Gainesville Voters Condemn themselves to More Bad Traffic

I am disappointed in the outcome of the election. Jeanna Mastrodicasa won over Tony Domenech. This means that not enough drivers went to the polls, probably because they didn't want to go out into the traffic again. Need I remind you that Jeanna Mastrodicasa is in favor of narrowing major roadways?

For once, I find myself agreeing with the Gainesville Sun editorial page.

"[V]oter turnout is so anemic, year in and year out, because Gainesville's election system is designed to the advantage of candidates who understand that it's easier to get elected when fewer rather than more people show up at the polls...
[it has long been] argued that if city elections were scheduled to coincide with even-year fall general elections, turnout would be vastly improved. City residents would be able to select their city commissioners at the same time they select their president, governor, congressional and legislative representatives and county commissioners." [full text available online at http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/
20060310/EDITORIALS/60310009/1096/editorials]


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I would like to tip my hat to Tabitha G. Katt of Trenton for her scathing criticism of Dom Nozzi's bizarre utopian view of how Gainesville's infrastructure should develop. She has a point, this Nozzi person likes to try to make real people fit into his imaginary utopia.. and that doesn't work. Nozzi is clearly unfit for his position and should be removed at the earliest opportunity.

Her letter can be viewed online at http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/
20060310/EDITORIALS02/60310007/-1/editorials

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I would also like to tip my hat to J. Heppner of Gainesville who writes "When are voters going to throw these people out? Otherwise, when Archer Road, Newberry Road and other main roads are all reduced to two lanes (with roundabouts), better buy a motor home so at least you can check your e-mail and go to the toilet while waiting in traffic."

I feel your pain. Apparently, my efforts to get people to the polls this week were not very effective.

This letter can be viewed online at http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/
20060309/EDITORIALS02/60308053/-1/editorials

Florida Respects the Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms

It's good to live in Florida. Our fair state is at the forefront of states that elect not to infringe upon the right of the People to defend themselves from predators. And this is an exceedingly good thing.

The Brady Campaign has given Florida a grade of F+. And while this is a really good score as far as our fundamental rights to self-defense are concerned, there is still room for improvement. We need to make sure the state legislature passes the "Guns in the Workplace" bill (HB 129 & SB 206). It is unreasonable that anti-gun employers can keep their employees from being able to defend themselves. We are not asking them to allow their employees to walk around carrying guns, we are asking them to not infringe upon their employees rights to defend themselves from violent acts that may occur on their trip to and from work.

Now I'm sure, especially in this county, there will be people reading this who will think that I am some sort of a bloodthirsty maniac for wanting everyone to have access to guns. I assure you that this is not the case. Do you think predatory humans (robbers, murderers, rapists, etc.) feel more or less comfortable when it is easy for law-abiding people to get guns? I assure you, they get more nervous the more likely it is that the person they attack might be armed. In places where it is nigh impossible to get a gun, the predators have super powers -- they will get guns no matter what through illegal means. This means that they can attack people without having to worry much about whether they could get hurt or die in the process. Therefore they have little deterrent to attacking people. If they have to consider that their prey is likely to be armed, they are more likely to think twice before attacking. As Robert A. Heinlein said, "An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life."

Need I remind you that one of the most peaceful, civilized countries in the world is Switzerland, where everyone has a fully functional military assault rifle in their house?

The fact is, that gun control does nothing to deter criminal behavior. All it does is to make law-abiding citizens more vulnerable to predators, and make the predators less afraid of the law-abiding citizens. The government has to know this. And you have to wonder what they are up to that they think they need to disarm the People. Maybe it's so we won't shoot back when they try to herd us all off the FEMA camps so they can steal our property.

As a closing note, I would like to point out that when my father and grandfather were in school, schools had shooting clubs and children brought guns to school. There was no problem with school violence back then. The problem with gun violence is clearly not caused by the availability of guns.

A tip of the hat to David Sanchez over at A Republic, if you can keep it for drawing my attention to this.

This information can be found online at:

The Brady Campaign, http://www.bradycampaign.org/

and

Florida's Grade, http://www.stategunlaws.org/viewstate.php?st=FL

Election Day, Gainesville -- Traffic Should Guide Voting

Today is election day in Gainesville, Florida. One issue should be on the mind of all local voters -- traffic. This is very much on all our minds, because we have to deal with it every day, at least twice a day. And the fact that the current mood of the government of Gainesville tends toward inducing traffic problems should tell you that they need to go. And where you dont have the opportunity to vote them out of office, you should take advantage of any opportunity to replace them with people who do care about improving traffic in the city. Honestly, I recently had the displeasure of being in downtown Tampa at rush hour and the traffic moved faster than Gainesville traffic. The short version is that Tony Domenech should be your candidate. He has former city commission experience, but that should not be a decideing factor (I think my mechanic, Bill, would be an admirable candidate based on his stance that government should not be used to make people's lives miserable). Domenech has stated on many occasions, including on his campaign web site, that releiving traffic congestion is a very important issue for him. Not so for his opponent, Jeanna Mastrodicasa, who is in favor of narrowing Main Street. She is under the erroneous impression that this will somehow make driving easier. I beg to differ -- there is a reason I avoid Main Street on weekends, and that is because they artificially narrow it already by closing the outer lanes and increasing gridlock.

The bottom line is that the City of Gainesville is creating difficulties on purpose to annoy us into not driving (this practice is probably why they approved repaving projects on no less than 4 major thouroughfares at the same time, instead of one at a time, like any considerate person would have done). We, the voters, need to get it through these people's thick skulls that the servant government is supposed to serve, not dictate. That is why we need to vote for Tony Domenech.

FreeFAC City Commission Candidate Questionnaire for 2006 -- At Large Gainesville Candidates: Jeanna Mastrodicasa v. Tony Domenech

Alachua County Voting Precinct Finder. Polls are open from 7am until 7pm EST

Alachua County Supervisor of Elections

I haven't been able to find much on the east Gainesville candidates, since not everyone in Gainesville can vote for them, coverage has not been that great. Neither seems to have a discernable stance on traffic, but no one has asked them, so I don't know. If I found myself in an east Gainesville district, I would write my own name in, personally. Not enough information is available. Here is an article from the Sun about Scherwin Henry and Barbara Sharpe; the city commission candidates for east Gainesville.

Florida Highway Patrol Steps Up Extortion from Motorists

Increasing the number of speeding tickets issued is not about highway safety. Don't beleive for a moment that it is. Speeding does not cause accidents. Even law enforcement officials admit this. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, "[d]river distraction or error, in combination with not wearing a seat belt, caused a majority of the area's fatal crashes." Yet, the ticket you get for speeding is more expensive than the ticket you get for reckless driving. The reason enforcement officers give out speeding tickets is to generate revenue. Outside of actual crashes, speeding is the easiest thing for them to document.

It's all about the money, and I get offended when the police try to tell us that it isn't. If you see someone weaving in traffic, tailgating, or otherwise being unsafe, by all means pull them over and ticket them. Generating revenue for your department by issuing speeding tickets makes you little better than a parasite, except where speeding causes a clear an present danger to pedestrians.

This story can be found online at http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/
20060302/LOCAL/203020345&SearchID=7323738072922

I was right, the City of Gainesville thinks that Traffic Congestion is GOOD

"Dom Nozzi, senior planner for the city of Gainesville and author of a book on sprawl, said smaller roads actually reduce gridlock by encouraging bike and bus riding."

Well, in that case, this Nozzi needs to go, and any of the petty tyrants that agree with him in our local government. I know that this may come as a shock to some, especially in the Gainesville where most voters seem to think that totalitarian police states are good, but the Government has no business telling us what to do. The government has a duty to respond to our legitimate needs. It may respond to our legitimate needs in one of two ways. The preferred method is to get out of our way and stop hindering us in our efforts to fulfill our needs. The other method is to eneact programs to fulfill our needs. This should only be a last resort and only apply to areas in which only the government can reasonably be given authority (the management of public roads, for example).

I am fed up with the anti-driver attitude of Gainesville. All car drivers are voters. We need to vote everyone out of office and replace them with candidates that will actually try to fix the traffic problems instead of trying to force us not to drive. Vote for former city commissioner and entrepreneur Tony Domenech, he is running for an at-large seat on the Gainesville City Commission. He is fed up with the traffic problem too and will likely do something about it. Unlike the current Commissioners, he actually thinks that shrinking Main Street into only 2 lanes is insane.

This story can be found online at http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/
20060301/LOCAL/203010331&SearchID=73237252997779

Traffic Light Cameras? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!!!!

Not only is the editorial staff over at the Gainesville Sun against the right of the People to keep and bear arms, they are also in favor of a police-surveillance state.

The editorial states:

"The Florida Legislature has long refused to allow the use of cameras to catch red-light runners (even though the state uses them to fine motorists who don't pay their turnpike tolls.) Red light running is lethal behavior, and cameras are the most effective behavior modification devices. Lawmakers ought to stop excusing irresponsible drivers and authorize the use of cameras to save lives."

This is not acceptable. There will always be an imbalence in power. The people who have power will take advantage of it. Traffic light cameras do not catch only people who run red lights. They mostly catch people who enter the intersection during a yellow light. I have read (don't quote me unless you have a reliable source handy, I'm too busy to look it up) that in cities where traffic light cameras were installed that they shortened the yellow light time. There was a huge increase in tickets given, and thus a huge increase in revenue for the city. And you casn't say that the money has nothing to do with this. Governments always give noble reasons for parting us with our money, but the fact is that collectively, governments tend to be the greediest, most rapacious entities on the planet. Why do you think speeding tickets cost more than reckless driving tickets? Because speeding is easier for them to notice, so that's where the most money can be made.

And don't pretend that this isn't about the money. The editorial mentions that "[t]he state has raised the fine for red-light violations (in this county, from 121.50 to $186.50). The additional money, appropriately, will help fund trauma centers." It's all about the money. The more trauma-center funding depends on traffic citations, the more traffic citations will be issued. Mark my words.

Traffic light cameras hold the car owner responsible, not the driver. If you lend your car to someone, or it is stolen and that person runs a red light, you get a ticket. Not them. Tell me, what does this do to discourage people from running red lights? Nothing. Because the person performing the action is not held responsible.

I might support red light cameras if, and only if, they activate when a driver enters the intersection after the light turns red. But that's a remote possibility. I am uncomfortable with a government that watches its citizens all the time and I disapprove of a government that extorts money from me to do it.

Story can be found online at http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/
20060302/EDITORIALS/203020316&SearchID=73237249338471