Group urges pressure on consultants, commission

It was like a family reunion with the Hatfields and the McCoys - without the Hatfields.

About 75 people, all but a few opposed to the Suncoast Parkway 2 project in Citrus County, attended a parkway forum Tuesday night sponsored by the Sierra Club Nature Coast Group.

The forum was at the National Guard Armory in Crystal River, the site of several public meetings through the years where crowds of people hotly debated the parkway project.

Tuesday nights' crowd was smaller than Sierra organizers thought it would be.

"We didn't know what to expect," said Theresa Waldron, a member of the Sierra club who led the program.

Several speakers rose to denounce the parkway, which is being studied by the state. Speakers included some members of the Suncoast Parkway Advisory Group who are strongly opposed to the parkway.

They urged opponents to ask tough questions of county commissioners and project consultants, and then demand answers.

Homosassa resident Hahn Vu has sent numerous emails to project manager Carl Gibilaro about a variety of parkway issues. She said opponents should question, among other things, whether the parkway will relieve traffic off U.S. 19, provide walls to protect residents from noise, and not harm the water supply.

"If these questions are answered, I think we'll be getting somewhere," said Vu, who is webmaster for an anti-parkway Web site, www.truthaboutsuncoast2.com.

Vu, like many parkway opponents, claims the toll road will bring more traffic to the county and that congested roads such as U.S. 19 will not see significant relief.

"What is going to happen is, U.S. 19 is going to be worse," she said.

Jim Bitter, who represents the Save the Homosassa River Alliance on the parkway advisory board, provided a light moment when mentioning a recent column by Brett Wattles, executive director of the Citrus County Economic Development Council.

Wattles wrote that on a trip to St. Petersburg, he drove U.S. 19 south and the parkway on the return trip. The parkway he said, took half as much time.

Bitter said he checked with mapquest.com to discover U.S. 19 from U.S. 98 to St. Petersburg was 76 miles and would take one hour, 38 minutes. The same drive on the parkway, he said, was 84.2 miles covering one hour, 36 minutes.

"Two minutes, big deal," he said.

He said to cut his drive time in half, Wattles would have had to been driving at 103 mph. "Either Mr. Wattles is misspeaking, or we better get him off the road," Bitter said the laughter.

Wattles said Wednesday his wife drove both ways and she didn't speed.

He also said no comparison exists between the parkway and U.S. 19.

"There is no way you can drive the U.S. 19 route and match up with driving the parkway," Wattles said. "I will challenge anybody to see if it's close to equal on those two routes. I don't think it can be done."