Hello members and followers of Dunedin Goes Carting.
Over the last six months our group has gone through a number of changes, including a push to transition to a type of forum that includes all carting residents, not just those that use Facebook.
In the background there’s been development of a web site that combines the convenience of Facebook notifications, with an informational outlet for those carting residents that choose not to use Facebook. After some trials and modifications both are available, and they are linked here on this FB page and at www.DunedinGoesCarting.com
There is another facet of our group being developed, one which we will put on the back burner for the near term… (GolfCartSafety.Org) … so that we can focus on the latest new opportunities that have come to fruition.
For almost a year now, City management has promised to provide a reliable and consistent connection to our group, supporting resident collaboration on carting-related improvements and open communication. The City has been conquering challenges, one by one, to get to this point and that day is now here.
Greg Rice, our city director of Planning & Development, and Frances Sharp, our city’s new Transportation Planner, have reached out to me to begin an ongoing dialog with the Dunedin Goes Carting community group. I would like to ask for four(4) volunteers willing to join me in being the liaisons between our group and the city; co-chairs if you like, of Dunedin Goes Carting.
From here, these co-chairs and I will represent our group to the best of our ability with the interests of the carting residents in the foreground. I believe these volunteers should be from different logistical areas of our community. You would be agreeing to work together with other nearby residents, and these co-chairs, to present the needs and concerns specific to the areas you represent – and to carry the ideas and constructive feedback of both carting residents AND those neighbors who don’t utilize a cart or NEV, but are affected.
Ideally, I’d like to ask for a volunteer from each of these generalized residential areas:
- Fairway Estates area (near the golf course)
- South, downtown core area
- The isolated “Radio Neighborhood” (just north and west of Eagle Scout Park)
- The Amberlea area (South of Solon, but currently not able to cross CR-1)
- …and I would like to represent the Dunedin Pines area (roughly the area from 580 north to Michigan)
Street-legal cart utilization has proven to be a positive and visibly defining characteristic of Dunedin. Carts and NEVs bring more residents, and money, to local businesses and consume fewer parking resources than other motorized vehicles. Nearly 1% of Dunedin residents now own, have registered, and use these vehicles. And that number is growing fast. Other cities in Pinellas have taken notice since our Golf Cart ordinance passed in mid-2011; many have also developed rules and allowances for limited street-legal golf cart use. Street-legal LSVs and NEVs are not going away, rather quite the opposite. Now is your opportunity to help shape how this future will develop, not only for safety but also for compatibility.