Democracy in action is a beautiful thing to behold.
In case you haven’t been paying attention, the City of Alachua is caught up in a crisis of its own making: A mass resignation in the planning department, a former and current city manager accused of pressuring planners, a lawyer’s warning that the city is vulnerable to litigation.
Basically, the chickens have come home to roost in a city government that has been rubber stamping development for decades.
But perhaps we are witnessing the dawn of a new day in the county’s second largest city. Last Tuesday something remarkable happened.
They held an election and the voters spoke!
Mayor Gib Coerper, who has been an Alachua elected official for more than 20 years, was turned out of office in favor of Walter Welch, a local pastor.
And Vice Mayor Ed Potts was replaced by 29-year old data engineer Jacob Fletcher. Fletcher, not coincidentally, is also president of the Florida Speleological Society. He got into the race because of sprawl development proposals that threatened to endanger Mill Creek Sink, and thus the aquifer it feeds into.
It’s difficult to imagine that the majority of voters – who elected for change – were not aware of, and disgusted by, the City’s, um…let’s call ‘em growth pains.
Alachua voters have spoken: They do not like what’s been going on in their city. Here’s hoping city commissioners who were not up for election last week were paying attention.
FreeGNV 