Another example of how the knee-jerk opponents of any economic progress in Camden not benefitting a GOB will distort the truth:

Here is what the disngenuous opponent opted to post on TOPIX. BEWARE Reply » Report Abuse Judge it! #81 12 min ago Politics wrote: Yes, the JDA is on board.....http://www.jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-07-22/story/developer_tax_allocation_district_a_must_for_laurel_island_annexation Hmmmmmm, I think Mr. Keating knows what Politics is talking about.Jay Moreno said... Okay, it's 1418 HRS, Wednesday, 7/22. I just got off of the phone with David Keating, Executuve Director of the JDA. He informed my that the JDA is one of the entities that COULD legally be tapped to administer the laurel Island TAD, but has neither been approached to nor agreed to. Moreover, the JDA does not have any eminent domain powers. Now, let's compare that edited version to the totality of my comment: Jay Moreno said... Okay, it's 1418 HRS, Wednesday, 7/22. I just got off of the phone with David Keating, Executuve Director of the JDA. He informed my that the JDA is one of the entities that COULD legally be tapped to administer the laurel Island TAD, but has neither been approached to nor agreed to. Moreover, the JDA does not have any eminent domain powers.My personal preference, assuming that after all the negotiations are done, this thing looks like a risk worth taking and gets by the referendum, is tha ther city create a new St. Marys TAD Authority.As to the question of the JDA being involved in something to do with the old mill property: yes, they are. They had a regular JDA meeting (which slipped by me) this past Friday. The minutes are available at their office, but not yet on line. Thye are discussing a "public-private partnership" with the JDA, the St. Marys DDA, and the Durango bankruptcy trustee.The trustee would be tghe "private" party. They would enlist other ptrivate partners. The goal is to re-develop the mill property. The belly-up developers who had the first go at it would not be in the mix. A TAD or a similar arrangement called a PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) might be utilized in redeveloping the mill, with public approval by referendum - that is, assuming that a TAD Authority has not previously been established for some other initial St. Marys TAD.I'm not as alarmed by this as some. By the time any plans are firm enough to vote on, be it the voters at large or city council votong on it, we should know whether or not the economy has come back and how strong.Another thing: in Gordon Jackson's coverage of the TAD meeting, he wrote that Keating was a supporter of Drury's request for a Laurel Island TAD. He pointed out to me today that what he actually said was that he was not there for the purpose of endorsing the TAD, but only to state that TADs are a powerful developent tool and have been used very successfully in other parts of Georgia. I was sitting about 3 feet from him when he said it and that conforms perfectly with my recollection of his comments as well. July 22, 2009 2:34 PM "Beware," indeed. Apparently, lying by commissiomn or ,as in this case, omission, is SOP for these folks.