Wyatt Sanders: Get rid of Troll Cities Lawtey & Waldo

[Metro Jacksonville]

Wyatt Sanders: Get rid of Troll Cities Lawtey & Waldo



As anyone who has ever made the trek down 301 to Gainesville can attest, the sheriff's of Waldo and Lawtey are major dicks.  Both cities exist to milk traffic infraction money out of students traveling to school.  Why not disband them?  More after the jump.

Read More: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2014-sep-wyatt-sanders-get-rid-of-troll-cities-lawtey-waldo

[ChriswUfGator]

Waldo especially is a pain in the ass. For a city with nothing but a dirt racetrack and a half-dozen fast food restaurants and gas stations, they have an inordinate number of cops. You can't drive through there without seeing people pulled over.

[Rynjny]

Really hope they change the 301 to Interstate. would cut down my drive time to Gville to less than an hour.

[spuwho]

There have been discussions off and on over the years to provide a more direct route between Jacksonville and Gainesville.  Lake can correct me here, but one was a routing off the First Coast Outer Beltway and around/through Fort Blanding that would pick up 301 at Starke.  The other was just a straight 4 lane job from Baldwin down to G'ville.

[Anti redneck]

Really hope they change the 301 to Interstate. would cut down my drive time to Gville to less than an hour.

It would be nice having more of a direct access to Gainesville, instead of having to go through Waldo all the time.

[InnerCityPressure]

I always take 10 to 75 on down.  Takes an extra 15 minutes, but I'm not worrying the whole time...

[acme54321]

What's the big deal?  Go the speed limit for 3 minutes?  Wow

[For_F-L-O-R-I-D-A]

Lawty truly is a worthless place with no purpose. An easier connection from Gainesville to Jax could be amazing for both cities. Removing Lawty, doing the Starke Bypass and limiting development along 301 would be a huge improvement and cost effective.

[ChriswUfGator]

What's the big deal?  Go the speed limit for 3 minutes?  Wow

Sort of difficult to do when the speed limit changes 8 times within a few miles...which is the whole point. These places are artificial speed traps, it has nothing to do with safety they're just after money.

[I-10east]

^^^I agree with both of yall comments. I've been driving back and forth to Gainesville regularly for VA appointments/sometimes hospital stays for 11/12 years, and so far I never got a speeding ticket. Do I ever go over the speed limit on the fast 65MPH stretches? Yes, just like many. I'm I very wary of the speed trap areas, going the speed limit? Absolutely.

I have a radar detector to stay aware of the police. I did receive one ticket (in Waldo of course) for 'avoiding a traffic device'. I was behind a semi truck at a stop sign trying to turn on 301 back to Jax, and this truck's cab was at a weird angle from the trailer look like they was attempting a left turn. I didn't know what they was gonna do taking a long time. A car in front of me cut through an abandoned gas station, I did the same; he made it, I got caught. Online traffic school is the way to go for beating points.

[Ocklawaha]

Where to start?

I was once a city councilman in Oklahoma, also for a town with nearly the exact same population. No US highway but a busy state highway that is gradually becoming a 4-lane truck speedway across the oil patch north of I-40.

No locals protested when I got the state to drop that speed limit from 65 to 35, when it was once 65 to 50... right past the high school, elementary and middle schools. Outsiders complained constantly that we created a speed trap for revenue! Bull shit! I NEVER want to see a car fly past those schools at 50 then hit a school zone and slow to 45 for a quarter of a city block before vanishing into OKC. I was able to write a little over a $1M in grants, paved every street, built a park, new sewer system...etc. In all of that time I think the county brought us a truck load of asphalt millings... ONCE! Big Help!

No doubt that Waldo is and has been a speed trap for years, ditto Lawtey, and no doubt the city police departments have been badly managed. By the way, the 'Sheriff of Waldo' would be the Sheriff of Gainesville - IE: Alachua County, they have absolutely nothing to do with the 'speed trap,' in fact they are the ones that took over until things get to a norman level. Ditto for the 'Sheriff of Lawtey,' that likewise had nothing to do with this and he is HQ'd in Starke, Bradford, County.

Taking away the City of Waldo and the City of Lawtey, is exactly what we shouldn't do. Incorporation (city status) localizes such things as this, but gives the citizens the power to change it at a local level, these police chief's were crooked as a dogs hind leg and I'd suggest that they pissed off a local power broker who brought down the hammer. Call that government of the people. Believe me, when you live in a little house on the prairie and your street light get's flattened by a semi, good luck trying to get Tallahassee or Gainesville to fix it... Spell that LOCAL.

The Starke By-Pass is going to completely wipe out one of the nicest small cities with a actual live downtown. The downtown will become a 3 mile stretch of soaped up windows and plywood over the doors. Shades of Jacksonville. Oh yeah, they'll get a new BK, and Mickey D's... and they'll replace a hundred or so mom and pops that are currently thriving.
But this seems unstoppable. Sad.

A Jax - Gainesville FREEway wouldn't be free. A turnpike might have a chance of recovering some of it's cost after it hit Hillsboro, County. The only way that it would be fair to Starke, would be if they could locate it at ground level right through the northern side of the city, overpassing it and interchanges offering free travel in the Starke area. Cutting through Camp Blanding, now that it is a 'Joint Forces Training Base,' is about as likely as teeth in a chicken.

Redo the speed zones, stair step them down to 35, then stair step them back up to 65. They are under the microscope and know they've got to tow the rope now or lose their city status, city grants and all local control. Most florida city governments remember the stellar example of Boulogne, Florida. Boulogne was 1.3 miles long and 2,000 feet wide. Population 50, with 33% of its citizens in law enforcement, 88% of the budget was for policing and 60% of its revenue from traffic fines. By the time the state revoked the charter, they had lost an estimated $10M in business revenue... Today it's one of Florida's ghosts.
READ THE STORY HERE: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/01/definitive-hick-town-speed-trap.html

[acme54321]

What's the big deal?  Go the speed limit for 3 minutes?  Wow

Sort of difficult to do when the speed limit changes 8 times within a few miles...which is the whole point. These places are artificial speed traps, it has nothing to do with safety they're just after money.

Really?  Come on.  It changes from 65 to 45 and back as it goes through the towns.  Sure you could say it changes 8 times if you want to spin it up that way.  Would you want someone blowing through your small town at 65?  What if main street through Springfield was 65.  I'm sure you'd have a problem with it then.  Its basically the same thing.

If you guys want to bitch about the speed limits on 301 complain about going 30 through Starke, that's far more aggravating than lawtey or waldo.

[ChriswUfGator]

What's the big deal?  Go the speed limit for 3 minutes?  Wow

Sort of difficult to do when the speed limit changes 8 times within a few miles...which is the whole point. These places are artificial speed traps, it has nothing to do with safety they're just after money.

Really?  Come on.  It changes from 65 to 45 and back as it goes through the towns.  Sure you could say it changes 8 times if you want to spin it up that way.  Would you want someone blowing through your small town at 65?  What if main street through Springfield was 65.  I'm sure you'd have a problem with it then.  Its basically the same thing.

If you guys want to bitch about the speed limits on 301 complain about going 30 through Starke, that's far more aggravating than lawtey or waldo.

It's not spin, it literally changes 8 times...

Count it next time you go through there. Sorry the facts don't fit your narrative. And Starke doesn't ticket the crap out of people, I have no complaints with them.

[PeeJayEss]

Sounds like someone recently got a speeding ticket...

[acme54321]

What's the big deal?  Go the speed limit for 3 minutes?  Wow

Sort of difficult to do when the speed limit changes 8 times within a few miles...which is the whole point. These places are artificial speed traps, it has nothing to do with safety they're just after money.

Really?  Come on.  It changes from 65 to 45 and back as it goes through the towns.  Sure you could say it changes 8 times if you want to spin it up that way.  Would you want someone blowing through your small town at 65?  What if main street through Springfield was 65.  I'm sure you'd have a problem with it then.  Its basically the same thing.

If you guys want to bitch about the speed limits on 301 complain about going 30 through Starke, that's far more aggravating than lawtey or waldo.

It's not spin, it literally changes 8 times...

Count it next time you go through there. Sorry the facts don't fit your narrative. And Starke doesn't ticket the crap out of people, I have no complaints with them.

I know it LITERALLY changes 8 times.  It actually changes more than that.  Starke actually does ticket the crap out of people.  My wife recieved 2 tickets through there weeks apart a few years ago.  Guess what?  No one is asking to revoke Starke's city charter or something as stupid as that.  It's not a trap when it goes 65 to 55 to 45 with warning signs in between each one that the speed limit is about to change.  Just go the speed limit.