Commissioners,
You have received a lot of mail and comments about the ABT to be reconsidered Tuesday evening. I would like to focus on a few points:
1) The majority of those against the Haile Braid who brought up the "crime" issue have mis-represented their case, throwing out the large federal survey we gave you that shows crime is radically reduced along paths such as these. Other mis-representations include the HOA representatives using an incorrect map during their presentation to the Commission (i.e., lines drawn on the wrong streets to represent proposed paths), and mis-representing the cost of the Braid to Haile residents (there is none whatsoever, unless the HOA decides to mow the grass below County standards, which they already do).
2) That same group, including some designers like Martin Goldman, have argued that either the recreational jogging path running behind Haile residences or the sidewalk in the Northwest quadrant on the major streets is a viable alternative to the Braid. Neither of these paths is public, and several Haile residents explicitly claimed they didn't want "certain people" using them. Both, as show in the prior meeting, are curvy, have many blind spots, and are not wide enough for multi-use. Neither traverses the initial staff-proposed Haile Braid along the Southeast quadrant roads. The jogging path is not visible to the public or to responders--I would not want children on that path, or even adults by themselves at night.
3) The "alternative" Braid decision was a farce. Everyone knows, but no one seems willing to say, that there is already infrastructure along this path (Archer Road), and that approving this "alternative" was effectively a way of snubbing the County's nose at a hard-earned and needed federally funded project. This "alternative" path cannot and will not be built with federal funds. The "alternative" vote was a vote against any trail whatsoever.
We ask you to move forward with the Haile-specific Archer Braid. Public discussion has been more than adequate, and the truth has come out against the wishes of a small minority. The 800-person online petition speaks for itself against the self-admistered and highly suspect HOA petition of property owners, which was biased, un-democratic, private, and did not allocate one vote per person. Please be on the right side of history, like the rest of the urban areas in our country (See _Pedaling Revolution_ by Jeff Mapes to understand how backwards our anti-bike stance is), and approve the Haile Braid.
Thank you for reconsidering this needed improvement to our bike and pedestrian infrastructure.
Regards,
James Thompson
Advocacy Director
Gainesville Cycling Club