To the Manatee County Board of Commissioners:
Dear Chairman Chappie,
I am very disappointed that you are pushing for the construction of the Fort Hamer Bridge , which is not needed , while at the same time ignoring the lack of construction progress on the nine urban collector roads identified by Public Works in August of 2010 as needing safety upgrades. I have seen no activity in eliminating the safety hazards existing on these roads in the past seventeen months. Public Works had identified these roads as priorities for improvements in their meeting with the Board on 8/31/2010.
It is wrong for Manatee County to be sitting on approximately $100 million of unexpended Impact Fees collected for roads and gas taxes while these safety hazards go uncorrected. Also, many of our unemployed construction workers could be working if these projects were activated. I will appreciate it if you will provide me a schedule of the construction start dates for each of the nine urban collector roads improvement projects .
Thank you for your assistance,
Jay A. King
Manatee County