Comment
Letter to the EditorThe event was broadcast live on WABF 1220 AM radio. Kenny Graves of WHEP Radio in Foley served as moderator. Each of the seven candidates was given a two-minute opening statement. Each candidate was then given two minures to respond to five questions. The forum concluded with a two-minute statement by each candidate.
After the forum, attendees were given the opportunity of submitting written questions to the forum organizers, which will be assembled and submitted to the candidates with a deadline. The Citizens for Responsible Government will publish the responses on their Web site: www.responsiblegov.net. The Fairhope Courier will publish a notice when the content is available there.
The following five questions were prescreened by forum organizers after being selected from community members, and asked during the forum.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
1.If elected mayor, what is the main thing you would do to achieve growth while at the same time preserving the ambiance of Fairhope?
GAMBINO: “The first thing I would do is follow the comprehensive plan. This city is so beautiful and so great, I think anything to get reckless in the growth would be destroying the most beautiful city that I’ve been around. We don’t need to look like all the other cities around. I would control the growth, be careful about big boxes, corporate change and franchises. Keep Fairhope small and help the small individual businesses survive.
“That’s what makes Fairhope great: the flowers, the trees, the independent businesses. The charm of Fairhope, the God-given landscape that is so important that helped all these people build this great city, and I’m afraid we might be on the verge of destroying it by letting all these big corporate franchises in and big chains in and I want to see Fairhope stay beautiful and I want to let the people have a voice in what happens here.”
GENTLE: “No. 1, growth is inevitable; we are all here because of growth but we have to have sensible growth. The first thing I would do is let the planners deal with the comprehensive plan, not the politicians. The planners know how to handle these things, that is their profession. I would keep politics out of that plan and keep it pure. No. 2, I would let the planners determine our growth, not the developers and not people from outside. We can do that legally and we can do that by allowing in year one so many housing starts, and year two, so many, etc. But the planners need to do that not the politicians and not the developers.”
KANT: “Any community is either growing or dying, so we do have to have growth. If elected, I will continue to make sure our medical facilities are second to none. I believe between the growth of our medical facilities and our educational facilities is what Fairhope is about. If we keep our colleges downtown strong then we’ll have workforce. As it gets more expensive to live in Fairhope because property values keep going up, we have look at alternative ways to be creative. We can’t build all these affordable homes right in the middle of Fairhope, I don’t see that happening. But we do need a workforce.
“Since 1985, I had the experience of being on the planning commission. And the planning in the comprehensive plan is not my plan, it’s not the planner’s plan, it’s not anybody’s plan but the people in this room’s plan. If we don’t work to make sure it’s what you want, then we’re not going to succeed. Back in 2000 is when we decided to change and get involved with the comprehensive plan because we were on the verge of deciding whether we were going to go backwards or not with the Triangle property. That’s the reason we went through it. Had so many people move in and our growth rate had only been 15 percent the first four years I was in office and 14 percent the next four years.
“The reason I can state that is I go by how many garbage cans went to somebody’s home. That’s how many houses, and that’s the growth rate I go by. I don’t know where some of these other numbers are coming from, but we have to have people, we have to have businesses because we want a hospital that will take care of us. The hospital didn’t spend $50 million not to be able to provide the best services they can to our citizens. Those are the growth issues I think we need to work on.”
MOSHER: “We are projected to grow 100 percent or double in population in the next 10 years. You can’t stop this growth. Most of it will take place east of town because we have a great deal of urban density already inside Fairhope. Over half of the area of our comprehensive master plan for village growth is in unincorporated, unzoned areas, We have to bring that into the city. We have to stop offering services out there that keep people from being induced to coming into the city.
“We have to protect the master plan by making it actionable. Not a finger has been lifted, every single person who ran in the last eight years has promised to make the master plan, everybody talks about the master plan but it takes political will to say we’re going to make it actionable. We’re actually going to make it a working document. That takes a lot of strength. We have to say to Fairhope: In the next two years, we are going to start coming out of this housing slump and we’re going to start growing, like mad. We’ve overbuilt retail in Baldwin County but as our population grows you’re going to start seeing an incredible amount of unrestricted commercial growth around 13 and 181. It’s going to destabilize us here in town.
“The next two years are the most critical in the future of Fairhope to reach out and bring those areas under the master plan to be able to protect all of our investments, our major investments of our lives, our stake. Right now, we haven’t had the leadership to go out and do that. I’m going to bring that leadership and I pledge to you we’re going to bring that area in and protect all of us and keep this the most incredible unique city it is in all the world.”
VALENTIM: “Having been here a considerable length of time, I’ve seen a lot of so-called comprehensive plans. This plan was to modify the plan of 1995, which was supposed to last until 2010. That plan cost $16,500. This one, I think cost $40,000 to begin with. Every time this fellow comes to town, it’s a ton more.
“We do have to plan our housing areas. We don’t want everything dumped in, different shacks, or buildings that are not compatible with each other. When I first came to Fairhope, I noticed some small houses and some large houses, it was an eclectic society. We had an impact study. We need to put this thing into practice. We just had a 30 percent increase in our population and we need to make this compatible to what is happening.
“None of our infrastructure and transportation is geared to handle any big expanse of property. Just look at Greeno Road for a second — Greeno and Gayfer. That intersection is no more ready to handle what is going on out there now with a hospital coming on line and Arbor Gates across the road. That’s a tragedy fixing to happen. Fairhope and Greeno needs to be updated. At 5 p.m. or when the school children are out, the traffic is so backed up. We haven’t done any planning to speak of at all. When we do this planning, we need to look at where we have our hospitals, our schools.”
WARNER: “Managing growth is no easy task. As an urban planner by education, I understand this. I have written master plans, worked on strategic plans. It is not easy as a planner to intervene and market to coax or coerce developers to do things a certain way so that our life quality is not adversely affected. However, it is paramount if you want to protect ambiance in the community.
“Planners are most chiefly concerned with human density, the amount of people you allow in a place with respect to the infrastructure: roads, sewerage, water, schools. The fact that we have trailers outside of FHS and other schools in this community is reprehensible to me. Our children deserve better than that and yes, we do not build schools, but we permit neighborhoods that bring children to the city that we must educate.
“We have not been mindful in the way we have grown. The commute time up 98 is terrible. It takes you 40 minutes if you leave Fairhope High School between 4 to 6 p.m. to get to the Interstate. That’s because we, through our policies, City Council leadership, our mayor, planning commission continually try to put 4 gallons of water in a 2-gallon boot, and it doesn’t work.
We have one viable thoroughfare, that’s 98, on which we continue to put more and more cars. The Publix that is going in off of 98 is a traffic nightmare in the making, 815 homes planned behind that big-box strip center, which is not in compliance in any way, shape or form with our master plan that we paid $50,000 for after months of your public input.
“Our current leaders have failed us. They have made a mockery of the master plan. Ambiance is not a concern of theirs. What’s chiefly their concern is to help their friends.
BURRELL: “We all know that the quality of life we have here creates the demand, and the demand will create growth. We can’t put a fence up around our city. If we did, many of us wouldn’t be here today. I believe that I will allow growth but we will manage it properly. I think we should follow the village concept as allotted for in the comprehensive plan. We need to follow this document. The P&Z commission is not following it. They change zoning ordinance like I change my shoes.
“One thing we need to do to enhance and hold on to the ambiance we have here is to make sure that our community is walkable. That is allotted for the comprehensive plan. We need bicycle trails; we need to be able to walk from one village to another. We should allow more flat apartments in downtown. That would create a business atmosphere, bring more money into the city through folks spending their money downtown and creating more gross receipts tax, and it would just be nice to go out in town.
“Of course we need to keep the flowers, I do like the flowers.”
2.What does “open government” mean to you? When and how is it appropriate to bring citizens into the discussion of issues that will affect the city?
GENTLE: Transparancy starts with the government, with open meetings and in the mayor’s office, Gentle said. “It is not about a select few. It is about you and information to you. It is public hearings. You bury your ego and your pride and be a public servant not with a personal agenda.”
KANT: “I’ve always had an open door policy. You can come in my office any time without an appointment. Yes, I do call a number of people around town when I have to make a hard decision.” Now all the information that comes out of the City Clerk’s office is posted online, Kant said.
MOSHER: “I’m not going to have a secretary. I’m going to ask the council to create the position of administrative assistant where there is an absolute lateral flow of communication between the council and mayor. No more memos from the mayor’s office to the department heads saying not to give the council members any information.” Transparancy means no hidden agendas, Mosher added.
VALENTIM: “We work for you and I intend to make that come true in every sense of the word.” Valentim said he wants to have the city divided into districts to aid the flow of communication between council members and residents.
WARNER: “It means being honest with the people. Residents should be able to get timely answers to their questions from their representatives.”
BURRELL: “It also means being honest with all the departments and employees of the city government. Posting all financial information on the Web site, video taping City Council and P&Z meetings.” Bunnell also said regular meetings with neigborhood associations should be held.
GAMBINO: “We out to be able to see (the meetings) on the TV, maybe in the library. Maybe a 311 line for people to call in.”
3.What if any responsibility does the city have to the minority groups living both within and adjacent to Fairhope?
KANT: “The minority groups to the south, I believe eventually need to have a vote. We’ve been trying to figure out how they could actually petition to come into the city if they so desire.” Kant said they found out that many residents there don’t have clear title or deeds to their properties. “To have that vote, It will take a legislative act, signed off by the council. The mayor can initiate such decisions.”
MOSHER: “There are seven white people at this table. You should see women, minorities. We need to go into districts. There’s a simple methodology to do this; we should have done it years ago.
“Twin Beech is a problem that goes back to the founding of the town in 1894 — a long and complicated history.”
Mosher said the city had a four-tiered problem in this regard.
“Do nothing and the Twin Beech area will be slowly strangled by people coming in imposing standards and zoning and driving those people out. They could incorporate and become a city, which is not likely because of the trouble and cost involved. Go into a zoning district via the county with grandfather clauses. Or the city could reach out in annexation. I think this will be complicated, but ultimately the most decent and honest thing to do.”
VALENTIM: “I don’t know why this hasn’t already happened. We fought those battles already. If they want to come into the city and the legal aspects or whatever is holding them back are solved, let’s get on with it.”
WARNER: He said the simple solution for this problem was to move to a district representation format.
“Not only would we be more inclusive for people of color, we would be more responsive to the needs of the people of the community.” Residents would contact their City Council representative, which would divide up the labor up among those five.”
BURRELL: He said he grew up in an area with a large minority population.
“I do think that bringing them into this community may bring a financial burden on them with the increased property taxes, but we need to sit down with them through open and honest government and work it out with them and provide them city services provided others in this community.”
GAMBINO: “I think they comprise about 7 percent of the population and I think sometimes they don’t feel they have a voice, and that’s unfair.”
He added that as he campaigns door to door, he hears residents in subdivisions in the outlying areas of town say feel the city doesn’t treat them with the same attention as those in the downtown area.
“We really need to go to a precinct type situation where you can have a voice from each area.”
GENTLE: “Believe it or not, this is covered in the comprehensive plan. It’s about diversity.
“I’ve been down there and talked with them. They are afraid of us; they are scared to come into the city. They are afraid they will lose their chickens and their identity. They have been treated that way and that’s the way they feel. Their fears must be removed and the city has to determine what it will do to help them such as change zoning districts to fit that community.
“Funding is also a problem. They don’t have the money, and it will cost the city at least $5 million to either get grants or something to go down there and give the goods and services they want: curbs, gutters, sidewalks.
“The village that should be south of the city is at Twin Beech and South Section where the hot dog stand is. We need to look ahead down there; we’ve looked too much to the east and the north. We have to protect the diversity and understand what it is and, as Vince (Valentim) said, move forward.”
4.Given that the people teaching our children, working in our stores, and attending our local colleges are generally lower to middle income individuals, what if any role does the city of Fairhope have in making housing affordable for middle and lower income people?
MOSHER: “I could not afford to live in Fairhope if I wasn’t already here. We need to protest in the state the increase in property taxes. We also have to be able to get wind coverage.
“Eclectic, mixed-used housing is what Fairhope’s entire basis has been from the beginning.” Mosher said the city needed to establish areas for this type of community as well as encourage new ideas like the modular housing being built in Mississippi.
VALENTIM: “Taxes are outrageous. The millage Fairhope gets is in the top tier, we need to knock that back. We need to be a voice for the people on taxes and insurance and then address affordable housing.”
WARNER: “We could encourage developers to provide more of a mixed use setting where there are smaller parcels with apartments, condominiums, more affordable choices for people looking to buy a home. However, I am not for government price controls or ceilings. Insurance is a huge concern. Property taxes are a big concern.”
BURELL: “Businesses have a need for employees who can live here. I believe we have the highest millage rate for property taxes, and we need to look for ways to get this reduced.”
GAMBINO: “The young can’t afford to live here. Seniors who have paid off their homes can’t afford to stay because they can’t afford the taxes and insurance.”
Gambino suggested that more apartments above the businesses, or adding a small home on existing residential property if it conforms with the zoning might be some solutions.
GENTLE: “Lead development in mixed use. We need jobs with higher wages.”
KANT: “This problem is common in communities like ours that passes a lot of restrictions on its subdivision requirements. The costs of these requirements are passed along to the cost of the lot and home. Building materials keep increasing. Also, this is an area where everyone wants to live so property values keep going up. Housing options are needed for all levels of need and income.
“We need to bring in more high-paying jobs for our area so residents don’t have to leave.”
5. What are your thoughts on having a regularly scheduled public transportation system in Fairhope and the Eastern Shore?
VALENTIM: “Great, I’d like to see some private entrepreneour do it.”
WARNER: “We are married to our personal vehicles and are not used to using public transportation.”
He said he was in favor of implementing a system with a nominal user fee to help pay for it.
BURRELL: “It would be nice to have one for the Eastern Shore but who will pay for it? We’ve got to balance our budget, get out of debt so our city can afford things like this.”
It is also the ecological thing to do, Burrell added.
GAMBINO: “It is needed and in five years it will be needed even more.”
GENTLE: “Public transportation’s got to be done gradually. We’ve got to look at Fairhope first. There is already transportation between here and Mobile.”
Gentle wants to look at what can be done in town.
“Store owners and employees in downtown need to use remote parking, not the spaces in front of their stores. We can utilize churches and public parking around town. Get a public/private agreement between merchants and the city to buy a rubber tire trolley to deliver people.”
Gentle said such a trolley route could be grown to reach out to communities like Quail Creek and Rock Creek and would enhance connectivity.
“We have a system at the Nix Center for our elderly.”
KANT: Seventy percent of the cost of public transit operations must come from taxes, you only get 30 percent from tolls. If you let government keep growing, you’ve got to increase taxes and increase the tax base with annexation.”
Kant advocates supporting BRATS, modifying it if need be, and working on this problem with the county and other cities.
MOSHER: Greenways are cheaper than sidewalks and connect areas and are usable for bicycles, walkers, electric cars, golf carts, Segways, he said.
Reader Feedback
Feedback Rules
- Do not issue threats of any kind.
- Do not use profanity or attempt to disguise profanity.
- Do not post messages using profane or crude names and identities.
- Do not insult someone else's contributions or wit.
- Do not disguise or confuse identities by using the names of others.
The opinions expressed in reader-posted comments are not necessarily the opinions of Baldwincountynow.com, Gulf Coast Newspapers or its newspapers and staffs. Baldwincountynow.com, Gulf Coast Newspapers and its newspapers and staffs do not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of any reader-posted comment. Responsibility for what is posted lies with each user.
Add Your Comments
|
||||||
The opinions expressed in reader-posted comments are not necessarily the opinions of Baldwincountynow.com, Gulf Coast Newspapers or its newspapers and staffs. Baldwincountynow.com, Gulf Coast Newspapers and its newspapers and staffs do not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of any reader-posted comment. Responsibility for what is posted lies with each user.
Popular Searches
lazysusan wrote on Aug 11, 2008 3:11 PM: