6227 For power outages/utility inquiries: (229) 883.8330
Recommended Business closures:
Ideally, non-essential service businesses should shut down & release employees for safe travels home by 3pm (Sunday); 5pm, at the very latest. Businesses are encouraged to remain closed on Monday, pending weather updates.
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Dougherty County
Emergency Shelters:
Civic Center – 100 W Oglethorpe Blvd – Red Cross Shelter
Distribution Hubs:
Friendship Baptist Church – 400 Pine Ave
Sherwood Church – Coke Plant – 925 Pine Ave – 229-435-4578
Good Samaritan Shelters:
East Albany Church of God – 216 Pine Bluff Rd – 912-571-2820
Albany Family Worship Center – 3024 Kensington Ct – 229-434-0342
Pine Bluff Baptist Church – 499 Pine Bluff Rd – 435-4080
Greater Cutliff Grove Baptist Church – 835 W Broad Ave – 229-435-0060
Second Mt. Zion Baptist Church – 1010 Old Pretoria Rd – 229-439-0334
Byne Memorial Baptist Church – 2832 Ledo Rd – 229-436-5700
Mt. Zion Baptist Church – 901 S Westover Blvd – 229 432-6837
Lee County Shelters:
First Baptist Church Leesburg – Downtown – Main St – 229-255-8102 – Please Call First
First Baptist Church of Albany – 145 Oakland Parkway
Lowndes County Shelters
Park Ave Church – 100 E Park Ave – Valdosta – 229-242-3562
United Methodist – Monday – 109 W Valley St – Valdosta GA – 229-242-4050
First Baptist – 200 West Central Ave – Valdosta – 229-242-0484/229-242-3415
Mathis Auditorium – 2300 N Ashley St – Valdosta – 229-333-1816
Via: Terry Lewis, Albany Herald
ALBANY — The Georgia Board of Regents created perhaps the biggest controversy to hit higher education in Albany Tuesday morning when it voted unanimously to consolidate Albany State University and Darton State College under the umbrella of Albany State.
On Thursday, University System of…
Via: Terry Lewis, Albany Herald
ALBANY — The Georgia Board of Regents created perhaps the biggest controversy to hit higher education in Albany Tuesday morning when it voted unanimously to consolidate Albany State University and Darton State College under the umbrella of Albany State.
On Thursday, University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby and Albany State President Art Dunning sat down with The Herald to answer questions and concerns about the decision.
Huckaby said the merger had been under consideration for several years, but the tipping point came after he got a look at the University System of Georgia’s Fall enrollment report which showed ASU down 10.7 percent and Darton down 2.7 from the previous year.
“We’ve monitored enrollment patterns and we have a funding formula in place, and the two schools were not growing, not earning more money. But it was not just enrollment problems. We look at things like the program cuts and knew we had to turn that around,” Huckaby said. “There was some discussion of folding four institutions (ASU, Darton, Georgia Southwestern and Bainbridge) into one. But this merger, with the close proximity of the two campuses, made sense.”
Dunning said the “new” ASU will be able to offer a broader array of programs to a more diverse group of students, despite the university’s HBCU (Historically Black College and University) designation.
“The new ASU, as it always has been, will be an inviting place for every person in southwest Georgia and the state of Georgia. So the (HBCU) designation isn’t going to change that,” Dunning said. “As a larger institution we are going to ratchet up and enhance the sort of academic offerings that lead directly to gainful employment. We will have one of the most diverse campuses in the the University System of Georgia. That is the intent.
“We are going to look at academic programs, offerings and look at community engagement and economic development. This broader array of academic programs will allow us to do that.
Dunning added that the response from ASU alumni has been generally positive.
“I talked to a number of alumni at the (ASU- Fort Valley State) football game in Columbus, and they are very much on board.
“I think the way this has been framed is the right way, the right way to address the needs of this congressional district. People are respectful of both institutions’ past, but they’re excited about the new university’s future.”
Huckaby said that another factor in the consolidation was the USG’s need to “optimize the resources available to us.”
“Believe it or not, but we spend a lot of time in Atlanta talking about problems in Southwest Georgia … education, the economy … and what we can do about it,” Huckaby said. “We think this merger is part of that solution. We have 30 schools in the university system. Last year, 18 had increased enrollment and 12 had declining enrollment. Unfortunately, a lot of the declines were in this region.
The Chancellor added that falling numbers at ASU are not just a problem with Georgia’s HBCUs, but it’s also a nationwide trend.
“When you look at our enrollment data of African-American students systemwide, we fall close to around 100,000 students. Only about 10 to 20 percent of African-Americans go to HBCUs,” Huckaby said. “They can go anywhere they want to go, and that’s what’s happening. That is some of the reason for the decline in enrollment at Albany State and Fort Valley. Art is right about the diversity of the campus. When we started the consolidations our goal was not to save money on the bottom line. We wanted to be able to invest more money on academic programs, and that is what we’ve done in every case.
“We want our HBCUs to thrive and to be as strong academically as any other school in our system.”
As far as Darton’s role as a two-year school which produces associate degree graduates along with certificates, Huckaby does not see a change in that mission. He added that tuition for associate degree programs would remain lower than those pursuing baccalaureate degrees.
Huckaby said 20-member teams from each campus will be formed in about two weeks to assess the needs of the combined schools and make recommendations to the Regents. He added that the committees would first define the new university’s mission before looking over “800 to 900” decision points.
“Ideally, the 20-member panels from each school will have a plan put together by September or October, and we could get final SACS (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) approval by next January,” he said.
Dunning added that signature programs — ones which attract students — will play a crucial role in making the merger work.
“Students today are looking for signature programs. We must determine what programs the new ASU will be known for,” Dunning said. “Supply chain logistics is important, but we also want to emphasize the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) programs. And in order for our community to have a well-trained work force, we need for adults to come back to school.”
Huckaby said he hopes to have an interim president in place at Darton within the next two weeks.
Via: University System of Georgia
Atlanta — November 10, 2015
Albany State University (ASU) and Darton State College (DSC) will consolidate to form one institution under a new dynamic vision for public higher education. Today, the Board of Regents approved a proposal from Chancellor Hank Huckaby to consolidate the two institutions to increase education attainment levels and transform how the University System impacts southwest Georgia. Today’s action marks the…
Via: University System of Georgia
Atlanta — November 10, 2015
Albany State University (ASU) and Darton State College (DSC) will consolidate to form one institution under a new dynamic vision for public higher education. Today, the Board of Regents approved a proposal from Chancellor Hank Huckaby to consolidate the two institutions to increase education attainment levels and transform how the University System impacts southwest Georgia. Today’s action marks the fourth round of consolidation within the University System.
The new institution will be named Albany State University, and the Board named Albany State Interim President Art Dunning as the permanent president of the new institution to lead this bold new effort.
“The consolidation of Albany State University and Darton State College is a historic milestone for these institutions, our University System, the Albany community and our state,” said Chairman Neil Pruitt. “We are creating an institution of nearly 9,000 students, which would be the largest institution of higher education in Southwest Georgia. We have the opportunity to transform how we serve the community and the region.”
“The consolidated institution, Albany State University, will continue to serve the HBCU mission and build on its mission and that of Darton State to serve students, the community and region,” said Chancellor Hank Huckaby. “We respect the passion the community, students and alumni hold for these institutions. The new Albany State University will blend the strengths and values of each institution to strengthen the community and region more deliberately.”
The decision to consolidate the two institutions, whose combined enrollment this fall is nearly 9,000 students, follows the six guiding principles for consolidation approved by the board in Nov. 2011: http://www.usg.edu/news/release/regents_approve_principles_for_consolidation_of_institutions.
An implementation team with representatives from both institutions will soon be formed and charged with the responsibility to work out the many details associated with consolidating the two universities. A website will be created and dedicated to providing information and updates about the consolidation to both campuses and the Albany community.
The University System, Albany State and Darton State will hold campus and community listening sessions in the coming months to seek and hear input on ways to best design the new institution to serve Albany, the region and the state.
Albany State University, a state university in the University System of Georgia, fosters the growth and development of Southwest Georgia and the state through teaching/learning, research, creative expression and public service. Through its teaching, research and service, and collaboration with other institutions, the University anticipates and responds to the needs of its constituents; and enhances the quality of life of its public through advocacy of educational, cultural, artistic and social development in the region. Both traditional and non-traditional students make up the more than 3,000 students who attend Albany State. The university offers more than 30 undergraduate degree programs, the Board of Regents’ engineering transfer program, a dual degree program in engineering with Georgia Tech and six advanced degrees.
Darton State College is a state college in the University System of Georgia. Its principal mission is to provide educational programs, services, and opportunities in southwest Georgia. Over 5,400 traditional and non-traditional students attend Darton State College. The college offers a challenging array of associate-degree programs and limited bachelor’s degree programs as well as online degrees. As the nursing and allied health education center for southwest Georgia, Darton offers 13 allied health programs to serve the needs of the health-care industry in the region.
Albany State University Homecoming Week 2015, happening October 11-17 in Albany, Georgia. Go Rams!
Albany State University Homecoming Week 2015, happening October 11-17 in Albany, Georgia. Go Rams!
Via Terry Lewis, Albany Herald
ALBANY — U.S. News & World Report has released this year’s list of top ranked colleges and universities, including ranking Albany State University as the No. 1 public Historically Black College and University in Georgia for the second year.
It also lists ASU among the nation’s top HBCUs. ASU made the cut at No. 13 among all public HBCUs in…
Via Terry Lewis, Albany Herald
ALBANY — U.S. News & World Report has released this year’s list of top ranked colleges and universities, including ranking Albany State University as the No. 1 public Historically Black College and University in Georgia for the second year.
It also lists ASU among the nation’s top HBCUs. ASU made the cut at No. 13 among all public HBCUs in the nation.
“We provide an excellent education at Albany State University, an education that prepares our students to compete on a global level,” said Interim President Art Dunning. “ We are delighted that the work of our faculty, staff and students is being recognized on a national level; we are working diligently to provide even more opportunities for student success.”
According to the rankings, ASU pulled ahead of Georgia’s public HBCUs — Fort Valley State University and Savannah State University. The rankings are based on graduation and retention rates, peer assessments, student-to- faculty ratio, admission test scores and the strength of the faculty; alumni giving was also considered.
Paul Bryant, associate provost for Enrollment Management, credits ASU’s small class sizes, among other advantages, for the ranking placement.
ASU also ranks among the five best Georgia colleges offering nurse practitioner programs, according to NurseJournal.org. The ASU nursing department is listed as a top choice for the website’s 2015 ranking of America’s Best Nursing Schools and Colleges.
“The Albany State experience is not only remarkably educational, but, also professionally fulfilling and enjoyable,” Bryant said. “We encourage all students to take full advantage of what Albany State has to offer.”
Carlton Fletcher, Albany Herald
ALBANY — While many of his contemporaries are abandoning Southwest Georgia — for retirement getaways, to be with family, or in frustration brought about by abrupt change — Robert F. “Bobby” McKinney remains steadfast in his support of the community that he says “made me everything I am today.”
Carlton Fletcher, Albany Herald
ALBANY — While many of his contemporaries are abandoning Southwest Georgia — for retirement getaways, to be with family, or in frustration brought about by abrupt change — Robert F. “Bobby” McKinney remains steadfast in his support of the community that he says “made me everything I am today.”
At 70, McKinney, the current chairman of the Albany Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Dougherty County Board of Registration and Elections, has the energy of a man half his age. And he devotes much of that energy to working — both openly and behind the scenes — to improve the community that’s been home for 60 of his 70 years.
“Everything I am today, I am because of Albany and Dougherty County,” McKinney said Tuesday during a conversation at the northwest Albany office he’s maintained even during the five years that he’s been officially retired from his real estate appraisal and consulting company. “And I want to do everything I can to make this community better for that young generation that’s coming behind us.
“We can’t ignore the things that are wrong with our community, but we must never forget that we live in a place with the greatest per capita resources anywhere around. Are we one of the poorest communities in the country? Yes, without a doubt. And we have to concentrate on and address those issues that make us that way. But we also have to tell our story. And it’s a great story.”
When he gets on a roll, the best thing to do is get out of McKinney’s way and listen. He makes a compelling case.
“For a community this size, located where we are, just having a Procter & Gamble plant here is a huge thing,” McKinney said. “But then you realize, we have MillerCoors, Mars Chocolate, Sasco, Equinox, Coats and Clark, Phoebe Putney (Memorial Hospital) … and that’s not even mentioning the Marine (Corps Logistics) Base.
“And we have the (Flint) RiverQuarium, Thronateeska, Chehaw — which is an amazing facility — Theater Albany, Nicole Williams’ arts group (the Albany Area Arts Council), the symphony orchestra. And people from the northeast come all the way to Albany just to wander through the Civil Rights Institute.”
As he warms to the subject of Albany’s positives, McKinney becomes even more animated.
“OK, let’s say you’re a visitor in town and you’re staying at the Hilton Garden Inn,” he says. “You stand outside the hotel, look around you and you see that beautiful Convention and Visitors Bureau building, the RiverQuarium, the Civic Center and the Ray Charles statue, which has become one of the most recognized statues in the state.
“You say to yourself, ‘With all I’ve heard about Albany, how do they make all this happen?’”
McKinney’s not finished.
“Then you consider all the things that are in the works,” he continues. “I’ve had long conversations with (Albany City Manager) Sharon Subadan, and the plan that she and the City Commission are working on is going to create a very interesting dynamic downtown. There are retail, residential and educational possibilities that could completely change the face of our downtown.
“I really like the educational concept of bringing Albany State (University), Darton (State College) and Albany Tech(nical College) together in the downtown district. Bringing college kids into that district for classes, to shop and even to live would make it more vibrant, bring a new, exciting dynamic downtown.”
McKinney, who also serves on the local YMCA board, the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce board and Executive Committee, the Apalachicola/Chattahoochee/Flint Stakeholders and Transition Coordinating Council, is president of the local Quail Forever chapter, as well as a member of the Albany State University Real Estate Foundation, spends enough of his time working with the groups that promote Albany that he has an insider’s feel for their effectiveness.
And McKinney says those groups are doing the right things.
“The CVB, the EDC (Economic Development Commission) and the Chamber don’t make the news every day, but they are effective organizations making a difference every day,” he says. “I said it before: We have a great story to tell in Albany and Dougherty County. We’re fortunate to have groups that are telling it every day.”
As one of the community’s go-to supporters, and one of its most eloquent, McKinney continues to play a vital role in what he says he hopes will be a brighter future for all in the region. But he admits his window of influence is closing, for no other reason, though, than his desire to make way for new leadership.
“No one can take Bobby McKinney’s place until he moves out of the way,” he said. “There are young professionals now who need to step up and become our leaders for the future. I’m about ready to step aside, not because I’m no longer interested in our community’s future, but because I want our next generation to assume that role.”
Via Albany Dougherty Economic Development Commission, sourced from Global Atlanta.
ALBANY, Ga. – An aircraft manufacturer teaches maintenance to a visitor from Cameroon. A chemical firm affixes Portuguese labels to Brazil-bound tubs. Across town, posters at a health products factory pitch their soothing powers in German.
All of these stories were playing out during a recent Global Atlanta tour of Albany with Next Generation Manufacturing, the southwest Georgia city better known for its fields than factories.
Via Albany Dougherty Economic Development Commission, sourced from Global Atlanta.
ALBANY, Ga. – An aircraft manufacturer teaches maintenance to a visitor from Cameroon. A chemical firm affixes Portuguese labels to Brazil-bound tubs. Across town, posters at a health products factory pitch their soothing powers in German.
All of these stories were playing out during a recent Global Atlanta tour of Albany with Next Generation Manufacturing, the southwest Georgia city better known for its fields than factories.
Here, MillerCoors beer is brewed, Mars chocolate is mixed and paper products are produced for consumer giant Procter & Gamble. But southwest Georgia has seen some factories flee overseas, and its host of smaller manufacturers are now learning the duality of the global economy with which local farmers of pines, pecans and peanuts have long been acquainted. On one hand, international integration brings more customers. On the other, it means increased competition.
Exports have become the lifeblood of Thrush Aircraft Inc., a company that could be considered new relative to its long history. In 2003, investors acquired the Albany factory and assets of the defunct Ayres Corp., which had made multiple models of Thrush’s agricultural spraying aircraft in a 227,000-square-foot building next to the Albany airport.
The firm’s renaissance has led to 180 current jobs, and plans are under way to bring 100 more over the next few years with the addition of a production line backed by a $200,000 job-creation grant from the Albany Job Investment Fund, a city program.
The city has buyers all over the world to thank.
“Eighty percent of our business is outside the United States, so exporting is everything,” said Payne Hughes, Thrush’s president, who in an interview highlighted efforts to diversify the company’s product mix.
While its planes have traditionally been used to apply fertilizers or pesticides across wide swaths of farmland, they can do much more than cropdusting (a practice the industry now prefers to call “aerial application”).
Thrush has designed a new gate-box attachment to help douse forest fires, giving owners a newfound versatility that could help justify the cost of a plane, which can run from about $700,000 to $1 million. It’s also building planes purposed for military surveillance, a product that caught the eye of the United Arab Emirates. The Middle Eastern nation ordered 24 of what some have called “militarized crop-dusters.” After being built in Albany, they’re shipped to IOMAX in North Carolina to be turned into Archangels, outfitted with assets like precision optics and missile systems.
“They’ve got more electronics in a plane than you can shake a stick at,” said Mr. Hughes, who added that they monitor borders with more flexibility and less upfront investment than unmanned aerial vehicles, also called drones.
Of course, cropdusting hasn’t gone away, especially as farms grow bigger and become more mechanized around the world. Spraying is banned in Europe, but it’s common on the banana farms of Central America and in the sugar cane and soybean fields of Brazil, a burgeoning market where Thrush has sent planes painted with green and yellow of the South American country’s flag.
“The agricultural industry is going very high-tech, and as it does get more high-tech, our products will get more and more high-tech,” he said. The firm doesn’t disclose revenues, but Mr. Hughes said they’ve doubled over the last five years.
China is also getting into the act: In July 2013, 20 Thrush planes were purchased by a state-owned company in the northeastern city of Harbin as part of a $55.6 million package that included U.S.-made tractors, combines and helicopters.
But Thrush and others have found that reaching abroad isn’t always easy, and one problem is financing the orders when they come in.
Thrush’s China deal was backed by the Export-Import Bank of the United States, which provides credit to foreign buyers of U.S. goods, insures transactions and guarantees export loans by private banks and companies. The bank has been the subject of heated debate in Washington over the last year. At the end of June, Congress let its charter expire. It’s still limping along while awaiting a reauthorization vote, servicing existing loans without the ability to extend any new credit or guarantees. Some senators have said a highway bill coming up for a vote at the end of July would be a logical place to tack on Ex-Im for a vote.
A tell-it-like-it-is Georgia conservative, Mr. Hughes doesn’t seem like one to back an institution some influential Republicans have derided as a conduit for corporate welfare. He says he’s all for less government but that Ex-Im has plugged a gap in the private sector, insuring deals in places like Kenya, where Thrush first used Ex-Im in 2010. Buyers in such markets don’t have the same capital sources, and private banks and financiers can’t provide insurance for orders over $1 million.
If that weren’t enough, Ex-Im simply matches what other countries are already doing, he said.
“If we don’t do it somebody else will,” Mr. Hughes said.
Another Albany exporter, SASCO Chemical, takes a similar stance on the bank.
“Whether you fundamentally agree with the program or not, the U.S. cannot be the only country without this program. There are currently 67-ish other countries with the same program that U.S. manufacturers compete against every day. One thing we cannot have in the current times is the government taking tools away that makes us competitive,” said Marc Skalla, president of SASCO.
SASCO has been lauded for its use of state and federal resources to boost global trade, which the company says has supported growth at home. SASCO has a research center in Macon, a global sales center in Atlanta and an expanding manufacturing base in Albany.
SASCO’s main product is PolyCoat, a chemical used to keep rubber from sticking to machines used in tire manufacturing. In 2011, the Georgia Department of Economic Development helped introduce the company to the Mexican market, leading to a huge increase in sales there. Last year, SASCO received the President’s E Award for Exports from the U.S. Commerce Department. The current director of sales, Ed Juline, was recruited from a position Mexico.
Now, about 10 percent of the company’s sales go to places like Brazil, South Africa and Central America, and its export proportion is growing despite international headwinds, Mr. Skalla said.
Even before Ex-Im’s expiration, the company was hit by the dollar’s appreciation against both the euro and Brazilian real, which made SASCO’s products more expensive for buyers and gave a relative cost advantage to its main competitor, a European firm.
Meanwhile, SASCO was investing in boosting competitiveness at home. It launched its own trucking arm to gain more control over logistics, and it’s now finishing out a 40,000-square-foot factory in Albany, just a few streets over from its current Pine Avenue complex. That facility will support two new product categories: colorants for mulch and an anti-adhesive agent used in engineered wood production.
“We are always innovating at home in a search for continued diversification,” Mr. Skalla said.
While SASCO is an independent, family-owned firm, some other local manufacturers have had to prove themselves in a broader corporate context.
International pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer Inc. operates under the same 200-acre roof as Procter & Gamble’s massive Albany facility, but the two plants are separated by a wall representing the corporate lineage of the ThermaCare line of heat wraps.
Pfizer inherited the product when it acquired Wyeth, which had bought it from P&G. ThermaCare represents more than $100 million in annual sales for Pfizer’s consumer health care unit, and Albany is the only place in the world ThermaCare is made.
Jim Donovan, site leader in Albany, said ThermaCare is now available in 25 countries, and outside the saturated U.S. is where it’s is seeing the most growth. New releases of menstrual and flex-use wraps in Germany are shattering forecasts. Demand continues to build in international markets with recent launches in Russia, and multiple Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries are set to see ThermaCare introduced this year.
But that international success cuts both ways: The more sales move abroad, the more the factory has to prove to company executives there is no better “central hub” for production than Albany. In the face of global competition, employees understand how important it is to keep things efficient at a factory that cranks out 50 million wraps per year, Mr. Donovan said.
“Theres’s a significant amount of engagement to ensure everyone puts in their efforts to ensure the site remains competitive,” he said, noting accolades the plant has won within the Pfizer system for employee engagement. “Everybody knows that there’s a constant external threat.”
Pfizer is a prime example of how global brands can compete from Albany, says Barbara Rivera Holmes, vice president of the Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission and interim president and CEO of the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce.
“Aside from being relevant to the consumer, industries need to be innovative, efficient and profitable, and from Albany, they can be. Low overall costs of doing business, partnered with a talent pool from which to draw and the infrastructure to move product, allows Albany industries to compete with their corporate peers and with other industries,” she told Global Atlanta.
The community is also getting its 15 biggest manufacturers to talk to each other through an industry roundtable where they gather each month to share challenges and best practices. The sessions also allow them to speak with one voice to economic development community.
“It’s an incredible program in that it harnesses the scale of industry to say, collectively, ‘This is what we need’ or ‘This is how we can give back,’” Ms. Holmes said.
As for exports, the community connects its companies with resources at the state level: The Georgia Department of Economic Development operates 11 trade and investment offices in 10 countries worldwide.
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