Below are the news briefs from the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency Board of Directors Meeting that took place on September 29, 2022.
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Towards the beginning of the meeting, during the “Citizens to be Heard” segment, one public speaker called upon the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency to consider entering into professional archival research into the historic African American New Hope community adjacent to the Welaunee development.
Later in the meeting, Commissioner Kristin Dozier proposed a motion to “bring back an agenda item to explore doing a historical study documenting the history of the New Hope community and the New Hope cemetery similar to FAMU Way or Smokey Hollow past Blueprint projects.” The motion passed.
The second presentation came from Max Epstein who called on the board to extend the study area for the Capital Cascades Segment 4 project to include the west side of Lake Munson owned by the National Forest Service. County commissioner Nick Maddox proposed to have staff bring back a cost estimate in December for putting a treatment facility on that tract of land on the west side of Lake Munson.
Commissioner Rick Minor objected to Lake Munson being attached to Segment 4, but after clarification, the cost of the project will not be attached to Segment 4 and will be considered separately. In the end, the board opted to launch a joint workshop for water quality issues as a whole, and the motion passed unanimously.
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During the mandated public hearing, multiple presenters criticized the board for their voting in favor of allocating $20 million to Doak Campbell Stadium.
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The board also considered the Proposed Fiscal Year 2023 Operating Budget and Fiscal Year 2023 – 2027 Five-Year Capital Improvement Program Budget for the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency. Mayor John Dailey took time to give his personal stamp of approval for the budget.
Commissioner Brian Welch echoed comments from Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox in supporting projects being done on the southside, while also being glad about “dirt being turned” on the northside.
The budget was approved by a unanimous vote.
Blueprint Board Approves Budget, Addresses Water Quality Issues added by Grant Holcomb on
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@ Frank: The first article said it was for “Repairs to the Stadium” until someone dug deeper and found out that it was going to be used for VIP Seats (I think 21 Seats). Then the next 2 Articles said that as well. In another Article, FSU said that they were going to do the Repairs and Seats even if they didn’t get the Money SO, why were they given the Money since it would drain that Account? Why was Mayor Daily so adamant to give them the Money?
Didn’t see a mention of ‘multiple presenters’ criticizing the board for their vote to give $$$ for Bragg stadium…which incidentally, was for the same reasons that Doak was given $$$…repairs.
“explore doing a historical study documenting the history of the New Hope community and the New Hope cemetery similar to FAMU Way or Smokey Hollow”. At what point do we recognize that slavery was a practice in Leon County 150 years ago and stop spending tax dollars to wallow in this unfortunate memory? A good substitute motion would have been to inventory the number buildings, walkways, parks, etc. memorializing this past injustice and get on with living as one community.
Gee, I hope there are raises for city employees as our property tax rates are going sky box high after the election is over.
Take heart. Natural gas is going up, gas prices up, and your homeowners insurance is projected to increase by 20%
GO BLUEPRINT!
Does this budget mean the sidewalk for Victory Garden Dr, for which the City already did the surveying and held public meetings, and which has been a high priority for years on the Sidewalk list for years wont be done? Because of course it’s not an FSU Boosters pet project, it’s only needed by kids who walk to their school bus stop.
Perhaps it’s the writing, but why would the city and county even consider footing the bill for testing one side of a lake? Is there some visible or invisible barrier in the lake that keeps the water on one side of the lake separate from the water on the “other side” of the lake?… and why would the city and county consider footing the bill for a water treatment facility to treat only “that” side of the lake, a side of the lake that happens to be owned by the Feds?
… I have a headache now
Since the headline indicates “Board approved budget”, is it possible readers can get a little more detail about the budget that was approved or does it just look like this:
FSU Stadium = Anything FSU Wants
Administration = Don’t Worry About These Costs paid with tax $
Any Project Deserving of Funding Consistent with the Purpose of Advertised Reason for creating Blue Print = 0
With the $27 million dollar giveaway and the city’s failure to put water quality on their radar I believe voters will break with voting in Josh Johnson and Kristin Dozier to replace Nick Maddox and John Dailey.