Fort Myers, FL
You people have jack. That's for sure. Because of the stories we wrote and the input you gave Supervisor Gary Neubauer the board spent over an hour on our topic of wasting money on a traffic study. And it has to make Bobby Nielson's blood boil to know the only reason this came up was because of us.
It makes me jolly as old Saint Nick to watch this board get bogged down for an hour on an issue the residents are irate about. And to me, while others say $5,000 is chump change, every penny is worth fighting for with this motley crew of bandits. What gets wasted today will come back to haunt us when it's really really needed. And this asinine study is not really really needed.
Last night we forced the board to, at least, reduce the amount the traffic committee could spend. They were given $1,500 to develop questions about the County study. That's down from $5,000. The vote was 3 in favor of spending (NIELSON / FINERBERG / STANLEY) and 2 opposed (SICHEL / NEBAUER) . It's not exactly what we wanted but it's a small victory. Ed Sichel's motion to dissolve the committee did not receive a second so it died. The traffic committee will continue and that's due to the friendships between Bob Nielson, Margaret Fineberg and Tamara Sendewicz, not because the committee does anything productive for the community. It does nothing.
If not for what we did this issue would have floated through, all the money would have been spent and another pile of useless papers would be sitting on Bill Knight's $100,000 shelf. Some members of the traffic committee, like Tamara Sendewicz, insist NOW that Gateway needs to spend money on a traffic study to determine the impact the new Red Sox stadium will have on Gateway traffic. Well, at least now she knows where the stadium is going to be built. We did find out last night that not all traffic committee members believe there should be another study. Interesting. And conveniently left out of her report to the board.
Let me state the obvious. During games, there will be additional traffic. You don't need a survey to tell you that. The Red Sox have 15 Spring Training games and they will sell out sending traffic in many directions including Gateway. We get it. My point has always been this. Gateway has no say in this matter. A study that says it will have an impact is meaningless. It's creating work ONLY for the purpose of creating work.
Board Chairman Bob Nielson, luckily for me, highlighted his colossal ignorance on this issue. He kept saying we are doing this to "protect Gateway". Protect Gateway from what? From Big Poppy? From Home run balls landing on the school? From drunken Red Sox fans stealing the pink flamingo lawn furniture? But even more incredible was Bob the Builders following statement: "I'm still in favor of giving the traffic committee the green light. What if we have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars down the road just to save $3,500 to $5,500 now". What in the world would you spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on? It's not possible. It's a County facility. It's a Major League Baseball team. And, Gateway doesn't own the roads. However, knowing you, you'll find something to spend the money on.
Bob, Supervisor Fineberg and Sendewicz are claiming Lee County is basically out to get us because they conducted the study and they are building the stadium. Apparently Nielson and Sendewicz are concerned about safety. Safety! Safety! Obviously these two big spenders have never driven near Westlinks, every day school is in session. Residents and business owners take their lives into their own hands because of the Charter School traffic. And, that's for many more than 15 days. Where is the study for that issue? Where is the resolution for that issue? I shouldn't give them any ideas.
Board members also kept saying "our roads", "our roads". The buffoonery of it all. There is no such thing as "our roads". Gateway does not own the roads. How can these people not know that? That one fact should scare you into voting this November.
If the chairman of the Gateway Services District Board of Supervisors has a concern about safety why doesn't he take the chair of the traffic committee and go to the Chairman of the Lee County Board of Commissioners and voice his concern. He's the chairman of the board for God's sake. The job involves a little more than sitting on his ass for 5 hours every two weeks. Why send it to a committee who needs to spend money on a study? If it's that important, do something about it yourself.
By the way, our June 15th Town Hall Meeting with the County was referenced too many times to count last night. It's a meeting, by the way, that the traffic committee could have easily called. Lee County, despite what the Board of Supervisors and the Traffic Committee is saying about them has been very open and cooperative on this issue. Every town hall meeting we've suggested, they've agreed to. And I'm just a piddly diddly unelected resident with no
