VOLUME 5 ISSUE 25
Veteran population stats
JUNE 21 - JUNE 27, 2024
$2
Pg A6
Concern about emergency response times in Ocala becomes personal
Greyhound service temporarily suspended in Ocala
[Photo courtesy Greyhound Bus Lines]
Ocala Police Department vehicle on patrol in Ocala on Sept. 29, 2021. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette file photo]
File photo: Ocala Police Department vehicle on patrol in Ocala on Sept. 29, 2021. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette]
By Jennifer Hunt Murty jennifer@ocalagazette.com Editor’s Note: This report is based on public records as well as the writer’s first-hand experience of the incident.
J
ust before 3:26 p.m. on Tuesday, June 11, a disheveled man walked into a downtown Ocala office and told those inside that he wanted to kill himself. It would be 12 minutes before
an Ocala Police Department officer arrived in response to a 911 call, even though the incident initially was a priority 1 call and OPD is only a block away. LuAnne and Michael Warren, owners of Brick City Digital Marketing, were hosting a meeting with me and one of their employees, Mary, when the man walked in. LuAnne didn’t even need to pause to gather her wits. She stood and walked toward the
man saying warmly, “We’ll help you.” She guided the man, who was holding a brown paper bag, to a chair next to the front door. He sat down and said he had a “Glock” (a type of 9mm handgun) in his bag. Even after the man said he had a gun, LuAnne kept interacting with him. “I figured if I just kept him busy, he’d forget about the gun,” she said later. Michael dialed 911 while LuAnne calmly talked to the
man and got him water. “911, what is the nature of your emergency?” asked the call taker at Ocala’s emergency call center at OPD. Michael’s call was answered at 3:26:25, records show. “22 South Pine,’’ Michael said. “Um, we have a fellow who has come into our office and said he wants to kill himself. And he’s armed.” Michael repeated his address and provided his name and See Emergency, page A3
Road improvements in the works for Silver Springs Blvd. Projects planned from Downtown Ocala to Lake County border By Caroline Brauchler caroline@ocalagazette.com
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mprovements are in the works for Silver Springs Boulevard, from Downtown Ocala all the way to the Lake County border. The state is planning three projects to resurface and revitalize over 32 miles of one of Marion County’s major roadways. The Florida Department of Transportation offered crucial details on two of the three projects during a presentation on June 13. The three projects will resurface Silver Springs Boulevard, also called State Road 40, from Pine Avenue to Northeast 64th Avenue. FDOT aims to extend the life of the roadway through these projects, in addition to updating pedestrian curb ramps to keep up with Americans with Disability Act (ADA) standards.
Pine Avenue to Osceola Avenue, there are two 11-foot travel lanes in each direction, a 12- to 25-foot-wide raised median in the middle, and a 5- to 6-foot-wide sidewalk on both sides of the roadway. From Osceola Avenue to Northeast 25th Avenue, there are currently four travel
lanes, with two 12-foot-wide lanes in each direction. There is a two-way left turn lane in the middle, and 5-foot-wide sidewalks on both sides of the roadway. The project is intended not to change the roadway in either of these areas, only See Road, page A2
Project No. 1
The first project will improve 2.25 miles of Silver Springs Boulevard, spanning from Pine Avenue to Northeast 25th Avenue, beginning on the north side of Downtown Ocala. Currently in this area, specifically from
File photo: Motorists drive on East Silver Springs Boulevard in Ocala on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022. [Bruce Ackerman/ Ocala Gazette] 2022
The long-distance bus service was being utilized by the Ocala and Marion County Joint Office of Homelessness Prevention for a Ticket Home program to help the homeless with transportation. By Andy Fillmore andy@ocalagazette.com
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reyhound Bus Lines is not currently serving Ocala as a destination and the next closest locations are in Hawthorne and Gainesville, both more than 25 miles away. An email to the Greyhound corporate media contact yielded a statement from a spokesperson with FlixBus, a global mobility provider. FLIX SE purchased Greyhound in 2021. “We are in the process of arranging for a new location in Ocala to pick up and drop off passengers—and we look forward to resuming service in the area as soon as possible. Our goal is to find the best possible solution for our passengers—a location that is safe, comfortable, accessible, and welcoming to Ocala residents and visitors alike,” the emailed statement read. “Our partnerships with two local businesses that were allowing us to utilize their parking lots for curbside pickups and departures ended abruptly, leaving us without an adequate location for our buses to stop. We are working as quickly as possible to identify a new location so we can resume service to the area,” the statement noted. The interruption in Greyhound long-distance bus service to Marion County, which started about two weeks ago, will hit homeless people trying to get their lives on track especially hard. See Greyhound, page A2
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