My document file sharer isn't working, so I thought I would just send an abbreviated version of my report on the commission meeting by way of a Letter to the Editor, written at artile length to encourage the designation as "Special to the Sun" which I've gotten before. A more complete report will be printed as news in the members area later on.
James T
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Dear Editor,
As a measure of cynicism and political maneuvering
before an election, surely nothing tops the decision by County
Commissioners Bradley, Baird, and Pinkoson to "approve" an "alternative"
to the staff recommendation on the Archer Braid Trail. This
"alternative" route (through Archer and South Tower Road) already has
infrastructure, so we will effectively either return the federal funds
or tear up taxpayer-built paths already there. Pinkson, Baird, and
Bradley would have us then build a trail over a trail, or a trail to
nowhere, instead of a trail through Haile where children and families and customers to Haile Village have none currently.
Only two people from Archer spoke (in absentia) favoring this trail,
while the Haile Home Owners Association (HOA) claimed to want the trail
moved out of their neighborhood so these "needy" people could have
better access. The idea that the HOA cares about needy people was
proven false when HOA supporters repeatedly stated that they moved into
the neighborhood to avoid "trash" and "lots of people driving through
our backyards." They admitted their current trails are private and posted to "avoid liability." Much of those private backyards are actually publicly owned County
easements on open roadways that were originally intended to have bike-ped facilities
according to the new urbanism touted by original Haile Developers.
This anti-Braid campaign was not about moving trail to where its
needed (there's already trail on Archer to get from Archer to
Gainesville), it was about arousing fear and loathing among mostly senior Haile
residents without a single shred of evidence that the Braid would have
done anything but improve children's safety, reduce crime, and increase
commerce in Haile Village. This anti-government politicization of the
trail is exactly the kind of thing the Do-Nothing politicians use to get
uninformed voters out during an election.
It bothers me that our Facebook Petition supporting the Haile Archer
Braid included almost 700 folks within the County and many of them in
Haile (who outnumbered the anti-Braid supporters at every County
Meeting), was ignored. It is doubly disturbing that Scott-appointed
Commissioner Bradley openly tied his vote to a landlord (not resident)
based and internally run private "vote" by the HOA, which inaccurately
represented the "alternative" version. Bradley even admitted he "would
have done the vote differently." None of the other Commissioners
supported using the HOA vote. More so than shooting down the Braid,
this threatens our democracy at a fundamental level.
There was a time in Southern history when only property owners decided
what a whole community got by way of services and infrastructure--the
era of segregation and voting fraud before the Civil Rights Movement.
It appears Alachua County would like to return to those times. Never
has it been more important for progressive voters to support their
candidate campaigns and to get to the polls in November and make sure we
make government work, not go away and leave us with nothing.
Regards,
James Thompson
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