Southard Street Retirement

Opponents of the proposed independent-assisted living facility to be built on the Truman waterfront are objecting to the location. One opponent asks "What's wrong with a site on Stock Island close to the hospital?"

Well, that's not what is in the master plan. Isn't that the same kind of question TAMPOA is raising about the use of Southard Street and the residents of Bahama Village are raising about the use of various streets in Bahama Village?

The project has the land given by Keys Electric, but needs more space -- i.e., the property next to it. We understand that will take a referendum, so the voters ultimately will decide whether the facility gets built on the waterfront if at all.

When the project was first proposed, the original objections were that it could be built anywhere including Stock Island, and the project was taking valuable waterfront property away from development. Now the objection seems to be traffic congestion along Southard Street. Why don't the opponents of the project come clean and just say, "We just don't want it on the waterfront," instead of making a variety of arguments that are only incidental to their real position?

We wonder whether the location issues surrounding this project will fester like the transient rental issue and never seem to get settled? Without strong leadership by the Mayor and City Commission, that is likely to be the case.