Gainesville Mayor Ed Braddy met with Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday to continue the city’s effort to lobby state officials for expedited use of the shuttered Gainesville Correctional Institution as the long-planned homeless center.
“I think it was very productive,” Braddy said.
He said their meeting included a phone call to Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Herschel Vinyard, who oversees the sale of surplus state properties, to discuss the city’s pursuit of the closed prison,
The state and city have been in talks since last Fall. With Gainesville’s purchase of the prison still not final, the city is asking the state to grant it access and use of the property in order to begin renovations and construction and start offering services to the homeless.
Scott was in Gainesville Thursday on a trip that included a visit to the Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention.