Home/Coronavirus/Nearly Halfway Through Spring Semester, Some UF Faculty Remain Concerned With UF’s COVID-19 Testing Policy
UF students drop off saliva samples on the ground floor of the Broward/Newell garage, one of UF’s COVID-19 testing sites. (Victoria Someillan/WUFT News)
Nearly Halfway Through Spring Semester, Some UF Faculty Remain Concerned With UF’s COVID-19 Testing Policy
By Victoria Someillan
February 23, 2021
University of Florida faculty members continue to raise concerns over UF’s COVID-19 testing protocols.
The concern consists of questions like: Why are students cleared for campus before receiving their COVID-19 test results? Why are some students cleared for campus even after being exposed to someone who has since tested positive for COVID-19?
Home/Getting around/Traffic Changes Planned To Make University Avenue Safer For Pedestrians
Traffic Changes Planned To Make University Avenue Safer For Pedestrians
By Lyric Lighty
February 23, 2021
Major changes are coming to the most dangerous roads for bikers and pedestrians in Alachua County.
After multiple pedestrian deaths in recent weeks along West University Avenue, the regional transportation planning group at a Monday meeting proposed installing additional traffic signals, well-lit crosswalks and temporary speed tables to slow down cars.
“It is the highest priority… that we make this an area that is safest for everybody,” said Gainesville City Commissioner David Arreola, who chairs the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization. “I understand that it is one of the busiest traffic lanes in the whole of Alachua County, but this has been a problem for too many years.”
A state transportation agency elated Gainesville city commissioners Monday night by agreeing to turn over to city control a stretch of West University Avenue where a University of Florida student recently died to the city.
The city has asked for that transfer so it could redesign the road and add safety features as soon as possible.
“We’ve met with the city of Gainesville on jurisdictional transfer of state roads to the city, and we are waiting to hear back from them on the roads they would like, and the limits that they would like as well,” said Jim Hannigan, a district traffic operations engineer for FDOT. “Once that happens, we’ll fine tune the specifics and then move forward with the transfer accordingly.”
Gainesville City Commission responds to traffic safety concerns
Officials are discussing increased pedestrian lighting and road redesigns Photo by Ashley Hicks | The Independent Florida Alligator
Gainesville City Commissioners will meet with Florida traffic officials in a mounting effort to make roads safer after two student deaths less than two months apart on University Avenue.
The City Commission has broken down its efforts into a series of short- and long-term policies. Commissioners believe there are a number of immediate changes that can be made to stretches of the state highway inside the city, such as lowering the speed limit, equipping sidewalks with better lighting and increasing traffic enforcement.
Gainesville City Commissioners Opt Against Allowing Women To Be Topless In Public
By Sarah Mandile
February 12, 2021
A proposal that would have made Gainesville one of the first cities in Florida to allow women to be topless in public was voted down Thursday afternoon.
The Gainesville City Commission in its General Policy Committee meeting voted against exploring the legal ramifications of removing gender from public nudity laws.
In the 3-3 vote, Mayor Lauren Poe and commissioners Reina Saco and Adrian Hayes-Santos voted in favor, while commissioners Harvey Ward, Gail Johnson and Gigi Simmons voted against the proposal. Commissioner David Arreola was absent from the meeting.