VABI nature walk to get partially destroyed, no not really, well, yeah, really, kinda maybe... what was the question?
Venetian nature walkway may or may not be partially destroyed in just a month or two; city manager says it's not true and blames the usual naysayers for deliberately putting out bad spin -- uhhhh... Marty? That would be your own staff, then, right?
-- John Patten, 08/27/07
-- jpatten@veniceflorida.com

Got a comment? Make it here.

From: Andy Patterson
To: city council, City Manager Marty Black
Date: 08/27/07, 8:30 AM EST

1.  Is the Waterway Trail south of the Circus Bridge going to be demolished
to make way for a barge to haul rocks into the gulf for an artificial reef?

2.  Is the demolished Waterway Trail going to be repaired, or just made into
a marina that you know a majority of Venice residents do not want?

Please respond, in detail. We've spent loads of money on this brand new
trail, and now we're demolishing it??  For a future marina??

Thank You,

Andrew Patterson
Venice
 

From: Martin Black
To: Fred Hammett, John Simmonds, Jim Woods, Rick Tacy, John Moore,
andyat2910@comcast.net, Bill Willson, etc.
Date: 08/27/07

1. Is the Waterway Trail south of the Circus Bridge going to be
demolished to make way for a barge to haul rocks into the gulf for an artificial
reef?

No. While the city engineer has been reviewing alternative sites,
including the old coast guard station near Blackburn Bridge (now controlled
by the county), the airport and others to stage construction of the offsite
reef that the State Department of Environmental Protection required to be
built as part of the beach renourishment project, the only approved site is
located in Charlotte County. I had actually cautioned the city engineer
that some members of the public would start rumors that the city was
'secretly' building a marina as she explored the most efficient site to
ensure that the city complied with state permitting requirements.
Apparently, you have already heard that 'spin'.

2. Is the demolished Waterway Trail going to be repaired, or just
made into a marina that you know a majority of Venice residents do not want?

No marina construction is proposed or authorized. Had the airport site been
pursued, the contractor would have been required to restore the area to
pre-existing conditions. Our preferred site was the old Coast Guard
station, but there were timing issues that would preclude the county from
entering into an agreement with the contractor in a short enough period to
of time to complete the work.

Please respond, in detail. We've spent loads of money on this brand
new trail, and now we're demolishing it?? For a future marina??

In summary, neither the airport site or the coast guard site are feasible under
the time constraints imposed by the state and both sites were therefore
abandoned from consideration. This may put the city at risk for additional
costs and penalties from the state should the contractor fail to meet the
construction deadlines and I know that was the motivation of the city
engineer in pursuing and evaluating alternative sites.

From: John Patten
To: Council, Marty Black, Herb Levine, others
Date: 08/27/07, 2:31 PM EST

Ref: "...that spin."

"That spin" is coming directly out of your own offices and employees. Read on
and I'll tell you how and why.

Had your original information been made available to the media and to groups
like VABI in advance, there would not be this confusion.

I just got off the phone with VABI's Don Hay. Nice guy and I've always
gotten along well with him. Last Saturday, Hay was discussing this with the
members of VABI. It was Hay's understanding just this past Saturday, from
members talking with city hall and Nancy Woodley, that the tearing up of the
VABI walkway in the spot where the marina is planned was a very real
possibility. Hay went on to say that it was his understanding that the city
was going to try to find a different place, as VABI members had apparently
(and arguably quite rightly) voiced their disapproval with that plan.

Peg Tomanio was in city hall today and talked with Pam Johnson. According to
Tomanio, Johnson stated the barge landing spot would indeed be on the island
south of the circus bridge, but a bit further south of the airport
(apparently somewhat north of where the VABI trail ends at Caspersen).
Johnson stated that she was going to physically check it out later this
week, Tomanio asked if she could go along, Johnson said no. Good liaisoning
there, no argument.

Tomanio was also told that any tearing up of walkways, etc., would have to
be replaced prior to finishing the project. The only walkways down there are
VABI's.

All of that would appear to be in direct contradiction with what you are
now saying. Which again goes back to the root of all of the problems
spinning out of city hall [pun intended]: you don't give out information easily, you play
everything close to the chest, then you get upset when people start asking
questions, and of course all of this is a result of deliberate negative spin
by naysayers.

In fact, this is a result of people asking valid questions, some of them
avid members of your own fan club, and getting wildly different answers
depending on who they ask

So go ahead and continue to play the usual game of shoot the messenger. I
have no problem with that policy this time around. Her office is right
across the hall from yours.

John Patten is the head of Web Operations for Creative Pages, and has worked in broadcasting for over 12 years. He can also be incredibly rude at times.