OPINION: The PCB Mafia Has Its Bipolar Moment

One of the biggest challenges facing Panama City Beach (PCB) is what to do with the ill-conceived red trolley lanes on Front Beach Road. For years now, every councilman has agreed we need to make the lanes useful for the residents given the trolley is dead on arrival. 

At the August 22nd meeting a plan was put forward to turn the red lane into a Low-Speed Vehicle (LSV) and bike lane. Doing Segment 4.3 (of the Front Beach Road Community Redevelopment Area) first because it can be done without impacting the schedule and cost. 

And to no one’s surprise every member was in favor. Councilman Register stating, 
“I am all about changing the lanes for LSVs, people love them.”
“I am all about changing it, I love the presentation.”

So, imagine the community’s surprise when at the next meeting Councilman Register went full on bi-polar, throwing a fit, accusing the Mayor in so many words of trying to delay the project and demanding we waste the money upfront and then redo it all at once. 

Sadly, the symptoms got worse later in the meeting. Segment 4.3 includes the stretch parallel to Oleander Drive. So, the Mayor, after speaking with the residents in the area, asked the city manager to have the contractor look at putting some LSV parking at the five beach accesses. 

The contractor came back with a plan saying they could get well over a hundred spots along that stretch. However, it would require drainage mitigation. The Mayor immediately spoke up and said that was good to know but he was thinking somewhere between six to ten spots per access. 

Then Councilman Register stated he thought six would be plenty and the Mayor agreed to have the contractor look at putting eight spots per access and get the contractor to provide an estimate. Well, just like with the lane changes, what a difference a meeting makes. 

Councilman Register more or less stated the residents should not expect to have parking at the beach access if someone complains about it. So much for representing all the citizens. Then again only a fool fell for that line when he voted to put the former mayor back on the Airport Board. 

The sad part is both groups are going to lose if Register has his way. The plan was to move the wall six feet to the north for the LSV parking, giving residents on Oleander more room to maneuver when pulling in and out of their driveways, given the LSV parking would not be used eighty percent of the time. 

Unfortunately, a few people are concerned that the Mayor is trying to secure parking for the residents of Bid-a-Wee, when nothing could be further from the truth.  The residents of Bid-a-Wee are not going to drive a quarter of a mile east and then walk back to their stretch of beach. This is nonsensical.

Segment 4.2, which includes Bid-a-Wee, is close to being bid out, and the council has expressed no appetite for making changes that might delay the project. I am trying to get a crosswalk added where the tourists actually are, by the Cottages, but it looks like it will take an act of Congress just to get seven white lines painted on Front Beach Road. Sadly, it may take a handful of people getting hit by a car for action to be taken. I am willing to bet this will happen in the first season after Segment 4.2 is complete.

So, the vast majority of residents lose out to placate a small minority, and this trend continues, making our beach access inaccessible to most residents.

www.RexLeeReid.com

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