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Other regional transportation news you may not have heard about:
Broward County Transit (BCT) is partnering with cities throughout the County to host transit forums. These forums will provide an opportunity to receive information from the public on how they can improve the county's transit system.
This move is precisely the sort of thing I inquired about at the Broward County Transit Forum that I attended in October of 2007, also at the Broward Convention Center, because of a number of concerns I had with things I had observed since moving to Broward County from Arlington County, Virgina.
Since I wasn't sure of the format in advance, despite having a copy of the agenda and the speakers, I shared some of my concerns with the Broward County Commissioner who represents me, Suzanne Gunzburger, in advance of the gathering, so she'd know what constituents of hers were really saying and thinking, rather than or in spite of what may be said at that forum.
Frankly, I was afraid that the event would suffer from having TOO MANY government employees there and not nearly enough citizen taxpayers, for it to be either candid or interesting.
One of the most glaring problems in advance of that forum was that the actual news that the forum would take place was not mentioned publicly in the Miami Herald until the Saturday before the event, on the third page of the State/Broward section, and in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel the morning of the event, albeit on the front page.
Holy short notice, Batman!
I zeroed-in on this awareness/marketing problem when I spoke for my table later that afternoon, in presenting our views and vote tallys on a couple of issues that had been raised earlier.
Though I was one of the last persons to speak, when I got the portable microphone, I was the first person to raise this self-evident awareness problem to Commissioners Eggelletion and Wexler up at the dais, the latter of whom referred to me as "the young man in the back" after I spoke.
That was a source of great amusement to some people I knew attending the meeting.
Naturally, as I've mentioned MANY TIMES before in this space, I also spoke about the truly embarrassing conundrum for Broward County, the City of Fort Lauderdale, the Baltimore Orioles and the Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB, especially their director, Nicki Grossman, of there already being a taxpayer-funded Tri-Rail station within a mile-and-a-half of taxpayer-funded Fort Lauderdale Stadium, the Cypress Creek station, but there being NO Mass Transit available to actually take patrons to the stadium for an Orioles spring training game or any other event there, like the Broward County County Fair, via bus, shuttle or trolley.
That's really indicative of 'Minor League' thinking!
I will raise that age-old Broward question again next month, as the Summit will be taking place just four days before the Orioles first home game on Wednesday afternoon against the New York Mets; spring training schedule at http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/spring_training/schedule.jsp?c_id=bal
and http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/orioles-woes-boston-red-sox-to-get-new.html
Doubt me?
Go to this pdf of bus routes around the Cypress Creek Tri-Rail station and try to find the words "Fort Lauderdale Stadium" anywhere.
http://www.tri-rail.com/schedules_fares/bus_shuttle/maps/CC_MAP.pdf
I truly hope the county and the germane govt. agencies involved in the upcoming Summit learned a valuable lesson from the 2007 debacle and do a MUCH better job of creating awareness in the community for this event so that the largest number of citizens can make this Saturday event.
Once it's available, I'll post a list of speakers for the Summit here at Hallandale Beach Blog, but I wouldn't hold my breath for an invisible ghost whose name rhymes with Kopelousos actually showing up.
http://www.broward.org/bct/news.htm
Transit Forums scheduled to date:
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2009
Tamarac Community Center
8601 W. Commercial Boulevard
Tamarac
2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
(Route 55)
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2008
Northwest Regional Library
3151 University Drive
Coral Springs, FL
4 p.m. – 6 p.m.
(Route 2, University Breeze)
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2009
Cultural Community Center
410 SE 3rd Avenue
Hallandale Beach
7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
(Route 1)
For more information on transit forums, contact Phyllis Berry at pberry@broward.org or call
(954) 357-8366. We want to hear from you.
Persons unable to attend the transit forum can submit their comments at www.broward.org/bct, and click on “Voice Your Solutions to Public Transportation.” ---------------------------------------
Cypress Creek Tri-Rail Station, 6151 North Andrews Way, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309
Fort Lauderdale Stadium, 1301 NW 55th Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309 (954) 776-1921
Walking directions to stadium from Tri-Rail station, 1.4 miles or 27 minutes
| 1. | Head north on N Andrews Way/Andrews Ave Ramp toward N Andrews Ave |  | 220 ft |
| 2. | Turn left at N Andrews Ave | | 387 ft |
| 3. | Turn left at NW 62nd St/W Cypress Creek Rd | | 0.6 mi |
| 4. | Turn left at NW 10th Terrace | | 0.3 mi |
| 5. | Continue on NW 12th Ave/Yankee Blvd | | 0.3 mi |
| 6. | Turn right at NW 55th St | | 344 ft |
