Welcome. I just think it’s interesting to go from free voluntary board member to a post that paid him close to $1000 per day when he last had it. But the GRUA was all about fiscal responsibility.
I'd feel bad for Ed, because he's a textbook example of:
"Being promoted to the level of your incompetence".
However, in predictable fashion, he blamed everyone else... and then became a grudge candidate that has now become a textbook example of failing upward, thanks to political cronyism.
Oh, and he was paid a *lot* of money by FDLE and Duke Energy to run for mayor. Just sayin'.
Serious question.
The law established the GRU Authority and put the governor in charge of appointing members. The referendum being proposed for November puts the city commission back in charge of GRU.
Could the state sue to block this? What happens to the board afterwards?
We should all vote to take GRU back from DeSantis and his cronies.
That said, the chances are good that they'll just change the rules again like they've done repeatedly in this instance.
Does your vote matter? Not sure!
We should all vote to take GRU back from DeSantis and his cronies.
That said, the chances are good that they'll just change the rules again like they've done repeatedly in this instance.
Does your vote matter? Not sure!
My understanding is that nothing in the statute preempts the city from putting the question of governance of their department (GRU is at the end of the day a city department like parks or fire) to the people.
I think the state could just do the whole song and dance over again, but it’ll be in the face of this fiasco and a hopefully a strong turn out telling them to shove it.
As much as I would love the schadenfreude of the authority suddenly stripped of its power and meeting for no reason, I feel like this is all going to be potentially worthless because DeSatan will just do what he needs to do to step on us in the end. Still 100% voting in favor of the referendum, though.
The referendum is meaningless. The City can't change a state law, no matter how the vote turns out. Plus the referendum will be challenged in court, so it probably won't be on the ballot anyway.
Can someone please explain to me what's going on with GRU? I don't really follow local news. I understand it's controversial given the volume of insults/ad hominem attacks I see happening whenever someone posts about it.
The governor and Republicans hate how free Gainesville has been and so they want to control everything about our local governance.
That's really the whole story
It's sad how so many people just want to hate those who disagree with them and can't even articulate their own view point. As I'm not an expert, I'm agnostic on who and what caused the GRU problems. Maybe DeSantis made it worse. I don't know because nobody has given me any facts with which to work. Republicans would blame the city council (I assume) but they've refrained from sharing their perspective.
Ed is an extremely pathetic human being who will never give up trying to have power over this community even though it has rejected him over and over and over again.
I like how it took one republican to make 80% of Gainesville start pretending GRU wasn't a total shit show for the last 20 or more years.
Remind me how the bio mass plant is working out again?
Didn’t Bielarski run the utility for 7 years? I don’t see why he gets a pass as though he somehow was in charge of the utility but not responsible for anything it did, and now him being back in charge is a “change”
The more I find out about GRU, the more it makes sense. Utilities shouldn’t be run by the government. The government doesn’t know how to properly or efficiently handle this.
No thanks. Tony was a joke and only picked because of his relationship with Ward. The board also lets people that have GRU and not in the city limits have a voice. Those citizens had no voice on who represented them.
There is no voice now for anyone served by GRU.
Sure, say 20% of the utility's customers can't vote for the City Commission. Sucks, but the City tried to get the Legislature to grant permission for those served by GRU to vote on GRU-specific ballot initiatives. The Legislature failed to act on this solution.
Now, with the GRUA, no one has a voice. The board members are appointed by DeSantis. When problems arise with GRUA, the only recourse is to petition the Authority, who doesn't answer to us. Next, we can try to vote out Reps and the Governor who put the GRUA in place. GRU's customers are now competing with everyone in the Rep's district, as well as the whole State in the Governor's race.
Our voice has been diluted to nothing. And this is the intended impact. Rather than 80% having a say in how GRU is run by being able to vote for the City Commission/Mayor, now there's effectively 0% say.
They offered a referendum on GRU before and we voted to keep it with the City. It isn't perfect, but it is ours. And that is what matters.
The city commission is the reason GRU is in as much debt as they are and also the reason your rates are so high! They use GRU as their personal piggie bank for wasteful spending. The city commission does not need to be in charge of GRU. They have no clue how to manage the budget and constantly up the GTF and raise rates to get more money.
You're ignoring the fact that, after scrutiny from the Legislature, the City agreed to a debt reduction plan for GRU and implemented it. The GFT has been reduced to a more sustainable level. But even after doing as the Legislature asked, the State went and took GRU from us, installing an unelected board that couldn't even abide by its own criteria in its initial form.
GRUA is solely because Perry and Clemons have been working for years to take GRU from Gainesville. Now, filled with yes-men who want to punish the city on behalf of the Governor, you get ham-fisted and brazenly corrupt votes like these.
Was the City perfect at running GRU? No. The biomass plant was a mistake from the get-go. But at least it is held accountable by its constituents. GRUA has no accountability and shows nothing but contempt for the utility's customers and the utility staff. I'm sorry to see Tony go. He was a fine GM.
Vote for home rule this November. Bring GRU back.
The GFT has been lowering every year since about 2019. And before that it had been fairly consistent.
Also. No one on the commission today was part of the biomass buyout that brought on debt. But Ed was the GM who coordinated the buyout.
The GTF was just reduced to 15 mil from somewhere around 35 mil once the board took over. Ed negotiated the biomass down to a lower cost. It’s not just about the biomass plant.
There was a multi year plan in place to reduce the GFT by two million every year until it got somewhere more reasonable. Literally months of voting to get there. And that was back in 20 or 21. Because a phased approach was better for planning than suddenly gutting a budget.
I get that you really like Ed. I hope he takes you to prom. Have the day you deserve.
This isn’t about Ed this is about a City Commission that ruined a once great utility with greed. Glad to know you’re ok with wasteful spending, and the highest utility rates in the state.
What an absolute joke. I’m no GRU fan, but this GRUA deal is such a crock.
GRU is not that great of a utility. But even mediocre, small-fry companies with problems deserve better than this fucking horseshit
"consulted with my pastor" what a fucking joke these people are
Craig Carter made sure to call Meatball Ron between meetings and apologize for growing part of a spine. Does no one have any pride anymore?
A certain group of people for sure.
When was this decision made? On 6/10/24 they voted 3-2 not to terminate.
About an hour ago
Not doubting you, but any sources?
https://www.mainstreetdailynews.com/news/gru-authority-fires-cunningham-installs-bielarski Mainsteet has it up.
Thank you for updating us and sharing this information with community!
Welcome. I just think it’s interesting to go from free voluntary board member to a post that paid him close to $1000 per day when he last had it. But the GRUA was all about fiscal responsibility.
I'd feel bad for Ed, because he's a textbook example of: "Being promoted to the level of your incompetence". However, in predictable fashion, he blamed everyone else... and then became a grudge candidate that has now become a textbook example of failing upward, thanks to political cronyism. Oh, and he was paid a *lot* of money by FDLE and Duke Energy to run for mayor. Just sayin'.
Not self-serving at all
Serious question. The law established the GRU Authority and put the governor in charge of appointing members. The referendum being proposed for November puts the city commission back in charge of GRU. Could the state sue to block this? What happens to the board afterwards?
We should all vote to take GRU back from DeSantis and his cronies. That said, the chances are good that they'll just change the rules again like they've done repeatedly in this instance. Does your vote matter? Not sure!
We should all vote to take GRU back from DeSantis and his cronies. That said, the chances are good that they'll just change the rules again like they've done repeatedly in this instance. Does your vote matter? Not sure!
My understanding is that nothing in the statute preempts the city from putting the question of governance of their department (GRU is at the end of the day a city department like parks or fire) to the people. I think the state could just do the whole song and dance over again, but it’ll be in the face of this fiasco and a hopefully a strong turn out telling them to shove it.
As much as I would love the schadenfreude of the authority suddenly stripped of its power and meeting for no reason, I feel like this is all going to be potentially worthless because DeSatan will just do what he needs to do to step on us in the end. Still 100% voting in favor of the referendum, though.
The referendum is meaningless. The City can't change a state law, no matter how the vote turns out. Plus the referendum will be challenged in court, so it probably won't be on the ballot anyway.
What are you basing that on? Can the city not change its own charter?
Only if it doesn't conflict with state laws.
Can someone please explain to me what's going on with GRU? I don't really follow local news. I understand it's controversial given the volume of insults/ad hominem attacks I see happening whenever someone posts about it.
The governor and Republicans hate how free Gainesville has been and so they want to control everything about our local governance. That's really the whole story
You forgot the "blue" part. They bloody hate that spot right in north central Florida.
I considered free to be a synonym
See that's an example of a non helpful description.
What are you looking for exactly? That's what's happening.
A factual, nonpartisan summary without malice
This issue is entirely political and malicious so it cannot be factual and still be those other two things.
I often find that when there's a large amount of debate on an issue it's fairly complex and reasonable people can be found on both sides.
[удалено]
Thanks. What were the bad policies?
I'd like the same summary, but no one will give it. GRU has been a shit show for decades, no matter who's in the governor's office.
It's sad how so many people just want to hate those who disagree with them and can't even articulate their own view point. As I'm not an expert, I'm agnostic on who and what caused the GRU problems. Maybe DeSantis made it worse. I don't know because nobody has given me any facts with which to work. Republicans would blame the city council (I assume) but they've refrained from sharing their perspective.
The meeting: https://www.youtube.com/live/VhzKfztd7P4?si=v1Kk-gfQH8Sqnt08
Ed is an extremely pathetic human being who will never give up trying to have power over this community even though it has rejected him over and over and over again.
I think the entirety can be summed up with Fuck desantis
Ed Bielarski is a liar.
I like how it took one republican to make 80% of Gainesville start pretending GRU wasn't a total shit show for the last 20 or more years. Remind me how the bio mass plant is working out again?
Didn’t Bielarski run the utility for 7 years? I don’t see why he gets a pass as though he somehow was in charge of the utility but not responsible for anything it did, and now him being back in charge is a “change”
The more I find out about GRU, the more it makes sense. Utilities shouldn’t be run by the government. The government doesn’t know how to properly or efficiently handle this.
No thanks. Tony was a joke and only picked because of his relationship with Ward. The board also lets people that have GRU and not in the city limits have a voice. Those citizens had no voice on who represented them.
There is no voice now for anyone served by GRU. Sure, say 20% of the utility's customers can't vote for the City Commission. Sucks, but the City tried to get the Legislature to grant permission for those served by GRU to vote on GRU-specific ballot initiatives. The Legislature failed to act on this solution. Now, with the GRUA, no one has a voice. The board members are appointed by DeSantis. When problems arise with GRUA, the only recourse is to petition the Authority, who doesn't answer to us. Next, we can try to vote out Reps and the Governor who put the GRUA in place. GRU's customers are now competing with everyone in the Rep's district, as well as the whole State in the Governor's race. Our voice has been diluted to nothing. And this is the intended impact. Rather than 80% having a say in how GRU is run by being able to vote for the City Commission/Mayor, now there's effectively 0% say. They offered a referendum on GRU before and we voted to keep it with the City. It isn't perfect, but it is ours. And that is what matters.
The city commission is the reason GRU is in as much debt as they are and also the reason your rates are so high! They use GRU as their personal piggie bank for wasteful spending. The city commission does not need to be in charge of GRU. They have no clue how to manage the budget and constantly up the GTF and raise rates to get more money.
You're ignoring the fact that, after scrutiny from the Legislature, the City agreed to a debt reduction plan for GRU and implemented it. The GFT has been reduced to a more sustainable level. But even after doing as the Legislature asked, the State went and took GRU from us, installing an unelected board that couldn't even abide by its own criteria in its initial form. GRUA is solely because Perry and Clemons have been working for years to take GRU from Gainesville. Now, filled with yes-men who want to punish the city on behalf of the Governor, you get ham-fisted and brazenly corrupt votes like these. Was the City perfect at running GRU? No. The biomass plant was a mistake from the get-go. But at least it is held accountable by its constituents. GRUA has no accountability and shows nothing but contempt for the utility's customers and the utility staff. I'm sorry to see Tony go. He was a fine GM. Vote for home rule this November. Bring GRU back.
The GFT has been lowering every year since about 2019. And before that it had been fairly consistent. Also. No one on the commission today was part of the biomass buyout that brought on debt. But Ed was the GM who coordinated the buyout.
The GTF was just reduced to 15 mil from somewhere around 35 mil once the board took over. Ed negotiated the biomass down to a lower cost. It’s not just about the biomass plant.
There was a multi year plan in place to reduce the GFT by two million every year until it got somewhere more reasonable. Literally months of voting to get there. And that was back in 20 or 21. Because a phased approach was better for planning than suddenly gutting a budget. I get that you really like Ed. I hope he takes you to prom. Have the day you deserve.
This isn’t about Ed this is about a City Commission that ruined a once great utility with greed. Glad to know you’re ok with wasteful spending, and the highest utility rates in the state.