By Thomas Hawkins
Special to The Sun
From 2001 to 2009, the University of Florida increased enrollment by 4,046, growing the student population by about eight percent. Over the same period, the number of cars that traveled on Southwest 34th Street at Hull Road dropped 18 percent, from 54,500 a day to 44,500 a day.
With UF growing, how did congestion decline?
The answer: RTS ridership increased more than 42 percent, to more than nine million riders a year. When the university and the cty of Gainesville partnered to provide better transportation options, some traffic shifted from automobile gridlock to transit.
Gainesville proves every day that transit is a cost-effective way to increase transportation capacity, making your commute easier whether you drive or ride.
This is why the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization, or MTPO — a joint body of the City of Gainesville and Alachua County — includes bus rapid transit in its long-range transportation plan.
Bus rapid transit, or BRT, is using modern techniques to make buses more efficient and more comfortable.
For example, buses with wide doors and a floor at the same height as the curb would allow passengers to board more quickly, like getting on a subway car.
Also, covered bus stations would make waiting more comfortable. Most importantly, giving buses priority at intersections and even a dedicated lane in some places would make riding the system faster and more reliable.
The City of Gainesville has been planning a BRT route from east to west Gainesville since 2003.
In 2010 we completed a feasibility study that recommended a line connecting the airport, the Waldo Road corridor, downtown, UF, Shands, the VA, Butler Plaza, the Oaks Mall and the North Florida Regional Medical Center.
Now Gainesville is studying medians and rights of way in that corridor so BRT can operate in its own lane without reducing automobile capacity. The preliminary cost estimate for this cross-town priority bus route is $47 million, and the initial ridership projection for the Archer Road segment alone is 2,948 riders a day.
In a Feb. 27 Speaking Out column, Ed Braddy suggested ridership projections were too small to justify BRT. For context, Archer Road currently carries 30,000 cars a day. The Archer Road projection is for 10 percent of the road's capacity and does not require condemning property to widen the street.
Braddy also criticized the cost of BRT. Rather than cite the cost of the route Gainesville has studied for years, he lumped together conceptual routes the MTPO used in long-term transportation modeling but has not proposed to fund. Braddy also included extensions that Alachua County is requiring the private sector to construct — at no cost to taxpayers — as a condition of building new developments. Those possible future projects are on the drawing board, but their price tag is not a “minimum” amount needed for BRT.
After misstating the transit's costs, Braddy sarcastically proposed that taxpayers should give away free Toyotas instead of investing in BRT. Here are four reasons why this suggestion is just silly.
One, RTS moved 9,987,346 passengers in 2011 on a budget of $18,989,953. Do the math and you'll see the cost per trip is $1.90. As transportation costs go, that's efficient. Even if Braddy gave you a car, after you paid for maintenance, insurance and gas, your cost would likely exceed $1.90 per trip.
Two, riders pay for transit. Most of RTS's $18 million budget comes from purchased fares. Consider only the public sector's investment, and the money Braddy imagines is poorly spent on buses all but disappears.
Three, transit reduces congestion. If the nearly 10 million riders on RTS every year tumbled back into cars, the roadway congestion we have worked so hard to reduce would skyrocket.
Braddy might suggest we simply widen all roads but, if you think transit costs are too high, consider Southwest 62nd Boulevard, a three-mile road-improvement project the MTPO estimates will cost $101 million — twice as much as the cross-city BRT line.
Finally, all those new cars would need somewhere to park. A new parking garage can cost from $10,000 to $25,000 a space. Economic development in Gainesville would start in a deep parking hole just to accommodate Braddy's car giveaway.
The reality is that transportation planning must be realistic and holistic. The MTPO, Gainesville and Alachua County must figure out how to take better care of our roads, build new roads and improve transit. If you study our community's plans, you will find this balanced approach. The MTPO's long-range transportation plan is an integrated strategy to help all motorists, transit riders, bicyclists and walkers.
Thomas Hawkins is a Gainesville city commissioner. In a March 6 letter, Brandon Kutner expressed anger at the Alachua County Commission for its financial handling of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Both The Sun and Kutner neglected to mention that he is a candidate for the County Commission.
Kutner also neglected to mention that the NSP is a federally funded program, with the formula that determines expenditures specified in federal law. While one of its goals is to bolster property values in distressed neighborhoods, its primary purpose is to relieve banks of so-called “toxic assets.”
This doesn't make me happy. However, the alternative to participation in the program is to allow Alachua County taxpayers' share to go to another community, along with the construction jobs it creates.
Mike Byerly, Alachua County Commissioner, Micanopy Santa Fe High School senior and FFA member Catherine Bowman has been involved with the Alachua County Youth Fair and Livestock Show for seven years. At Tuesday’s market sale, her Grand Champion goat sold for $12 a pound. GAINESVILLE – Some high school students work after school to raise money for college. Others seek help from relatives – near and far. Catherine Bowman, senior at Santa Fe High School, shows and sells her livestock animals at the Alachua County Youth Fair and Livestock Show. During the market sale on Tuesday, her Grand Champion goat sold for $12 a pound. At 94 pounds, her college savings will get quite a boost. Last time she showed a goat, in 2009, it sold for $5.75 a pound. Bowman has been involved in the Youth Fair for seven years, and her resume is pretty impressive: State Star Green Hand Finalist, National Conventions and more. “I’m excited about my future,” Bowman said, “and my past agriculture and livestock experience through the FFA.” Mike Anderson, President of the Alachua County Youth Fair and Livestock Show, believes the fair teaches children and young adults how to market themselves. “It teaches them responsibility,” he said. “They have to take on an animal and raise it until it goes to the market.” This year, the fair celebrates its 30th annual event. During the market sale, there was an estimated 114 animals involved. The animals present were meat animals only; the breeder animals had already been taken home. Each year, the fair brings together 4-H and FFA youth in the community, allowing them an opportunity to demonstrate the dedication they put into raising their animals. Each youth is required to keep a record book on his or her animal. The book tracks the weight of the animal, the amount of feed it is given and time the youth spends with his or her animal. Wendy Mathis, Santa Fe High School FFA member, said the project allows her to see aspects of livestock production firsthand. If she raises market animals, she said she gets to see the business aspect of production. But if she raises animals intended for breeding, she gets to see the reproduction side. “I like animals,” said Ben Rhymes, FFA member and owner of a bluebutt hog. “It’s fun to raise them and watch how much they grow.” Last year, he sold his pig for approximately $900. Younger children can participate by showcasing their chickens or rabbits. For the first time, the fair auctioned off plants. The first plant to sell was two containers of African marigolds. They sold for $80. Anderson said showcasing the plants allows students who are unable to purchase or own livestock to participate. “About everything that can be done in the agriculture industry is shown here this weekend,” Anderson said, referring to the five-day event. In addition to animals, that includes an eco-art contest, a power of wind workshop and cookie bake-off. Emily Eubanks, of the Alachua County Farm Bureau, said the children at the fair are learning about self-motivation. The Grand Champion steer sold for $4 a pound, which Eubanks said is the highest she can remember a steer selling for in a while. The Grand Champion hog sold for the same amount. “These businesses are out here supporting our kids today,” Eubanks said. “I don’t know if it’s a reflection of the economy so much as it is a reflection that they believe in these kids.” Each purchase by a business is tax deductible. Kimberly Hall, a 16-year-old Santa Fe High School student and FFA member, has participated in the fair for three years. She works with goats because she feels they are easier to work with than the steers or hogs. “I love it,” she said.
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Tallahassee Bureau
TALLAHASSEE — Local government officials are growing increasingly frustrated as state lawmakers appear to have settled their budget problems in part by pushing them off on counties.
Over the objection of the counties, lawmakers have agreed on a formula to force county governments to pay Medicaid bills under a disputed system. It has a $325 million price tag.
At the same time, lawmakers made a last-minute decision to cut $30 million from the budgets for the county clerks of court, which the clerks say could lead to hundreds of layoffs statewide.
And based on a court decision stemming from last year's state budget, counties may have to come up with millions more following a judge's ruling on pension paybacks to workers — money the locals say they don't have in tight budget times. It represents a potential $600 million liability, although the case will be appealed.
The rising costs put more financial pressure on local governments, which like the state have had to struggle through the recession and diminished tax revenues in recent years.
"As these cuts continue to go down without an economic rebound, we're going to continue to see slashes in services and personnel," said Cragin Mosteller, a spokeswoman for the Florida Association of Counties.
The latest decision, as part of the final negotiations on a $70 billion state budget, will require the counties to pay the state some $325 million in disputed Medicaid bills.
State officials say the counties owe the money as part of their share of the federal-state health care program for the poor and disabled.
The counties say the state's Medicaid billing system, run by the Agency for Health Care Administration, is badly flawed.
Told the counties were upset by the Legislature's plan to require the counties to pay 85 percent of the $325 million, Senate Budget Chairman JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales, said the state has a right to collect the money.
He noted that the collection rate has slipped from 93 percent of the billings being paid in 2006-07 to only 64.7 percent being paid in the last budget year.
"I'm upset about the $325 million that the state hasn't collected," Alexander said.
The $325 million "could have kept us from having to make cuts in Medicaid, as an example, or having to ask universities to give us some money back. It's not an unimportant issue," he added.
Under the plan advanced by the Senate, the counties will have to pay back the $325 million over the next three years and will get a 15 percent discount.
If they object, they can appeal the billings through an administrative hearing, but they would lose the 15 percent discount.
The counties say the appeal process is so narrowly crafted that they can only contest the residency of the Medicaid patients and could not challenge other inaccuracies in the bill.
"There is very little incentive to appeal," Mosteller said, adding that the billing process is "a broken system that we're now making law."
Alexander said it is wrong for the counties to only be paying roughly 60 percent of their bills. "Bills are due. They should pay them," he said.
Another local group raising objections to the Legislature's budget decisions are the county clerks of the courts, who saw their budget cut by $30 million in the final negotiations. It could lead to the layoff of some 900 workers and closing of some branch offices for the clerks, who handle court records, deeds and traffic tickets.
Alexander said the clerks' budget takes into account an effort to partially reduce a deficit in their funding.
"They should say ‘Thank you' to the Senate for saving half of their money," Alexander said.
In the longer term, county governments could face a huge bill based on a trial judge's ruling this week that reversed the state's decision to have public workers, including county employees, pay 3 percent of their salaries to support the state pension fund.
The judge said the pension payments were unconstitutional and ordered the state and counties to pay back the workers, with interest. For the counties, it amounts to an estimated $597 million in the current year.
The state, which would have to refund an estimated $860 million, has announced the decision will be appealed.
Mosteller said the new cuts for the counties come on top of an estimated $3 billion in cuts that the local governments have experienced over the last four years. And the loss of funding has undermined a wide array of services that local residents count on.
"Counties across the state have not just cut down on quality of life services, like parks and recreation, but they've had to make cuts to public safety budgets, administrative services and services to the most vulnerable," Mosteller said.
This report includes information from the Associated Press. At the outset, the best thing we can say about the newfound partnership between the Suwannee and St. Johns River water management districts is: Better late than never.
Yes, there is cause to be hopeful that the managers, staff and scientists of these neighboring districts — who have customarily operated as though water does not flow from one district to the other — are finally promising a new era of collaboration.
It is encouraging, to be sure, that district managers are promising to put more emphasis on conservation, alternative water sources and reclamation.
And, yes, expanding the water partnership to include other "stakeholders" including large water users, local governments and, we hope, environmentalists and conservationists, also is essential.
The problem, from our viewpoint, is that up until now neither district has especially distinguished itself as a vigilant steward of North Florida's water. Neither district has been overly diligent about using good scientific data to make informed decisions before granting large water consumption permits.
Moreover, both districts have just seen their revenues dramatically reduced and their staffing drastically cut; so that on the surface at least, they would now appear to be even less equipped to muster the scientific and technical expertise necessary to deliver on the promises inherent in this partnership.
We would also be remiss if we did not point out a distressing trend toward politicizing water policy in Florida and shifting control away from the districts to Tallahassee.
So, yes, even coming better late than never, we hope that the new Suwannee-St. Johns partnership marks the beginning of a smarter, more conservation-based era of water management in North Florida.
But those who care about our water future would be wise to take all these promises with a grain of salt, and resolve to keep fighting to protect the region's water. For instance, the growing alliance among North Central Florida local governments on behalf of water should remain intact and be strengthened.
In other words, citizen and political activism on behalf of water is more important now than ever before. The other shoe dropped in Tallahassee on Tuesday.
A circuit court judge ruled that Florida's attempt to force public employees to pay into the state pension fund was unconstitutional. This potentially creates a $1 billion hole in the state budget, not to mention a $600 million liability for county governments.
Gov. Rick Scott and legislators were quick to call the decision judicial activism and promised to appeal.
But if a not dissimilar case last year involving the city of Gainesville is any indication, an appeal won't help much.
Last year the Florida Supreme Court denied Gainesville's appeal of lower court determinations that it violated the collective bargaining rights of city employees when it capped payments to retirees' health care benefits.
Even though those benefits were not granted through the collective bargaining process to begin with, the courts ruled that, once given, they could not be unilaterally taken away.
"An employer's unratified reservation of rights, whether in a retirement plan or in other documents not expressly incorporated into the collective bargaining agreement, does not abridge employees' right to bargain collectively," the First District Court of Appeals had ruled.
Gainesville's appeal to the Supreme Court had been supported by other cities and counties because local officials around the state recognized that the ruling might impact their own efforts to rein in runaway public employee pension and benefit costs.
At issue in the Gainesville case, as in this latest, is the constitutionally guaranteed right of public employees to engage in collective bargaining.
"This court cannot set aside its constitutional obligations because a budget crisis exists in the State of Florida," Circuit Court Judge Jackie Fulford wrote this week in ruling against the state. "To find otherwise would mean that a contract with our state government has no meaning, and that the citizens of our state can place no trust in the work of our Legislature."
The good news is that, relative to some other public employee pension funds around the nation, Florida's remains fiscally sound; at least for now.
But unless the state has better grounds for its appeal than Gainesville had, this week's court decision means that pension reform is going to take longer and be more difficult than Gov. Scott and lawmakers anticipated.
That doesn't mean state and local governments shouldn't keep looking for ways to reduce taxpayer liability against rising public employee entitlement costs. It does mean that such cost containment efforts will have to be done in collaboration with public employee bargaining units to meet constitutional muster. By Lise FisherStaff writer Who should be tending the crape myrtles on Northwest 16th Avenue in Gainesville? A sign along the roadway proclaims the section of roadway to be Crape Myrtle Alley. When the plants are in bloom, a colorful variety of blossoms decorate the road block after block. But now the trees are scraggly and unpruned look like they could use a little attention. Who ought to provide that care is a question that’s been circulating in emails this week between county and city officials. As it turns out, the county is going to be doing the work. Knowing who should be taking of the medians can be confusing for residents trying to figure out who is in charge of a county or state road running through the city. County Engineer Dave Cerlanek said the county does maintain the medians on this road, which is a county road. He also said he had seen the emails about the crape myrtles, and a supervisor would be heading to the area to see if the trees need trimming and when the work could be scheduled. It was not clear when the trees were last trimmed. In an email earlier in the week, Teresa Scott, the city’s director of public works, responded to a question apparently from a concerned resident about the trees. She said the city had no maintenance responsibilities for the plants. The county’s engineer was copied on the email and notified about questions regarding the trees’ care and appearance. The issue ended up in County Commissioner Lee Pinkoson’s email. Pinkoson, in an email response, questioned if there was agreement between the city and county to maintain the medians and said he was forwarding the matter to public works. Whoever ends up doing the work, Wendy Wilber, the county’s environmental horticulture extension agent, said these trees probably could use some maintenance. “They do need some TLC,” said Wilber, who’s familiar with the medians. She suggested gentle pruning, fertilizing, and cleaning around base of the trees, plus some fresh mulch. By Anne GeggisStaff writer A new center at the University of Florida — the state's first university-based eating disorders program — aims to silence that inner criticism which can make having pizza out with the girls an ordeal. It drove Simone Pierson to run 6 miles, six days a week and kept her from touching anything like cheese. At first, her efforts were rewarded — unsolicited job offers came as she whittled down to 98 pounds. But then the effort became exhausting, she said. "A lot of my friends didn't want to hang with me — I was tired and not as fun as I used to be," said Pierson, 21, a UF food science and human nutrition major from Coral Springs. She also collapsed at the end of a road race. Hoping to help those with the same compulsions before it's too late — as well as to discover the origins of this self-destruction — the UF Eating Disorder Recovery Center opened last month for those who need around-the-clock care. "Eating disorders have the highest lethality of any psychiatric illness," said psychiatrist Kevin Wandler, who came to UF in August to lead the program. The program will eventually move to the former Residence Inn on Southwest 13th Street, where it will share a campus with a drug treatment program to form the Florida Recovery Center. Alachua County's planning commission will be reviewing a proposal to change the land use at the northeast corner of 13th Street and Williston Road from a commercial use to an institutional medical one at a March 21 meeting. If it gets approval there, the Alachua County Commission is tentatively scheduled to take the land-use issue up April 1. Meanwhile, patients afflicted with anorexia nervosa and bulimia will relearn how to nourish their bodies at Shands Vista campus on Northwest 39th Avenue. Dr, Wandler, most recently the chief medical officer for the Center for Anorexia and Bulimia at Remuda Ranch in Arizona, said Gainesville is the perfect place for this treatment. "There are 55,000 students at UF, and half of them are women and 25 percent of them have disordered eating," Wandler said. "The population at the highest risk are teenagers — people, mostly women, 14 to 22 (years old) tend to develop eating disorders." While obesity will eventually be treated at the eating disorder program, Wandler said his and the center's focus is two-fold: anorexia nervosa, a condition that drives people to diet so that they weigh less than 85 percent of their ideal body weight, and bulimia, which leads its victims to binge and then purge their food. He said anorexia is the most lethal type of disorder because low weight can put electrolytes out of whack, which leads to heart arrhythmias that can kill. And purging can lead to extreme dehydration. But recovery is more complicated than beginning to eat again, or stopping purges, Wandler said. While many people would like to be thinner, the impulse can go haywire for a smaller set of those prone to perfectionism, anxiety and low self-esteem. Food restriction becomes a way to control emotion and purging is a method for ridding oneself of anger, Wandler said. "Our goal in treatment is really teaching emotional regulation," he said. Pierson, the director of the UF's student organization called the Body Acceptance Movement, said that she came to realize that losing weight during her high school years had a strong pull on her because of the way she began to equate being thin with being happy. "People were telling me how great I looked," she said, recalling how she got offered retail jobs as she shopped. But then walking became painful. She went to South Florida for her treatment. But having a center here will be a big plus for students trying to recover, particularly if they want to continue their studies as they get treatment, Pierson said. "I'm really excited about it," she said. By Anthony ClarkBusiness editor The Calusa Animal Inn has boarded dogs, cats, birds and other pets on Millhopper Road for 35 years. For more than 20 of those years, it flew under the radar as a nonconforming use in a residential area after the county adopted its land-use map. That changed a few years ago when a neighbor who lived next door for years started complaining about constant barking at all hours of the day and night. Russell Milner, owner of the business, had planned to shut down the kennel Tuesday rather than face code fines of $100 a day, but the county code board last week granted him a reprieve until April 27 after his attorney protested that he was given late notice. Milner said on Monday that he plans to stay open until that time, but has not decided whether to apply to the county for a special exception permit at a cost of $4,000. “I’m trying to make up my mind,” he said. “I still have the fellow next door and if he still complains, all it does is draw attention to the place.” Milner said he had 25 animals in this week, less than usual during the University of Florida’s spring break. The kennel has had as many as 115 animals during holidays. Milner said he had sent 150 to 200 postcards to customers to let them know the business would be closing on Tuesday but has since called some to let them know he is still open. Milner — who is 92 — said the business had been open for 10 years when he and his late wife, Louise, bought it in 1987. He sold the business and the property to Peter and Linda Bensen in 2007. Milner bought the business back in 2010, leasing the property from the Bensens. At some point while the business belonged to the Bensens, Ralph Bratton, who has lived next door since 2002, started complaining about barking. Bratton said he’s not sure what changed at the kennel but that the noise problems started about three years ago. Linda Bensen said Bratton issued hundreds of complaints to the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office. In a sworn complaint filed in July 2010 with the State Attorney’s Office, the Sheriff’s Office reported that there was a lengthy history of complaints on file. Bensen said she was threatened with arrest while in treatment for cancer. Rather than go through that, she said she and her husband decided to close the kennel. That’s when Milner bought the business back to keep it open. Bratton said nothing improved. According to the Sheriff’s Office, he called in 20 more complaints during the past year. Milner said he’s not sure what exactly prompted Bratton’s complaints. “We have neighbors a lot closer on the other side. They never complained through all those years,” he said. In April 2010, Bratton complained to county code enforcement. The county gave the kennel — still owned by the Bensens at the time — 18 months to apply for a special exception or shut down. The 18 months expired in November. In January, the code enforcement board gave the kennel 60 days to comply or face $100 a day in fines. Milner was added to the complaint during the code board meeting. After his attorney, Sam Mutch, complained that he had not been given proper notice, the code board last week granted Milner a 60-day extension to appeal, close the kennel or apply for a special exception. Linda Bensen said she encouraged Milner to appeal the zoning board ruling and apply for a special exception. “This piece of land is worth much less without a business on it,” she said. “He said repeatedly, no, he didn’t want to appeal because he would still have the problem with the neighbor making complaints.” Last week, I watched in amazement as the Alachua County Commission approved the resale of a residential property they had acquired for refurbishing through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.
The agenda for that meeting explained that this particular home was purchased by Alachua County on April 30, 2010, in the amount of $85,000. The total cost of the rehab was $58,226 for a total investment of $143,226.
The Commission received a purchase offer at the full appraised value, after rehab, of $91,000.
Keep in mind the appraised value of the property when the county purchased it, prior to rehab, was $72,300. Simple math clearly demonstrates that in the purchase, refurbishing and resale of the home, the county's taxpayers realized a net loss of $52,226.
Not only is our local government using tax revenue to directly compete with the private sector, but they also demonstrate how inefficiently our government operates.
Brandon C. Kutner, Archer By Lise FisherStaff writer Irrigation at new home developments and golf course design standards will be reviewed this week at a workshop updating the Alachua County's land development code. The Tuesday meeting is a continuation of a Feb. 28 workshop looking at possible code changes, which would be the first overall of the regulations in seven years, said planner Holly Banner. Some of the revisions would update standards for irrigation for new developments in high aquifer recharge areas or places where the soil is more porous and the potential for groundwater contamination is higher. No more than 60 percent of the landscaped area could be irrigated by high-volume irrigation. Most of the land impacted by this change would be in the central and western portions of the county. Rules for new golf courses also would be implemented requiring that their design and operation protect springs by reducing the amount of nutrients — which are found in fertilizer — that could hurt area springs or the Floridan aquifer. Other changes proposed at the earlier workshop would allow agricultural activities in the urban unincorporated area bordering Gainesville. Under the possible revisions, residents there could keep a small number of chickens and start community gardens. At least two public hearings on the proposed changes will be held at a later date before any adjustments to the code are adopted, Banner said. Tuesday's meeting begins at 5 p.m. in the Jack Durrance Auditorium, Room 209. By: Nickelle Smith, Cameron Taylor & Jordan Matich – WUFT-FM In a long-awaited ruling, Judge Jackie Fulford today struck down the 3-percent pension charge levied on public employees in the Florida Retirement System prior to last July 1, calling it “Unconstitutional.” Florida’s 89.1 WUFT-FM’s Nickelle Smith spoke with Alachua County Education Association President Karen McCann who says today’s ruling is encouraging for State employees in favor of the ruling. Click here to listen to this news. |
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