New Port Richey’s City Council members heard a proposal from Public Works Director Robert Rivera on Tuesday night to increase the speed limit from 25 MPH to 30 MPH on Main Street between Congress St and Rowan Road. Mr. Rivera called the measure a “matter of housekeeping.” He said that a seven day traffic study of the road revealed that “90% of vehicles were traveling over 35 MPH in both directions.” A traffic engineer was hired, Mr. Rivera said, whom recommended increasing the speed limit to 30 MPH.

Mr. Rivera went on to say that this was a conservative recommendation due to the consideration of the close proximity to the post office and residential homes nearby.

What the traffic study, and Mr. Rivera, failed to mention was any data on pedestrian movement in the area. On December 21st a pedestrian was struck on Massachusetts Avenue and Congress Avenue in the crosswalk.

But, hey, no big deal–an increase of 5 MPH isn’t going to make it that much more dangerous. I didn’t become concerned until all of a sudden Councilman Chopper Davis made a motion to increase the speed limit to 35 MPH instead of 30–an increase of 31%–after just a couple of minutes of discussion and after citing the recommendation of a “friend of mine who is a traffic engineer.” Mr. Davis went on to say that his engineer friend felt that the road should be safe at 35 MPH, so that’s the way he was going to vote.

So, here’s a good question: who exactly is Chopper Davis’ traffic engineer friend? Maybe we should ask him. It would be good to know who is making these decisions for New Port Richey.

Deputy Mayor Judy deBella Thomas didn’t think such a big speed increase was a good idea. “It’s not really three lanes. It’s really still a two lane road with a suicide lane.”

Bill Phillips seemed to want to increase the limit but didn’t specifically say that he would support the additional increase to 35 MPH. He did, apparently, want to be working on something else for the City. “We shouldn’t have to be dealing with this right now,”he said, “You could peddle a bicycle down the daggum[sic] street faster than 25 MPH.”

Mayor Rob Marlowe seemed to support the 35 MPH motion, but Councilman Jeff Starkey thought people would just be encouraged to go 40. In the end another motion for the original 30 MPH was made and passed 4-1, with Councilwoman deBella Thomas dissenting.

Here’s a second question: if members of the public are given a chance to give their opinion on a 5 MPH increase, but then you try to raise the limit by 10 MPH–is that okay? All of a sudden a ten mile an hour increase was on the table with no public comment.

There seems to be uncertainty about procedure and how information is acquired for making decisions. Safe to say, I would strive to do things a little bit differently.

Let’s move on to another example.

On Tuesday the Council also had a “semi-judicial” proceeding to decide whether a property located at 6516 Celeste Lane should be demolished. Code Enforcement inspected the property on July 31, 2014 and by October 2014 an order to demolish had been issued. The property had been sold by then. In summary, the new owner has since refused the city access to the property. The building inspector cited 3 of 7 conditions (when only one is needed) in ordering the demolition. The roof does not meet code, there are holes in the wall and floor, and a rotting porch that never had a permit for installation.

City Manager Debbie Manns said that the property’s condition is “so heinous that it’s offensive to common conscience–to address it in all likelihood will exceed the value of the structure.”

Based on the evidence that was presented by the City’s staff, Councilman Jeff Starkey made a motion to affirm the demolition–no one else seconded it and the motion died. The rest of the Council discussed for quite some time on an extension, and finally a four week extension was approved. Starkey voted against the motion. The demolition order will be on the docket for the meeting after next in four weeks.

Even in the face of, I have to say, overwhelming evidence, Council members could not bring themselves to order the demolition and have instead assigned the building department to spend another four weeks assessing a property that is in such a terrible state, and is contributing to the degradation of a neighborhood that is already in shambles.

“It just blows my mind,” Starkey said of the property, “There are huge holes in the floor and the ceiling with rain coming in? There has got to be a mold or mildew problem for anyone living in the neighborhood.”

If the building is not eventually demolished because of this order, I’ll eat my figurative sock. I question the decision making process that leads to allowing a blighted structure to stand in a city where blight is becoming one of the top, if not the top, issue.

Here’s the real kicker: City Councilors are lettings others set the agenda for the City. Whether it’s staff, a friend who is a traffic engineer, the city manager, Pasco County, or other forces. One force that never truly seems to come out in front and lead is the Council itself. Mayor Rob Marlowe has started the ball rolling with much more frequent work sessions on important topics–but so far those topics have stayed limited to issues that would be on the agenda anyway but are more convenient when less people can show up.

by Jon Tietz