Gainesville citizens seeking signatures on petition to halt the elimination of single-family zoning
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Almost 1,000 people have signed a petition started by Kurt Johnsen in hopes of persuading the Gainesville City Commission to vote against ordinances that will eliminate single-family zoning in Gainesville; the first reading of the ordinances is scheduled for July 13.
As Johnsen points out in the petition, the decision is likely to be irreversible under the Bert J. Harris, Jr., Private Property Rights Protection Act because reducing the number of permitted units from a quadruplex back to a single-family home would reduce the development value of a property.
The petition is directed at City Commissioner Reina Saco and City Commissioner (and mayoral candidate) David Arreola because Commissioners Cynthia Chestnut, Desmon Duncan-Walker, and Harvey Ward have signaled their intention to vote against the ordinances, while Mayor Lauren Poe and Commissioner Adrian Hayes-Santos are staunch advocates of the plan.
The petition asks the two commissioners to vote against the ordinances and also asks the City Commission to delay any vote on the matter until after the new Commission is sworn in, in January of 2023.
Good luck with that. Their tyrannical rule will continue because they continue to show disregard for the voters and their wishes. Not quite as highly educated as they lead people to believe are they?
The liberal majority voted for them – you reap what you sow and have no one to blame but themselves.
Nope, not well educated at all, and in fact, undereducated but experts at performing holier than thou-ness and virtue signaling, and yes, they are tyrants. Just awful people actually who have been disastrous to the city. But you are right that not enough people care enough to know what they have been doing and to vote them out.
Yes, you are right in that we collectively made a mistake by not voting or by voting for the 4 of 7 who want to pass this. We can give up, or bitch and complain, or as I am hoping, admit our mistakes and to steps to rectify them. I am encouraged by, and proud of, the almost 1,200 people who have already signed the petition and who are spreading the word by email and social media to their friends and neighbors. Anyone who wants to the join the group of people who are uniting and trying to make a difference please click on this link;
change.org/2saveourneighborhoods I thank you and the citizens of Gainesville will thank you too!
The Commission majority is enabling gentrification in marginalized black and minority neighborhoods. Mayor Poe thats racism in present day Gainesville on your watch and at your insistence. Aaron Green
Why shouldn’t people who own their own property be able to do what they want with it so long as it does not cause harm to other people?