On May 6th the Gateway Board of Supervisors were reading the traffic committee the riot act. They were berating them for not even coming before the board to file a report, which they are required to do.
This past week, the Supervisors agreed the same committee they were disparaging could spend up to $5,000 to "review" a traffic study completed by Lee County regarding the new Boston Red Sox training facility. It's a waste of money and the traffic committee is a waste of time. It's time the committee was disbanded.
About 6 months ago, the Supervisors disbanded the Park committee, of which I was once the chairman, because it outlived its usefulness. It was the right thing to do then and disbanding the traffic committee is the right thing to do now. The time has come and gone for input on a new Red Sox facility. That puppy is going up and there is nothing Gateway wannabe politicians can say or do to change that. Thank God! In fact, at a public hearing that I hosted, most Gateway residents want that facility as a neighbor. The sooner the better.
The traffic committee was created years ago with a goal of dealing with speeding and dangerous truck traffic that was so noisy it was waking residents who live along the Boulevard. The slumping construction industry took care of that issue.
Lee County recently completed a traffic study which concluded that "the proposed Boston Red Sox Spring Training Facility will not have a detrimental impact on the adjacent roadway network" For the traffic committee chairman to say that we need to conduct a study to look out for "our own interests" is asinine. It's as if the County study is a lie. We should thank the County and ask them how we can help. Not try to fund a study that refutes their information.
For her sake (the traffic chairman), let's say the Lee County study is a lie and the traffic committee study says there will be an impact on Gateway. So what! That study will still be a waste of our money because there's nothing that can be done. We don't own the roads. We don't own that land. And, we want the stadium. Stay away from the stadium on game night and you won't be impacted.
The traffic committee did not hold one, not one, public hearing here in Gateway to get feedback on the new Red Sox stadium. ZERO. Now they are reacting to a done deal and want to spend our money to do it. If they wanted to seem useful, the committee had one issue staring at it every morning on Gateway Boulevard and Westlinks. The traffic committee has done nothing to alleviate the parent pick-up situation in the community. It's exactly the same now as it was 6 months ago.
The last issue the traffic committee dealt with was the idea of interrupting the flow of traffic on Gateway Boulevard by putting a Stop Sign by 7-11. They asked the board to write an official letter requesting a stop sign. You see how that's coming along. Here is an excerpt of an e-mail I received from Harry Campbell from Lee County D.O.T. on March 11th. It's the first time I've posted the letter. "Because these roads are Not County maintained, then the County does not have the authority or the responsibility to conduct the study. It is my opinion that WCI and/or the Services District have that responsibility to take those actions as long as they have jurisdiction".
The traffic committee has become a revolving door of members, probably because they see it's a waste of their time. The only was to stop wasteful layers of government is for the people to rise up and request they be abolished. There is no need for a traffic committee any longer. Gateway does not and will never own the two main roads that go through the community (we own a small piece of Gateway Boulevard by Stoneybrook). At present they are owned by WCI and may eventually be owned by Lee County.
The Board of Supervisors should be dealing with the inter-local agreement with Lee County. It's a major issue and should be handled by those elected, not delegated to a committee. Gateway does not have a traffic problem. Gateway has a spending problem.
