We had a very exciting town hall meeting with District Two County Commissioner Ron Kitchen yesterday.
Exciting because there were so many attendees and our new commissioner seemed eager to talk about Homosassa’s unique issues.
I’m guessing we had over 60 people for this meeting. And most of them were from the Homosassa River area. Much better than the “meet and greet” we went to with J.J. Kenney last July. I think there were 8 concerned citizens for that one. The sidewalk meeting the same month drew about 30 people.
Commissioner Kitchen opened this meeting by saying he could not talk about the Halls River Project–a 110 room hotel being planned right across the street from the site of the former Marguerita Grille. This was a disappointment to the audience since many came just for that purpose. The commissioner could not discuss it because of the public hearing that is coming up on April 14th. He did invite us all to come to the hearing and I think just about everybody in that room will be there.
The commissioner was assisted by Toby Phillips, County Information Officer. She listed all of our questions and issues on the wall–26 bullet points with the really important items starred. Randy Oliver, the county administrator, was also present.
Since the majority of the people attending the meeting were from the Homosassa River area, that’s what most of the questions were about. From traffic on Halls River Road, to what was going on with our sidewalks and trees, and how do we get the county to focus on Old Homosassa?
The area is not incorporated, we have no merchant organization, our main community groups are the Civic Club, the River Alliance, and The Old Homosassa Heritage Council and we have no common voice between these three groups. Commissioner Kitchen stated several times that the more meetings we attend and the more noise we make, the more we will get in return.
So let’s make some noise!
On a side note, don’t forget the Shrimpaplooza on Saturday. I said earilier this week that the parade starts at 10:30 which is what I pulled off of the Rotary’s website. Today’s paper lists the time at 10 am. The Old Homosassa Heritage Council (OHHC) will have a booth on Mason Creek. Stop by and say hi, buy a t-shirt, or/and make a donation to help us with our current project–buying, restoring, and maintaining the Water Tower.
DeeDee Wilcox, co-chair of the OHHC, will be at the Visitor Center of the Homosassa Wildlife Park for Homosassa Heritage Days on Saturday. Besides handouts and information, DeeDee will have an original painting by Gil Watson of the Water Tower on display.
Have a great weekend!
Kathy