Gainesville City Commission discusses Santa Fe College road closure, defers anti-ICE resolution

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the July 16 meeting, the Gainesville City Commission heard an update on downtown, discussed a road closure near Santa Fe College’s Blount Center but took no action, and listened to nearly an hour of public comment on an anti-ICE resolution before deferring a decision on it.

Downtown update

During a Gainesville Community Reinvestment Area update, Commissioner Casey Willits asked when the three-year contract with the Downtown Ambassadors ends, and he was told that will happen in December 2027. Willits said that instead of extending the contract with Block by Block, he would like to bring the program in-house: “If we watch something for three years, surely we can learn how to do it within three years. But not unless we starting thinking about it now, because if we wait until next July or August, it’s going to be like ‘We don’t have time.'”

Willits also said he would like to use leftover bricks from The Streatery on another block of NW 2nd Street: “I think we need to be a little braver and think about, perhaps, somewhere in downtown taking asphalt out and putting bricks back in a small section of street — and I use NW 2nd because it’s one block, it’s one car wide. It’s not high-traffic… I know some of our downtown activists and historic preservation, they really like the bricks… Maybe we need to dream a little bigger and… bring those back to a small section.”

Mayor Harvey Ward said his priorities for the future are to “make sure that the entirety of the downtown portion of SW 1st Avenue works… I want to make sure that from the parking garage all the way down to the Sweetwater linear park, all of that works as well as we can.”

Ward said he’d like to “start thinking about how we work with the owners [of the Star Garage and the private parking garage] to make those spaces more interesting, more attractive, to help everything flow from Bo Diddley on down toward the park.” He also said that after the new courthouse is complete, he would like to “brighten up” the area around the current courthouse and the County Administration Building and “complete that block… The way it is now is pretty intimidating. It’s the backside of a courthouse with a whole lot of deputies parked there and all that. Nobody really wants to walk by that if they can avoid it, so we want to change that.”

Ward added, “We need to be thinking about how to improve and program the park… If we don’t program it, it’s going to end up exactly the way it is right now. There is opportunity for that to be a well-used four-block linear park that then leads into what we’ve been talking about doing on the north side of University Avenue, along Sweetwater.”

Interim City Manager Andrew Persons said the City is going to put out a Request For Proposals for an interactive art component on the Streatery, which will slow down the installation of furnishings until a decision is made about the art installation. He added that the planning phase for Sweetwater Park has started under Wild Spaces and Public Places. 

Santa Fe College road closure

In the afternoon session, the Commission heard public comment on the Santa Fe College (SFC) Automotive Training Center in an item placed on the agenda by Ward. He said he had met with the Pleasant Street Neighborhood Association about their concerns regarding street closures related to the Automotive Training Center, and he had written a letter at their request to SFC President Paul Broadie. Ward said he was not asking for any action on the item, but he had agreed to pass on some requests. 

Ward said the requests were to limit closure of the street to the times when exclusive use is required; construct sidewalks on both sides of the street; work with the City’s Historic Preservation Board to design gates and signs prior to installation; and work with the City to install signs at both ends of the closed portion of NW 5th Street, saying the street is open to pedestrians and cyclists. 

SFC President: “Under the advice of counsel, Santa Fe College must not discuss the requested items…”

After two members of the Pleasant Street Neighborhood Association spoke, Broadie said the college would have sidewalks and benches, and they will plant trees. He said the project demonstrates the college’s commitment to invest in East Gainesville. However, he said he could not respond to the requests in the letter because the Pleasant Street Neighborhood Association “has filed litigation. So, under the advice of counsel, Santa Fe College must not discuss the requested items until either the proceedings are dismissed by a judge or otherwise resolved or withdrawn by the corporation that filed the case.”

Thomas Hawkins said the Neighborhood Association “has not filed litigation. Your Land Development Code allows folks to ask for a quasi-judicial hearing… We asked for one, and I understand the City is going to allow us the opportunity to have one, not related to the street, related to the building, and some aspects that don’t meet your comprehensive planning code.”

City Attorney Daniel Nee said an administrative decision made by City staff has been appealed by the Neighborhood Association. He added, “I’m not sure if [the Pleasant Street Neighborhood Association] has any involvement with people who live or reside in Pleasant Street, but that’s what they term themselves, as sort of the self-appointed champion of that group… It’s quasi-judicial. Whether you term that ‘litigation’ or not — quasi-litigation, perhaps.”

Ward asked Commissioners to “be cautious in your comments.” He added that the administrative appeal “is not about the licensing of the street. This is a totally separate issue.” Nee said, “Exactly. The licensing is done.”

Anti-ICE resolution

The Commission next took up an agenda item with the title “Civil rights, dignity, public access, and safety,” with 17 people signed up to ask Commissioners to approve a resolution opposing ICE’s presence in Gainesville and Alachua County. 

Mayor Harvey Ward: “I believe if we take an action toward a resolution on this issue, there will be ripples of harm throughout our community…”

Ward said, “I will tell you right up front, for good or ill, as I have told many people throughout the community, I believe if we take an action toward a resolution on this issue, there will be ripples of harm throughout our community because of the action that we might take with something that has no force of law on our part. I am unlikely to support any resolution moving forward today on this because I believe it will cause harm to individuals in our community. That said, there are people who want to talk about it.”

After local activists brought a similar resolution to the City Commission on June 18 and to the Alachua County Commission on June 23, the TaskForce for Ending Homelessness sent letters to the City and County Commissions, warning that passing these resolutions might jeopardize $11 million in federal funding for homeless services. Vice President Jacob Torner wrote in the letter, “The current HUD CoC (Continuum of Care) NOFOs (Notices of Funding Opportunities) contain provisions requiring compliance with the Executive Order, ‘Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders,’ which directs HUD to ensure that funds awarded to communities do not ‘facilitate the subsidization or promotion of illegal immigration, or abet so-called “sanctuary” policies that seek to shield illegal aliens from deportation.’”

Willits said he was also not prepared to vote for the resolution at that meeting and was waiting to see what the County Commission does on August 11. However, he said, “I believe we do have the right and ability to speak basic truths about how we are experiencing what other levels of government do, particularly when it interacts with what we believe is Fourth and Fifth Amendment liberties or rights… But at this point, I want to wait… a little bit and hear a little more from County Commissioners.”

Mayor Ward: “There is no question in my mind that an official action taken by this Commission will invite more FHP and ICE scrutiny on this community, and people in our community will be harmed. And I’m not going to be a part of that.”

After nearly an hour of public comment supporting the resolution, Ward said, “There is no question in my mind that an official action taken by this Commission will invite more FHP and ICE scrutiny on this community, and people in our community will be harmed. And I’m not going to be a part of that.”

Commissioner Ed Book: “Even though I believe that the resolution is extremely well-intended, often what happens when you think that you’re creating language that unifies — it doesn’t unify the entire community. It creates further divisiveness.”

Commissioner Ed Book said he thought the resolution “makes Gainesville stand out in an unwelcome way, because even though I believe that the resolution is extremely well-intended, often what happens when you think that you’re creating language that unifies — it doesn’t unify the entire community. It creates further divisiveness. This is my opinion, and so I don’t think the resolution unifies. Nor does it make us a better community… My opinion is, this is how we take a stand: We recognize the passion and the advocacy of people who bring it forward to us. We continue to make policy and create practice and protocol to make sure the City is doing things to treat people well… I am very, very appreciative of the people who are willing to take a stand… in a different, opinionated way, and that is good.”

Commissioner Casey Willits: “This is not part of state or federal law. What they are referring to is an executive order by the federal administration around grant funding…”

Willits said he didn’t understand the fears in the TaskForce’s letter: “This is not part of state or federal law. What they are referring to is an executive order by the federal administration around grant funding, around the assessment of risk, going as far as saying that they will look at ‘public sources like news reports’ about the likelihood of a successful carrying-out of a project by one of these applicants, and so this is way down the the line of probably discretionary opinions about whether we get our fair share of federal dollars to take care of our homeless neighbors.” 

City of Gainesville already provides “language access”

Since one of the demands in the resolution is related to “language access,” Willits asked Director of Equity & Inclusion Zeriah Folston for an update. Folston said the language access policy “is still in the review stages. Essentially, it’s just going to put more structure to what we already do on a daily basis, in terms of providing language access to our residents… I just wanted it to be known that these are things that we’ve always done, and we’re going to continue, in terms of providing language access to our… limited speaking English speakers within our community.”

Folston said anyone who needs a translator for a City meeting can ask his office, the City Manager’s office, or the Clerk’s office, and the City has already translated documents and signs into Spanish. 

Commissioner James Ingle: “My worry of risk is that Florida kind of likes messing with Gainesville. The state legislature is taking particular interest in messing with Alachua County and Gainesville, pretty regularly in the past.”

Commissioner James Ingle said, “If you look over the history of this country, it’s got a pretty poor track record with immigrants.” He mentioned Japanese internment, the past treatment of Irish people, and the treatment of civil rights marchers, and he added, “The people enforcing these policies are clearly the villains of that story. When we see people turning dogs or fire hoses on people standing up for workers’ rights, no one has a question who’s on the right and who’s on the wrong. And I think we’re in a similar situation today… I’ve spent most of my time in my life in the union movement. Labor is very important to me, and I think it’s where a lot of my values come from… I think standing up is an important thing to do… There is no more joyous and righteous feeling than pushing back and fighting against injustice.”

Commissioner Ingle: “I don’t think a resolution holds ICE accountable… I think it’s a strongly worded letter to some people that are almost certainly going to ignore it, in the best-case scenario. In the worst-case scenario, they are going to come down here and make life worse for the people that we are trying to stand up for. I don’t know that this is a good tactic.” 

Ingle continued, “There was some clergy here earlier that mentioned that one of the big tenets in Christianity is how you treat the least of those among us. Sorry, I’m less religious than I am union. So how you treat the least among us is how you treat me, something along those lines… I don’t think anyone on this dais is personally worried about political consequences. I’m not especially worried about risk…  My worry of risk is that Florida kind of likes messing with Gainesville. The state legislature is taking particular interest in messing with Alachua County and Gainesville, pretty regularly in the past… [If] we tell them to go pound sand, I can very easily see them coming to retaliate on that, and what that retaliation is going to look like is going to be increased raids on these vulnerable communities and increased pushback…  I don’t think a resolution holds ICE accountable… I think it’s a strongly worded letter to some people that are almost certainly going to ignore it, in the best-case scenario. In the worst-case scenario, they are going to come down here and make life worse for the people that we are trying to stand up for. I don’t know that this is a good tactic.” 

Ingle said, however, that if the people “in the field” think this needs to be done, “You got me.” He said he has a couple of issues with the wording of the current resolution, but he also wanted the activists to do “some serious soul-searching” on whether this is the best way to move forward.

Commissioner Bryan Eastman: “I don’t know if I feel comfortable with the organization of the City of Gainesville saying it… I think there is certainly a way for us to stand up for our immigrant communities, while at the same time making sure that we are defending and protecting the very real services and the very real things that people rely on every day in our city.”

Commissioner Bryan Eastman said, “James is not a man of many words; when he does speak, it’s usually better than anything I could possibly say… What we see on our news every day is awful. The way that this is being done — not that immigration enforcement is new, but the way that it is being done, in which… folks… are in a pseudo-legal state, because we have this broken immigration system, where it is not clearly black and white, where people are being taken, where people are in fear. It is bad. It is not good for the folks that are on the wrong side. It’s not good for the communities that they live in.” 

Eastman said he had no problem with the resolution, but “I don’t know if I feel comfortable with the organization of the City of Gainesville saying it… I think there is certainly a way for us to stand up for our immigrant communities, while at the same time making sure that we are defending and protecting the very real services and the very real things that people rely on every day in our city.”

Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker: “Everybody up here wants to make sure that we are not just… performing, but that we are actually demonstrating how important it is to protect everybody who lives here.”

Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker said, “There is clearly not a single person up here who does not have compassion, love, and the desire to stand up… Sometimes, you have to play the long game… Everybody up here wants to make sure that we are not just… performing, but that we are actually demonstrating how important it is to protect everybody who lives here. What does that look like? How do we consider the potential negative impacts?” She said she would like to work on the language and take up the resolution at a future meeting.

Ward said, “We will, at some point in the next few weeks, take this back up after anybody who wants to have a conversation has been able to have one, with staff and with community members who are interested.”

Eastman asked the City Attorney to look at the language in the resolution, along with some language that Eastman had drafted, and bring it back to the Commission.

Click here for our article on the evening session, when preliminary property tax rates and other assessments were set.