Council Meeting Highlights for 6/4/2007
Gary Aubuchon and Burt Saunders both attended the council meeting this evening. Mr. Aubuchon spoke before Council first, stating that he is “Working hard for Cape Coral.” He alluded to next week’s property tax special session, stating that it would be responsible, responsive legislation.
Mr. Saunders quipped that he hoped anyone with comments would contact Mr. Aubuchon, which elicited a rueful laugh. He also said that it was “quite fun” to read about Cape Coral. He did express disappointment over the veto on State Road 78. He said he would work to bring that back into the budget in the future.
South West Florida Expressway Authority (http://swfea.net) provided a presentation for a toll based expansion of I-75. They state that we will spend nearly two decades with “F” grade traffic in Lee and Collier Counties, if we rely on the current FDOT expansion plans. They did state that they have a poll on their site and recommend all residents take the poll and review the information available.
The Mayor pulled two items for Discussion from the consent agenda, 3B and 3D, stating that both parcels were higher priced than they should be. He made a motion to deny both. Motion carried 7 to 1, with CM LePera voting against.
The Mayor’s suggested spending limits came up for vote in ordinance 75-07. The ordinance would limit the general fund budget based on the combined rate of inflation and population growth. The ordinance was denied 5-3, Tom Hair, Chris Berardi and Mayor F voted yes.
June 7th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
The SWFEA has some interesting ideas, but they all are just reinforcements of bad behavior. The interstate system was meant to be for transit between non-local endpoints. We’ve screwed ourselves by building exits every 3-4 miles on these thoroughfares. It has provided incentive for motorists to use interstates for daily commuting. It’s like we have learned nothing from Southern California and other areas in the Southwest US, and seek to emulate that mess.