This is what I wrote on Facebook. See below what I wanted to write.
AT THE COMMUNITY MEETING I DIDN’T HEAR ONE SOLUTION FROM THE AUDIENCE ON HOW TO FIX THE TRAFFIC! JUST A LOT OF COMPLAINING.
All I heard was make the developers go away. It seems that contempt for developers, county staff and our elected officials has superseded common sense.
For a minute, let’s pretend the developers don’t exist and they are not part of our traffic problem so get the signs that say 15,000 more cars on the road out of your head.
I don’t think anyone will say that traffic is fine. Traffic is bad and will only get worse. We have been complaining about it for years, right?
We have been concerned over police, fire and EMT response time. Concerned with long commute times that will only get worse. Concerned about school buses getting kids to school safely. When did all that evaporate and traffic is no longer a concern?
At the meeting I heard, go away, we are fine out here. Everyone has been so worked up over these developments that we have lost sight of the problem. Think about this instead. Renzo Nastasi, the traffic manager, said all the roads will fail by 2030 with red lines on every road, right? McCulloch, N. Tanner, Lake Pickett, S. Tanner, 419, Hwy 50 and Woodbury. The county must fix failing roads. It is their job whether we like it or not. And just fixing Hwy 50 is not going to work. The traffic on the county roads is here to stay. I think once we accept that cold hard fact, then we can move forward.
Do you really think 6 laning Hwy 50 is going to make all the traffic problem go away?
Do you think the county can let these roads fail?
Do you really think that they are just going to go away and let us live in this traffic nightmare?
I challenge everyone reading this to think clearly and try to help solve the problem. This is your time to provide input because there will come a time when it will be fixed regardless of what anyone thinks. The county has to do its job, they have to maintain the roads to a standard and trust me when I say, they will come in and 4 lane roads to provide more capacity for cars to move.
WE DO NOT HAVE A TIME MACHINE TO WARP BACK 20 YEARS AND MAKE IT ALL GO WAY.
Traffic is here to stay and it is the county’s job to ensure we have an infrastructure in place to move transit.
In my next post I will tell you my view of the developers and where they fit in my head.
This is what I wrote first. I think it is far more entertaining but a bit over the top so I will keep it buried down here for posterity sake.
The Lake Pickett Community meeting was a runaway freight train fueled by a mob ramped up with false pre-programmed images of disingenuous developers and untrustworthy government officials whose sole intent is to steal the rural area. The tone of a meeting was set when the first speaker approached the mic and continued throughout the night with ranting, raving, heckling and cheering and doing all kinds of things 19 years olds high on pot would do at a Metallica concert. We might as well have been in Baltimore a few weeks ago the way this crowd acted. The tone was set long before walking into the room. As soon as I left my house heading to the meeting I was greeted by propaganda signs littered everywhere attempting to instill fear in my heart. 15,000 more cars on the road they read.
Anyone who might have said anything in favor of these developments probably thought twice about speaking in front of this contentious pack of rowdies. A couple of people tried and were heckled back into their seats. This wasn’t a community meeting. It was a rant where adrenaline and emotion ruled logic and reason.
This was a sorry display of humanity. It was just short of a reversion to pitchforks and lynch mobs. Some even resorted to personal attacks on our elected official by trying to use political affiliation and where the person lived against the man while many attacked a county employee and one blatantly called him a liar.
And all for what. Nothing because the future is here. What do you think is going to happen? Do you really think with traffic this bad the county is going to just walk away and leave the roads as they are today? Sorry, folks, it is way too late for that. The chickens are lose and running amuck and you aren’t getting them back in the coop. As much as you want to warp back 20 years and stop change from happening the future is here. How can I be so sure? Level of Service (LOS), that’s how. Everyone was too busy trying to find thing to attack in Renzo’s presentation no one bothered to try to understand what Renzo was trying to say. Let me say it very clearly. With OR WITHOUT these developments by 2030 ALL THESE ROAD ARE RED, overcapacity, too many cars, gridlock, nowhere to go, stuck in traffic …….. BELOW THE REQUIRED LOS. Should I go on, how clear can I make this? THE COUNTY ISN’T ALLOWED to let the roads drop below a certain LOS. It is not the county’s choice to make. While everyone is beating their chests like a bunch of drunk gorillas, the county is doing the job we are paying them to do and getting flogged at the whipping post for doing it. You can be mad at me, unlike me on Facebook or whatever you want to do but someone has to stand up and tell you the cold hard facts. Traffic is at a point where it must be fixed and the county is going to fix it with OR WITHOUT these developments. THEY HAVE TO! It may not be next year or the year after that but before 2030 these roads will be fixed and planning has or will start soon if it hasn’t already. The developers make it easier because they help fund it. But come hell or high water, these roads will be fixed. You can take that to the bank.
One more thing, this mob mentality isn’t going to get away with this down at the chambers. This ranting and raving is not allowed. They don’t even allow cheers. Fair warning.
http://www.orangecountyfl.net/portals/0/library/traffic-transportation/docs/transportationelement.pdf