Recent Topics
Posted on 10/02/2011
Last Thursday, the PSI Committee of City Council voted to recommend that City
Updated: Oct 2, 2011
My effort to divert construction debris from the landfills suffered a setback when it came to a vote of the full city council. In spite of support from the public works director, the sanitation department director, and the permitting office, Council voted to send it back to committee for further review. I am at a loss to explain why members who voted for it in committee, then spoke against it when it came to full council. However, the nature of this job is similiar to soccer: you seldom get to drive straight to goal. I will continue to work on this issue.
April 17, 2011 Post.
Council approve a proposal of mine to require the recycling of construction debris anytime the project is large enough that a demolition permit is required. This is in the owners best interest because it is actually a little cheaper to reycle construction waste than to sent it to the incinerator. It is in the community's interest because only the wood burns, the rest is buried in our landfill which is seriously limited. Once the landfill is full, we will have to truck the waste ash to some other county that will take it. Then, garbage rates will go up sharply.
UPDATE June 2011
The proposal to require the recycling of construction debris for all projects large enough to also require a demolition permit (kitchen and bathroom remodels do not require this), came to city council this month with the support of public works director, the building official and the sanitation director. A number of city council members opposed the proposal with arguments ranging from it is bad timing to let the market decide if we recycle. Rather than kill it, we sent it back to committee in hopes of trying to find common ground to make progress on this large share of our waste.
Posted on 10/02/2011
After Paris Hamilton-Whitehead was killed in 2009, I began digging into the problems at Citrus Grove apartments on MLK Dr S. next to Campbell Park. I have worked with HUD, a lawyer with Gulf Coast Legal Services and city staff to get new on-site management and improved police presense there. Several months ago, an opportunity came with State funds available to an experienced public housing rehabilitation company for a total rehab of the 88 units. Ironically, the Board of Citrus Grove agreed to sell the complex on the same day that Officer Crawford was killed by a 16 year old resident of the complex.
I am continuing to stay plugged in as the sale proceeds in an effort to be sure that the great majority of good people of Citrus Grove finally get decent housing and that the criminals are evicted. The State of Florida is involved and providing rehab funds which means that it will happen at the speed of government - that is slowly. It is critical that I stay involved so the Campbell Park neighborhood and the school across the Street, John Hopkins Middle School, have a neighboring complex that adds to the neighborhood.
UPDATE JUNE 29th, 2011
A room full of people sat down again today to work through the process to sell and rehab the Citrus Grove complex. It is a complicated proposal and involved the federal, state, and city governments along with two non-profits and a for profit developer. In the meantime, work is being done to make the complex safer (No Tresspassing signs and enforcement, Security Cameras and removal of a wall that hid illegal activity) and better for the residents (5 buildings have new roofs, stairs are being repaired, the laundry room has been rehabbed, all units are getting screens, etc).
A contract to sell will be signed on Friday. We will know in late October is the State is going to assist in the sale.
October 2, 2011
We have a contract to buy and rehab the Citrus Grove apartments from a buyer that will be approved by HUD. The sale should close by the end of the year. The rehabilitation should start by the end of March 2012. Residents will get central air conditioning for the first time and well as more efficient hot water, toilets and other reasonable housing conditions.
The future for the Citrus Grove apartments looks better than ever thanks to a group of people who kept their eye on the goal - decent, affordable housing.
Posted on 10/02/2011
Jobs will not solve every problem, but jobs will help solve every problem. Therefore, I have been working in an effort to bring several manufacturers to the Dome District. The City has been assembling land for more than a decade without bringing the jobs. Fortunately, I have been able to work with staff and a number of local businesspeople with connections around the world which has resulted in very serious disucssions about building additional plants in the district.
I believe we have an excellent chance of breaking ground on the first of the manufacturing sites before the year is out. Others will locate in temporary sites while they work out the details of building a facility. The jobs will have the full range from blue collar construction work to high technology research and development needs.
We need to look at everything we do to try to find ways to generate jobs from this. The city tears down about 50 houses per year. I am trying to convince my fellow councilmembers and staff that we should allow people to pull the valuable items (doors, cabinets, stairs, baseboards, hardwood floors, windows, sinks, air conditioners, metal, etc) out of the houses before we tear them down. The city would collect a modest fee, a number of jobs would be created and useful items would not go to the dump.
Another area that I am working on is called priority hiring. The city contracts at least a hundred million dollars per year of construction projects. While giving local companies a price advantage has the negative impact of raising our (taxpayers) cost, there is another way to insure that many of the jobs from significant projects go to local people. We can mandate that on projects that are big enough that many people will be hired, like the new Pier or new Police Station,that most of the newly hired employees be hired locally. This item will come before the City Council Budget committe by the end of the month.
Posted on 06/30/2011
I introduced two items this week to promote landscaping with plants and ground covers that naturally grow in Florida. This grew out of the fact that we have used all the cheap water in the Tampa Bay area. All additional water is going to come from rivers which cost twice as much and ground water or the desalination plant which costs 3.5 times as much. The solution is to shift our landscaping codes to promote native and/or "Florida Friendly" plants and grounds.
Please contact your City Council members to educate them on these needed changes.
12/12/08
The City Council PS&I committee will take up this issue on as soon as the committee chair sets a date. The members are Jeff Danner, Leslie Curran, Herb Polson and Jim Kennedy. Please encourage them to support the moves toward plants and covers that use less water, fertilizer, pesticides and maintenance.
UPDATE JANUARY 24th. We did the groundbreaking on the new water department
administration building on 16th St this week. It is designed to use 50% less
water than a traditional building and will only have drought tolerant landscaping and ground covers. It will be an excellent example of how governments would landscape to reduce water use and maintanence costs.
UPDATE: 2/18/09 The front page of yesterday's paper had a banner story about us running out of water. In spite of that, I am struggling to convince
council members that we need to move toward draught tolerant landscaping. This issue will come back to the Public Services & Inferstructure Committee next month.
UPDATE 7/20/09 - City Council will take the final step on Thursday to implement a new landscape ordinance that requires much more water efficient landscapes for new construction. Although the change will have a modest near term impact, as we redevelop our community, it will result in significant water savings.
UPDATE 6/29/11 - The Parks and Recreation Dept has been experimenting with a variety of St. Augustine alternatives, all of which require less maintenance, water, fertilizer and mowing. Some standup to foot traffic better than others. The areas in front of Sunken Gardens and the north side of the street in front of city hall are two examples of replacements for grass that are working well.