On Tuesday, Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey released a statement related to the future of the Northeast park project.
The statement is as follows:
We are going to build an incredible Northeast Park. The Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency Board is in favor of the park, I’m in favor of the park, and most importantly, the citizens of Leon County approved a Northeast Park as part of the 27 infrastructure projects placed on referendum.
At the last Blueprint meeting, we decided that we need to discuss the details of the park to make sure it fully meets the needs of the area neighborhoods. I am confident that we have time to do so and that the park will be fantastic. We will be meeting in June.
The question at hand is not whether we will build the park, we will. We all support it. Moving from an approved budget of $10 million to a proposed budget of $22 million in eight months is worth discussing.
We owe it to the community to be fiscally responsible while also including the park elements that the area neighborhoods want.
If we can build an area park for less than $3 million dollars, I believe the $10 million currently budgeted may be sufficient. Of course, I will keep an open mind during the discussion in June.
I look forward to the ribbon cutting of the new Northeast Park!
The statement comes after a May 11th Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency meeting where a spirited discussion about the costs and the scope of the park took place.
The original motion – made by Leon County Commissioner Brian Welch – to move forward with the proposed scope and costs failed and elected officials eventually delayed action on the park until the next Blueprint meeting which is scheduled for June 15th.
Tallahassee Mayor Dailey Issues Statement on Northeast Park added by Steve Stewart on
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If the picture is any indication of the cities planning…..no!
Baseball and football don’t lead to life long outdoor activities. Fans snack on junk food and drinks and fat kids!
How about these:
Skate park
Archery range
tennis courts
Community swimming pool
trails linkage to Miccosukee greenway
Youth bike track
picnic area
Tax and spend Dailey can fool some folks, but not northeast Tallahassee. Give me a break mr haircut. 2020 CSC/2023 PBA property tax increases are his legacy
Once again, I am not opposed to a Northeast Park. But too many questions keep coming up. Why try to sell this location as a travel sports tourism location? Placing a park off a canopy road for travel sports tourism is not smart. Just look at the Meadows and Meridian’s canopy road. The city/county keep building new parks which add to taxpayer’s costs for establishing and maintaining these new parks. What about the maintenance and improvements of existing parks?
I will continue to focus on the sorry state of the Meadows Soccer Complex off Miller Landing Road. And yes, the Meadows overall is a Northeast Park. This past week’s storms clearly show what a mud bowl the facility is as well as the mud parking lots which become outright ponds and get washed away constantly. Practices are frequently cancelled because the fields are too wet. Some fields get closed because they become swamps. The nets to prevent balls from flying into the woods are all torn and pointless. The fields are torn up with the exception of the artificial field. I might also add that the two pathetic soccer fields at Tom Brown Park are also in horrible condition and just as neglected. But the baseball fields there are quite nice.
My understanding is there was a feasibility study done on re-doing the Meadows Soccer Complex and it would cost roughly 8 million dollars. Is this true? It would also require the leagues that rent the facility to relocate for a year while upgrades are made. Where would they relocate? It shows there are insufficient facilities for the nation’s number one youth sport in this area. I’d like to see some reporting on this and where it stands.
Steve did some reporting on the NE Park on WFLA the other day. Apparently, the popularity of pickle ball and beach volleyball have increased and the current plans for the NE Park are insufficient to accommodate this popularity. Yet, once again, we see more baseball diamonds. Surely baseball diamonds cost more to install than Beach Volleyball courts, Pickle Ball courts or Soccer fields? And don’t get me started on the absurd and ridiculous EV charging stations. Talk about elitist and a horrific waste of money.
@ Deepsix… I, for one, was not in support of the money they gave to FSU… or FAMU… or TCC for that matter (the other two handouts that are often ignored in this ongoing debate).
If they were honest and called this what it is, an “a Public Athletic Comlex”, then I would submit that this battle would not be happening. But when you claim to be buying an F250, yet present the picture of a EV Honda that costs double the expected price… people tend to get a bit ticked off.
If you claim to be building a Public Park for $10-mil… then build a damn Public Park for $10-mil.
It’s not hard to do the right thing… a concept our government simply cannot seem to wrap their malleable minds around.
Now aren’t you glad they gave that 21 million to FSU? And the last I read, the cost being debated was 18 million… I’m guessing the extra 4 million is for Dailey’s vote. Now that Andrew has been exonerated its back to bidness as usual.
“First rule of government spending… why build one when you can build two at twice the price”. ~ S.R.Hadden
I say no to this fiasco . Kids and adults can play on the present school fields!
This is not a park. This is an athletic field with a couple of indifferently designed holding ponds.
Minimal design effort for the maximum price.
But we live in a decaying economy so kickbacks need to keep up with inflation!
I would like to see a very detailed audit of the projected costs of this project. Down to the use of every penny.
When did it jump to $22MILLION? Last week it was $18MILLION which is way to much.
“We owe it to the community to be fiscally responsible” …………….. When will THIS start because, it hasn’t YET? Remember $27MILLION for 21 VIP Seating at Doak…….. how is THAT considered “fiscally responsible”?
What our esteamed Mayor could not say in his “statement”:
“Its harder for us in the Northeast for example you are way too opinionated, petty, and way to much involved with many annoying traits. When we pour money into the Southside we get none of that annoying resident feedback. And more importantly our percentage of return in political contributions is almost non-existant on Northside projects.
You folk should be gratefull we even do anything for you.
On a simmilar Southside project we get zero annoying resident questions or demands for accountability. What we do get is an average of 1/3rd ROI (Return On Investment) in campaign contributions which on a $22M project = over $7M to do with as we please.
The Northeast avrages just a paultry 13% ROI which on a $22M project is only a little less than a 3M ROI. So you folk should be greatfull we even toss you a bone once in a while. My advice to you is keep paying your taxes and forget your stupid ideas of leaving the jurisdiction of The City of Tallahassee. No De-Annexing for you”.
I just can’t endorse this fiscal irresponsibility.
However, for $1,000,000 and a new Rolls Royce, I’ll gladly give you my statement in 25 words or less. 😉
The mayor and fiscal responsibility are on opposite ends of the spectrum. DAILEY has no qualms about (mis)using $27 million of taxpayer funds for stadium seats so he gets a return in campaign contributions, same for the CSC, the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, adding unneeded positions at high salaries to further fortify his inner sanctum, he put the city in a deficit situation, and on and on it goes. He ignores the high crime rate, paves the way for shady developers to go unchecked for a return for bundled contributions, and has the city manager run his campaign 24/7. The inmates are running the asylum.
Is $22 million enough to cover all of the bribes and kickbacks necessary to see this project through to the end?
“We owe it to the community to be fiscally responsible”
Hypocrisy has no limits in government.
The power to tax is the power to destroy.