Absent with excuse.
Easy Parking owner Joshua La Rose, who contracted with the Bradenton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency to operate a parking shuttle program in the city, was slated to give the CRA board a monthly report at city hall Feb. 2.
La Rose has not attended a CRA board meeting since October 2021.
He is obligated to give monthly updates but did not appear, leading board members to express their discontent.
“Maybe we need the chair, somebody, to call him up and say, ‘Josh, you need to show up,’” said Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie, a member of the board along with city commissioners and non-elected members, resident David Bell and businessman Ed Chiles.
Despite La Rose’s absence, the board unanimously approved the consent agenda, which included two Easy Parking invoices — December 2021 and January 2022 — totaling $9,470.
Commissioner Ralph Cole, who chairs the CRA, said he would call La Rose and request he attend a meeting in March to discuss staff concerns, as well as efforts to sell advertising space on the trams and ridership metrics related to the program.
In a Feb. 8 text message, La Rose told The Islander he made an agreement with Perry to attend meetings on an as-needed basis and had not received a request in months to appear before the board.
The shuttle program, a free park-and-ride service for users, began in November 2020.
The two low-speed vehicles in use operate 11 a.m.-4 p.m. and 5-10 p.m. daily within the district — Bridge Street and surrounding streets — and travel as far south along Gulf Drive as Coquina Beach.
In October 2021, the CRA board voted to extend La Rose’s contract to November 2022.
La Rose markets signage on the outside of the shuttle vehicles to offset operating costs and lighten the financial burden on the CRA.
He told the board in March 2021 that if he sold all the advertising space on the LSVs it would offset costs by 90%.
It appears La Rose is more than halfway there.
He provided the board with a January invoice for $4,580, which represented the cost of operating and sanitizing the two vehicles minus $4,775 in revenue from eight advertisers.
In January 2021, La Rose secured only $900 in advertising revenue for a $7,370 invoice.
According to reports La Rose sent the board, 4,603 riders used the service in January 2022, up from 2,859 in December 2021.
Peak ridership over the two-month period was 5-9 p.m.
In February 2021, 2,761 people utilized the service with peak hours in the late morning to early afternoon and around 6 p.m.
The next CRA meeting will be at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 2 at Bradenton Beach City Hall, 107 Gulf Drive N., Bradenton Beach.
For more on the tram, visit oldtowntram.com.
Riders can call 941-404-6240 for a pickup.