A couple of items showed up this past Wed. evening during the first budget hearing.
These were not part of the core budget nor were they included in the supplemental considerations for additions to the budget having previous discussion by council.
Much like the magician pulling rabbits out of a hat these items are being contemplated for final budget approval on Sept. 21.
AJ Boyd wants $225K for landscape curbing for
Orchid Blvd. This item failed on a 4-4 vote this past Wed. but have no doubt, he will bring it back at the final hearing.
The Orchid Blvd. homeowners (including AJ’s parents) have done a wonderful job with their sign and medians, however this expenditure was not planned and should not be included as part of this year’s budget expense!
They have also sent in e-mails supporting this added expense as a result of the failed vote.
AJ also got the majority of council to add $1,000,000. into the budget for new slides at Sun Splash. Again this is not part of the core budget or supplemental considerations. There is no need to add these to Sun Splash when you consider that the water park is currently operating at its maximum capacity. I consider both items as being PORK.
Update:At the final budget hearing Mayor Feichthaler flip flopped on his previous NO vote, voting with Boyd, Day, Jeffers and Rosado for $225,000 of PORK for Orchid Blvd. curbing.
11 Comments:
I agree completely with you on these items. Mr. Boyd is out of control and is showing favortism where his father is concerned and that is shameful!
Sunsplash is definitely at capacity and I understand on weekends they have had to turn people away!
The Mayor stated clearly that funding for both median projects were pork and should be removed entirely. He was overruled by a majority of council. He eloquently said he voted to split the funds between the two projects at the budget meeting ONLY AFTER the spendy council would not remove the $465,000 from the budget as he requested.
Plain and simple, the Mayor flip flopped on his previous Orchid Blvd vote. Orchid Blvd. is 4 tenths of a mile and has 6 medians strips. The City maintains the medians at a cost of some $13K per year from tax dollars. There is NO significant traffic on Orchid Blvd. as evidenced by the fact there isn’t a traffic signal at Orchid and Del Prado Blvd. There was NO need to take money from the 24th Avenue project for curbing the medians on Orchid. This is a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul and 24th Ave, which was planned, will now be short of the money for completion.
Also correct me if I am wrong, but didn't the mayor vote with a majority (7-1) "spendy council" to dump another $1,000,000. into Sun Splash?
RL
9/26/05 e-mail sent to:
Mayor and Council,
Orchid Blvd. is one of several “homeowner association neighborhood streets” off DelPrado Blvd. providing access to specific neighborhoods east of DelPrado Blvd.
Other similar homeowner association neighborhood streets east of DelPrado come to mind such as; Beach, Palaco Grande, Cornwallis, Everest and Balado. Of those mentioned only Beach Parkway is fully curbed. However, Beach Parkway provides access to Jaycee Park, a major city park that is used by many city residents and not just the residents of that neighborhood.
Everest Parkway is another example of a homeowner association neighborhood street that is much like Beach in that it additionally provides access to many non neighborhood residents that use Horton Park and the boat ramp. Everest is not curbed.
The other “neighborhood streets” mentioned, have curbing, but the curbing is only on the 1st median off DelPrado Blvd., the rest of the medians are not curbed.
Orchid Blvd. is 4 tenths of a mile long and has 6 medians strips. The street services approximately 300 homes. There is NO significant traffic on Orchid Blvd. evidenced by the fact there isn't a traffic signal at Orchid and Del Prado, its ONLY direct connection to DelPrado. The other neighborhood streets mentioned all are signal controlled on to DelPrado, indicating there is far more traffic are on these streets.
If there are comparison to be made for Orchid and other neighborhood association streets then it should have been for the curbing for the first median off of DelPrado and not for all of the medians. This would have been far less costly.
The money taken from the 24th Avenue project is a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul where 24th Ave. will now be short of money for completion.
R. LePera, CC Civic Association
We also need to add Savona and Four Mile Cove to the list of neighborhood association streets where only the first median off DelPrado is curbed.
Providing curbing for all 6 medians on Orchid shows prefferential treatment.
RL
Did you know that Counilmember Lepera and her wife Ralph only live 665 feet from the most expensive median/curbing project in the city!!! The entrance to their neighborhood cost tax payers between $1.2-$1.5 MILLION dollars. What hip"o"crits!!!!! What about PORK??
This is in response to the unsigned, inaccurate, uninformed comment concerning Orchid Blvd. and Councilmember LePera. He accuses her of pork barreling to get the Country Club project done. Everyone knows that she did not ask for, nor lobby to get this project. Staff proposed this project. A public open house was held, TAC considered it for an extended period of time, and it was discussed and overviewed at Council Meetings (public) on several occasions before placement in the budget, unlike the Orchid project which was not even a thought in the proposed budget. Also, pork usually infers that the person asking for it will get some personal gain, gain for his relatives, or gain for his district because of the project. There are tens of thousands of residents who reach their homes via Country Club Blvd. Council member LePera does not live in a special neighborhood like Orchid, she lives on a side street off Country Club, just like thousands of others. She does not have an “entrance to her neighborhood”. In fact, Country Club Blvd. spans through several districts, including Mr. Boyd’s district. Country Club Blvd. is a four-lane, divided, connector highway, not an entrance to one neighborhood. The Blvd. has traffic signals at Nicholas, Veterans, Rotunda, Archer, etc. Signalization is only placed when traffic numbers reach Florida State specifications. There is not even one signal on Orchid. There are over 85 streets that intersect Country Club Blvd., over 4 miles. Thoroughfares, like Country Club, are the roadways our City planners have “long-range planned” to include safety and beautification improvements.
The cost stated by the anonymous writer is totally inaccurate. He states that a Country Club cost for median/curbing was between $1.2M and $1.5M and that it was the most expensive median/curbing project in the City. As far as median/curbing, Del Prado has cost considerably more and most of that County Road has lusher landscaping than Country Club could ever hope for. By the way, according to the writers “logic”, Del Prado Blvd. beautification dollars should be attributed to benefiting the Orchid Blvd. neighborhood, as Orchid connects directly to Del Prado on its North end. So, Del Prado is the “entrance to the Orchid Neighborhood” and the City has already paid to redo Del Prado. It seems like that neighborhood is really getting “pork” and double dipping into the landscape funds. The Country Club improvement project included curbing, installation of left turn lanes at median openings, one right turn lane at 34 Ter., landscaping and additional street lighting. The actual cost of the landscaping on this street, from Nicholas to Wildwood was $207,051.70. Sidewalks were also done. The total cost of the entire street/ sidewalk/ traffic/beautification project was $1,350,644.
Because Country Club improvements were largely traffic/safety improvements, not just landscaping, the funding sources were gas tax, road impact fees and the general fund. It should be perfectly clear by now, that the anonymous blogger just wanted to bad mouth this Council member, through lies and innuendo. This Council member has answered, and signed her name.
Respectfully,
Alex LePera, Council member Dist.#5
As a female I find it offensive that you start your rebuttle with "He accuses her of...." This tells me 2 things. Maybe you automatically assume it is a male response. And the fact that you use the word "HER" Only tells me your wife RALPH wrote this for you AGAIN! You should start thinking for yourself.
glad to see you edit your blog from the truth RL !!
Anonymous said...glad to see you edit your blog from the truth RL !!
Here are the rules fool, if you can't stick with the topic and respond to the topic without you're other bull crap you will be EDITED and DELETED.
If that doesn't work then the other recourse is to take away the privilege of logging in anonymously. When it comes to the Truth, obviously you aren’t concerned with the truth.
DO YOU GET MY DRIFT?
Ralph LePera
Well I see our old friend "Paul" discovered our blog page (6:51 PM post) while claiming to be female (we always thought so). You see garbage can be answered with garbage.
Try sticking to the topic? The TOPIC is Orchid Blvd. and how that neighborhood association street relates to other similar neighborhood association streets off DelPrado. The examples were listed.
In response to the TOPIC a mentally challenged person (12:03PM posting) tried making Country Club Blvd., a four lane major arterial road, part of that comparison. Country Club is NOT a neighborhood street servicing a local isolated neighborhood. There is no comparison, not even close.
Council member LePera did a complete and thorough response (as she always does) on the question of Country Club. Funny how her knowledge on issues pisses some people off, and as most people know she certainly doesn’t need me to write anything for her or on her behalf. So on that point the blogger doesn't know Jack.
In any event it’s nice to see the interest generated. It’s also nice to know that some people feel the heat of the truth that makes them squirm causing them to respond with absurdity! :~ )
Ralph LePera
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