- The Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency is using bond financing to fund several projects in the area.
- While neighbors say the work is needed, they're keeping a close eye on how the money is being spent.
- Watch the video above to hear from those who voted for and against the latest round of funding.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Borrowing money to build new roads in Northeast Tallahassee and beyond. I’m Kendall Brandt your Neighborhood Reporter.
I'm at the site of the Northeast Gateway project. According to the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency, $136 million in bond financing will help pay for this and other projects in our community. I'm breaking down what "bond financing" means and why some have concerns about it.
David West keeps a close eye on projects across our area, like the one set to happen on Bannerman Road. "Bannerman Road is not adequate to carry the volume of traffic that currently uses it and it certainly won't be to handle the volume of traffic that will be coming to the area."
He says he's happy to see Blueprint working to add extra lanes to Bannerman, one of two roadway projects in the area.
However, he says, "there is a big problem with Welaunee."
His issue: the lack of development in the area around the Northeast Gateway project.
"Taxpayer money is going into building a road through thousands of acres owned by one family. They should be paying for their own development, not tax payers."
Blueprint recently approved $136 million in bond financing. Some of that money goes toward these two projects.
Leon County Commissioner David O'Keefe told me he voted no on that funding source. "The projects it prioritizes now mainly focus on future development and do not prioritize an immediate community need that lines up with our community values."
I asked him what bond financing is.
O'Keefe told me, "the government borrowing money to complete some project or build something now that we will pay back principal and interest in the future."
It's money borrowed from investors that Commissioner Brian Welch says is important for infrastructure in our area. "The need is tremendous to try and accommodate some of our traffic and our growth that we have had in Northeast Tallahassee." He voted yes for the bond financing for the two projects.
He says this has been in the works for decades and is proactive to create infrastructure for future development. "Welanuee Boulevard is an opportunity for us to get ahead of that, go ahead and build the facility we need for the growth we know we're going to have."
As the work moved forward, West says he hopes Blueprint keeps people in all our neighborhoods in mind. "We should be doing something that benefits everybody."
The Bannerman Road widening is set to be complete in 2026 and the Northeast Gateway will be finished in 2027.
