Live Blogging from City Council: Mobility Fee Moratorium

[thelakelander]

Looks like this is going to take a while.

[Bridges]

Mike white, of jacksonville bike coalition.  Cites jax business journal poll.

[TheCat]

it has begun.

Mike White is the first to the podium. He is wearing a bike pin. He is a transportation planner. His group unanimously opposes the moratorium. A JBJ journal survey of 500 people said that 82% were opposed to the Moratorium.

Explains that the Mobility Fees (MF) from the Mobility Plan (MP) will fund necessary projects in our city.

He says "we've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars developing this bill and we are rendering it useless."

he asked the people opposed to this bill to stand. About 2 dozen stood.

[Bridges]

Standing support showed a lot in opposition to moratorium, not outnumbered like i thought.

[Bridges]

First supporter is up.

Saving his speech for committee.

[TheCat]

This speaker: Riding a bike should extend your life. In Jacksonville it is a risk to your life. The moratorium further hurts our reputation. We are the most dangerous city in the country for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Jim, of Jumping Fish, is speaking. He is voicing his opposition. He has recently started biking again. He was hit by a car.

Jim is the one that swims the St. John's river. He says it's safer to swim long distances on the river than it is to ride a bike.
http://jumpingfish.net/about-us/team-jumpingfish/

Jim, mentions Davis' initial framing of the debate that those who oppose the bill are just noise and shouldn't be listened to. He doesn't appreciate that. He says builders walk. Builders ride bikes. He says opposition to this bill is supporting life.

[thelakelander]

Great numbers but when it comes time to address those roads in his area, they'll cost over $9 million per mile to expand from two to four lanes. 

http://www.dot.state.fl.us/planning/policy/costs/costs-D7.pdf

Who pays that cost for the multiple road expansions needed in North Jacksonville/Oceanway when new development fills in?

[TheCat]

This speaker mentioned a bunch of numbers in quick succession. He says this bill will allow him to be a job creator.

Chris is up. A rep from the NEFL builders association. He says people saying that the mobility fees are for sidewalks are misleading. It is fiscally irresponsible to use one time payments for recurring cost. Makes it clear this is a JOBS bill.

Tom H. from Connecticut says bike lanes are important. If we give up these standards we are making everything more dangerous.  Opposition to this is about safety. His wife worries about him riding his bike on these streets. He does say that there is more courtesy in Florida than in New England.

A contractor speaks. She builds houses. Enjoyed the boom. Suffered the bust. Things are coming back. She is turning work down. Her crew is full time. It is getting harder to keep those employees because they are being lured away. The economy is turning around. We don't need to sell ourselves for a "jobs bill" that we do not need. Do not give the store away. Let's use what we have. Let's fill in the space that we have available to us. Let's not give up on this.

[thelakelander]

Councilman Gulliford is full of jokes tonight.  He's having fun. Sheclown, a contractor, is now speaking she's in opposition to the moratorium. She says we don't need to sell ourselves short for jobs that are already there.  She's turning away jobs from new work coming in from a recovering economy.

[TheCat]

A rep from the Sierra Club representing 150 people is speaking against the Moratorium. She is quoting Ennis Davis' numbers from the amount we lost and could potentially lose as a result of this bill.


Gulliford is always full of jokes.

[thelakelander]

Janet Stanko is up.  She represents over 1,500 Sierra Club members in North Florida.  Her group is against the moratorium.

[thelakelander]

Lad Hawkins, representing the Greater Arlington is speaking. His group is against the moratorium.

[TheCat]

Lad H. up to the podium: Two of his groups are opposed to the moratorium. Everyone is suffering financially there is no reason to play favorites and give some groups a break.

Explains the moratorium that the fees incentivize in fill. With out the fee structure the Mobility Plan is useless. They are selling this Moratorium as a temporary measure. BUT, all developments that are mapped will not have to pay the fee. Technically, they could plat the world and we wouldn't see a penny.

new speaker: Represent 1200 members of the NFL bicycle club. Against the Moratorium. He says, there is no evidence that the last moratorium worked. Zero correlation between the Moratorium and jobs. St. John's county kept their fees and they are doing well. We are ranked 48th nationally in bicycle safety.

lake did you catch what he said about the Health Council?

[Bridges]

Nice! Call out of Clark!

[TheCat]

I missed that. What happened?