by TRC_Admin | Jan 25, 2022 | Undergrounding
Photo: As seen in Resident Community News Group, Inc.
“JEA, AT&T and Comcast announced on Nov. 30 their completion of work to convert the existing overhead utility lines to underground in the Ortega Point North Overhead to Underground Utility Conversion Project…
The conversion project is a community-driven ‘grass roots’ project requested and organized by Ortega Point North neighborhood residents. A total of 75 percent of the property owners within the project area, which includes 122 parcels in Ortega Point and some blocks south of the Point, signed a petition in favor of paying a special assessment of more than $20,000 each to convert overhead electric, telephone and cable television lines to underground utilities. The majority of the work took place along McGirts Boulevard, Ortega Boulevard, Grand Avenue, Bettes Circle and Ionic Avenue.
The petition/ordinance for assessing 100 percent of the property owners in the neighborhood for the project’s costs was presented and approved by the Jacksonville City Council on June 25, 2019. The special assessment and financing costs for those property owners who financed their individual service lateral conversions will appear on property owners’ next property tax bill following City Council approval…
JEA began undergrounding new residential power lines nearly five decades ago, when city-county government consolidation mandated it for new development. Jacksonville has around 3,000 miles of overhead power lines. In 2017 Scenic Jacksonville proposed a plan to underground about 3 percent of the lines each year for the next 30 years, but currently the decision to convert – and to pay for it – is up to the desire of neighborhoods.
JEA’s overhead to underground conversion program focuses on undergrounding overhead electric, telephone, cable television, communication or other overhead distribution line facilities located within the public rights of way in a defined neighborhood boundary. The program also provides a means for neighborhoods to finance the conversion of overhead utility lines to underground systems through a special assessment process, enacted by City Council in 2007. Additionally, property owners have the option of financing the additional cost of connecting the undergrounded utilities from the right of way to their property’s structure.”
— Editor, Resident Community News Group, Inc.
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by TRC_Admin | Jan 25, 2022 | Trees
Photo: Florida Senate
“Background
In 2019, the Florida Legislature passed a law that banned local governments from enforcing many of their tree ordinances. This left cities and counties powerless to protect healthy trees from people with less than good intentions. The law led to abuses, including the clear-cutting of land and the removal of healthy trees that presented little, if any, risk to people or buildings. This is a Home Rule issue affecting the environment, the aesthetics of our neighborhoods and our beautiful trees.
The Solution
FL Senate Bill CS/SB 518 puts tree removal and trimming back into the hands of local government; not distant Tallahassee lawmakers. See links to analysis below. Next, it must pass in the Senate Government Oversight & Accountability Committee. Lucky for us, a local legislator, Senator Jeff Brandes chairs this committee.
How You Can Help
Please call his local office at (727) 563-2100 and/or send a quick email to say: I want my city to be able to regulate tree removal. Please agenda the bill in Governmental Oversight & Accountability. Here’s his email address: brandes.jeff.web@flsenate.gov Thank you for your advocacy!
Analysis
https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/518/Analyses/2022s00518.ca.PDF
Tracking
https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/518“
— Clearwater Neighborhoods Coalition
Visit Clearwater Neighborhoods Coalition
by TRC_Admin | Jan 25, 2022 | Highway Beautification
Photo: 1000 Friends of Florida
“This primer provides a brief overview of major components of Florida’s transportation policy, planning and implementation process. Policy planning typically involves developing high level plans to address needs for and appropriate means of transportation within a given geographic area. Project plans entail evaluation, planning, design and implementation for a specific corridor, roadway, bike trail or other means of transportation. Many transportation processes and projects rely on an amalgam of federal, state and local public funding so multiple review processes may apply and include opportunities for public input. As is always the case, the earlier citizens engage in the process the greater the chance of making a difference in the outcome.”
— 1000 Friends of Florida
by TRC_Admin | Jan 25, 2022 | City Signs, Mobile Advertising, Uncategorized, Vending
Photo: Rentbrella in Forbes
“If you’ve ever left the house, you can relate: It starts to rain and you don’t have an umbrella.
You can find something to shield yourself (the ol’ coat over the head). Or grab the umbrella you brought with you. Whoops, you forgot it? Maybe you can find one at a local store, before you’re soaked to the bone.
Or if you’re in Manhattan, New York City, you can grab one from a Rentbrella share station. Use the umbrella to free for 24 hours or keep it for an extra $2 per day. After three days, you’ll be charged $16 and can keep it forever.
Besides Manhattan, where there are more than 35 Rentbrella sharing stations in high-traffic areas, Rentbrella also has 400-plus sharing stations with 40,000 umbrellas across São Paulo, Brazil, where it got its start in 2018. And the mobility and technology company has plans for many more locations.
‘We have an ambitious expansion plan with the goal of expanding to dozens of cities across the U.S. and Europe over the next few years,’ says Freddy Marcos, who cofounded Rentbrella with Nathan Janovich.
‘In the United States, we see cities like Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, Philadelphia, Washington, Houston, Boston, among others,’ Marcos says. ‘In Europe, we’re starting in London in the first half of 2022 and then moving to other rainy and highly populated cities….’
So how does Rentbrella make money if its umbrellas are potentially free?
‘Our revenue model is based on brand advertising and sponsorship on our umbrellas,’ Marcos says. “In Brazil, our umbrellas are sponsored by the country’s biggest insurance company, Unimed…’
The idea for Rentbrella was born as cofounder Janovich was getting off the subway, Marcos says.
‘There were hundreds of people huddled at the door because it was raining, and as he saw a shared bike passing by, he thought: ‘If no one needs a bike of their own to get around, why need an umbrella?’
‘At that moment, he called me, and I suggested using the umbrellas as a new advertising vehicle that brings mobility and protection for users and a high impact media experience for brands.'”
— Jeff Kart, Forbes
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by TRC_Admin | Dec 29, 2021 | Billboards, Controversial, Legal, Sky, Technology
Photo: Scott Kelly/NASA via AP
“Plans to advertise from space have been around for decades, but the latest proposals have met fierce criticism.
In August, the Canadian company Geometric Energy Corporation (GEC) announced that it wanted to launch a small satellite with a billboard on it on a SpaceX rocket. The story immediately went viral, and SpaceX and GEC received a barrage of criticism.
In 2019, Russian entrepreneur Vlad Sitnikov got caught up in a similar controversy. ‘I’m an ad guy’, Sitnikov told Al Jazeera. ‘So I thought it would be cool to see a new type of media in the sky…’
‘A big wave of hate crushed me. I decided to halt the project, because people around the world started hating me.’ His start-up, StartRocket, has been in limbo ever since.
A key objection to space advertising proposals is that they will contribute to light pollution from space, a problem that is growing even without ads in orbit.
Advertising in outer space might seem like a vulgar idea, but it’s one with a long history. It’s also getting more popular because the cost of going to space is falling. But the side effects, such as light pollution and space debris, might not be worth it…
Not in my low earth orbit
With space becoming more accessible, and less costly to access, proposals for using space for advertising or entertainment purposes have been increasing. Besides the GEC and StartRocket projects, Japanese start-up ALE wants to use satellites that drop small balls to create artificial shooting stars on demand – a proposition that raised close to $50m in venture funding.
One key objection to these proposals [space advertising schemes] is that they will contribute to light pollution from space, a problem that is growing even without ads in orbit.
‘Until recently most of our work had been on ground-based light pollution’, said Jeffrey Hall, director of the Lowell Observatory, and chair of the American Astronomical Society’s Committee on Light Pollution, Radio Interference, and Space Debris. ‘The issue of light pollution from space is new territory for us, and it only started in 2019 with the launch of the SpaceX Starlink satellites,’ he told Al Jazeera.
Large, so-called ‘constellations’ of small, low-flying satellites have boomed in recent years. For example, SpaceX Starlink wants to launch tens of thousands of satellites to offer internet connections all over the world.
For astronomers, however, to observe space they need relatively dark skies. Yet bright outdoor lights on land, or satellites that emit or reflect light, like the Starlink constellation, can ruin what they do. And Hall fears space billboards might make the problem worse.
‘Satellites leave very bright streaks in images’, he said. ‘The streaks can saturate pixels in the image, and completely ruin it…’
‘Things are moving so fast it makes sense to slow down until we understand the impacts of what we’re doing’, said Hall. Space law
It is possible that space law will prevent satellite billboards. Space is subject to the 1966 Outer Space Treaty, which sees space as a global commons.
‘There is nothing specific in the treaty about space advertising’, said professor emerita Joanne Gabrynowicz, director of the International Institute of Space Law. ‘But article 9 does require signatories to exercise ‘due regard’ of other signatories’ interests and to avoid ‘harmful interference’ to other nations’ space activities,’ she told Al Jazeera.
Satellite billboards that impede astronomers from observing space could be subject to this. On top of that, the US passed a national law during the 1990s that prohibits space advertising that might be deemed ‘obtrusive…’
Of course, SpaceX’s Starlink satellite constellation was reviewed and approved by US authorities, even though it impacts astronomy. International law also depends on how treaties are applied at the national level. The Russian state would, for example, need to decide whether it sees a Russian space advertising startup as being in line with the Outer Space Treaty. Yet there is a legal argument for blocking space advertising if it would cause too much light pollution…”
— By Tom Cassauwers, Alazeera
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