This ordinance makes life more difficult for all involved – people dealing with homelessness, deputies tasked with enforcement, corrections officers dealing with an increased high-need population, and the public who will see more nuisance issues as offenders are shuffled from one place to another throughout town.
The recent increase in panhandling, camping in public, and other public nuisances is a major problem and it deserves well thought out solutions. This ordinance as proposed does not offer sound long-term solutions and needs more work.
2 Responses
So, as a candidate, what solutions do you propose?
Candidate O’Keefe mentions the proposed action was indicated by County staff to have no budgetary impact?
Either County staff who determine fiscal impacts of proposed Agenda Items have no clue what they are doing or someone is amending fiscal impact language prior to being seen by all Commiszioners to solicit a favorable or non-favorable vote possibly on the pretext it is much easier for Commissioners to support items where they don’t have to justify expending additional $ (Staff said it would have no fiscal impact).
Where is the accountability to Leon County Taxpayers that they can be assured their Commissioners are being given all the true facts and figures before they make a vote on proposed Agendas?
Of course, the reality is, most Commissioners probably could care less how much things cost as long as it isn’t going to cost them an election.
I challenge OurTallahassee, or Candidate O’Keefe, especially if elected, to look at the Agenda Items approved by the Commissioners over the last 5-10 years to learn how accurate the Fiscal Impacts projected truly were.