Gainesville breaks ground on safety
Hello from Gainesville, Florida. It's Monday, July 27, and you're listening to StreetSmart. I'm Seth Johnson. StreetSmart is a weekly podcast from Mainstreet Daily News, where we cover local news that informs, engages, and inspires listeners like you. A big thanks to our sponsor, Forest Meadows Funeral Home, where compassion meets experience.
Seth Johnson:Check out their beautiful gardens, funeral home, and tribute center. Cremations, funerals, and memorials all in one trusted place. With exceptional care and personal attention, Forest Meadows is here to honor every life with care. Here's the top headlines we're rounding up. The High Springs City Commission voted to fire its city manager on Thursday.
Seth Johnson:The decision came after more than two and a half hours of discussion and public comment. Crime Stoppers of North Central Florida recently rebranded and increased its maximum reward to $5,000. The organization already awarded that maximum amount to an anonymous tipster for cracking open a Gainesville murder case in May. Santa Fe College honored head baseball coach Johnny Wiggs for two decades leading the Saints. His tenure included 627 wins and two trips to the National Junior College Athletic Association World Series.
Seth Johnson:Gainesville Regional Airport's new CEO hit his one hundredth day on the job last week. He outlined three major projects on the horizon, including a new general aviation terminal. A Gainesville Christian school will expand to the city of Waldo this year, ending the rural city's recent bout of schoollessness. The school aims to bring parents into the classroom and make a change in students' lives. The August eighteenth election is just around the corner, and a lot of races will be decided without advancing to the November general election.
Seth Johnson:We've got questionnaires with candidates for the city of Gainesville, Alachua County, and school board. Find their answers to issues facing the different boards at mainstreetdailynews.com. Thanks to our generous members, our journalism stays free for the whole community with no paywall. Welcome back to StreetSmart. We're glad you are here with us.
Seth Johnson:I'm Seth Johnson, and with us is rural reporter Lillian Hamman. Lillian, the city of Newberry got its first roundabout. What's it like? Have you gone around it yet?
Lillian Hamman:I have not, but there is a very funny video on Facebook of city manager Jordan Marlowe going around it.
Seth Johnson:So Newberry now has a roundabout and two red lights. They're moving up in the world, and infrastructure has been a lot of people's minds. This is kind of been a little two week period of groundbreakings for the city of Gainesville, and they're talking about infrastructure and specifically public safety infrastructure. So last week, I went to a groundbreaking of Fire Station 3, which is at the 8th and Waldo Complex where Citizens Field is at and where the Martin Luther King Junior Complex is at. And if you've been driving by, you've probably recently seen a lot of changes that Kiwanis International and the former Gainesville Fire Rescue Administration building have been demolished, and that's where the new fire station is gonna go.
Lillian Hamman:Yeah. I have noticed a lot of construction over there.
Seth Johnson:And then this week, there's another groundbreaking for Fire Station 9 is what it's gonna be, but it's being called the Southwest Public Safety Center, and that's gonna be off of Archer Road where the new HCA Florida Hospital is at. So that's gonna combine Fire Station nine, which is currently at Butler Plaza by the Walmart, along with an outpost for Gainesville Police Department and some kind of community space and a lot of things kind of being combined on that site.
Lillian Hamman:What's that new station gonna look like? Because I think that Fire Station nine over there by Walmart is meeting out of a trailer looking structure.
Seth Johnson:Yeah. It's kinda like a mobile trailer that was put there. It was planned to only be for two years. It's been more like seven or eight years, and it's definitely in some disrepair. The city commission heard a presentation on that two years ago as they've kind of been pushing towards Using the new sir tax that passed to go towards fire stations And they had showed pictures at that safe commission meeting showing that that temporary building that Station 9 is out of really needs to be demolished and they need a permanent home for that station so that's what this new public safety center will be and it's gonna be a $16,000,000 facility the station's only gonna be a couple 100 feet you know west of the current station which was built in 1960 actually You know, that station already existed when the Civil Rights Act passed and when we put a man on the moon and all this other history.
Seth Johnson:And the fire chief said, you know, the new station will hopefully be there for another sixty years perhaps to look over all the history that's to come in Gainesville and The United States. And part of that groundbreaking was also kind of launching initiative called Safe by Design. So it's $60,000,000 the city of Gainesville was putting behind that fire station three, the Southwest Public Safety Center, and then the property and evidence building for the Gainesville Police Department, is currently under construction. They had that groundbreaking earlier this year, I think, in the spring, and they got the financing for it in December 2025. And the Safe by Design is being funded through StreetStations and Strong Foundation.
Seth Johnson:So that's the surtax I mentioned, and voters passed that in 2022, and it kind of added on to the already existing half-cent sales tax. So Okay. Voters passed that half-cent sales tax a while back, and that's what funded Wild Spaces Public Places. In 2022, the county placed a full cent option onto the ballot to have the half-cent that still remains while it faces public places, but adding another half-cent that goes towards things like fire stations, roadways, even affordable housing. And so city of Gainesville is putting a lot of those behind fire stations, which is funding these recent groundbreakings that we've seen.
Lillian Hamman:Will that surtax be able to fund the whole project, or what's what's that gonna look like?
Seth Johnson:Yeah. There's definitely enough money within it to fund, all of these projects that surtax over its ten year life span, which is how long it's scheduled to last, will generate a $193 million for the WildSpace Public Places portion and another $193 million for the StreetStation Strong Foundations portion. That's what the city of Gainesville is calling it. It's all one surtax, but the county and the city have it designated out to those two halves. Obviously Gainesville doesn't get all of that.
Seth Johnson:However, Gainesville is slated to get about $17 million per year, and that's split between those two halves. Another thing to be looking at is that Complex 8th and Waldo has Citizens Field, and that's also kind of influx right now with what that looks like. And that's something Gainesville and the school board have been going back and forth on. The school board seemed to vote earlier this year that, hey. We're not gonna move forward with Citizens Field, but that's back on their agenda for this week.
Seth Johnson:And so that's gonna be something to keep an eye out on.
Seth Johnson:We're gonna take a quick break to hear from our sponsor, Forest Meadows, before we get back to the news forecast and events segments.
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Seth Johnson:Now for this week's news forecast, the city of Alachua will meet at noon today to continue a land use and rezoning hearing for the farmlands commercial development, which is expected to bring a Walmart along US 441. The commission will also discuss its millage rate for the next fiscal year. The city of Newbury will also discuss property taxes and vote on its tentative millage rate tonight for the twenty twenty six twenty twenty seven fiscal year. The school board of Alachua County will return on Thursday for its first meeting in over a month, with the new school year less than two weeks away. The board members will discuss Citizens Field as we mentioned and a salary schedule for educational support professionals.
Lillian Hamman:Now for our event segment covering upcoming family friendly events this week. Just Between Friends is hosting its annual kids and maternity mega all season sale on Saturday. The ticketed event at Legacy Park Multipurpose Center in Alachua starts at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday and runs through August 2. Check just between Friends' website for discounted admission days. Local business networking is popping up at the Wrights Union on Wednesday with the city of Gainesville's free business matchmaker event.
Lillian Hamman:Starting at 10 a.m., business professionals are invited to make valuable connections and take advantage of opportunities to grow. August marks Depot Park's tenth birthday and the city of Gainesville is celebrating the occasion with Decade at Depot Park. The event at the park starts at 7 p.m. and will feature live music and family fun with food trucks, train rides, a photo booth, and yard games.
Seth Johnson:Depot Park ten years.
Lillian Hamman:Yes, Seth. You've been in Gainesville half as long as Depot Park has been alive. How does that feel?
Seth Johnson:That's that's pretty crazy, actually. I never would have thought. It was only five years old when I got here.
Lillian Hamman:Yeah. What are some of your favorite memories there?
Seth Johnson:It's just crazy looking back how fast the time goes. They grew up so fast.
Lillian Hamman:A blink of an eye, and time's just passed. But, Seth, what are some of your favorite memories there?
Seth Johnson:Well, I've done several of the Depot Park Park runs that have been fun. Getting Goldie's Burgers, big fan, especially when you're waiting for a GRU authority meeting to start, and you can just gulp down two of those. And then the sparks and parks have been fun to see, but it's mostly just nice to go and see some of the wildlife so close, I think. So that's been a neat part of Depot Park.
Lillian Hamman:And that's all we've got for this week's StreetSmart podcast brought to you by Mainstreet Daily News and made possible by our generous members. You can access more free news at mainstreetdailynews.com. We'll be back next week with more stories that matter to you because they take place right here in Alachua County. Take a minute to share StreetSmart and help us continue the work. Our theme music is Sunset Sonata by Gainesville's ska band now leaving space.
Lillian Hamman:This episode is a production of MARC Media.
