City Council - Regular Meeting

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Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Tampa City Council. Why are you guys all here? I'd like to welcome you to Tampa City Council this morning and recognize Councilman Charlie Miranda for our invocation.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's my deep honor to present Pastor Allen M. Harris, a native of St. Louis, Missouri. He began preaching at age 19 and has served in full-time ministry since age 22. He holds degrees in biblical study, divinity, theology, and Executive MBA. He currently leads the Servant of the History of Buda Baptist Institutional Church. If you haven't been there, go there. It's a wonderful place to be on Cypress. Serving since Buda, since arriving at Buda in December of 2022, Pastor Harris has led the church in expanding his ministries and outreach, including social justice, health and wellness, financial stewardship, education, community support initiative. A devoted husband and father, Pastor Harris has been married to his high school sweetheart, Joy L. Harris, for more than 20 years. Guided by his faith, humility, commitment to serving others, he continues to make a meaningful impact at the church and our community. Please rise for the invocation for the Pledge of Allegiance, Sandy.

Let us pray. Our Father and our God, how we do thank you for another day that you have allowed us to see. And God, as we acknowledge that this is a day that we have never seen before and a day that we will never see again. We pray, God, that you will not only teach us to rejoice and be glad in this day, but help us, Father, to make the most of every moment that you give unto us. And on this morning, God, we pray a special prayer for our city council and for our elected officials. Father, we ask that you would continue to lead them, continue, Father, to guide them. God, give them your wisdom, give them your insight that they might lead in a way that is pleasing to you. And we not only, God, pray for our elected officials, but we pray for our city as well. We pray, God, that you would continue to keep your hand upon this great city as we, Lord, seek to honor you in all that we do. This is our prayer that we pray in my Lord's name and let all those in agreement say amen.

United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Pastor. Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Yes. Miranda. Here. Maniscalco. Here. Pertak. Here. Young. Here. Vieira. Here. Carlson. Here. And Clendenin. Here. We have a physical form.

Can I get a motion to adopt the minutes from the regular session held September 3rd, 2026 and the evening session held on September 10th, 2026? I have a motion from Councilman Miranda. I have a second from Councilman Maniscalco. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Approval of the agenda. There's a request to continue item number 70 to October 1st, 2026. One more. I have a motion from Councilman Miranda, second from Councilwoman Young. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. I have a request to continue item number 73 to December 17, 2026. Second. I have a motion from Councilman Maniscalco, second from Councilman Miranda. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. A motion to continue item number 74 to February 4, 2027. Second. I have a motion from Councilman Maniscalco, second from Councilman Miranda. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Thank you. Anything else? Councilwoman, her take.

Yes, I want to pull items 12 and 13 for a separate vote.

12 and 13. Okay, we will do that. Anything else? Let's go to staff reports here and nothing else. We're just being too efficient this morning. Okay, let's look item that where we have a administrative update item 66 and I think I think there's something we're going to talk about that, right? We need staff for that for 67678 and nine. We're going to have staff here for that item 70. You said yes. I said, okay, 70. How about 70?

Well, that's 70.

We already continue.

We did. Sorry about that. 71. Yes. Okay.

They're coming in. Okay. Okay, very good.

And...

Yes, 72. Ms. Wood does have enough time.

Yeah, because we didn't have one last time, so that's good. Okay. And that's it for that. Anything else? Mr. Shelby.

With regard to the addendum, I'm going to ask if you could take this up at the end of the meeting to receive and file and talk about next week's workshop. Yes.

Okay. you want to do that now oh okay at the end okay very good just just remind me i have a motion to approve the agenda from councilman escalco and the addendum second from councilman vera all those in favor say aye aye opposed i have it thank you so much okay zipping right along councilwoman young you are recognized There you go.

Good morning, Council. So it gives me great pleasure to recognize these two wonderful young men standing next to me. We have Mr. Brian Hunter and Mr. Stanley Jr., who we will be presenting accommodations today. Tampa City Council proudly honors Brian Hunter and Russell Stanley Jr. for their roles as positive change makers and young leaders in the Tampa community. This combination recognizes these young men for their outstanding contribution to planning, coordinating, and executing positive team takeovers throughout the Tampa Bay area. And I had the opportunity to attend All but one of them, and we had a very good time. Together, they co-founded Tampa Mentality, a program dedicated to empowering young people in the community. In June of 2026, Tampa Mentality organized the Prime Turf Takeover, a football tournament that brought together 14 teams from across Tampa Bay and more than 137 young participants. Through these and similar efforts, Brian and Russell have worked to redefine how teen takeovers can benefit a community, turning teen takeovers into powerful opportunities for connection and positive changes. Mr. Hunter and Mr. Russell have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to creating constructive opportunities and safe spaces for young people in our community. Their dedication to uplifting Tampa Bay's youth is highly commendable. It is with great pleasure and gratitude that Tampa City Council presents this commendation on this 17th day of September 2026 to Brian Hunter and Russell Stanley Jr. So we have these two extraordinary young men, and they do have some people here with them. Could you all stand up? I want to be here to congratulate them. And we also, some people you may know that have some gifts for you, they want to congratulate you as well. So I'll have them come up.

They're sneaking up behind you. Yeah, if you guys, when you come up, if you want to introduce, you can introduce yourself if you'd like.

Good morning. I'm Dr. Lisa Smith, and my son actually participated in a three-on-three, and it was the best experience ever. So thank you for your leadership. Thank you.

Good morning, Council. Gary Hartfield. I am a sponsor of what these young men have put together, and also I'm a candidate for mayor here in the city of Tampa. Thank you, Gary.

Good morning. My name is Melissa Moore with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, and on behalf of Chef Chad Conister and the 4,000 members of the Sheriff's Office, we would like to congratulate these young men, and we're thankful for their partnership and their leadership. In a time during the summer when we needed someone to step up and lead our youth, these young men did that, and we are very proud of them and thankful for their partnership. Thank you, gentlemen.

Good morning, Council. My name is Dr. Pansy Houghton. I work for Hillsborough County Public Schools, and I'm just here representing the district to honor the boys. Thank you. Good morning, Council. I'm Tracy Brown. I'm with Hillsborough County Public Schools. I'm the Chief of Student Support and Federal Programs. Very excited today for the recognition for these young men who are Hillsborough County, one's a graduate of Middleton High School, and Russell here is at, excuse me, Middleton High School, and Russell's at Hillsborough. Great leaders, great, this is our future. So thank you.

Did they call you tiny? Steve Michelini, on behalf of the Chicho Restaurant Group, and that's 600 employees, we're providing you each with a gift certificate for $50 so you can go enjoy yourself over there. Which one are you, Russell? Yes, sir. There you go. Congratulations, and thank you for your work. Youth is the future, and we really appreciate your dedication. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

I'll hand out a turn. Freddie Barton, Executive Director for Safe and Sound Hillsboro. So proud to have young leaders like Brian and Russell to take part in this. We've already given them a token of appreciation on behalf of the community, but we're happy to announce today we know Russell is a senior. Brian's recently graduated, but still pursuing vocational education. We are giving them $1,000 scholarships to continue their education and support them. Congratulations.

Jamal Jefferson, Tampa Parks and Rec. I was here a couple weeks ago, and we talked about the good work, right? This is a product of the work that we're doing, Tampa Parks and Rec. Russell and Brian are products of the Jackson Heights NFL Yet Center. I see a lot of myself in them. So this is the future. We always talk about the future and the next generation. These are our future leaders, so they already know how I feel about them, so we ain't going to get emotional. I'm super proud of them, both of you all. Continue to do the good work for Monday. When I retire, you all can have my job.

Thank you very much. Mama? Your mama's here. Did you want to say something? We have a few more minutes.

Good morning, Council. I just want to say thank you to everyone who has poured into my boys. As a single mom, it is not easy, so it does take a village, and I am so happy to see that their village showed up today to support them. Thank you.

Hey, Mom. Mom is the best title you can have, but for the record, could you state your name?

Early Show Oaks.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Start with your name.

My name is Russell Stanley, and I just want to thank everybody that supported us. Like my mom said, it takes a village, so thank you for supporting us.

Thank you, Russell. My name is Brian Hunter. I just want to thank everyone who acknowledged us today to help show that anything is possible and that we can make a change in the community and that our voices are heard. Thank you.

Thank you very much, counsel. You all know I'm a huge supporter of youth and supporting our youth. So thank you for giving me the opportunity this morning to recognize these two young men who are our future. So thank you all very much.

Thank you, Chairman Clendenin, and thank you, Councilwoman Young, for putting this forward. I just want to salute everybody. It's poignant and relevant here to have Pastor Harris here with us, who's such a great advocate for youth, and see good people like Alicia Oates, Gary Hartfield, Freddie Barton, so many other good folks, and just y'all. And I know we're meeting next Tuesday, right? Yes, sir. There you go. Yeah, there you go. But y'all are awesome. I quoted something yesterday from Father Edward Flanagan, which is there's no such thing as a bad boy. There's no such thing as a bad girl. There's just bad environments, and there's irresponsible, uncaring societies, and it's important for us to invest in our youth. So just God bless you guys. Good job. Thank you. And good job, Mom.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks again, Russell and Brian. The difference between a leader and a follower, a leader leads the way and the follower follows the leader. So you guys have set the tone for hundreds of thousands of kids to come behind you that never had the opportunity of meeting you, but because of your attitude and what you've done, they'll have future leaders to follow. Thank you all very much.

Congratulations to both of you on doing amazing work. But you know what? When your mom came up, I was like, well, of course. Because Alicia Oates is known for her work and activism for the community. And I know you boys have been a big part of that, because there's no way you haven't. So you've just been raised in a way to want to help others. And I can only imagine your pride. about what your boys have done. And so congratulations for raising wonderful children. And also, congratulations for the two of you for just coming up with an idea and rolling with it. It's really, really important that others see that they can do what you've accomplished. And what you've accomplished is so large. And I really just can't wait to see what you do next. So congratulations.

Thank you all so much on behalf of Tampa City Council and the mayor. Oh, Councilman Menescalco, would you like to say something?

Yeah, real quick. You know, having you here today, I can say with total confidence that the future of this community is in good hands. So thank you for what you do, and thank you for making us proud.

Councilman Carlson.

Yeah, just thank you to you and your families and all the people that were involved in this. It was an important time in our community. You all acted fast and did something positive. And the most important thing I can say is you all turned a bit of negativity to positivity in the community. And I hope that others will follow that lead and continue to push positivity in the community. Thank you.

Once again, on behalf of the Tampa city council and the city of Tampa, thank you for, for everything that you've done. And I would also like to say that. Okay. Absolutely. Yeah. On behalf of Tampa city council, hold on one second. Let me say what I want to say. It's not, it's not just about, it's not just about the two of you. I want to counsel on her tech head into this, making good adults and good citizens starts at home. And it starts in the classroom, and it starts on the athletic fields. So I really want to also thank all of your teachers, your parents, your family, and everyone that has influenced you to get you to the point that you are here today. And hopefully you will follow that example so when you have children, you will be able to set that same standard for the next generation. Thank you so much. And come on up and take a picture. Okay for those of you standing against the wall as seats open up would you please take a seat and then we're going to backfill your positions. If you're standing and a seat becomes available, please take a seat. Thank you so much. Now I have a pleasure to introduce two friends of mine that are really within, doing incredible work in the city of Tampa, Paula Nunez and Nicole Lancaster on behalf of the Tampa City Ballet. Good morning, Paula. Good morning. It's good to see you.

Thank you. Presentation.

Do you want your presentation up? Yes, please. CTTB, can we get the presentation up? And when you start, start with your name.

Good morning, council members, and thank you for having us. I am Paula Nunez, founder and artistic director of Tampa City Ballet, and joining me is Nicole Lancaster, our director of marketing.

Thank you. It'll come up. There we go.

Tampa City Ballet is the only contemporary ballet company in Tampa. It was created right here in our city, and today we want to share what we have built and where we believe this company can go next. And that starts with a mission that has guided our work from the beginning. Our work is collaborative, innovative, accessible, and professional. But at the center of everything we do is Tampa, its people, its history, and its future. We want to be part of what makes Tampa, Tampa. For me, that mission is personal because it goes back to why I started teaching in Tampa in the first place. My story here began in 2002 when my husband and I opened a ballet school with just three students. From the beginning, I have believed talent exists everywhere, but opportunity does not. Our students went on to careers with companies including American Ballet Theater, Hamburg Ballet, Houston Ballet, Orlando, and Ballet X. But we keep seeing talented artists leave Tampa when they weren't ready for professional careers. In 2018, six dancers came together to change that, and Tampa City Ballet was born. That need for professional opportunity is really what Tampa City Ballet was created to address. Today, we create original contemporary ballet while building professional opportunities for emerging artists. We want artists to be able to train here, create here, perform here, and build a career here. And what's been exciting is seeing how Tampa has responded as the company has grown. We now produce more than 20 performances each season across more than 15 venues and community spaces. And more than 30% of our performances are free and open to the public. But growing our audience is only part of what access means to us. Through programs like On Your Feet, we bring free dance programming directly into the community. We believe the best training shouldn't be reserved only for families who can afford it. Talent has not to do with a family's income or a zip code. We believe that we are also expanding that work through our collaboration with the Prodigy Cultural Arts Program and Mort Elementary to bring free after-school ballet classes directly into Title I schools. Our goal is to have 300 students in the Hillsborough County public school system enrolled in free ballet classes within the next two years. Anderson da Silva is just one of many examples, but it is a great example of what kind of access can lead to. Anderson is from Ybor City and was recruited through our On Your Feet program. He received more than $43,000 in scholarship support. attended Indiana University on a full scholarship, and today dances professionally with Ballet X in Philadelphia, one of the top ballet companies in the United States. That's what access can do. We want more young people from underserved communities to have that same opportunity. And that commitment to Tampa goes beyond access. It also shapes the work we create. Nicole is going to share one of the best examples of that.

Thank you, Paula. My name is Nicole Lancaster, and as a Tampa native, I might be a little biased towards the production I'm about to share with you, and that is La Septima. So this production represents something we think is especially important to Tampa as it grows, and that's making sure we don't lose our old Tampa stories. Paula spent years researching the people and communities that built Tampa and Ybor City in the late 1800s to early 1930s through historical archives, personal diaries, oral histories, photographs, newspaper, and firsthand accounts. That research became the foundation for the stories that you see inside of La Septima on stage. from immigrant families, cigar workers, lectors, segregation, labor movements, and even the infamous Charlie Wall and the underworld of early Tampa. Through ballet, live music, film, and immersive storytelling, we're giving people a new way to experience our history. And while Aseptima looks back at the history that shaped Tampa, we're also thinking about the artists who will shape its future. We are very proud to share that Tampa City Ballet will be the artist in residence at the University of South Florida for the next three years. So Paula and our ballet master, Osmani Montano, teach within USF's dance program. Six of our professional dancers are alumni of USF, and 12 current USF dancers are working with TCB this season. This creates a direct bridge from the university training to professional experience. We are also attracting talent from all over the world. We currently have 200 professional dancers resumes who are interested in working with the Tampa City Ballet. That professional pipeline is just one of the larger impact we believe a ballet company can have here. It means access to the arts, opportunities for Tampa's youth, preserving our history through work like La Septima, and economic activity that extends beyond the theater. And as the company has grown, we're beginning to see the impact on a larger scale. We've produced more than 220 performances, reached more than 10 million social media views annually, and engaged more than 50 local artists and creative professionals per production, which creates jobs. And a single TCB production represents an investment of approximately $60,000 to $100,000. That growth in our community and reach has also been reflected financially. Tampa City Ballet's revenue has grown seven times since 2018, reaching more than $543,000 in annual revenue in 2025. The growth we're talking about is already happening, and when you look at where that revenue comes from, you'll get a clearer picture of how the company operates. So more than half of our revenue comes from ticketed performances and programs, but we're still largely operating by projects, which means we raise the money, we hire the artists, we produce the work, and then begin again for the next production. The next step is getting beyond that cycle so we can plan further ahead and provide more consistent professional work. And as we think about the next stage, it's helpful to look at what established professional ballet companies across Florida have built over time. Now these companies give us a sense of what's possible right here at home, but many of these have had decades to build their audiences, partnerships, infrastructure, and philanthropy. Tampa City Ballet is much earlier in that journey, and we've already grown more than seven-fold since 2018. And getting to that level of stability doesn't happen through just one source of support. It takes a diversified model, earned revenue, individual giving, corporate and foundation support, grants, and public partnerships. And we see the city as an important partner in that growth. So we bring it all together, where we started, how quickly we've grown, the partnerships we're building. You can see the direction the company is moving. We started with just six dancers in 2018. Today we're producing more than 20 performances a season, expanding community access and scholarships, building a professional pipeline with USF, attracting artists from around the world, and what we're building towards is a sustainable ballet company with more year-round opportunities, greater access for our community, more pathway for Tampa youth, more original work about our city, and ultimately a permanent home for ballet in Tampa. We would love for the city of Tampa to be a part of that growth. The company is here, and now we're building its future. Thank you.

Thank you, Nicole. Thank you, Paula. Councilwoman Hurtado.

I was honored to be able to attend a performance this last season that was the contemporary performance that just blew our socks off. It was truly amazing. If you haven't had the opportunity to see a Tampa Valley performance, I highly recommend it. We're thrilled you're here, just a wonderful part of our community. Thank you so much for the time you took afterward talking to me about what you've been working on. We're really excited to see

you know what comes next so thank you so much for this update thank you thank you mr chairman and great presentation for you all and you know we're so happy to have you guys in new tampa in a world where um you know maybe i spend too much time at panera bread but i think ballet is a good escape and i think that's important you know but one thing i did want to point out which is paula you said you you started this effort in 2002 correct with the school

Yes, yes. I started in 2002 just with a very small, small studio in New Tampa. My husband passed away in a few years, so I was very lucky that Tampa's University of South Florida offered me a job as a full-time faculty. So I keep this small studio and I was working at the USF at the same time.

And what year did you come here from Venezuela?

and originally from Venezuela.

No, but what year?

I came in 2002.

That's what I remember you saying. So folks, you all want to talk about the kind of work that immigrants do in our country. She comes here as an immigrant, a refugee from Venezuela, and that year she starts this. Thank you. Thank you.

Well, you already know where my heart is at. I love what you do for the community. I love what you do for our youth. I love the development that you provide for the folks that may never have an opportunity to see this type of performance. I think that's so important to be able to open up the eyes of folks that, you know, again, we talked earlier with the presentation Councilwoman Young brought of how important it is for us to bring up these next generations of people and provide these opportunities. And having this asset in our community is so invaluable. And I concur with Councilwoman Hurtak that La Septima was an amazing performance. And I know you guys are going to do it again. That wasn't the one you did?

No, it wasn't Lost Team. It was... Era. Era. Oh, my gosh.

Oh, really? I didn't see Era.

Yes, it was the immersive video game.

So phenomenal. I'll have to hit that if they do it again, but the story of Tampa that you guys do, if you guys have not gone to see one of their performances, I took my granddaughter to see, what was it, Sleeping Beauty? Sleeping Beauty. Sleeping Beauty. And, I mean, my six-year-old granddaughter, she just loved it so much. But it was so incredible, and she got to be able to meet the dancers, and it was amazing. Yeah, no, really good work. I look forward to your growth. I love the trajectory that you're on. And hopefully one day we will rival Miami in the city of Tampa. You know, I never want to be Miami, but in this case I do. No, we would be better. We want to be better than Miami. We can do much better. Once again, thank you guys for coming today, and we appreciate it. Again, for those of you out there that are listening to this, do not walk, run to see their performances this next season. When does your season start?

We started already. Next will be October 2nd and 3rd, and the new Tampa Performing Arts Center, La Septima, and then at the Cuban Club, the four floors of the Cuban Club, will be just an incredible experience of history and many surprises with La Septima.

Very nice. I'm looking forward to seeing that production again. I could go see it over and over and over again. It's that good. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you so much for your time.

Okay. I'd like to recognize Councilman Miranda.

for catholic charities item number three catholic charities to provide an update services that are here and what they do is just something that the people really really need and that's to eat every day so it's uh... it's honored that uh... we have this opportunity today to recognize who they are and what they do good morning catholic charities if you start with your name please

Maggie Rogers.

Do you have a presentation coming up? There should be a PowerPoint. Okay, if you want to say your name and then the CTTV should bring it up.

Thomas Mance, Feeding Tampa Bay.

Very good. Okay, CTTV, can we get their presentation? And for the public monitor. There we go. Thank you so much.

Well, thank you so much for having me. You know, I am asked to speak all over the country about our ability to do mass sheltering. And the one thing I start out with is it is not possible without the support of folks like you. So, so much. Thank you. If you can go to the next slide.

There's a clicker up there. Oh, there's a clicker. Advance yourself.

All right. So as you know, back in 2020, we did a pilot project on North Florida Avenue, knowing that it would only be temporary, 60 days. And during those 60 days, we moved 210 folks through what we called at that time Hillsboro Hope and 97 to apartments. And we knew, well, we know what we're doing on housing. And so flash forward, in November of 21, we closed on a property just east of Ybor, 5.49 acres. and a month later we opened. And we realized quickly from doing this at Pinellas Hope for 20 years that our success is built off of our partnerships. What makes Mr. Manson and I a phenomenal partner is that we count on him every single day to feed our clients. In the first 16 months, we had over 600 folks come through Tampa Hope. Again, it started out as mass sheltering, so 50 tents on platforms. The following year, we increased to 100 tents up on platforms. During phase two, we then started bringing in our pallet shelters. We started out with 100. We brought our OnMed medical services. We have USF Street Medicine that comes on site. all of our other wraparound services, case management, housing, but of course, when your population is growing to 200, 300 folks every single day, you count on your partners to feed them. And so right now, we are standing at 116 tents 215 cottages. We are the largest cottage facility in the country. Some tell me that we are the largest single site shelter in the state of Florida and that we're ranked fifth in the country for single site services. And we currently have 345 beds every single night. And so we depend on our partners. We work closely with the City of Tampa Outreach Team, City of Tampa Police Department. We have our own internal outreach team. We're out on the streets every single day providing services. but we can't do it without Thomas.

Thank you. So I think what Maggie says is an important place to start. We have folks in our community who are unhoused, transitionally housed, and have other challenges. The question for us as a group of people today is to figure out how can we best take care of the immediate need of shelter and basic care, but also to provide other resources so that we can move folks through and to a better outcome. What we love about Maggie's program is that it is housing folks in a thoughtful and dignified way. On-campus services are offering resources to move folks forward. We're providing good, healthy meals to make sure that folks can move into the community thoughtfully. And then our partnership also allows us to connect folks that are in Maggie's world to our world, so job training, other resources. And so we're creating, our partnership creates both a short-term, how do we take care of folks, and long-term challenge. The second part that we would mention is as one of the things we have focused on together is understanding the data of who is seeing us, why they're seeing us, how often they're seeing us, how long they're staying in our care. Right? We want to look at and understand the population of folks and figure out what the longer-term outcomes are. I think you would expect of us, particularly because we're grateful for the resources you all provide to our work, we're making sure that we're doing good data collection and understand how much folks need and what they want. You can see from our work, we do a lot of research with USF to understand what folks are going through, what's happening in their world, and then what we do collectively is build partnership resources around those. Either we offer them ourselves, or we use a variety of other partners. We have some 25 other partners in our network, and Maggie has just as many to make sure that folks have what they need.

And if you were to think back when we opened back in 2021, it was tents, platforms. We had our disaster shower trucks, laundry trucks. We had one building. The back part of the property was a blank slate. And then expanding to the tents, expanding the number of those, opening up 215 cottages that have AC, heat, electric. We also built, with the donation of one partner, $1.5 million community center that has a full cooking kitchen, a dining area, restrooms, laundry, a barber shop, a clothing closet. a little vending machine room, as well as a classroom. But where we're headed next is we'll be adding an additional 70 cottages. We hope that our bed count will go up to about 488 when we're maxed out, as well as bringing in three additional buildings, a welcome center where our volunteers will go through, as well as our intake process will move over to that room. be adding another building for offices as well as classrooms, and then we'll have an onsite medical clinic so that our clients will be able to see doctors there onsite. Also, because we have OnMed, it is the doc in the box. And so while it does provide a very needed service, we've reduced 911 calls by 50%. We obviously want to keep our clients out of the hospital as much as possible. Clients do want to be able to access medical care and be able to see a doctor, and so by having our medical clinic on site, that'll give them the opportunity. If you were to look at our budget over the last several years, when we started out in 2021, we purchased that property, Catholic Charities did, for $2.1 million, and then with your assistance, we were able to facilitate the operations. Our current year, we're just around $3 million for operations, and I expect that it will continue to increase because, of course, our numbers are continuing to increase those that we serve. We've served over 2,600 folks since we have opened up. Over 800 have moved to housing. That's nearly 40%. It fluctuates between 36% and 43%. We are above national standards. If you were to look at an average per night, it usually fluctuates between $25 and $28 per night. And keep in mind, that is including all of our wraparound services as well as our in-kind, so that's counting the donation that we count from him. for food, but it's also the mental health counseling, the substance abuse counseling, case management, all the medical services, all of our housing systems that we're able to provide there. So really when you look at it from a cost perspective, you can't put a homeless person in a hotel with all the wraparound services for that amount of money. And that's it, thank you.

I would just finish by saying I think what we feel strongly about, which Maggie has said, is that what we need are positive solutions and thoughtful approaches. I think we want to make sure that you all understand, because you're making an investment, right? You have funds you're responsible for. What we would like to make sure that you understand is we get that. We're grateful for it, but we also consider ourselves thoughtful stewards of how we build programming and how we build long-term solutions and resources for this particular group of folks in our community that we both value and esteem very much. Thank you. Thank you.

Councilwoman Hurtek, Miranda, Maniscalco, then Vieira.

Thank you so much. What you've done for this community is just nothing short of a miracle. As you started with your presentation, you mentioned that you have people coming here from all over the country to see what what we're doing. And so I know that I'm incredibly proud of that and you should be as well. And I do have a question, though, because I did see an article recently that the people who build our cottages shut down. Do we have another

Place that we can get them. So it will not be the exact same product of interviewed about five other companies There's one that I'm leaning towards they're out of California. And so I'll be looking into There's there's an alternative. Okay, that's very similar very similar same size a similar what we love about palette was that the product you were able to open the doors power wash it and start all over just leave the windows and doors opens it mold resistant and so I We've been looking for something that is pretty much the same. We think we found something.

Wonderful, wonderful. That's really important. The partnership with Feeding Tampa Bay also critical. So we were able to give a little bit more money to you all in the last budget and hopefully we can continue to do that because Just as we were talking about the importance of youth, the importance of making sure our community has people who are housed and receive the services they need is so important. And the fact that you've been able to house over 800 people is just absolutely phenomenal. And so I'm going to put this out into the world because this is something that I talk about constantly. We really need to get our partners at the county develop a Hillsboro hope because right now we're being over overloaded with not just people from the city of Tampa but we I mean all of our all of our neighbors are doing it I mean Pinellas has it Pasco starting theirs I've heard citrus is starting theirs so I'm really just kind of putting out into the universe that Hillsboro should be our next stop but thank you for everything you do you're just amazing

If we could keep our comments brief because we're running out of time, and we had a lot of public comment. Councilman Miranda, followed by Councilman Maniscalco.

I just want to say thank you on behalf of all the citizens. You know, back in the days when you started, I believe it was John Bennett from the administration that worked with Catholic Charities, I say, and then they started building, and look what you have, an area there. Is that the bell already?

It was the bell on the presentation.

Oh, I thought I was at the ballet again. I've got your bell. I got it. And I got the hammer, but anyway. And to feeding Tampa Bay, how many do you feed every day? I don't think that was said enough.

We provide at the shelter, we're feeding everybody, it's about $300,000 a year, $4.58 a meal. So if your population is...

It's pretty close to around 300.

Right, so we're providing usually one to two meals a day depending upon what they need.

And this is just an opportunity to say no one in this chamber understands, including us, what you guys do. And we want to thank you sincerely for what you do every day.

Thank you very much. I was at your event a few months ago when we were all out there and you were showcasing what you do and it's amazing how many people's lives you affect. You're taking people off the streets and at least temporarily giving them shelter they need as they transition to more permanent housing and of course feeding Tampa Bay an amazing community partner that helps I mean on a daily basis. And I know my my personal hero John Bennett with his experience from I believe Pinellas Hope and you know we have so many great partners and people that are involved in this and everybody should go out there and see what is being done because when I saw it I was amazed. And we met residents there and we you know we saw firsthand people's lives that you're touching and that you're lifting up. So best of luck to you. And again, thank you for all that you do.

Thank you Mr. Chairman and I'm glad that you all mentioned Chief John Bennett because you know this is a work that's right after his heart and that he has done so much on and he shows that that being a cop who's a protector isn't just about you know fighting crime it's also about preventing crime and and so we're our hats off to I mentioned Father Flanagan the great bleeding heart Catholic so there you go but but for Maggie and Tom you all just do great work and you know, you can put your faith in action through this. And, you know, you read the Bible and Jesus didn't talk much about Volvos or gated communities or Brooks Brothers suits. And he talked a lot about feeding poor people and about being there for people and giving people a voice. And that's, That's what you all do. I remember Catholic Charities, I don't know if it's still their slogan, used to be we help people not because they're Catholic but because we're Catholic. We still say that. There you go. Okay, good, good from my childhood. But you all are awesome, so just God bless you. And Tom, no Springsteen quotes this time, so there you go. Thank you.

I just want to say I've had the opportunity to visit both facilities at TOR and Feeding Tampa Bay, and I've also been to a few events that we had at Tampa Hope. And I just want to thank you both for the work that you're doing in the community, and I'm really excited to see the new things that are going to happen with Feeding Tampa Bay and really providing that wraparound service to everybody. So thank you all for your work. Thank you.

Okay, we are going to move on to public comment now. For council's consideration, right now, if everybody needs to come up and use three minutes, we have about three hours of public comment. So a couple of things. Would you guys, do you want to consider reducing it to two minutes? Anybody?

Thank you. And I would look at some sort of a modified compromise on that. And if you're out there proposing and sticking yourself out there, I'll back you on it.

Well, I'm throwing it out there. I mean, I'll sit here and listen to everybody. I mean, if there's no appetite for it, just say no appetite for it.

Can I just say, I think it's worked before when you've suggested to people that they don't need the whole three of us.

I'm going to do that, yeah.

Okay, that's good for me.

Okay, then I'm not here in a market for this, so we'll just go on. Okay, so here we go. Public comment. We have rules. There's a QR code posted outside. We have hard copies if you need it for the rules. Please, if you don't know those, please review them. We have... Every time you come to the podium, you start with your name. That's for our public record. Start with your name. The microphone's at the podium, so you face and you talk to us. You don't turn around. You talk to us all the time, 100% of the time. Okay? So we're going to start with our name. We're going to face forward. Because we have so many, remember that you don't have to repeat what everybody else has said. If you just want to come up and take 10 seconds and state your position, that's perfectly fine. Don't feel like just because you've got a green light in three minutes that you have to use all three minutes. you can you know we we hear you with this we're hearing everybody at the same time we we're up here listening we can just register your points of that you're trying to make and this is not to mean that you can't use your three minutes if you choose to but in the interest of getting everybody in and having all the voices heard uh please consider that you don't have to use all three minutes and Oh, yeah. So when you come to the podium, I know there's a lot of new people here. There's lights. It'll turn green when you say your name. That means you have a three-minute timer on. When it turns yellow, you have 30 seconds left. When it turns red, even if you're in mid-sentence, if you're in mid-syllables, stop right where you're at. Red, you're done. And if you would, please, once you're finished, please leave Council Chambers. If you want to continue to listen, on the second floor, we have overflow. Most everybody's down there now waiting for a seat up here. So you can go down and listen if you want to continue to listen, or you can go home and watch us on YouTube. But please leave Council Chambers so that we can get everybody out. I don't know where everybody is that's on this list, so I'm going to call about five names at a time. And if you are downstairs listening, hopefully it's not so loud that you're hearing what I'm saying, if you hear your name, please immediately come up to Council Chambers because you have to clear security to get in. Again, I'm going to call about five people at a time just in case the people are downstairs and they're listening and they want to come upstairs.

um that being said we're going to move on to public comment mr shelby do you have anything you want to say no no mr did you um address i'm sorry i was late i was outside um did you address the fact that this is only for on agenda numbered items yeah let's talk about that so if you are here thank you so much

If you are here to speak to on agenda items, you should have filled out one of these forms, one of these cards. If you didn't fill out a card, if you're on the second floor or you're here in the council and you didn't fill out a card, please see one of the staff that's out in the lobby. They'll assist you in filling it out. This is for on agenda items, period, that are not public hearings. That are not public hearings. That are not public hearings. On agenda items that are not public hearings. We will have an opportunity after we do the first parts of business in the morning to be able to hear off-agent items for 30 minutes and 30 minutes only. So there we go. The first five folks are Linda Meisner, Chloe Diaz, Tom Mulrooney, Sean Roughton, Natalie Rogue. And if I called your name, if you'd stand over there against the wall and line up against the wall, I will call you up one at a time. Hello, Linda. Come on up, say your name, you have three minutes.

Linda Meisner and I own Body by Design. Our family owned small business on West Decal is just feet from South Howard and will be severely impacted for years by the South Howard flood project. City staff will not meet with us and cannot tell us how to access our business during the project. They have no answer for how our clients or employees will reach the business or where everyone will park when they can't reach our own parking. When I asked Mr. Campbell these questions, he pointed to a marketing campaign poster that wasn't even remotely helpful. The city has not studied the economic impact to businesses because they do not want to admit the impact will be disastrous. Both the city and Kimmon staff repeatedly refused to answer questions about what happens if our hundred-year-old bungalow is damaged by the vibrations of the digging the massive trenches nearby. They have said we will need to get an inspection before the project and another after the project at our own expense to prove that we have damage. That is ridiculous. It was recently suggested to me that maybe We could pause our business for a few months while we can't reach our own building. And that is unacceptable. We are a business. It is our livelihood. It is our employees' livelihood. It is not a hobby. We deserve better. I'm especially concerned about the lack of the CSX permitting and how the new restrictions change the project. The city's own memo, which I've just provided, states the current box has root intrusion and failing mortar at the joints. And instead of a new 10x10 culvert, the CSX crossing will utilize the failing 5x10 box and a new 60-inch pipe. How is that going to work with an extensive length of 10x10 culvert dividing and pushing massive amounts of stormwater into significantly less space, creating a bottleneck at the tracks? Where is the certified model showing this change will actually provide the projected flood relief and not just a new fail point? And I don't appreciate that the city was so late in applying for the CSX permit last Friday that they've wasted more money to expedite it. They should already have that permit in hand. No one living or working in Historic Hyde Park wants this project. We are against the long-term destruction, detours, building damage, business loss, and the possible creation of new flooding issues for our area. I know firsthand the devastation that flooding causes since our home on Davis Island flooded with Helene, and it would be great to provide flood relief to both Parkland Estates and Palmacea Pines, but not with a big price tag and not with this kind of inconvenience. We cannot fix years of delayed stormwater maintenance with overbuilding and inadequate planning by throwing a ridiculous amount of taxpayer money.

Thank you, Linda. Thank you.

Please stop.

Thank you, Linda.

Thank you.

Chloe Diaz, followed by Tom Mulroney, Sean Routon, Routon. Natalie Rogue and John Lister. Start with your name.

Hi. Good morning, council members. My name is Chloe Diaz, and I'm an 11-month-old Tampanian. I moved almost a year ago today from Los Angeles for a better life and work opportunity and landed at the Landon Restaurant located on 717 South Howard. The road closure would greatly affect mine and the livelihood of others who have grown and known to call friends. It would greatly benefit mine and the lives of others that the city come up with a better plan so that we do not have our street closed down in the inevitable future. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.

Thank you for brevity. Tom Mulroney, followed by Sean, and then the next speaker after this group will be Dr. Mark Abdoni.

Tom Mulroney, thank you for your service, council members. I'm a South Tampa owner and a South Tampa office owner for some 16 years. I do not have any small business implications personally and will not be negatively impacted other than traffic inconvenience and emergency response slowdowns that this project would cause. I say this because I'm relatively impartial. I am only here to see the improvement of the whole South Tampa community, which I'm significantly invested in. I deal with risk-reward and cost-benefit on a daily basis in my career and I'm trying to view this project through that lens. I appreciate your focus to this attention, members, and I do appreciate your service. Upon my review of this, there is no way this project can move forward. The costs both in city funds and eventual loss to small businesses and tax revenues that they provide does not meet a cost benefit threshold as viewed through the cold lens of the free market. Howard community would be bearing an unfair burden to the benefit of a few. I sympathize. I genuinely sympathize with the flooding concerns of that community. But the impacted community bought into a market that came with risk. That risk was built into the market price of those structures. Others, including the South Howard structures and business owners, invested in properties without flooding issues and hence paid a premium for it. This project shifts a small neighborhood risk that they willingly entered into onto that of an entire community. That is not how the free market works unless all other projects have been fully assessed. I'm here to plead that we pause this decision until all other options that have been proposed have been completely vetted. If after that, if no other option is available, we look at the project as proposed, because if it does, our South Tampa community will go backwards significantly before it goes forward. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Tom.

Sean, followed by Natalie, and then after this group of folks, I didn't see Mark Abdoni. Is he in the audience? Mark, if you're downstairs, come up to Sampson City Council. And Anthe, I'm going to destroy this last name, Chickaloose? Chickalowski. Okay, very good. You're going to be after this group. Go ahead, sir.

Good morning, council members. Thank you for having me. My name is Sean Routon, and I'm the general manager of the Epicurean, and also a member of the Soho Alliance. And, you know, obviously... we understand there's a flooding issue in Parkland and in a number of areas, and that needs to be addressed. We agree with that. What we don't agree with is going down straight through family businesses and the Hart Entertainment District of our area when there is another plausible solution. And this whole thing is quite frankly a little bit just disheartening, quite, I feel like the city transparency's lacking. We just now are, fighting against our neighbors. It should not be this way. I just spoke with a young lady, a very nice lady from Parkland, in this building this morning. And she says, I will never visit your place again. And I used to send wedding groups. And I will not send those people to you. Our revenue loss is already happening. And we haven't started the project. And it's coming from our neighbors, the people that we work with, live with. And I got friends in Parkland. What you don't realize is, and Kim is understanding, they'll say, we will help you guide through this process. The mobility director will help you guide through this. But what you don't understand is we're just losing money now. A bride just called last week looking for a future date. I could not guarantee her that date because I'm unsure of the project, which she was aware of. So I've lost that business. I have a $2.2 million airline contract business a year that states that they cannot have construction within a half a mile of where they stay due to flight reasons and they need safe sleep. That's $2.2 million goes away. Guess what happens? My employee goes away. I'm now losing weddings. I'm now losing that contract. I have 11 professional sports teams that spend over a million dollars a year for us every year since we've opened. None of them will support us again. They're not going to come into a war zone in Gaza and look at this and realize that they can stay here or they have a choice to go stay downtown. closer to the arena and not have to fight this, okay? All this talk has been about saving Parkland and we need to have employees that are gonna be laid off, an estimated 1,200. No one did an economic impact study, we did. It was a very big number and honestly, when you look at this, if I remove myself from this situation as a decision maker and a manager in roles I've played, how much is this gonna support and affect Parkland and how much is it going to damage and cause revenue loss for the city and businesses, the cost analysis to benefit is clearly not fair, okay? So we hope that we've proposed a solution that allows quicker resolution for Parkland. That's the number one thing. It's five years before we get there, and we know this is going to exceed $100 million. Change orders, we've already just mentioned expediting. Thank you, Sean. So thanks for your time. Appreciate it.

Natalie, followed by John.

Good morning, council members. My name is Dr. Natalie Brugier. My practice is located within one of the century-old bungalows of South Howard, located between Decal and Southview. My building foundation is 15 feet from the right of way where the proposed construction will occur. I'm asking you to vote no to pause the current flood relief plan down Howard and implore the city to find a faster, more economically sound solution that helps more people fix the infrastructure issues like the Cleveland Street Basin and fully maintain our storm drains. I come to you today as one of roughly 100 businesses down Howard, some of which are women-owned small businesses like myself that are not hobbies. but real businesses that provide help for real families, and in my case, caring for members of our community who are fighting cancer, having pregnancy issues, dealing with complex health issues, and managing chronic pain with an alternative to opioids. Excuse me. Here are some reasons why I'm asking you to vote no and look at the alternatives. Potential damage to the property. Building owners like myself will need to go out of pocket to hire engineers to inspect our building foundations to document before and after construction conditions to be able to claim any damage repairs. business closure. Sixty percent of businesses fail when a long-term project ties up the entire street. I spoke to five business owners from Seminole Heights and all told stories of lost revenue, one with $150,000, while some closed. Longer construction times than originally planned, and both the city and contractor did not work well with the business owners. More currently on Manhattan, some small businesses had to close from that construction flooding project. One of the small businesses was in operation for 26 years. This is concerning. The marketing concept the city speaks of won't work for businesses like mine. I'm a referral-based business. Nor will it help if customers can't access the business. of a nebulous golf cart plan is laughable. What about when it rains? Where will cars be parked, excuse me, and how efficient is that for businesses that operate on scheduled times? Documented environmental concerns regarding potential water contamination during construction, structural issues with current culverts under the railroad made by the city's own engineers, coupled with the fact that the tracks won't be able to be lifted and culverts won't be replaced to the 10 by 10 size. no economic impact or structural studies done on the buildings along Howard. The mayor and her staff have done nothing productive but to pit residents who want this project to move forward against business owners who are concerned about losing their livelihood. That saying that to help many will be affecting a few is plainly despicable and it's wildly untrue. There are roughly 100 businesses on Howard that will be affected and that's not a few. Please vote no. and demand a better plan to help residents, but not at the expense of the businesses. Thank you.

Thank you, Doctor. John Lister, followed by Mark Abdoni. Mark, if you want to go line up against the wall. And David Laxer will be the last of this group of speakers. John, start with your name, please.

I'm John Lister. I'm the executive chef at AVA on South Howard Avenue. I'm going to keep this short. I'm a Tampa native. I'm a fourth generation Tampa native. I want what's best for this town, but this is not it. Like they've all said, there's multiple businesses that will fail. We will fail. We won't survive this. This is too difficult. Thank you.

CHAIRMAN BRYANT L. Thank you. Thanks for your brevity. Dr. Abdoni, follow-up, and Elizabeth Dinwiddle, if you would, Dinwiddie, if you'd like to line up against the wall, please. Go ahead, Doctor. What was your name, please?

CHAIRMAN CLINTON. Chairman Clinton, thank you very much. Council members, thank you for putting this together for us to discuss this issue of importance. This project... Start with your name. I'm sorry. Apologies. Dr. Mark Abdoni. I'm located at 2714 West Azalea Street, Tampa, Florida, 33609. My surgical facility has flooded twice in nine years. First in 2015, second time during Milton in 2024. This project is going to, if it does not go through, is going to leave the city with a potential health crisis of epic proportions should during a hurricane or some other flood event HCA hospital shut down. Not to mention ambulance access to the hospital during floods. We've already had four floods this year just I think in the month of August. I mean we need to address this definitively. There is no other option. And I worry that we have our priorities mixed up here. We've taken well over 10 years to figure out what to do with this issue. We've wrestled over it. We've studied it. And we're still discussing it. Yet when it comes to the Rays baseball stadium, we got that deal done in less than nine months. Look, I love sports, and I'm about as pro-business as it gets. And I love Burns. My dad has taken us to Burns so many times. He's died in Burns three times. And he's 95. And, you know, it's true. Anyways, he's just a miraculous recovery. Bottom line is... They're not going to shut down. They're not going to shut down. They're going to be open. We've shut down completely twice. I did it twice for a month. I paid my employees the whole time. If these restaurants, as great as they are, and they are, don't have access to things like bridge funding or lines of credit, then I don't know What else to say except thank you. Thank you, doctor.

Anthony, I'm not going to even try the last name because I'll slaughter it. That's okay. David Laxer, Elizabeth Dinwiddie. Elizabeth, if you're downstairs. Oh, you're here. Okay, good. Out against the wall. You're going to be Anthony first, then David. And then the next one is Beth Slimely. Slimely. Very good.

Okay. Well, good morning, City Council. Start with your name. Good morning. Anthony Chiklowski. I'm representing CRG Group and local brands. I'm gonna be short and sweet myself today. We have 600 employees. We've been on that street for 30 years, our restaurant business. Okay. The most important part to me though, is that I have an event called noodles and network that I've raised over a hundred thousand dollars for people in this community are less fortunate. We're getting ready to do pediatric cancer on a national level, CRG group and local brands to help people, fire department, police department. I have this and these employees are important to us. But what's most important to me is the community to raise awareness, raise money to help less fortunate people. And we're out there every day helping people. There's a lot of restaurants out there, right? But we're doing community work. I do community work. Look me up. Look what I do for CRG and local brands. I'm very passionate about this. And this cannot happen. We have too many employees. We have too much to lose. And most of all, for me personally, we've been on that street 30 years doing business. And I'm here for Jimmy Lanza, the family, and all of our employees. And this is very personable to me. It really is. And please vote no on this so we continue to strive, grow our businesses, and help people in the community. If you remember anything today, remember who I am and that I am a community guy, and I do it every single day. And if this stops, I'm not able to do my events. And that's all I want to do is help people. That's what I learned, and that's what I want to do. Thank you so much. Thank you, Anthony.

David? Followed by Elizabeth, Beth, and then Giovanni Accardo and Bill Caliga.

Good morning, council. My name is David Laxer. I and my wife, Christina, are residents of South Tampa and business owners of Burns Steakhouse, Burns Fine Wines and Spirits. First, let me say we can all agree that our stormwater mitigation issues need to be addressed. The debate is how to do this while achieving desired results with as little negative impact or damage. However, a plan that potentially fixes one problem but causes extended hardship on other members of our community, defunds existing stormwater projects throughout our city, and drains our stormwater budget so that no other project can happen for three to five years is not a good idea. We as a community can do better, but this requires thinking outside the box, and yes, actually having honest and transparent discussions. As you all are well aware, this did not happen. And this is one of the reasons this project is so polarizing. We as a business employ close to 300 people, many of which have been with us for over 20, 30, and 40 years. We are a family business that prides itself on providing a great opportunity for people to provide for themselves and their families. This project in its current form will impact every one of our employees and their families, not to mention the many vendors that rely on our business as well. You will be looking at a 25% to 50% drop in income depending on if you are a tipped employee or an hourly employee. This can be said for every other business on Howard Avenue, and this would go on for three to four years. To be told by city staff and administrators that everything will be fine, we will have robust marketing plan, your guests will still continue to come to your business, and that we can shuttle your guests from offsite remote parking lots just demonstrates how out of touch and the lack of awareness or caring the city has. No one knows their business like a business owner, and to tell them otherwise is disrespectful. Also to state that the plan, or actually, sorry, also to state that the pain will end after construction is complete and is also false. As our customers will develop new dining patterns and group business will settle into other restaurants, other hotels, and all those years of goodwill will be lost. To say I'm disheartened by all this is an understatement. What I'm feeling is betrayed by the city and by this council if this passes. I and many others are asking that you vote no on this project. Have the city and staff engineers consider other alternative routes and or solutions that are less expensive and provides relief for Palmesia Pines and Parkland Estates on a much faster timeline. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next we have Elizabeth Dinwiddie, Beth, Giovanni, Bill, and then Patrick Cimino.

Elizabeth Dinwiddie. Please continue to move this project forward. We can all win if we, the people of Tampa, choose to support these businesses while these pipes go in the ground. It's the people that have to support the businesses. It's the city that has to fix this problem. It's years, decades, that this project has been studied. It's not a coincidence that all of the projects point to Howard. We will support Howard. We love Howard. I love the macadamia nut ice cream at Burns. If you haven't tried it, you must try it. It's incredible. I will always, throughout this project, order my pizza from Sally O'Neil's. Okay? We have to consciously choose to support these businesses. They have been there for us all these years. They have been our happy places. We love these businesses. The people of Palmesia Pines and Parkland Estates love the businesses that have been our happy places. We need flood relief. We trust the engineers. We know that we will get through this project And we will all walk down those sidewalks and say we got through this together as a city. We all love your businesses. Please know that we will support you throughout this project. We do not want anything bad to happen to your businesses. Please give us pipes so that we can go to bed feeling safe at night. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Beth, Giovanni, Bill, Patrick, and Julie McGill.

Good morning. My name is Beth Simel. I am a professional engineer, and I live in Palmesia Pines. I'm here today not only as an engineer, but as a resident who personally experienced the flooding this project intended to address. When my home flooded, I was recovering from my final surgery for breast cancer. I mention that because it changed what flooding meant to me. At the time, when I needed my home to be a safe place to recover, it wasn't. For those of us in Palmesia Pines and parkless space, this is not an abstract infrastructure project. We know the damage, we know the cleanup, we know the disruption, and the anxiety that comes every time another major storm is in the forecast. There are people in these neighborhoods who are older, caring for children, dealing with illness, recovering from surgery, or caring for aging parents. They should not have to wonder whether their home will flood or whether they can safely get where they need to go. The flooding also affects the area around the hospital and medical offices. For someone who needs medical care, that access matters. I understand this is a significant investment and that there's legitimate questions about cost, construction impacts, businesses, and funding. Those questions should be asked. But this problem has been studied, it has been modeled, the flooding has been documented, and there's a project in front of you to address it. This is an opportunity for you to do the right thing by your constituents. Not because the project is inexpensive, it isn't. Not because the construction is easy, it's not. But because this is a known problem and continuing to live with it has a cost too. Residents and businesses have already been paying that cost. I cannot change what happened to my home. But you have the opportunity today to help prevent another family from going through the same thing. I respectfully ask that you support the South Howard Flood Relief Project today. Thank you.

Thank you, Beth. Giovanni, followed by Bill Kaliga, and then the next speaker after this group is going to be Michael Deiser.

Good morning. My name is Giovanni Arcado, and again, I apologize for my accent, and thank you for what you do. I want to tell you only one thing. You are hearing, and you're going to hear a lot of people today, telling you that a couple of months of distress for those businesses is basically the end of the world. The irony in this is that if they need to shut down those businesses to remodel, knock down a building to rebuild, and fix their businesses for their own interest, there's no problem if it's gonna last two months, two years, or even more. So the time-wise is not like a problem. I ask you to move forward and vote yes for this project because so far the people that pay the bills, it's us, and we need to move forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Giovanni. For council's information, I've went ahead and ordered pizza for lunch, so we'll have a short lunch break. I know, well, you're not going to eat healthy today. We're going to do a short lunch break, so what have you brought us out? You don't have to eat the pizza. Okay, just as FYI, so we can have a short break so we can hear from all the public speakers. Okay, Bill, go ahead, and the next speaker after this is going to be David Adams. David, you can line up. Sure, thank you.

Good morning, Council. Bill Kalika, Palmasia Pines. My wife and I have a three-year-old and a five-month-old. Milton put a foot of water throughout our townhome. I'm asking you to vote yes on the South Howard Flood Relief Project. Here's the downside of a no vote today and its impact on the entire city. $7.7 million of design already spent is a sunk cost. A $10 million state grant awarded specific to this project is canceled. The potential $25 million grant, abandoned. These neighborhoods will still need funding to fix the flooding issues regardless. Is it the best thing for the people of Tampa to walk away from this? A locked-in price and multiple grants for an area that will need to be fixed, knowing that uncontrollable factors are popping up every month, locally and globally, like the fuel crisis? Twice in August, rain put the roads in front of our house underwater, each time less than two inches. There were actual fish swimming in the street 20 feet above sea level. You can kind of see it right there. My kid loved it. Afternoon storms like this can cut parents off from Mitchell Elementary, Children's Nest, and Branch Academy preschools. and at least eight other schools within a mile from Swan and Audubon, if there happens to be a couple more inches of rain, the water would start to enter our homes. I created this petition a week ago asking you to approve this, and more than 500 people have signed from dozens of neighborhoods throughout Tampa, mostly by word of mouth. It's not just the people in the impacted area who want this project approved. We've all paid our taxes and the stormwater fees Stormwater systems are one of the most fundamental services a government should provide. So I'm asking you to please vote yes on the South Howard Flood Relief Project for my family, for my neighbors, and for Tampa's future. Thank you. Thank you, Bill.

Patrick, followed by Ashley Morrow. I'm sorry, no, Julie McGill. Ashley Morrow, you'll be the last speaker up there. You can line up. So Patrick, followed by Julie.

Good morning council. I've spoken to you many times about this. I'm Patrick Shimino. I'm the historic Hyde park neighborhood association land use chair. And the city has not addressed major concerns as David has pointed out many others. We sincerely sympathize with those who've suffered from flood. Many in our neighborhood got flooded at the same time. We cover the east half of Howard, south of the Selman. We remain concerned Tampa does not maintain its existing stormwater infrastructure. We've asked for a comprehensive plan. It's never been presented. Some repairs have been made, but many deficits remain, and there has been no organized proposal to address repair and maintenance on a global level. The community has pleaded for this. If the above isn't addressed, avoidable seasonal funding is going to continue. The plans to dedicate so much stormwater funding will postpone or cancel other projects throughout the city. Two years have already been wasted on looking at a comprehensive plan for flooding.

The logistics are daunting.

Howard will close down for four years, deadly to many businesses. Structures will be at risk of damage. Neighborhoods will be gridlocked with detours. We know how much water it takes to put in an elevator shaft. Six months of pumping. This is a huge culvert. I don't know how they're gonna manage the water. It goes down Howard now. It's legally going down Howard when they're pumping for, and DeSoto, for an elevator shaft. The board of HPP&A remains opposed to this problematic project and recommends the council reject it. Please demand a comprehensive stormwater plan. We do not have it. And Pam has explained it. She's our expert on the land use committee. Thank you.

Julie McGill, followed by Michael Deiser.

Good morning, council. Julie McGill, also a candidate for mayor. After all the evidence you have been shown, Are you still voting yes on this? Engineers, your own city staff, depositions, numerous other suggestions that could help this area without carving up Howard. Consider this. If this project were to happen during the next four or five years, what are we going to do if we have another massive hurricane? Can you just imagine the rivers of mud flowing into all those businesses on South Howard? It's a real possibility. The solutions are out there, though. There's three or four retention ponds in that area that if they would just clear them out, there's about three to four feet of sludge. We could capture about 10 million gallons of storm water just there. That's a lot of water. Another thing, there was no bid on this. So how were other solutions given to the city? This started as a water distribution bid that was awarded to Kimmons, and then it morphed into this huge disaster of a project. It was just handed to them. I want to know why. And what about CSX railroad issue? You know what that's going to happen there? A change order, more money. What about the possibility of hitting limestone 10 feet down? Change order, more money. And as for Palma Sea of Pines, stop lying to them. This is not going to help them in the first round. It won't. So if you vote yes, we'll be watching closely. If you vote yes, we can only consider that maybe you have an ulterior motive that none of us are privy to. If you vote yes, it means you're not considering what the experts are telling you. Do the right thing and vote no. And look at an alternative plan of collection in those ponds and a release plan that makes sense.

Thank you. The next two people to queue up will be Michael Stewart and Linda Stewart. I'm sorry, Lindsay Stewart.

Michael Deiser. Michael Disser, good morning. I have six kind of random yet relevant angles in this matter. One, I suffered a loss of a monetary loss at the corner of Audubon and Swan in the storms. The building has been renovated, repaired, but if another storm hits, it's going to happen again as part of owning real estate in that area. Two, my ex-wife lives in Parkland Estates and I have two young girls. When my girls stay with their mom, I don't worry about them if a storm hits. She's at 2711 West Fountain. Number three, I owned, I lived in Parkland Estates. I owned 2804 West Parkland Boulevard. It sold a year ago, 13 months ago. It set a record for sales. The new owner is putting an additional $3 million at the house. That's Parkland Estates. Not everyone that lives in Parkland Estates represents Parkland Estates. I since moved to Chitton, but that house didn't flood. It's probably the highest valued house in Parkland Estates. Number four, I sold that house to buy more commercial real estate on South Howard Avenue. I own 410 S. Howard, 402 S. Howard, 301 S. Howard, 302, 304, 306, 308 S. Howard. I own 305 S. Westland, which is residential. I own 311 S. Westland, sorry, 305 S. Westland, 311 S. Westland, 2205 W. Deziel, combined real estate value of about $24 million. This is north of the project, but this impacts me significantly because people that go to Epicurean, go to Burns, go to Ava, go to whatever, then trickle up the street to my businesses. I represent 162 employees, so probably more than everyone in this room as far as just people. Obviously, there are bigger corporations, bigger landowners than myself, but this is significant to myself and my family. Lastly, people that live in parking lot states that are impacted or flooded can sell. No one's losing property value because of this. They can sell for more than they probably own or owe on it. So businesses can't just sell randomly. It's a closed, small market. It's by businesses like us, restaurants, bars, hotels, doctor's offices. So obviously, I'm going to ask you to vote no. But I think there's more to the story than being told by certain people. Thank you.

DAVID ADAMS FOLLOWED BY THE OTHER ASHLEY, ASHLEY MORON, NOT MORON. DAVID.

GOOD MORNING, DAVID ADAMS. I LIVE IN PARKLAND ESTATES. Look, the flooding in Parkland Estates and Palmacea Pines is unbearable. It's two to three feet of water at the street level, and it's happened four times in the last 40 days. This is not a hurricane problem. This flooding problem must be fixed. Managing a stormwater system is a core government function, and this project provides a solution to the flooding. You have signed and sealed engineering drawings that prove that the solution works. The city has a contract with Kimmons Contracting with a performance bond, which requires Kimmons to complete the project. The solution not only fixes Palma Sea of Pines and Parkland Estates, but this is a generational project. It's going to have multiple neighborhoods that are going to be tied into it and will provide benefits to the city and the neighborhoods around it for years to come. I know the project will be inconvenient. Look, as many people have said, we will do our very best to support the businesses during construction and so will Kimmons. The alternative suggested by the opposition is not effective and will include laying pipes through Parkland Estates and through New Suburb Beautiful. Council's already denied a solution that goes through the neighborhoods. This is a commercial project that needs to go down commercial roads and through commercial districts. If City Council doesn't vote to begin this project, then the price freeze and the Kimmons guaranteed maximum contract will expire, I believe, in October. Again, the $7.7 million of engineering fees will be wasted, and the $21 million pledged by FDEP and the Crosstown Expressway will also be wasted. The next solution undoubtedly will be more expensive. More homes and businesses will flood, the residents will not receive the medical care they deserve, and the problem's not going away. I trust these engineers over here. They've done their job. They've done their homework. And I have faith that this council will do the right thing and pass this project. We've been waiting for 11 years. And there is no plan B. This is it. Thank you.

Thank you, David. Ashley, and then the next in the queue is Carissa Stevenson and Michelle Mastrochitaro.

Good morning. Ashley Moran. Please vote yes today. Our one-story home, not in a flood zone, where I have lived for 26 years and raised my family, flooded completely in Milton. I was trapped with my elderly in-laws and dogs for nine hours. I don't want to have to sell my little home. I don't want that to be my only solution. I know there are competing views in the room and I know hard decisions will leave someone unhappy. We just want the chance to live safely in our homes. Please trust the engineering and evidence and vote yes today. Thank you.

Thank you for your brevity. Michael?

Thank you for your time today. My name is Michael Stewart. I'm the owner of Ava Restaurant and the newly opened Landon Restaurant on Howard Avenue. I've been on Howard Avenue for over 20 years, and my business partner is Joe Madden, the former Tampa Bay Rays manager. And we were talking about this all last night, about how we do oppose the project. Earlier today, you actually recognized charities that raise money, and you were giving out awards. I don't know if you know, but Joe Madden and nationally recognized charity event called Thanksmas. Been doing it every year even after he left Tampa as the Tampa Bay Rays manager to raise money for the homeless. That event will simply not happen again on Howard Avenue. And I'm not being dramatic. I'm speaking the truth. He completely shares my opposition. I just heard a doctor say, hey, why don't you just get a loan? Does he have any idea how hard it is to get a loan when you have no revenue? on businesses to borrow money through closures of restaurants. That's not talking about all my employees that are going to lose their job during this has nothing to do with money. And unlike other flood projects that I lived through on West shore and Estrella, which did not work during the flood, we are simply different. If you know, Howard Avenue, you know, we have the cross town expressway there. We have the railroad tracks. I don't want to be sitting here two years from now going, oh, I told you so. because that doesn't make my life any easier. But I can tell you now, on record, there is absolutely no way that you're going to get the traffic through these neighborhoods. I've seen Swan close for four hours one day, and I was backed up all the way to Henderson. And I ask you, and I know I'm not allowed to look behind me, but the people sitting behind me represent probably 100 people. That's one restaurant would employ the people behind me. And I just want you to look at their faces and everybody back there, and some of them actually do work for me. This is the amount of people that if this project goes through, affects one restaurant. You wanna multiply that by 40 businesses, and then their families, we're talking tens of thousands of people. I'll be short and just plead for you to vote no. Thank you, Michael.

Okay, we've got Lindsey, and then the next in the queue is gonna be Tina Adams and Pam Cannella.

Good morning, I'm Lindsey Stewart. I'm the owner of Landon and Ava. He's my partner. A vote for this project is a vote that puts 37 small locally owned businesses and the people they employ at serious risk while large contractors stand to receive millions of dollars. We all support improving Tampa's infrastructure and reducing the flooding in our neighborhoods, but we have not been shown convincing evidence that this plan will deliver the promised results or that every reasonable alternative has been fully explored. Please consider other routes to connect Swan Pond and make the use of the recreational park. There is always another option besides tearing up Howard Avenue and forcing businesses to close. Businesses along Manhattan Avenue suffer tremendously even though two lanes remained open. Howard Avenue would even be more vulnerable because it is constrained by the Crosstown Expressway and has no practical alternative routes. The proposal will use a social media campaign to offset lost businesses in an acknowledgement that the city knows this project will hurt revenue and eliminate jobs. Social media posts will not replace lost customers, lost income, or lost jobs. If money is available for marketing, why isn't it directed financially to assist available to the businesses and employees being harmed? That question deserves an answer. Please reject this plan and demand a solution that addresses flooding without destroying the small businesses that make Temple special. Thank you.

Thank you. Carissa, followed by Michelle. Tina, it's not you yet. Oh, it's not me. You're back in line. Carissa.

Carissa Stevenson. Good morning, Council. I'm a waitress at Alva, the Italian restaurant on South Howard Avenue. I've been working at Alva and living in Tampa for over a year now. I'm 21 years old, supporting myself completely with this job. Howard has well over 800 employees just like me who depend on this job to survive. I'm here to represent all of them. The young people my age trying to get through college, the mothers who have to pick up an extra shift after their regular job so they can buy their child new clothes for school, then the cooks in the back who are just trying to make ends meet, and the managers and chefs who have worked their entire lives working towards his career. Joe Madden, the co-owner of Ava, has been using this restaurant to host our yearly events that raise money for the hungry and the homeless. These are not just businesses on a construction map. These are real people, real families, and real livelihoods that will be affected. Please consider the human cost of this project and vote no. Thank you.

Thank you for your brevity, Kristen. Okay, we've got Michelle. Michelle, Mr. Tavaro followed by Tina and followed by Pam. And then the next two in the queue are Morgan Cattill and Tony Brown.

Good morning. I wanted to greet Bryce today because we're very excited about Agenda 71 and I'm really grateful. Bryce say hi to everybody. Hi. He likes one certain name.

Start with your name Michelle.

Say hi. Hi. As everyone knows, he just beat cancer, and we lost our home during Helena.

Start with your name.

Oh, sorry. My name is Michelle Mastro-Tatara, and I am here as a resident, a parent, a taxpayer, a homeowner, asking you to make a responsible decision, one that protects Tappan Track. The neighborhood across the Tampa still is waiting for stormwater relief. In 2024, while caring for my sick child, my family lost everything in the flood. We survived, but we should not have to live in fear of losing everything again. And this is why I fight. I show up, I say no, and I hope the South Howard Project does not follow through because it will allocate all the funds and it will not help anybody after that. Tappan Track Park is not simply an open space. It is a protected natural resource for a critical part of our drainage system. So we have no drainage. That is our drainage. And it's been eroded, it's damaged, it's altered, threatening the park's ecosystem, the wildlife. The wildlife is... It's really bad, it's going. Our neighborhood is in a low-lying area and we face three interconnected threats, tidal flooding, stormwater flooding, and wastewater infrastructure failure. The gravity system is not functioning as it should. The drainage connection effect to tap and track review nearby developments and stormwater control and requires corrective action. we are needed. Stabilize the park of vulnerable drainage features through repair, monitoring and public emergency response procedures to provide clear schedule and funding status. Prescott pump rehabilitation was started and it's still not in effect. It was funded and it's been delayed a couple of months now. It should have been done in July. That has not been I just want to say please reconsider other alternatives. I don't want areas that are in need of help, all this money being allocated to one area that everybody else needs assistance. We don't fight for our future. Who do we fight for? I mean, this is our families.

Thank you, Michelle.

Thank you. Please help us.

Thank you, Tina. And is Morgan Cattill in the room? And Tony Brown, if you could queue up on the wall, please. Tina, start with your name. You have three minutes.

Yes. I'm Tina Adams, and I'm going to play a video from one of my neighbors. who wasn't able to be here today.

I cannot be there today because of work. So I've asked a neighbor to play this. I understand the room might be filled with people who work on South Howard that are objecting to this project because they fear their jobs might be in jeopardy. I do not begrudge them that concern, but I would like to know where the concern is for the people who lose their jobs when they have no building to work in at all because the office is flooded or the people who have no place to live for months because their homes flooded. This project will be staged. There will be advanced warning and the city is providing resources to support the businesses while construction moves down Howard Avenue. There is no advanced warning and there is no support for us when our homes and our businesses flood. Just like there is no ferry to bring us home or to work or to bring customers or patients or clients to our businesses when a simple thunderstorm makes streets impassable on a summer afternoon. The project is not cheap, but a no vote today will have a cost too. 24 routes have been vetted. This is the least expensive, most efficient option. There is no other plan. You will be telling policy of businesses that their total closure is less important than South Howard slowdowns. You will be telling homeowners that you're okay with their homes flooding, again. You will be telling every person who takes the artery of Swan Avenue during heavy rain that their safety is not sufficiently important. It's just not an acceptable answer. A yes vote today is a recognition that we are on borrowed time. There will never be a route that pleases everyone. There will never be a convenient time. There will never be a perfect solution. But there will always be a need to effectively manage stormwater to protect lives and businesses. The time is now to begin this project. And to everyone in the room, I would say we are neighbors. Safety should never be something we have to fight for in Tampa. We owe it to each other to come together to ensure the safety and security of our homes and our livelihoods. I ask the council to vote yes and to call for unity.

And I just want to say she's very eloquent and I agree with everything she says.

Thank you. Okay, thank you for that. And the next person in the queue is Allison Burns. The next speaker is Pam Cannella. Allison Burns, if you'd line up against the wall, please. Okay, start with your name, please. You have three minutes.

My name is Pam Cannella. I'm definitely against the Howard Project. This is Bayshore. You need to ask yourself, where will millions of gallons of stormwater go if all is directed to Bayshore and Howard? We were all devastated by the flooding in 2024. My own family had floodwaters in their home and sat on the dining room table until the water went down. But this decision, no matter how hard, must be based on facts, not sympathy or personal emotion. The Vulnerability Assessment 2025 explains outfall can function in reverse. It allows the water to back up into the system and exit at the connected inlets. Drainage systems are designed to disperse stormwater runoff across many systems to different outfalls, like our existing system. Research shows stormwater models produce major errors. How will the city do maintenance? They haven't been able to address our existing ponds, ditches, and drains. There is a plan B. Fix Cleveland Basin. AMI Hospital and Zompon. I want to address the Tappan Track Park. The revitalization of Tappan Track Park needs to be addressed. This is a unique and lesser-known park, but its undeveloped nature preserved with its mangroves provide a natural barrier for flood control during surges and heavy rains. As long as it remains open and undeveloped, it acts as a natural sponge, absorbing stormwater and an asset to controlling flooding for the neighborhoods in that area. The recent 2024 hurricane caused erosion and reshaping of this park, upsetting the natural flow for stormwater drainage and the sanctuary for local wildlife and native plants. Please consider preserving Tappan Track Park, one of Florida's old native wetlands, and to control flooding for residents of that neighborhood. Thank you.

Next speaker is Morgan Cattill, followed by Tony Brown, Alison Burns, Harry Coleman, and Tom Van Lloyd. Morgan, start with your name, please.

My name is Morgan Cahill. I've lived in Tampa my entire life. I'm a fifth generation Tampa native, actually. I've lived in Channelside since 2017 on top of that. So I've seen and experienced a lot of different construction projects that you guys have had throughout our city. I know that Tampa is capable of developing a more creative and thoughtful plan, one that supports not only our residents and hospitals in need, while minimizing the negative impacts on the businesses and communities surrounding this project. I'm a restaurant manager at the Landon, and I'm responsible for providing my employees with a safe and accessible workplace. They need to be able to get in and out safely. Our vendors need access for deliveries. Emergency services need to be able to get there if we have an issue there. And our customers need a safe and reasonable way to get to our business. How am I supposed to fulfill those responsibilities if access to a workplace is significantly limited? For a restaurant, access is our livelihood. Restricted access means fewer customers, operational challenges, and potentially fewer jobs. This affects not just one business, but the employees and the businesses throughout the area. I'm not asking the city to stop addressing the flooding. I'm asking you to make sure solving one problem doesn't call multiple others. Please work with the local businesses to maintain safe, reliable access throughout those projects so that we can continue serving our community and be there once the project's finished. Thank you.

Thank you for your brevity, Morgan. Okay, Tony. Allison Burns, are you in the audience? Allison, if you're on the second floor, please come to Council Chambers. Harry Coleman. Harry Coleman, would you please line up against the wall? And Tom Van Lloyd, line somewhere. I don't know what the last name is, but if you're downstairs on the second floor, if you're in Council Chambers, please come up and line against the wall. Tony, go ahead, start with your name. You have three minutes.

Tony Brown. I am a server in the Hyde Park, Soho area. I want to say that I vote no on this issue. I do believe that there could be some kind of better middle ground to be found from what I know. I do represent, I do personally feel like I represent all the hospitality and wait staff in the area. I do think that the effect will be worse for the businesses. And yeah, there's voting no on the issue.

Thank you very much, Tony. Thanks for your brevity. Okay, Allison Burns, Harry Coleman, and then Tom. And after that's Jan McCabe, I think. Harry Coleman. Go ahead, start with your name. You have three minutes.

Harry Coleman, thank you so much. Please ask that you vote yes for this amendment. And again, I wanna thank you council for asking the hard questions. I went back through the transcripts, 41 meeting days, 190 remarks from the council members. You press the admin on the project about costs, about alternatives, administration, business disruption, maintenance, transparency, and that all matters. It's forced the city, it's forced the project team to explain their assumptions, to consider alternatives, change the design, and make commitments about how it will all be managed. And that's what the process is supposed to do. But there's a danger in spending years editing something. Soon you only see the edits. We've spent an enormous amount of time imagining what might go wrong, the construction, the noise, the traffic, the inconvenience, the cost, and they're all legitimate. But before this decision is finished, I hope we also spend a moment imagining what could go right. Imagine South Howard 10 or 15 years from now when nobody remembers the construction. The stormwater system beneath us is working. Children who are growing up in the neighborhood today are raising their own families here, benefiting from infrastructure that was built before they were old enough to understand why we needed it. And this isn't necessarily the end of the system. The city has described this as a spine for future flood relief, infrastructure that other surrounding areas can connect into rather than starting from scratch like we are now. And above ground, imagine Howard after the streetscape is rebuilt. Wider sidewalks, landscaping, better places to walk, shop, and eat. These improvements are part of the city's stated project plan. And then imagine what follows from that. The vacant lots and the underused properties that we see there today don't remain that way. They are new businesses, they are new investments, and they are new customers for businesses that already make South Howard special. None of that means ignoring the disruption required to get there. It simply means that when we picture the future, the construction shouldn't be the last picture in our head. We've spent years carefully imagining the things that could go wrong, but before this process concludes, I hope we remember to imagine the best case scenario too. Please vote yes.

Thank you, Harry. Tom, followed by Jan, followed by Ty Ray, and Robert Caley, and Ashley View. Tom, start with your name. You have three minutes.

My name is Tom Van Zandt. I'm Secretary of Parkland State Civic Club. The Civic Club and our neighbors in Parkland strongly support this project. The streets of our neighborhood are impassable during a strong thunderstorm. We've had flooding three, four times in the last 60 days. It's unable to pass. The streets are impassable. Emergency vehicles and cars are unable to move through the streets, patients in emergency vehicles are unable to leave or enter the hospital or doctor's offices. I've lived in Parkland for 28 years. The flooding, we moved there and we were told We moved from Maryland, and we were told there was not flooding in that area. We had no flooding until 2015. The construction north of us has created all this flooding into the neighborhood. We understand that this isn't going to protect us during a hurricane, but we just need flood relief during a strong thunderstorm. Tampa's a large and rapidly growing city, and this flood project would work as a starting point for other neighborhoods to to tie into this for future flood relief. Please fund this project and keep the neighborhood and the citizens of Tampa safe. Thank you. Thank you, Tom.

Jan, followed by Tyree.

Good morning. My name is Jan McCabe. I'm the treasurer of the Parkland Estates Civic Club. I have lived on Lakeview Road in Parkland Estates for 26 years. During that time, we have seen our neighbors and friends lose their cars in flooded areas, flooded homes outside of hurricane season, and have watched several times our Lakeview Road house literally become waterfront property, all within minutes. Then with the last hurricane, we lost both cars, we had our home flooded, but not nearly as bad as our friends and neighbors close by. We were the lucky ones. It was heartbreaking to know that they were contemplating just walking away from their homes. We ask that you please approve this flood relief project. Thank you.

Thank you for your brevity. Ty Ray, followed by Robert Caley, followed by Ashley View, and then the next people in the queue that will line up against the wall are Jared Dyer and Stephen Michelini.

Good morning, council members. My name is Teray May. I'm a single mother. I'm a South Tampa resident and a Love, Inc. client. I'm here today in support of moving the South Howard Flood Relief Project forward. For me, flooding in South Tampa isn't something I've just read about in reports. I've experienced it. Recently, I was driving home on Bayshore Boulevard during heavy rain, and I genuinely became afraid that I wasn't going to make it home. Bay Shore was submerged, the water was over the curb, cars around me had their hazard flashing lights on, and as I continued driving, I became increasingly anxious because I didn't know how deep the water was getting or whether my SUV would make it through. My first thought was to get off of Bayshore. As I started looking for a residential street I could turn onto, I could not find a way home, but that's when I realized there really wasn't a way out. The residential streets leading away from Bayshore were deeply flooded too. I felt trapped, and that experience changed the way I think about storm water infrastructure, This isn't simply about inconvenience or having water in the street. It's about whether residents can safely get home. It's about emergency access. It's about protecting our neighborhoods and making sure our infrastructure can handle the realities we're facing and experiencing. The city identifies flooding relief, water quality improvements, upgrade utilities, repave roads, and a reimagined street escape among the benefits of this project. So today I'm asking that you continue investing in solutions that address these problems and to support partners who can help deliver them. So I support moving this project forward. Please vote yes. South Tampa residents shouldn't have to wonder whether we're going to make it home safely. Thank you.

Thank you. Robert Kelly, followed by Ashley.

Good morning, Council. Robert Kelly. I live at 2603 West Fountain Boulevard. I've been a resident of Parkland Estates for 40 years, the last 32 of which on Fountain, and I back up to Swan. And as other speakers have said, when we bought our property, we didn't have a flooding problem there. It only started happening about 10 years ago. This project doesn't just benefit a few hundred houses and businesses. It's vital to protect the Swan Avenue east-west corridor that's traversed by thousands of vehicles a day and provides critical access to the hospital and other healthcare providers. Metaphorically speaking, I and the other affected residents feel like we are castaways adrift in the Gulf on a life raft, waiting for someone to come get us. That someone is you. And on the horizon, we see a helicopter heading our way. And all of a sudden, our spirits are uplifted. Help is coming. That helicopter hovers over us. And the basket has dropped, but it stops before it gets to us. That represents the money you've invested already in this project. We can't understand why the basket is not being lowered all the way to the raft to rescue us. That's where we are today. By your vote, you either choose to abandon us or to save us. I hope it's the latter. Thank you. Thank you for brevity.

Ashley followed by Jared and the next folks to queue are Stephanie Poynter and Marty Milberg.

Hi, I'm Ashley Vu. I'm the owner of the nail salon on 2511 Swan Avenue. I get this year, I get to witness the rising water to the sidewalk of the building. just from the summer rain. I live in fear. I'm terrified, thinking of the next storm coming. Please vote yes. Please save my business and the neighborhood homes. Thank you.

Thank you, Ashley. Jared, followed by Steven.

Good morning, my name is Jared Dyer. I'm a business owner on South Howard. The city and the proponents of this project keep saying there's no other option, but that's inaccurate. Every option or route that they studied, the 24 or whatever, were all huge trenches. They were all huge trenches through different parts of the city Various reasons they can't all work, got that. But how can the residents and the city not be even remotely interested in exploring a vault solution? It would be faster, more localized, and less expensive. There's no risk of damaging structures along Howard Avenue. There's no business losses, no mitigating FDEP contamination sites, et cetera. I've heard criticisms that the vault option would mean construction in Palmesia, Pines, and Parkland Estates. But why is that bad? The whole project is for them. They're the ones who need the relief, and they're the ones who get all of the benefit. That is where the construction should be, not forced on another section of town that has nothing to do with the flooding and gets no benefit. A few minutes ago, someone said that this is a commercial project. Yes, there are some businesses that will be helped, but let's be clear. This project is overwhelmingly meant to provide relief to the homeowners. In what universe could a project whose entire existence is to help two fairly wealthy neighborhoods possibly be considered a commercial project? I hate that Parkland Estates and Palma de Silla Pines endure the flooding that they do. It's terrible. I've seen the things for the last two years since the hurricanes. The first meeting I had about this was four years ago in 2022. It's so obvious that a solution needs to be done. If I can end with a weak analogy, if I need a root canal, I can't have you sit in the chair for me. I have to go through the process myself. It's not something you can put on someone else and then be like, oh, I'm so glad. I feel so much better. I'm not worried about what happened to them. That's not right. So I just urge you to please vote no today.

Thank you. Thank you, Jared. Stephen, Stephanie Poynter, you're in the queue. Stephanie and David Deloach.

Stephen, start with your name, please. Steve Michelinie, good morning, council. You're being asked to do a number of things, all of which are suspect. You're being asked to ignore the millions of dollars of exclusions in the GMP. Those exclusions must be paid for by the city. You've ignored the fact, or you're being asked to ignore the fact that you're taking stormwater assessment fees and you're shifting them from citywide to one specific project, which is not allowed. You're ignoring the false promises, the ones regarding Palmacy of Pines. These people have been told they're gonna be serviced and helped. They will not be helped under phase one at all, and there's no funding for phase two. You've been asked to ignore the emails between the city staff, where they deliberately have said that they are trying to mislead the council and withhold information from you. We have the emails. You've been asked to ignore the fact that the city and the stormwater fees for five years will be diverted 100% to this project. No other funding will be available for the rest of the city. You've been asked to ignore the fact that 13 funded projects will be removed and that money will be shifted to this project. You've been asked to ignore the fact that the real costs come in at more than $150 million and that price tag is going up. You've been asked to ignore the fact that the documents that were withheld from us under public information have been withheld for over six months since January. And the ability to analyze what's going on with this project is compromised because of that. You've been asked to ignore the fact that the CSX Railway crossing is insufficient and is too small, will require additional permitting. And the fact is, they probably are going to abandon the whole reason that they were going down Howard in the first place was the culvert in South Howard. You've been asked to ignore the fact that flooding will still occur. This is not hurricane flooding. Normal rainwater flooding will still occur. You've been asked to ignore the fact that the Cleveland Basin fails, and that's really the origin of the flooding on Swan. You've been asked to ignore the fact that there are no parallel streets for access to any of this, and there is no significant substitute for providing access to any of these businesses. You've been asked to ignore the fact that there were $50 million in state grants were denied because they didn't prove the cost and the need, and they didn't prove the fact that any benefit was going to occur for that amount of money. You've been asked to ignore the fact that environmental contamination exists, and there's no plan for that except the city to pay for it. You've been asked to ignore the fact that they've been given false hopes, false dreams, broken promises, and here we stand. Please deny this and move forward. Let us come up with a reasonable solution.

Thank you, Stephen. Stephanie Poynter, Marty Milberg, Hank Fishkind, followed by David Loach. Stephanie Poynter, start with your name. You have three minutes.

Good morning, Stephanie Poynter. First of all, I want to give a shout out to Chief Bennett because I know that Feeding Tampa Bay would not have gotten as far as they have with Tampa Hope had it not been for him pushing for it and his genuine need for the homeless. I'm going to talk about the things that are on the agenda first. Number 10 and number 43, I wonder why they don't go together. I mean, one is a grant for high income incident issues where TPD would be able to pay overtime for officers to be there. I can tell you right now that I could speak to many folks and tell you that I hadn't seen many of those folks hanging out doing overtime. issuing traffic tickets in our community. But I'd like to see it overlap. Number 33 through 35 is for legal services through 2029. Why are we spending money that we don't have yet and we haven't set the budget for it? And what legal services are these three firms providing for us? And we'll get back to the... item at hand, which I think everybody's wasting their time and their breath talking about, because if anybody up there hasn't made a decision already, I'd fall out on the floor. I thought it was interesting that somebody said that you're telling the homeowners who flooded last time that they should do without and that they don't care if they flood. Well, what about the other thousands of people? And I don't have those numbers from the city. I have requested them about two weeks ago. to know the numbers and the addresses and make a little chart that looks like the counties about where the flooding was and where the damages were and we've gotten nothing back from the city on that um and this howard avenue project what concerns me about this is all the time that i've been hanging out down here and coming around i've never seen robin peter to pay paul before but yet South Howard is gonna rob Peter to pay Paul. So we're gonna rob other communities of their projects in order to pay for this. Then, on top of that, this week, we've got Swan Park, which is two blocks away from Howard Avenue. And there was a list that was circulated by Revenue and Finance to rob Peter to pay Paul.

Restricted on the agenda items today.

Yeah, this is on the agenda. And then next, last but not least, you know, if those lines are broken for CXX, when staff came up here over and over and over and over and over and over and over again and said, we have to go down Howard because that's the path of least resistance. Was that a lie? I don't know.

Thank you, Stephanie. Marty Milberg, followed by Hank Fishkamp, followed by David, followed by Susan Fernandez, and then Steve Garnish.

Marty Milberg, I'm a professional engineer with 40 years of experience in geotechnical engineering. I live on West Watrous Avenue, a block or two from this project. I've talked to you a couple times before. I haven't been hired by the South Howard community. I'm here as a neighbor. I do soil borings for a living. You were told that this is a, you know, typical job. It's not. This is not a typical 5 to 10 foot deep excavation. This is a 20 foot deep trench, 19 feet to be specific. It is going to be below the water table. The water table is about two or three feet deep. It's going to be 10 or 15 feet away from buildings. It is a major infrastructure project. The contractor has represented that he'd be able to do this with a trench box. That's absolutely not accurate. The biggest trench box I've ever seen is maybe six feet. How are you going to get a 12-foot-wide object inside a 6-foot-wide? And I say 12-foot-wide because you've got a 10-foot-square box culvert with a 1-foot-thick wall. That's 12 feet. You're not going to get it inside a trench box. So this issue has been ignored, hasn't been addressed by the contractor or the design team. There are over 600 sheets into 60% design. And that has not, shoring, protecting this excavation, there's not on one sheet. There was mention earlier, there's signed and sealed plans. No, there's not. Nobody has addressed, there's no plans for the shoring. And I can absolutely assure you with certainty, 100% certainty, you will need to shore this. And actually if I'm wrong, I'm a professional engineer, if I'm misrepresenting this intentionally, I'm subject to civil penalties for this. I'm telling you, and I have a vested interest in being right, so at the very minimum it's going to cost another $25 million to shore this project, probably more on the order of 50. I came up with maybe 108 million for something that will certainly work. This $92 million guaranteed maximum price excludes that, it excludes any contamination. So the dewatering when you hit limestone, not in there. One other thing I wanted to talk about is there's been mentioned that there is no other solution. Well, there's other solutions and they've been misrepresented by the city. You could basically, here's the center of the flooding in in the neighborhood. You take the, you pipe it over, you pump it over, you put a pump here. It costs about 25, the city of St. Petersburg has four active pumping stations. They got two more on the books. They say it costs between 20 and 33 million. I got 25 million in the budget for that. I've got $4 million to run the pipe from the pump station to Howard Avenue. I've got $6 million, and these are quotes from contractors, to do a horizontal drill. $40 million to do this project. There is an alternative. The city has misrepresented that. Thank you.

Okay, no clapping. If that again, I'll call you out of order, and I'll ask you to leave the council chambers. Okay, Hank, followed by David, and the next person in the queue is Carol Ann Bennett.

Good morning, council members. I'm Dr. Hank Fishkind, Fishkind Consulting. I was retained by the South Howard Business Alliance to conduct an economic analysis and cost-benefit review of the project. So let me share with you my findings. The first thing that I did was to look at the cost-benefit analysis in engineering preliminary designs, and I noticed a glaring omission. There was no analysis of the loss of business sales during the conduct of the construction along South Howard. The professional literature is very extensive, very clear that construction like this has significant disrupting effects and causes a loss of sale for the adjacent businesses. I analyzed what this would cost here, looking at each business, business by business. What did they sell? How long would the trench be in front of their business? How long would the disruption occur? And based on the professional literature and the analysis of each and every business, during the 43 months of duration of this project, we'll lose almost $100 million of sales. That loss of $100 million of sales translates into additional economic impacts. I use what's called the in-plan model. It's a big input-output model used professionally by the state of Florida and economists to determine and translate how much does the loss of sales of $100 million mean in terms of employment and lost economic output. 1,100 jobs are likely at risk here from this alone. Furthermore, the next step was, to look at the calendar and to look at the costs of the project. As the gentleman before me just mentioned, the cost of the project is estimated now at $100 million. There are a number of items that were not included in that budget, including the Bayshore outfall, dealing with contaminated sites along the route of the project, the CSX Bayshore outfall, shoring, et cetera. Those would take the cost from $100 million to about $150 million. And each one of those six missions increases the length of time it takes to build the thing. So it goes from 43 months to 67 months. So that's additional time that would generate additional lost sales of over $154 million. Finally, I put it all together to get the costs and the benefits. On the left is the city's plan. The cost of the city's plan is over $300 million. It's $150 million for the project itself. It's over $150 million of lost sales. The benefits, if we accept the city's benefits, the benefits being 118 million, the cost benefit analysis is .38, minus $189 million for the project as planned. Thank you very much.

Please make sure y'all's phones are muted. David, start with your name, please.

Thank you, David Deloach. Good morning. I'm a professional engineer with Deloach Engineering Science out of Orlando. I've been retained by the SoHo Business Alliance. I have modeled these neighborhoods in the same model framework that the city's consultant has used. Flooding in Parkland Estates and Palmisea Pines has two causes. The first is local. The bowl has nowhere to put water. The second is regional. The city's engineering report says that when the Cleveland Street outfall is overwhelmed, water backs up. It's actually diverted into the AMI pond. and floods Palmisea Pines. It then flows overland to Parkland Estates, and this is in the same five-year storm project that the project is designed for. Staff told you on September 3rd that the Cleveland system is undersized and overburdened, but that there was no plan to fix it. Instead, the city's plan builds a 6,000-foot trunk line out of the basin down South Howard, leaving the source untouched. Our concept does the opposite. Put storage where the flooding is, three underground vaults, 46 acre feet at the AMI pond, at the Parkland Estates open space, and at the Zahn Pond, with pumps that empty them within just a couple of days, flowing by gravity through the existing Parkland outfall, and fix Cleveland Street. This is the needed correction that the city's own studies have recommended over and over again since 1983. The existing railroad crossing stays in service. Nothing's needed at the sealed Bayshore outfall, and there's no trench on South Howard. We ran this in the city's model framework for the city's design storm, and both results are shown here on the city's own map. Purple is flooding removed. The city's phase one clears Parkland Estates, but leaves most of Palma Sella Pines blue. The city's report assigns those flooded streets to an unfunded future phase. From the map, only 65% of flooding is removed. A Cleveland fix plus three local vaults turns both neighborhoods purple. Roughly 90% of today's flood area would be removed. These are planning level results, but that's 65% removal against 90%. So get the local vaults operating quickly. in about 16 to 18 months, not 20, 30. Work in three discrete sites, not along a 19-foot canyon between a mile of occupied buildings. And Palmisea Pines gets relief in the first module, not in a phase two with no money and no date. It's roughly $86 million with no contingency, 104 if you assign a 20% contingency. That's comparable to the $100 million packages in front of you before all those other exclusions that have been mentioned run at higher. Please vote no. There is one alternative that does more.

Thank you. Suzanne Fernandez, followed by Steve. Good morning. Start with your name.

I'm Suzanne Fernandez. I'm a small business owner in Palmesia Pines. And I'm here to ask you to please vote yes for the South Howard Flood Relief Project. The proposed plan is not perfect. There is no perfect plan. The problem is the current flooding threatens our safety and actually the safety of citizens in far reaching communities that have to commute into our area for work. The flooding occurs after a typical summer rainstorm. We're not talking about extraordinary events like Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The plan on the table today will keep over 90% of the structural flooding from happening in Parkland Estates and Palmacea Pines. Do you realize what this means for the residents and the businesses in the area? It means that we don't have to face months of reconstruction. It doesn't mean that we lose. It means that we don't lose the items in our homes that aren't covered by flood insurance, which the federal flood insurance plan covers actually covers very little of the damage caused by flooding. It's on a depreciated schedule instead of as a replacement schedule. And it means that the people that work in the area can still come to work and get a paycheck. Otherwise, they're not going to get a paycheck for months. Under the current plan, Howard Avenue at the most is going to be closed for any one particular business at a time not to exceed six weeks. We've heard from business owners at Dale, Mabry, Morrison, and Henderson where a similar plan was built. They were able to remain open during the construction, and their intersections no longer flood. This plan will move the drainage from the AMA Pond, which is part of the Cleveland Basin now, to the South Howard Basin. The Cleveland system is overburdened. The water actually flows backwards in our area, in the Palmacia Pines area, into the AMA Pond, which causes additional flooding. This will take the AMA Pond and now move it to the Howard Avenue flood relief so that the backflow will no longer occur. This is particularly important to me because I have a property at the corner of the AMA pond. This plan is also expandable, allowing other neighborhoods that are experiencing flooding to be added to the system with no large infrastructure So please vote yes for the flood relief plan.

Thank you, Suzanne. Steve, and then the next in the queue behind Carol Ann Bennett against the wall would be Brad Dixon, Ed de la Parte, and Allison Date.

Hi, Steve Garish. I first wanted to start this off by just saying thank you to all of you. I feel like over these last two years we've developed some sort of a kinship. No matter which way you're voting or plan to vote on this topic, each and every one of you has spent an incredible amount of your personal time outside these chambers researching and deliberating about this issue. It's truly impressive, and I say thank you to all of you. Moving on from that, one thing I don't understand, and I would invite any Howard business owner to please educate me because I'm not a business owner. I don't know the answer to this, but it seems that if you're able to close your business completely for renovations or rebuilding for months or years and be just fine, why is it that six months, or I'm sorry, I misspoke, six weeks of street closure alone in front of your business would be catastrophic. That just doesn't make sense to me. And telling your employees that they're going to be fired seems very disingenuous. And if I was an employee of that business, I would be questioning the motives of my employer. So please educate me if you are speaking after me. Over the last two years, Council, you know obviously where I stand with the flooding in the neighborhood. It needs to be fixed. This is a huge project. If this gets voted down two years, four years, ten years from now, the next project that comes up is going to have problems and issues. There's going to be new people up here telling you why it's wrong. there's gonna be familiar faces telling you why it's wrong because they seem to have an issue with every city council agenda item. But there's always gonna be problems, but we need help. We need a solution. We need something to happen now. It's been 10 years and we need something to happen now. So thank you.

Thank you very much. Carol Ann Bennett followed by Brad Dixon.

Hi, my name is Carolyn Bennett. I'm here to speak on item 64, the change of the tree ordinance. There's some good things in it. The privately owned property, front yards and side yards, that's great. The list of additional things that the money can be used for in the one section, that's good too. But there's a couple things that... we as TTAG, I'm a founding member, would like for you to consider. We sent you an email yesterday and it's very informative and conclusive. In the one section, we would like you to add the words primarily type one and two. It's primarily, it's not exclusively or only, it's just primarily one or two. And we feel that this is necessary because Even though they say that their priority is type ones and twos, we don't see that in action. We only hear it in words. Years ago, the cheerleader finally begged you to put live oaks in front of fire stations. I've showed bus stops in the blazing sun with no power lines. Retention ponds, acres of retention ponds that have room for live oaks, not one of them has been planted, yet we can see all these plans for planting bottle brushes and crape myrtles. we need to just add primarily type one and two to reinforce that. There's also a section where it says, where it adds these good items, but it says not limited to. We don't like that language because honestly, we feel like it needs to be reinforced how the funds are being used. $151,000 of the fund was used to come up with plans. The code expressly, Prohibits that it expressly says what it can be used for it's solely for the selection acquisition installation and maintenance Nowhere does that include plans yet? They spent a hundred and fifty one thousand dollars for plans It didn't come to y'all y'all didn't approve it honestly I don't know who approved that transfer of money for plans because that's not part of the tree fund so we feel like the the fund has to be a little stronger in emphasizing that and So the thing where it has a list of items that are okay, but it says, but not limited to, but, but not limited is a giant hole that you can drive a semi truck through, which will end up with funds being spent that you all never even know about on things that it shouldn't be spent on. And lastly, the section where it says the tree trust fund may be used for defunding for funding department request upon city council motion and approval. Again, it encourages spending it on other things. It's also unnecessary. You already have that power. You can do that anytime you want. So we don't need to put it in the tree code to encourage the inappropriate expenditure of the funds. Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much.

I'm glad I don't have to vote on Sal Howard today.

Me too. Brad Dixon.

Good morning, Council. I'm here to talk about the South Tampa Flood Project. I'm a resident of Virginia Park for 17 years, but I've also been working in the hospitality industry for about 25 years on South Tampa. The plan you're voting on today is simply financially devastating to my fellow hospitality workers. Being where I work and where I live, I've seen what's happening in these neighborhoods, and it's obviously needs to be addressed. But the plan you're voting on is simply not fair. And there's a lot of smart people that have given you some alternatives today. I hope that you can consider them. And on behalf of all my hospitality workers, friends up and down Howard, please vote no today. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir.

Ed, followed by Allison. The next three in the queue are Fran Tate, Sheena McCoy, and Pamela Jackson-Haney. If I called your name, please go line up against the wall, please. Good morning, Council.

I think it's still morning. My name is Edward Dallapart. I represent the SoHo Business Alliance. And what I want to talk to you today is about the contract, the GMP, CSX Railroad and the impact that that will have. Two weeks ago, the chairman asked, is the city protected from change orders? And the contract answers that question. It isn't. Exhibit E to the GMP excludes in writing contaminated soil and water, the land at Parkland Estates and Swan, utility relocations, and the AMI pond work the permit requires. There is nothing priced in the GMP regarding shoring or bracing for the excavation. You heard from an engineer, Mr. Milberg over here, who's had 40 years of experience, that that is going to be necessary. And every exclusion that comes back as a change order carries an 8.5% fee. And the reason that's important is because under the Executive Order 2023-7, If the estimated cost of the original solicitation is double of what it was, and that was originally $65 million, if it reaches more than $130 million, this project has to be re-procured. Can you imagine this project midway in completion? You have to stop because the change orders now have carried it above $130 million, and then you have to go back and re-solicit someone to finish the project. The next thing is the CSX railroad. I can't imagine why this issue has not been resolved. According to our records, the city staff knew 17 months ago that that 5x10 culvert was going to be inadequate to meet the needs of the project when they sized the project to 10x12 and then later to 10x10. They had 17 months to get some sort of approval from CSX, and now I hear that on Friday, On Friday, they go ahead and apply for a permit for CSX for the first time. Well, that was not a surprise to them. They knew that that was a problem. Their current plan, according to our engineers, does not meet the requirements for CSX, whether it's the excavation for the 10 by 10 culvert or whether it's her 60-inch microtunnel. And what does this all mean in terms of the length of the project? 43 months is what they're estimating. And if you don't have to re-bid the project, and you have to go and fix all of these other items that are listed, that's going to make this project 67 months to complete. That's over five years. That's five years of damage to the Soho Business Alliance. That's five years that Parkland is not going to get relief. Thank you.

Again, we appreciate brevity so we can get out of here and have lunch and get through with the business and get a vote on this.

Good morning. I'll try and be brief. Thank you. I'm talking about Allison date. I'm talking about the tree trust fund. I'm a member of the Tampa tree advocacy group. And in here, actually on this form, it says it's providing for annual distribution of the Tree Trust Fund monies for the benefit of the tremendous Tampa, of Tree Tremendous Tampa. Well, that's only one thing that the fund has been used for. If it was only used for that, that would be fine. It would make all your job very easy. But unfortunately, the money's not only used for that one project. It's used for other things. And that's what we're concerned about, as Carol Ann mentioned. And our canopy was reduced in the 2022 urban report to 30% and now we've actually had another 5% that we know about since the hurricanes in 2024. So we are losing our canopy and there's not gonna be much left. We need to try and do everything we can save it and these funds are important for protecting it. and they need to be limited to planting, maintaining, and maintaining the canopy, not other things that the city might need because they don't have other funds. So I were asking you to be sure that you remove the words, as Carol Ann mentioned, that it not be limited to something or that other departments can use the funding that you don't even know about. And I already sent you an email about that too. So the funds may be used for funding department requests, but this doesn't mean, it's not meant for subsidizing the department, the department needs. And that's contrary to the intention of the document. So please remove the wording from the document so that the fund is used as intended to plant and maintain our canopy before it disappears. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Okay, someone has a phone that keeps digging for messages. Please mute that phone or we're gonna ask you to leave.

Okay, I should have another person against the wall. What's your name? Okay. She, uh, very good. And Pamela Jackson, uh, Haney, you'll be queued up against the wall, please. If you're in the room, if you're downstairs, please come to South chambers followed by Jamie Jones and Dana Jasper, Dana Jones and Dana Jack, Jamie Jones and Dana Jasper, please line up against the wall. Okay. Fran, thank you. Start with your name. You have three minutes.

Good morning. Chair Clinton and council members. I am Fran Tate East Tampa resident founder and president of the Jackson Heights neighborhood association. fourth year East Tampa CRA Community Advisory Committee member, recently appointed to the Public Nuisance Abatement Board. Elections have consequences. My voter registration card allows me to vote in districts one, two, three, and five races. Fran, remember this is about on the agenda. On August the 10th, the budget workshop where Mr. Campbell, Mobility Director, presented the stormwater budget and the projects. I noticed district five East Tampa stormwater project on Broadway Avenue and 56th Street was canceled. No one notified the community of this in a town hall meeting that could have taken place during the Tuesday town hall meeting that was recently occurring. We could have applied pressure then. My question is during public comment, do we get another project in East Tampa? Or where does that money go? No one answered. because all of you voted to cancel the project and allocate the funding to the South Howard project. We're the most underserved community in Tampa along with Sulphur Springs. This is unfair. Find another route to alleviate the flooding and stop blaming the lack of easement. It's a public and safety environmental issue on that highway, on that street. Mosquitoes are out there breeding in the standing water. They cause dengue fever now. One death has already occurred in Hillsborough County. Elections have consequences. Do the right thing. Enjoy your day.

Thank you, Fran. If you're downstairs on floor two, we have plenty of capacity up here. Come up to the second floor, third floor council chambers, please. Clear security if you're waiting to speak. I've got Ms. McCoy, followed by Pamela Jackson-Haney, followed by Jamie Jones, followed by Dana Casper. Is Jamie or Dana in the room? Dana Casper. Dana, okay, very good. Jamie or Pamela Jackson-Haney, are you in the room? Yeah, not. Valerie Bullock, if you're downstairs, please come up. and Sergret Doss will be after that. Go ahead, Ms. McCoy.

Good morning and hi, everyone, council people, chairman, McClendon.

Start with your name, please.

Hi. Well, my name is Reshma McCoy. I'm a resident here, mom, you know, homeowner in Sulphur Springs. I also sit on the board. And I'm commenting on lines 66 through 68. But first, I want to remind you that you committed to being on the front line of change. As you admitted in resolution 568, you know East Tampa has a highly undeserved, it's like we always hear, area And y'all come to us sometimes with a little bit of change, and to make a big difference in an area that y'all know is very under-deserved anyway. Underserved, I'm sorry. So I wanna blatantly say, do not take our money from our stormwater flooding project and give it to South Tampa Avenue. You all are wrong for voting for that. As residents, we are working very hard to make sure that the 2027 election will be a record-breaking turnout. East Tampa, along with a lot of standing issues, they are all fighting, and we all coming to you asking for help, and y'all are always looking for money. to help us. You know, we wanted to make a real difference. We're hoping that you would stand to your word and make a real difference. You can redeem yourselves in a good way, but we don't want any more gaslighting. Stop blaming easement issues and the like. We plainly just don't take our money and give it to South Tampa Avenue. Don't think we don't see y'all playing in our faces. Stop it. We want real change. We're holding you all accountable. We're watching. And I implore you to recognize the beauty in real community. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Pamela Jackson, are you here? Pamela Jackson, Haney? OK, going once, going twice, gone. Jamie Jones. Jamie Jones. If you hear me and you come into the room, please make yourself Your presence is known, and I'll call you up. Dana Jasper. Dana, start with your name, please. You have three minutes. Start with your name, please. Start with your name, please. We've got to get going.

Good morning, Council. Dana Jasper, thank you so much for the opportunity to speak this morning. I want to focus on one issue. That has to do with councils being asked to approve $92.7 million contract while issues remain unresolved at the CSX railroad crossing. I understand that CSX requires designs to be far enough along before it will do a permit review. The last council meeting, John Zemina from Kimmons told council our design is ready to go to them and that CSX requires 25,000 to begin its review. Kimmons was awarded a $7.7 million contract in 2024 with permitting assistance that included submitting permit applications. The design fees specify nearly $50,000 for permitting assistance plus more than $1.8 million in allowances and incidentals. The submittal schedule shows that permit applications are to be complete at the 60% design stage. Despite the design being ready to go, and despite a contract with funds designated for permit applications, the CSS permit application apparently was only turned in last Friday. THE COUNCIL, THIS IS MORE THAN JUST A MINOR PERMITTING ISSUE. IN 2024, FORMER DIRECTOR OF MOBILITY VIC BIDET TOLD COUNCIL THAT CSX COORDINATION IS A CRITICAL FACTOR AND WARNED IT CAN DELAY ANY PROJECT BY SEVERAL YEARS AND THAT IT HAS HAPPENED BEFORE. THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT UNANSWERED QUESTIONS. One suggested approach is to use the existing smaller box culvert and add a microtunnel next to it. But information obtained by subpoena indicates the culvert has holes in the slabs and ground waters flowing in. It is unrealistic to assume CSX will approve the use of a damaged 50-year-old culvert beneath its active railroad. THE OTHER APPROACH IS OPEN CUT CONSTRUCTION FOR A NEW LARGER BOX COVERT WHICH COUNCIL WAS TOLD COULD HAVE SAVED APPROXIMATELY $3 MILLION. THE CSX SPECIFICATION MANUAL STATES THAT OPEN CUT IS NOT READILY ACCEPTED PRACTICE. Proceeding with construction at Bayshore and moving toward the railroad crossing before knowing what CSX may or may not allow or what additional requirements it may impose could literally send this project off the rails on a crazy train. Council needs answers before Committee $92.7 million, not after construction is already underway. I ask Council to deny the $92.7 million contract. They have already applied for the permit, but please first determine what CSX will or will not allow, then bring the project back to Council with the answers, including impacts on cost and schedule. Thank you.

Thank you. Valerie, followed by Sergret, followed by Tara Bluma, and Cal Hanus. Good morning, Valerie.

Hi, Valerie Bullock. Good morning, everybody. I want to talk about number 16, the software subscription. It's $5.4 million. It looks like to me that's a lot of money for TPD to request for a software subscription when they already get 60% of the budget. And number 30, I don't understand why the city want to pay another million dollars for another study. Everybody's talking about we don't know which way the homestead tax is going to go. Is it going to pass or is it going to fail? Well, why are we continuously spending a million dollars on studies? Can't we put some of that stuff right there on pause that will make us good stewards of the money that we've got? And 33, 34, 35, that's where the city want to hire outside legal counsel. We already have legal counsel. So if the people can't do the job, we might want to hire somebody else. This right here is what makes me so mad. The city always crying, bro, we don't have money for this or we can't do that project. We got to do just one project. But this right here is frivolous spending. And on 67 through 69, please say no to the Howard Street Project. I understand we live in an iPhone world where everything is about me, me, me, and self, but this is the most selfish project that the city of Tampa could ever endeavor on. How can everybody else who flood, we got to sit back because Parkland Estates, we got to stop the flooding right now. That is not the correct way to do business. And I understand their pipes are 75 years old. Have anybody did a study on the whole city of Tampa? How old are my pipes? They do need flooding, they do need help, but I don't think it should be like I'm at the casino all or nothing. We got to use common sense. This right here is what polarizes people. And on number 72, I see where the Economic Development Corporation, that y'all are going to meet with Abby Philly, but let's do it like Parkland, East States. Let's just get all the money from there and put it in East Tampa, because we need an economic engine, and we don't care about the other sides of town either.

Thank you, Valerie. Sergret, followed by Tara Bluma. Tara, if you're in the room, please line up against the wall. Follow by Cal heinous.

That's good. It's your grad Dawson. I'm a discharge service connected disabled American veteran and a litigant against the city and a former judge in a case before the United States Supreme court. I'm gonna get the items 12, 13, 14, 16.

Only can go to the items, not everything else.

Okay. Well, we're going to get to that as well, because it actually covers that. We go through this all the time, but I'm not just talking to the council. I'm gonna talk to everybody out there, especially the apathetic people out there. And we're paying for software rent, as she alluded to, 5.4 million in police software subscriptions going on the books as a debt under the governmental accounting standards. And that's not new spending. And y'all know this. Now, that is the city writing down what it already pays every year to collect and store information on people in Tampa. Now, personally speaking, now, and it does tie in, for my own case, records of that kind of software collected were quoted to me at roughly $10,000 to get them back. Shit, I'm already paying for them. Section 119 of the Florida statute says there's a special fee and actual cost, but if the actual cost is already been paid, that means you shouldn't try to pass them back on to me. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but this Peregrine thing about this $600,000 of TPD, who owns the data? It ain't y'all. It's us. What's the retention schedule on it, and can a citizen get their own records out of it without a five-figure bill? Now, remember that name, it's called, is it Peregrine? But ask for them by name anyway. And I'm up 600 bans, I'm talking to the hood. 600 bans for outside counsel. What the hell am I paying the people who are litigated against me for right now? 600 bans, are you serious? And do they help us? What are they there to do? I think we have a right as citizens to know exactly how much and what they're doing and how they're building the city and turning it back around and building us. This agenda was posted online. I'm talking to the apathetic ones and the ones that are really loud on social media, the ones that are real bright about things when it comes to approaching people who look like you and the people who won't necessarily fight back. It's time to stop being lazy. It's time to confront in the positive way, your public officials, because they work for us. I'm really interested to know how all this money is being allocated and the taxpayers aren't getting the proper answers. That being said, as always in closing, shout out to the greatest institution of higher learning in the city, the University of Thomas Jefferson High School.

Thank you, Mr. Dawson. Just because this is a newer type of process, which I saw on the off-agenda item sign-up, that's only city business we can talk about on off-agenda.

I think I am city business.

No, I'm saying in the next round, off-agenda, just city business. I saw you put SCOTUS, which would not be city business. Tara Bloom, are you in the room? Tara? No? Okay. Cal? Start with your name, please. You have three minutes.

Good morning. Cal Harris. Council members, I am the operating partner at the Landon on South Howard. I want to begin by saying we recognize the flooding in South Tampa is real, and we absolutely support finding a solution. We're not here asking the city to ignore the residents who have experienced the flooding. What we're asking for is a solution that's solving one serious problem that does not create another serious problem. We don't want to jeopardize the businesses and livelihood of anyone on Howard. This project is expected to impact the corridor for years, and the city's own planning acknowledges periods when both lanes of Howard may need to be completely closed. For a restaurant, access isn't a convenience, it's our lifeline. People sometimes look at a restaurant and see a building, a dining room, or a business. I see the people behind it. I see our servers, bartenders, cooks, dishwashers, and managers, all the support staff. I know their names, I know their families, and I know that they depend on us to pay for their rent, their mortgages, groceries, and to take care of their children. There are hundreds of more people just like them working in the businesses up and down Howard Avenue. We can plan around construction. We can plan around inconvenience. We can work with the city through difficult circumstances. What we cannot plan around is losing meaningful access to our front doors for weeks at a time. A shuttle or temporary walkway may technically provide access, but that does not necessarily mean customers will continue coming. If guests stop coming, sales disappear. When sales disappear, eventually jobs disappear with them. So I respectfully ask that the council, before moving forward, please make sure there's a plan that protects both the residents who need flood relief and the employees of the local businesses where livelihoods depend on Howard Avenue. I would like to touch on to the gentleman who asked, what's the difference between closing for a restaurant renovation or closing because of this project? The difference is control and duration. A renovation is planned by the business, scheduled during at least damaging time, and completed within a defined period. This project could disrupt the entire Howard Avenue corridor for up to four years. We cannot have that and control that. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, there's a last call for Pamela Jackson-Haney and Jamie Jonas, or Jones. Okay, not here, very good. Michael Suarez online for on agenda item speaker, Michael or Matthew Suarez, please start with your name. You have three minutes. Matthew unmute yourself.

Okay.

There you go. Start with your name, please.

Thank you, chairman. Come on down and Matthew Suarez. Uh, just wanted to read something it's titled. impact. The South Howard district took decades to build. Vote yes for Mayor Jane Castro's South Howard stormwater project and you will see this district grilled. From tiny tap pool shots to the legacy of burning dirt, it is the South Howard owner, staff, resident, and patron you will ultimately hurt. From Parkland Estates to Palmestia Pines, flooding must adequately be addressed. But this plan before you will leave the District of South Howard both deeply distressed and economically depressed. With Mayor Castor refusing to assess the project's built human and economic impact, can you cast a vote for this project without these crucial environmental facts? Ask the tiny tap bartender whose tips will be reduced night and day. Ask the Soho Square apartment residents who will have to carry groceries from blocks away. Ask the estate memory care patient why they are startled by the constant pounding of sheet piles during construction. Ask the burn staff where they are to park when the Epicurean parking garage faces a more than 60 day obstruction. Ask the Laxner family what construction vibration will do to the world's largest private collection of wine. Ask the Ciccio restaurant group how the purveyor is to deliver ingredients to be used for those who dine. Ask the Sally O'Neill pizza delivery driver how traditional South Howard routes are to be run. Ask the Bella's Italian Cafe patrons how their view from the restaurant's patio will be when soil is being excavated by the ton. Have these audiences been considered as part of the mayor's plan? Have they been spoken with about her project's estimated four-year span? Are these impacts not being weighed against the project's current $100-plus million quote? Are the seven of you taking these impacts into account before casting your final vote? Therefore, the SoHo Business Alliance stormwater design alternative must be seriously considered as its four underground vaults inside street culvert will ensure south howard is spared and neighborhood flood relief can be delivered so as the voting members of tampa city council you must vote no to this castor stormwater contract especially as mayor she has failed to assess the cost of such noted environmental impacts thank you matthew suarez thank you matthew

Okay, that concludes public comment for on-agenda items today. We're going to move on. We're going to wait for our clerk of the court to come in. And so if I could get a motion to approve items five through eight.

I move items five through eight. Second.

I have a motion councilwoman her tech. I have a second councilman Miranda. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed. The eyes have it. Is there any requests for a public for reconsideration of legislative matters? Hearing none. Let's go to the consent agenda. Councilman VR. Would you move items nine through 11 and 14? Yes, sir. Hereby move nine through 11, 14 through 17. I have a motion, Councilman Vieira. I have a second, Councilman Moran. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? I have a council on her.

And I want a separate vote on this because this is for more cameras. This is This is exactly what the community is asking us not to approve. And so I don't want to approve this grant. I'm just not going to do it. The contract comes to us in a couple of weeks, but I'm going to vote no on this and I'm going to vote no on the contract. So I just wanted to start by voting no.

So we'll consider that when we bring it up on the agenda item. It is 12 and 13.

I didn't ask for a separate vote.

Oh, you didn't want to discuss it?

No, I didn't want to. Could I make a motion to ask staff to come in and answer questions on this item?

Staff, we're going to pull that item four discussion, so if you would be prepared to come in and discuss items 12 through 13 when it's appropriate on the agenda. Under staff reports, then. Under staff reports, yes. Thank you. Okay, very good. I see our clerk is here. Clerk, would you like to present item four, please?

good morning uh council and chair or chair and council um item four is uh appointing um peter vertig he's the only applicant for the uh architect member position for the Burial Latino Commission.

Thank you. Peter, are you in the room? Hi, Peter. If you'd like to say something, you don't have to, but if you'd like to say something, you can come to the podium and state your name and introduce yourself.

Peter Furtick. Almost good afternoon, Council. After this morning, public service doesn't sound as wonderful as I thought it might otherwise have, but I am still excited and available and interested in participating on the barrio.

Well, just as a rule for now, Juan, I'm the only one that can be funny. Okay, fair enough. Okay, I have a motion to approve Peter's appointment from Councilman Maniscalco, second from Councilman Miranda, Mr. Shelby.

Could you amend that to move the resolution making the appointment? It has been prepared. Oh, you already did that. The clerk has it.

Okay, so I have a motion to approve the resolution making the appointment from Councilman Maniscalco, second from Councilman Miranda. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Congratulations. Welcome to the wonderful world of public service. Fantastic. Thank you, Councilman. Okay, we're going to continue on to the consensus agenda. Councilwoman Young, would you please move items 18 through 26?

I move items 18 through 26.

I have a motion for Councilwoman Young, seconded by Councilman Maniscalco. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you. Councilman Maniscalco. Yes. 27 through 31.

Motion to approve 27 through 31. Thank you.

I have a motion for Councilman Maniscalco, seconded by Councilman Miranda. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Councilman Miranda, would you move items 32 through 36? Yes, sir. I move.

item 32 to 36. i have motion council miranda second councilman escalco all those in favor say aye aye opposed the eyes have it thank you councilman carlson would you move 37 through 42. yeah first i'm going to abstain on number 39 my company has a client that may be tangentially connected but we don't do business with anything like this but out of minutes of caution I'm going to file this form AB, please.

So motion to approve the filing from a councilman of your second councilman, Scott, all those in favor say aye. Opposed? I have it. So would you move 37, 38, 40 through 47 or 42? So moved. Second motion from councilman Carlson. I have a second from councilman Scott. All those in favor say aye. Opposed? I have a councilwoman young. Would you move item 39? I have motion from councilman third motion from councilwoman young. Second councilman Scott could move 39. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it with Councilman Carlson abstaining. Okay, we have Councilwoman Hurtek. Would you move 43 through 50?

So moved. Second.

I have a motion for Councilwoman Hurtek. Second for Councilman Maniscalco. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it.

Moved to set item 51. Thank you.

I have a motion to set the public hearing for item 51 for Councilwoman Hurtek. Second for Councilman Maniscalco. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Okay, the public hearing is item number 52 of the non- Yeah, do you think we can get through that? Second reading. Item 52 is a non-quasi-judicial hearing, so we do not require to be sworn in.

Motion to open all public hearings. Second. Second.

Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second.

Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second.

Seeing none. Okay, is there anybody in the public wish to speak to this item? You wish to speak to this item? Speak now or forever hold your peace. I got pizza waiting.

From where?

Is this the one next to the railroad tracks? Okay, so we're gonna give away this, Stephanie Pointer, we're gonna give away this huge slice of land for $573 that the applicant has already built on the property. I mean, look at the pictures. why does the applicant get to build on the property and then get to buy it for 573 dollars we have got to stop giving away city property we've got another item on the agenda that we're paying like four hundred and fifty thousand dollars six hundred thousand dollars for We will overpay every single time, but yet we're giving away these easements, these right-of-ways for $573. We've got to look at this Raftelis report and we've got to get this fixed. And if you look at the aerials that were included with the staff report, they show that the applicant has built on this property already. How's that work? I just go ahead and build whatever the hell I want on my next door neighbor's yard.

Thank you. Councilman, you were absent at the first vote. Are you prepared to vote on this? OK. OK. Is the applicant in the audience that you would you wish to rebut that?

Ross Samuels, Velcro Nation. I wanted to speak on that. I think she may be referring to a vacating on down the agenda later. Okay.

Alex Taylor, 400 North Ashley drive here on behalf of the applicant. I think that was related to a separate project.

Okay. So not applicable. Okay. Very good. Thank you so much. I hope anybody else in the public would wish to speak to this item. Hearing none. Can I get a motion to close? I motion close councilman, a Scott go second from second councilwoman, her tech, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed. Aye's have it. Councilman Carlson.

Would you like to read this? Move item 52 file number VAC 26 dash 15 ordinance being presented for second reading adoption ordinance of the city of Tampa, Florida, vacating closing. Discontinuing and abandoning that alleyway located north of 4th Avenue, south of 5th Avenue, east of 26th Street and west of 27th Street as dedicated by the plat of Harris Terminals and that portion of 1st Avenue right of way located north of Adamo Drive, south of 2nd Avenue, east of 27th Street and west of Leroy Selmon Expressway Connector as dedicated partially by the plats of Harris Terminals and Archer Subdivision all in Tampa, Hillsborough County, Florida and as more fully described in Section 2 hereof, subject to certain covenants, conditions, and restrictions, as more particularly set forth herein, providing for enforcement and penalties for violations, providing for definition, interpretation, or repealing conflicts, providing for celebrability, providing effective date.

I have a motion from Councilman Carlson, second from Councilman Maniscalco. Please record your vote. motion care unanimously okay mr chair a question on the agenda i was i'm going to actually explain something just as i said so we're going to hear the next hearing 53 then we're going to hear non-agenda item but only related to tampa city business public comment after that we're going to break for a 30-minute lunch so the any of you are here for the items 54 or beyond the 10 o'clock public hearings we're not going to hear that until we come back from lunch we'll be somewhere around probably 12 45 to one o'clock okay so everybody understands that okay item number 53. if i may yes sir thank you sir question the administration update is that being heard after lunch uh that will be heard when we get to that which will be right before staff reports okay good thank you sir appreciate it there you go mr shelby martin shelby city council attorney can i inquire how many people are on the list for off agenda public comment seven

And you're going to hear them before lunch per your rules. Yes, correct. Thank you. That's what I just said. But I am reaffirming your statement.

Okay, very good. Thank you. Okay. 53, staff? Enjoy lunch. Item number 53, is there a staff to present?

We can hold that until after lunch.

Okay. Since staff is not here to hear that one, we will hold that until staff is present. We're going to move on to, again, this is off agenda items for city business only. If you should have filled or put your name on this form to do that, I have one online speaker we'll hear after the people that are present. Nico Basel, Nico, followed by Camille Washington. Are you in the house? Go ahead. Come on up. And then the next one will be Vicky Tong, James Adair, Ashley Moreau, and Surgrit Das. Come on up to the podium. If I called your name, please line up against the wall. Start with your name, please. You have three minutes.

My name is Camille Washington. Good morning, Senate Council members. Again, my name is Camille Adrian Washington, and I'm the founder of Indy Noir Market and Big Fest. Most importantly, I'm standing here today as a resident of Sulphur Springs. I first want to start off by saying thank you to the City of Council for the work that's already being done for small businesses and strengthening our neighborhoods to create opportunities as the city grows. But as a resident community organizer and a small business advocate, I firsthand see that there's still work that needs to be done. One of our biggest challenges is not always the absence of resources, but sometimes our community's ability to access them. Business owners are working here in our community. They have great ideas, products, and services, but of course a need for diversified customers and continued growth. But many don't know that you all offer resources that are available to help them navigate their systems, who to contact, or how to position themselves for the opportunities for Tampa's growth. That's why this year, in 2026, I intentionally brought Big Fest 2026 to Sulphur Springs and the North Tampa neighborhood. As a resident of Sulphur Springs, it's very hard to activate that community. We brought the opportunity directly to the community. Big Fest activated our neighborhood and brought together approximately 200 small businesses and community organizations, and we did it without charging the businesses. I say that again. I'm one woman who did an entire festival without charging our businesses to be able to be seen. The reason for that is because Big Fest was never meant to be the end all be all. When the tents came down, we actually questioned how far and well advanced our businesses would be prepared for the growth of the city. So from that, With our festival, I recruited more than 100 small businesses into our big accelerator business program. The purpose of this program is, again, to position businesses that are in underserved and underrepresented communities to be available and ready for growth in our big city. Now that we're working to get those businesses prepared, whether or not it be through systems, marketing, licensing, compliance, and connecting them to resources already available to the city, we're positioning them for contracts, commercial opportunities, and sustainable growth. Again, kindergarten can be hard if you don't attend Head Start. I've created a system for Head Start for businesses to be connected because Tampa is growing and we want our businesses to be ready for that growth, not watching it happen around them. So today I'm asking the city to partner with me for Big Fest 2027 as we begin in two very specific ways. First, by helping us continue delivering what businesses by connecting them to our accelerator program directly to city departments, technical assistance, procurement of opportunities, capital resources and development partners. And second, to help us with the infrastructure necessary to continue Big Fest. We need help with cooling tents, shading areas, hydration stations, water, portable restrooms and sanitation. All of these things are not available in the city park in which River Tower Park where I was able to host this festival. It is very important because of the safety of our community. We asked our residents to come out to support businesses to be there and they showed up. But unfortunately, the support from the city was not there. We're looking to not only activate in our community, but also to accelerate our programs for a long-term community destination and hopefully an anchor in Sulphur Springs. Thank you, Camille. Thank you so much. I appreciate you.

Nico? Nico, are you in the audience? Nico, followed by Vicky, followed by Jamie Adair. Start with your name. You have three minutes.

Hello. My name is Nico Baisley. I'm currently a student at Hillsborough College, the Dale Mabry campus, as well as a substitute teacher for the Hillsborough County School District and a Publix cashier. I was born and raised here in Tampa. I'm here today to demand the Tampa City Council pass an ordinance ending the 287G agreement with the Tampa Police Department. This agreement is an irresponsible use of our taxpayer dollars. This agreement uses taxpayer dollars to train Tampa Police Department in federal immigration enforcement tactics, effectively allowing TPD to act as immigration enforcement. So far, over $430,000 has been put into TPD's immigration enforcement training. No taxpayer dollars should have been allocated to this training to begin with. More immigration enforcement does not make our communities safer. In 2025, the Supreme Court ruled that ICE can racially profile citizens. Tampa Police Department should have no part in this. Immigration enforcement under Trump has led to a rapid increase in deaths by the hands of federal immigration enforcement within communities and within their inhumane detention centers. It should also be noted that when law enforcement agencies perform immigration functions, communities are less inclined to interact with them. This becomes an issue affecting crime reporting and witness cooperation. Just recently, there was an immigration activity surge in Lee County, Fort Myers, resulting in over 500 arrests in just four days. Immigration enforcement surges like this lead people hiding out in fear in their own communities. People miss work, children miss school. It breaks my heart and it should break your heart too. Ever since the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretty in Minneapolis, cities around the country have been demanding ICE out of our communities. People all around the country are demanding that their cities stand against the racist, repressive policies of Trump and his lackeys like DeSantis and Jane Castor. I'm here to demand that Tampa City Councilors act in the interest of their constituents and their community and take a stand against Trump and DeSantis by ending Tampa's 287G agreement with the Tampa Police Department. Thank you for your time today. Thank you, Nico.

Vicky, followed by Jamie Adair, followed by Ashley.

Hello, my name is Vicky Tong. I am a member of the Tampa Immigrants Rights Committee, and I'm here to demand that the Tampa City Council pass an ordinance ending the 287G agreement. As a Tampa resident and as someone who has personally been impacted by ICE detentions and operations, I do not want my tax dollars going to immigration enforcement. This agreement uses our taxpayer dollars to train the Tampa Police Department to act as immigration enforcement. So far, $430,000 have been put to TPD's immigration enforcement training. Second, Tampa is home to a significant Latino immigrant community, and we have seen Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, targeting these communities. From our organizing experience, we have heard of multiple enforcement and detaining operations on Fletcher, an area that is majority Latino and immigrant-based. TPD should not be collaborating with these agencies that are targeting our immigrant communities. Additionally, more immigration enforcement does not make our community safer and actually leaves immigrants vulnerable to being racially profiled. The recent ending of temporary protection for Haitians and the potential ending of TPS for Salvadorians means that more members of our community may be subjected to harmful immigration tactics. Again, TPD should not play any part in this. ICE has also shamefully murdered immigrants and supporters of immigrant rights, such as Silveiro Gonzalez, Renee Goode, and many others. Cities all across the country, including here in Tampa, are taking a stand and demanding that the cities take a stand against Trump's attacks on immigrants. That is why I'm here today, to demand that Tampa City Councils act in the interest of their constituents and to take a stand against Trump and DeSantis by passing an ordinance to end the 287 agreement. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Jamie, followed by Ashley Moreau, followed by . I can't believe I'm going to defend the mayor.

Good lord. Jamie Adair, the neighbor who cares. And the mayor didn't want to have anything to do with that. So she almost lost her job over it. And let's just be fair, guys. All right. A little bit ago, I was having a hard time getting phone calls and emails back from some city employees. And I came up with an idea of doing the no callback bingo. And I announced that, oh, jeez, probably six months ago. And we haven't had a problem. This is our first name. So Tariq is in the transportation planning area, and for whatever reason has not returned five of my communications. So maybe during lunch you could do a wellness check just to see if he's still around, that sort of thing. It would be appreciated. I'm waiting for the traffic studies for Platte and for the other street expansion coming off Davis Island, working for some answers about what is going to be there, what's not, and what's doable. But I don't have any traffic studies. That's what I'm waiting for. It's a simple, we don't have them, go away something. So no callback bingo. Thank you, guys. Thank you, Jamie. Ashley?

We're all looking forward to yours.

I look forward to seeing y'all every week.

Let me pull this up. All right, boom.

Okay, hello, my name is Ashley Morrow and I'll be sharing Tampa's black history. So the way this is related to the city business, I think you guys are reappointing somebody to the Historic Preservation Board. So I wanted to talk a little bit about a site that I found very interesting because it has to do with the history of Tampa's black medicine field. All right, so pull this up. Anybody recognize this building here? All right. So it was near downtown. If you know where that Burger King is, right behind the Burger King, this is where this building was. I think it was yellow. So it looks like the Jackson House, don't it? It's a boarding house, all right? It was a boarding house. I don't see a hole in the roof. Yeah, right.

It's a boarding house.

So we're going to talk about the smallpox scare in 1899. We're still in the 1800s, and we have not brought up Central Avenue or the Jackson House. I just want you to notice that. There's a lot of black history here in this city. So in the smallpox scare, there were three physicians that were assigned to the scrub area, Dr. Culp, Dr. Anderson, and Dr. West. They were assigned to basically administer the vaccine and they were deputized and they were told to report anybody that didn't get their vaccine. They were like really serious about that thing. All right. So here's a picture of Dr. Culp right here. He actually did a pamphlet about the great things that vaccines do. But he was here in Tampa, Dr. Whedon. was the State Board, he was representing the State Board of Health, and he appointed Dr. Culp to assist him with vaccinating the Negroes here in the scrub area. And notice the church that they were at, Beulah Baptist Church, the colored church here in Tampa, all right? So why this house is important, because it was the house of Dr. West. He owned this house. And I think that looking back in our history, if we see these sites, that used to be certain things. Mind you, we don't have to do a whole marker and ceremony, but it's good for the education to take place and people to know about that space. All right, we're gonna talk a little bit about Clara Frye in this story. So in 1908, when a white physician, Dr. Winton, asked Frye to care for an ill black patient while he prepared to perform a surgical operation, she offered her modest three-room house, 1615 Lamar Avenue. So you guys have heard this story about being cared for on the kitchen table or the dining table. There's some inconsistencies, as you can see, it says 1908, and this is on the bus that was actually put on Riverwalk. It was actually 1907. And then another story that is kind of not spoken about was our guy Thomas McKnight, and I'm going to get into that next. Two weeks from now, because he actually had an earlier hospital than Clara Fry. Thank you.

You always leave us wanting more. Yes, that's one thing.

That Dr. Winston was a very famous doctor. He had his clinic, the Hospital del Centro Español, by the Academy of Holden Ames, if I remember.

Yep.

So Mr. Doss, city of Tampa business, bring it home. Always, man. You're our last in-person public speaker.

And the fact that I'm here makes the city of Tampa business until we get some things resolved. And not just to you, all those at home, stay with my notes. My cases in the Supreme Court does involve the city and. Me understanding and learning about this, this outside counsel and the fact I don't know how long they've been around. It's it's it's pressing and concerning to me because. My case we know started here, and it started from an arrest at the city's police department orchestrated against me that I successfully defended against when I was charged with perjuring an official proceeding because the city's police force decided to operate with them. I don't want to litigate the case here. I don't need to. But you all can go to the Supreme Court case numbers docketed at 26-5074. And it's distributed to be heard on the 28th of this month. Whatever happens with the case, I'll come back and we'll talk about it because depending what the Supreme Court does with it is what I have to do with it as far as whether or not I'm gonna continue to bring an action against the city under state law. But you all, I think item agenda number 14, I think it was, is about the crisis intervention dispatch and the city has a $330,000 budget, money allocated to it. I want you all to vote yes on that. I already did. OK, cool. And the reason I'm bringing it up is because I'm a veteran, honorably discharged, of course. And I want you all to see if you can add a protocol in there to ask whoever calls the dispatch to ask whoever's on the other side, did you serve? Veterans are tremendously, and I'm not combat related, but we all had our separate missions. We're underserved throughout America. And now even some of the young men and women who are out in theater now are not getting adequate treatment out there. And we only get one time. And I've buried one of ours. from the greatest institution of higher learning who was killed in action years ago. And I know a couple of other buddies have come back in boxes. So if you can, make sure that whatever you can allocate to that, you definitely do. For everybody at home, it's 988 and press 1 if you served. And if you know anybody who has served, give them the crisis center number so that they can make sure they get the attention that they deserve. and anything else that's necessary. As to the mistreatment of anybody in this country, I'm wholly against it. Whether in dollars being dedicated to mistreatment is something that I can never stand for. I understand that my oath didn't end when my service time did. It doesn't end until the casket goes into the ground. That being said, again, as always, shout out to the greatest institution of higher learning in the city of Tampa, the University of Thomas Jefferson High School.

Thank you, Mr. Dallas.

Okay. That's our last in-person public speaker. We have one online for off agenda items, but again, Michael Randolph on about city business. You are recognized. You have three minutes.

Good morning or afternoon. My name is Michael Randolph. With the possible reduction in city revenues, if amendment three passes, the city must find ways to lower operating costs while maintaining and improving service delivery. Artificial intelligence offers the most effective pathway forward. AI can realistically reduce city operating costs by 25 to 45% across multi-department through staff efficiency, automation, protected maintenance, and reduced overtime. These estimates are based on of the second benchmark and real case study. Most cities budget 60% to 80% on staff pension and operation. AI directly reduces these costs by augmenting manual tasks, accelerating the process, and improving workforce efficiency. Let's talk about the savings. Staff time and labor efficiency. By using AI, we reduce 30% to 60% reduction of savings to the city of $40 to $70 million. Call centers and 311. 60% reduction saving the city $80 to $12 million. Permit license codes enforcement. 10% faster process. 50% reduction of savings to the city of 15 million to 25 million. Predictive making, roads, utilities, and water. 40% for your families, a savings of 20 to 35 million dollars. Part reduction, a savings to the city of five to 15 million, and finally, emergency response, 25% faster response, and a $10 to $18 million. These realistic annual savings is anywhere from $100 million to $175 million. Over a five-year period of time, that's $500 million to $875 million. can bring a reduction saving to the city. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Michael. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon. That concludes our public speakers for the day. I see you're here for item 53 to present? Yes. Okay, why don't we knock this out before we go to lunch. Item 53, that's all we're gonna hear, then we're gonna go to lunch, and we'll be back in council chambers at 1 p.m. So item number 53, go ahead.

Assistant City Attorney Megan Newcomb. Good afternoon, Council. We're here for a second reading on an ordinance. I don't have a presentation prepared, but I can address any questions. This is essentially making sure that our city code conforms with the preemption requirement in Florida statutes relating to firearms and weapons.

Thank you. Councilwoman Hurtek, you are not here. You're prepared to vote?

Yes, I had just left the room briefly, so yes.

Very good, okay. Okay, does the council have any questions? Hearing none, is there anybody in the public that wishes to speak to this item? motion to close from councilman escargot seven councilman miranda all those in favor say aye aye opposed i said that councilman vieira would you read item 53 please damn it sure um i'm joking i read an ordinance did that really deserve a damage all the stuff we got today did that deserve the damage i'm joking i read an ordinance presented for second reading and adoption ordinance of the city of tampa florida relating to omitting any reference to firearms and difference to the preemption requirement of florida statute 790.33

making revisions to the City of Tampa Code Chapter 14 offensives, repealing Section 14-111, Chapter 2 administration, amending Section 2-404, Chapter 16 Parks and Recreation, amending Section 16-21 of ordinances, providing for severability, repealing all ordinances in conflict, providing an effective date.

I have a motion from Councilman Vieira, a second from Councilman Maniscalco. Please record your vote. One more person, please record your vote. You got it?

Motion carried unanimously.

Thank you. Okay, so that concludes the business of the morning. We're going to come back at 1 o'clock and hear our quasi-judicial hearing starting at item 54. So staff, if you'd be prepared to present at 1 o'clock, we are at lunch.