This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things Around Here

If you haven't been paying attention to anything but this blog, you might think that the only thing happening in North Bay Village is the Mayor's disgruntlement with the handling of her note cards.  That's my fault.  I have not mentioned the traffic mess up on the Causeway nor the Parking Decal programs coming at us for a while.  

Let's get up to date, shall we?

Parking on Harbor Island:   

The Village sent out the notice below to their email list.   This raised more questions than it answered and the Facebook page North Bay Village Residents Speak has been awash with questions. 

Notice Sent Out By The Village June 18

 The questions can be broadly lumped into a few categories:

• What about visitors?  
• Is my building eligible?
• If I am a part time resident with a car registered elsewhere, can I get a sticker?
• What about parking at Vogel Park after 6 PM and before sunset?

These questions were asked at the two (2) parking workshops - the first in January 2014 and the next in April 2015.  At the time, no answers were given and promises were made that these would be addressed.  Ah, promises!  Like they're anything more than a wispy dream expressed. 

In fact, the only publicly available information on  the parking program can be found by going to the village web site, selecting the Harbor Island Parking Regulations and scrolling through a PDF file that is only a broad proposal and does not include the procedures.  

A professional village manager would have rolled out a full program, one that includes Frequently Asked Questions, where to go for more information, how to acquire a guest pass and an update on the eligible buildings.   Rootin' Tootin' Straight Shootin' Son of A Gun Frank Rollason is many things, but not a professional manager.  He doesn't trust the intertubes and doesn't see why people would be interested.  

One thing he does do is engage in long, pointless email exchanges over things like note cards and his hurt and disappointment with the mayor and so forth so maybe if you email him at RootinTootinStraightShootinSonOfGun he will send you some some answers when he gets back from vacation.   (Go ahead - the link works.)

The Causeway:

The Causeway is going to be a mess for a year.  You've seen it the last two weeks.  That phase may be over today.  It may not.  We don't know.  

What we do know is that in July, the same thing starts on Treasure Island for some period of time and that FDOT is planning a full year resurfacing of the Causeway after that.   

NBV has Code RED, the reverse 911 system that should notify us of important things like it will take an hour to get to Miami but apparently the village doesn't trust the phones and have not once notified us of the traffic delays.  

NBV has a Web Page but nobody thought it important to include the traffic shutdown.  

NBV has emails for all residents receiving their water bills electronically.  

NBV even has its own TV channel but nobody knows how to turn it on.   

I guess they figure if they don't say anything, maybe nobody will notice. 

Connie meeting with her peers

One thing's for sure, our mayor made the right move.  She's in Las Vegas at a village paid conference meeting with her fellow elected officials.  I guess that's one way to deal with the pressure of the traffic.  

Kevin Vericker

June 19, 2015