With about 16 months to go until the next City Commission election
it might be a good time to take stock of our city government.
If you are interested in seeing our city take a different course than
the one it's on, now would be a good time to think about what needs to
change. Given that the last election was status quo (all
three incumbents, Shaver, Freeman and Horvath were reelected without
difficulty), there should be little trouble understanding what has, and has
not, happened since November of 2016.
The Commission remains divided four to one with Neville,
Freeman, Sikes-Kline and Horvath all enthusiastically favoring
expanded tourism and more development in the city and Mayor Shaver trying to
create balance. Beyond the support of Neville, Freeman, Sikes-Kline
and Horvath for the recent expansion of the San Marco Hotel Planned
Unit Development (PUD) for valet-only parking, what we see is a pattern
of indifference to the things that really matter to city
residents.
For example, while everyone agrees that “mobility” is our number
one concern, what has the Commission actually done about it? We have
spent approximately $150,000 on the much ballyhooed “mobility study” but what
have we to show for it? Is there a mobility master plan? I haven’t seen one and
I don’t hear Neville, Freeman, Horvath or Sikes-Kline asking for
one. After spending all that money for a study, one would think that the recent
debate about how to re-stripe San Marco Ave would have fitted neatly into a
plan developed with the assistance of the consultant. Instead the San Marco Ave
plan seemed to be a “pop-up” scramble that surprised and angered both the
merchants on San Marco Ave and the residents of the Uptown neighborhood. Despite
spending all that money, the city seems to be reacting to events as if the
mobility “study” never happened.
Using San Marco Ave re-striping as an example again, how does the
approximately 0.9 mile southbound “shuttle lane” that is being created at the
expense of on-street parking fit into a larger plan for a city-wide shuttle
plan? Why create a short, stand alone, stretch of “shuttle lane” if it
isn’t part of a larger shuttle system architecture? Maybe it is, but I
haven’t heard any of our Commissioners even acknowledge this concern or ask for
an explanation; have you?
Another concern with the four Commissioner “defenders of the status
quo” is their complete indifference to repeated serious errors by city
staff. Neville, Sikes-Kline, Horvath and Freeman appear to
have no concern the city Planning and Building staff (as unquestionably
demonstrated in the recent San Marco Parking PUD issue) cannot:
1. Correctly articulate city code,
2. explain how event space occupancy is calculated,
3. accurately calculate parking requirements, or
4. plausibly explain why the 2015 special events venue ordinance
added to the city code a second and extremely permissive way for a hotel to
calculate required parking.
So, while it’s bad enough that Neville, Sikes-Kline, Freeman
and Horvath vote consistently for the tourism industry and seem to
care little for the interests of actual residents, it is even more
troubling that they are content to accept the city staff’s obvious
deficiencies and happy to allow the City Manager to muddle along.
I recommend people start looking ahead to the next election and
find candidates who can successfully challenge Neville and Sikes-Kline
(assuming she runs). Until a change is made to the status quo, we
will continue on this same path. If you’re a wealthy developer or you run a
tourism business, this might be exactly what you want. If you are interested in
the city actually working to realize its vision of “livability” and
“authenticity,” you might want to change out Sikes-Kline and Neville.
Please talk with your friends and spread awareness. Keep the Mayor
in office, but NOTHING changes if Neville and Sikes-Kline stay. We need
Commissioners who respect residential interests and will protect our
neighborhoods.
On behalf of St Augustine Residents Count and looking ahead,
Lee Geanuleas
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