Seth Johnson
The Gainesville City Commission voted Thursday to move forward with the sale of the old fire station on South Main Street and specified how the city would use $700,000 earmarked for homelessness last week.
Following the direction, city staff will get an appraisal of the old fire station before returning to the City Commission to put the property on the market. The commissioners also discussed adding a claw-back provision to a purchase contract, forcing a buyer to use the land within a certain period of time.
City staff said Gainesville Fire Rescue left the building in 2017. Since then, talks with UF to use the building have stalled. The building would take around $6 million to bring up to code, so staff recommended the sale.
The first two hours of Thursday’s meeting concerned homelessness—a follow-up to last week’s discussion.
City Manager Cynthia Curry said the police department and homeless outreach personnel visited the people living in tents along SE 4th Place. Since some of the tents blocked the road and sidewalk, the city said they would need to be moved.
Curry said a little while later, the tents had been moved to the other side of the road. She said a three-day notice to move had been issued since the spot also blocked a right-of-way.
During the meeting, Curry said the police department and homeless outreach personnel were currently engaging with people camped around the Walmart on Waldo Road.
She said the city has reached out to people living at both sites over the past few weeks—before last week’s public meeting. Curry added that six of the people on SE 4th Place have formerly been in permanent supportive housing.
Curry and Jon DeCarmine, executive director of GRACE Marketplace, spoke on their plans to use funds identified last week.
The funds will create 10 new beds at the GRACE Marketplace shelter in the next week. GRACE will also begin the construction process to rehab a vacant building on the site to turn into 20 more beds. A process they hope to finish in 90 days.
The upfront cost for supplies will be around $520,000. Curry said the ongoing costs—more food for more people, extra toiletries and additional personnel—will bring the total operation to $690,000.
Those costs are through Sept. 30—the end of the city’s fiscal year.
“What we see on the streets is not generally representative of the homeless population,” DeCarmine said. “It’s the most vulnerable component of it, 5 to 10% of the entire population. That, of course, makes up 100% of the people’s public perceptions of what homelessness actually is.”
The motion by the commissioners directed staff to work with GRACE Marketplace on the project with funds not to exceed $700,000.
The City Commission also voted to create a database of public records requests on its website. The database would allow anyone to see the records being requested, and Commissioner Ed Book said the transition could save staff time.
The motion passed 4-2, with commissioners Reina Saco and Bryan Eastman in dissent. Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker was absent.
I guess humanity is at an all time low, and they love class action lawsuits. They have displaced so many people with no place for them to go. And I guess they are going to jail for the rights they should have.
At the meeting someone claimed the “surrounding counties” do not offer homeless services. That’s not the same as a chance without services.
It’s wrong for college towns to attract homeless, obviously because they can’t compete with students for decent housing and jobs. It’s better for all to encourage them to go to non-college towns, where they’ll stand a better chance in life.
The roads in Gainesville neighborhoods have awful pot holes ( Old Northwood, Springtree, Appletree & many more) Our tax $$$ never seem to fix these as part of a budget, but we can keep spending on the homeless. If they get less free stuff they will get jobs and pay into the system live better or move on. Instead we keep giving more free, they spread the word and more homeless come. They seem to have phones etc. Alachua County please stop funding this lifestyle and use our hardworking tax payer money to fix our streets and kids schools, like we elected our officials to do.
That’s because the government we elect has a philosophy and action that screams, “we want more homeless in Gainesville and the rights of homeless take precedence over those of hard working taxpayers,”
Another insane use of taxpayer funds to actually attract homeless folks with Grace and other handouts. More permanent spaces will forever increase costs for taxpayers. Best to end it all and they will move where the best handouts are.