Save Gandy.com » Letter to Mr. Ray Chiaramonte, MPO Executive Director http://www.savegandy.com In effort to stop the proposed overhead expressway being built in our neighborhood. Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:10:33 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Please don’t support the ruin of our neighborhood for such a minuscule reason http://www.savegandy.com/2009/11/13/please-dont-support-the-ruin-of-our-neighborhood-for-such-a-minuscule-reason/ http://www.savegandy.com/2009/11/13/please-dont-support-the-ruin-of-our-neighborhood-for-such-a-minuscule-reason/#comments Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:10:09 +0000 Savegandy.com http://www.savegandy.com/?p=772 Gandy Friendship Trail BridgeRemember the much loved Gandy Friendship Trail bridge, which may never re-open, but at least we gained a worthy contender as a consolation prize, yes a shiny new overhead toll bridge, permanently blocking out the sun. A vast improvement, we the community, think not!.

Bill/Tampa

I close on my house this Monday, a house I plan on living in for years to come. It is two blocks north of Gandy. I pray that I do not have to look at a VERY UNWANTED overhead concrete structure running right down the middle of my neighborhood’s main street. How sad that my neighborhood stands to be seriously degraded so an overdeveloped, overpopulated peninsula (Pinellas County) can have a little bit better evacuation system to accommodate people who wait until the last minute to leave their homes. This is the only merit that this overpass has, and to us residents it is not enough. If we are willing to accept rush hour congestion over a super unattractive overhead structure, why not give us what we want? There is no doubt there will still be bad rush hour traffic even if the proposed project is constructed, and it is shameful to think we will sit in that traffic and be in the shadow of a sparsely used overhead road that is only needed for a couple of hours each business day and maybe once every ten years for possible tropical storm/hurricane evacuation.

Please don’t support the ruin of our neighborhood for such a minuscule reason. Think about our quality of life and what makes us happier people. This is what you, as our community leaders, should want for us. If this project was truly needed we would be asking for it and THEA would have been able to easily sell it. But it is not needed and may never be needed which is why we reject it.

Don’t discount the number of people who have signed the petition to stop this project.

Bill
PS - All due respect to Ray Chiaramonte, he sounded like a desperate salesman when he was telling me how nice it will look. We all know that is just hogwash.
Follow-up response to Ray Chairmonte, Executive Director, Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization

]]> http://www.savegandy.com/2009/11/13/please-dont-support-the-ruin-of-our-neighborhood-for-such-a-minuscule-reason/feed/ 0 Letter to Mr. Chiaramonte, MPO Executive Director, Hillsborough county Metropolitan Planning Organization http://www.savegandy.com/2009/11/12/letter-to-mr-chiaramonte-mpo-executive-director-hillsborough-county-metropolitan-planning-organization/ http://www.savegandy.com/2009/11/12/letter-to-mr-chiaramonte-mpo-executive-director-hillsborough-county-metropolitan-planning-organization/#comments Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:11:35 +0000 Savegandy.com http://www.savegandy.com/?p=730

Peak Friday evening rush hour with traffic flowing smoothly.
Taken on Gandy Blvd 5:58pm Friday 23 October 2009

Do we really need a concrete monster above our heads creating pollution, noise and blocking out the sun. See the video and imagine a ugly overhead expressway ruining the ambiance of our neighborhood and permanently destroying the South Tampa way of life that we all love and cherish.


Mr. Ray Chiaramonte, MPO Executive Director
Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization

Thank you for your opinion on the subject. The proposed project is not needed at this time, and it may never be needed as you and your people say. If this unwanted overhead structure is built it is permanent, and we have to live with it even if your traffic projections do not become reality.
THEA is trying very hard to spin this into a project that the people support, but you know as well as I that the majority DO NOT want this structure built over our main street. If you and THEA had the courage to really find out you’d pay an independent agency, selected by someone other than THEA or the MPO, to canvass the neighborhood and get a true measure of the support and opposition. But since we know it will not yield the results you are looking for this will not happen.
THEA has been maintaining that they will not build the project without community support, and as far as I can tell, living in the immediate area, there is a solid majority in opposition. If you and THEA are so convinced there is a majority in support then prove it.
Bill /Tampa
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