GUEST COMMENTARY

DAN LAMSON

Editor’s note: Dan Lamson is the Executive Director of the Indian River Neighborhood Association.

The 2014 election is now history – and the future looks promising for our community.

The Indian River Neighborhood Association took an active role in the election and was gratified by the support our candidates and our issues received not only from the City of Vero Beach, but also from Indian River County and the state. We think IRNA made a positive contribution.

IRNA is a local, non-partisan group that believes in supporting the most qualified candidates regardless of party affiliation who will best serve the interests of our community and in advocating on behalf of issues that will enhance the health, welfare, safety, and prosperity of our people while preserving our unique quality of life.

In Vero in the last election, two of the three outstanding candidates we supported, Jay Kramer and Randy Old, were elected with the two most votes. The Charter Amendment to protect our parks and historic cemetery was approved by a large majority. On the state level, Amendment 1, the Water and Land Legacy Amendment to the State Constitution, passed overwhelmingly. We enthusiastically supported them all.

Talking to voters, we found there were many important issues that they cared about in the recent election, including saving the lagoon, lowering our utility rates and stopping or at least severely mitigating the proposal for a fast train that would run from Miami to Orlando.

There are a lot of issues on the table, but we can’t expect the challenges to diminish in the years ahead as our population grows, problems multiply and our infrastructure ages. By 2040, the projected population for Indian River County is expected to reach about 200,000, up by 60,000 from the present.

Now more than ever that means we must put aside our differences and come together to address the problems we all face. If we don’t, the problems will just intensify and we’ll all suffer.

One of the largest pending threats to our community is the fast-train proposal by All Aboard Florida. This fast train would dash through Vero Beach 32 times a day at speeds up to 110 miles-per-hour without stopping at the city, making it all burden, no benefit to our community and disrupting our lives. The IRNA has taken a forceful stand against the fast train. We have formed the Train Impact Coalition to bring together many different stakeholders with local knowledge to expose the harmful consequences of the fast train ignored by the railroad’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement. And we are in this battle for the long haul.

Another major issue related to our quality of life is the deterioration of our lagoon. The IRNA worked with the City Council to win approval of the replacement of septic tanks with a STEP hybrid system, which has worked well in other places in controlling leaching. We also pushed hard for the city to mirror the county’s tough fertilizer ordinance to help prevent this source of pollution from reaching the lagoon. We will continue to work with the city to prevent storm-water runoff from entering the lagoon without adequate filtering. The Indian River Lagoon is such an integral and distinguishing asset of our community that IRNA will continue to work all-out to save this indispensable part of our heritage.

This short report provides a taste of what the IRNA is all about. If you share our interests and concerns, we urge you to join our group to learn about the major issues of the day and participate in having your views heard – but at the very least get involved in one way or another in your community and make a difference.

Dan Lamson is the executive director of the Indian River Neighborhood Association. You can learn more about the IRNA by visiting us online at www.indianriverna.com.