Legacy Bike Trail - Extensions into DT, Northport, etc. (Sarasota: real estate, brokers)

[craigiri]

I recently started working as a volunteer on the Legacy Trail - helping people. I have nothing to do with the management, politics, etc.

BUT, it caught my ear when they said they were working on extensions right into DT Sarasota (Payne Park) as well as other spurs which include access toward Northport and many other areas.

This trail is a treasure of the area - when I was there I saw a Gopher Turtle for the first time in my life - imagine a turtle as big as a dog (small dog) which can dig giant holes into the ground almost instantly. Very impressive.

Lots of people use the trail....I have been out on cold days as well as nice ones and people are always there.

Anyway, the extension to the north (to DT) will be quite expensive due to having to build bridges over major roads. But, when quality of life and tourism and real estate and nature are all considered, it's a very worthwhile project!

I am not a Florida Voter but the bond issue for this work comes up in November. I ask voters to take a clos look at what you are getting for the money (compare, for example, to the Braves Stadium). A very small subset of people may go to 1 or 2 games, but 100's of thousands can access the trail where there is a "game" each and every day.

Anyway, these things sometimes move slowly....but being a DT resident, I would love to see this move along as quickly as possible. Consider that once people get that far, they can go anywhere - even over the Bridge to Lido Beach, etc.

Far be it for me to tell others what to do. But I am going to donate what I can in time, help and other resources to help this amazing project along.

Here is a quickie video I took at the North End showing what we hope will be an extension soon.
https://youtu.be/0pHRkZcNWYk

[d4g4m]

The cost to pave over 12 miles of rail road tracks cost us $12 million [does not include the cost of the bridge over U.S. 41] From Sawyer Loop to Payne Park is about 8 miles plus about seven bridges. $$,$$$,$$$

[craigiri]

65 Million - I think is the total cost of everything they need to do to finish it up

Didn't see people out protesting when 100 million was spent for a stadium for a game which is going out of style and which few people will use more than a couple times

Money is something that needs to be studied. For example, thousands of folks like me pay full property taxes in the county and yet send no kids to school and use services for only 35% of the year.

So the real question is not that it costs about the price of 10 fancy houses in Sarasota, but more that - if as many have said - the population is going to double and then possibly triple, what would be the cost per year per property (of course, commercial properties pay a LOT also).

There will also be grants. We had amazing work done up here during the stimulus and now all our trials are complete and people use them.

Again, I'm going to leave it to the bean counters for that kind of thing. But if 100 million was thrown out like it was petty cash, 60 million may not be that much when fully measured against the population and resources.

A big question is whether people vote for the future. There is absolutely no doubt that such a trail will benefit future generation. Or do people just vote for what they think will benefit them in the next 2-3 years?

Personally, I wish they would have used the "free" tourism tax money to do some of the path instead of a stadium. I have a long history of studying these stadiums. One of the best of them just went down the tubes (Riversharks Stadium in Camden - you would go there just for the view - I was hired to take the pictures).

I guess it's also a question of lifestyle. Do we participate in our sports or sit and eat a hot dog and sugary drink whilst we watch.

I'm 8 blocks from the other stadium and have never been to a game (in the 5+ years). I suppose I will go. But I do go out walking and on my bike at least 5 times a week.

I'm a realist. I don't think the average person is going to look at things the way I do, but maybe various miracles (grants, etc) will do the trick. Hey, Katherine Harris (got GW elected) has a nice Mansion there on the Bay. Maybe she'll donate some millions?

I'm sure there are some billionaires in the area. We should have corralled those Saudis before they got away!

One thing I did notice about Florida - even up in the unpopulated areas where my sister lives. They have super-wide sidewalks which I think were bike paths (because no one would be walking 10 miles past cow fields).....so the planning is obviously in place.

I am going to take the good advice of some here....and NEVER ride in the bike paths that are part of the big highways. Considering the state of Florida drivers I'm not yet ready to meet my maker in that fashion.

It looks like the combined city and county budget(s) are about 1.5 BILLION dollars........so even taking a 20 year outlook on the trail would be about 1/4 of 1% per year......hard to work out without a spreadsheet because vast amounts of volunteer work are done and donations are given and grants can be ongoing for improvements.

In this case, my taxes would go up about $5 a year for this feature.

It's an interesting case study because as they develop more and more and traffic continues to increase....in the end you can have a place where there is nowhere to be but at home or shopping. If I were King I'd want to take the view that Sarasota is in competition with other places and that the jewels we keep or create are the key to winning

[beach43ofus]

I agree with craigiri about extending the trail, and spending the $60,000,000.

Here's how I'd pay for it...

Eliminate all Sarasota City/County Pensions immediately. For those who have already served based upon the promise, honor that promise, but privatize it all, and get Politicians out of it. Provide various options to move the money to discount brokers instead of the companies who manage it now, and charge uncompetitive fees.

Discontinue ALL future public worker Pensions. Instead, increase pay, and match some 401K%. Huge amounts of money are being siphoned out of our area due to these Pensions. Keep the money here, and increase; educator, firefighter, law enforcement, pubic utility worker, ect.. pay instead.

A 2017 audit found that $30,000,000 of local taxpayer money is missing (due to pension bookkeeping errors). That's 1/2 the Legacy trail extension cash right there. Another survey shows this area (includes Manatee/Bradenton) has $286,000,000 in unfunded public pension liability. Just Google Sarasota + Pension and start reading the articles.

Is this not gross mismanagement of tax dollars?

Do this 1 thing, and the trail is paid for, the Braves baseball stadium is paid for, City/County employees pay increases, and their retirement accounts will grow faster due to lower fees, and wider investment choice.

Our local politicians will have more time to spend recruiting & retaining the best public employees, improving our schools, reducing traffic, replenishing our beaches, making our tap water drinkable so we don't have to buy plastic bottled water...I could go on forever listing more valuable things they could be doing with their time rather than trying to manage public worker retirement accounts which they are totally unqualified to be doing.

This is the #1 waste of taxpayer money around here (and many other areas in the U.S..).

This has been tried in municipalities elsewhere, with great success. It's even been tried by an entire Country (Peru or Chile I forget which one) with fantastic outcomes. Let's share best practices.

If new local candidates for City & County seats run on this platform, and communicate it well, we'll be riding bikes all over the place. Sarasota will look like Amsterdam 20 years from now.

Each time we want to spend taxpayer money on something new, the first thing we should do is re-evaluate where all our money is currently being spent to see if are any potential savings to offset the new initiatives. The last resort is raising taxes/fees to pay for new stuff. Even when you raise tourism fees, it makes our area less cost competitive.

[MrJones17]

I know these projects can cost a ton but in my opinion anything that helps make a city less dependent on cars is for the best.

[craigiri]

There is always money to be saved but rarely impetus (from the inside) to do it.

Certain jobs probably deserve pensions - but that doesn't mean 120k per year (that is what a FF gets in Rhode Island!).......

It's all a matter of compromise. I know nothing about LE in the area, but if that Deputy could get away with being such a cad for so long....and it seemed like there may be some subculture there, some house cleaning may be in order.

The problem with "if this, then we'll do that" is that nothing ever gets done. Example "When we build the wall we will then have a perfect comprehensive immigration law and it will go through Congress easily". No it won't.

The real estate buyers and the visitors and everyone else dependent on the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg do not have the power or org to make big changes.

That's why I try to take it back to "It will cost me $5 or $10 a year". You can still fix that other stuff...assuming you get the right crusaders in place. But given my knowledge of Florida politics, it won't happen in my lifetime. Remember, our two term Gov. paid the biggest fraud fines in the history of the USA. Now Florida will probably elect him Senator as a reward.

Backwards world......we live in. But the bike path is actually one of those few things which is heavily on the positive end of things.