Current 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.
Posted on 06/29/2011
My effort to bring the 18,300 households without banking services into the financial mainstream was announced at City Council on January 15th. We will be bringing a program from San Francisco that brought 24,000 households into mainstream banking services and away from the predatory check cashing and
payday loan businesses within 24 months.
This program potentially represents the single greatest thing that a local government can do to raise the standard of living of the 15% of our community that uses the loansharks and predatory cash checking services. Studies suggest that this segment of our community spend up to 5% of their income on
these ripoffs that we can help them avoid.
It will be a coalition of the City of St. Petersburg, the banks and the "wealth building coalition" that will bring these services to the community. The City's role is to make it happen, insure a good product
and get the word out. Ten other cities across the country are also bringing
this service.
UPDATE: Mayor Baker and Council Member Nurse have invited the banks and credit unions to meet on February 2nd in hopes of getting many of them to commit to this program. The offers to help are coming in everyday. The
final element needed to make this work is a financial literacy campaign so people learn to plan and budget their money.
UPDATE 2/18/09 Over 100 people filled a room at City Hall to kick-off the Bank on St. Petersburg program. 22 financial institutions were represented.
Committee will be meeting starting next week to work out the details of bringing this here. Getting the 15% of our community into the mainstream financial community can have more impact than any other program.
UPDATE 3/21/09 - I spent a day in Washington on the 15th with leaders from about 20 cities who are working on the Bank on .. projects. The goal is have the first cities teach the newer onces, like St. Pete, so we can learn from their experience. We are working through the details so we can implement this
quickly with as few problems as possible.
UPDATE 7/20/09 - August will be the launch of the Bank on St. Petersburg program. We have 15 banks and credit unions going through the final steps to
be ready to open their doors to more customers. Everyone wins with this program.
UPDATED Feb 2011
The program had brought 1,600 new customers into the mainstream banking system after the first year. The pace is picking up and financial education is being added to programs and in classrooms around town. Getting into the mainstream banking system is the first step into financial security. Thanks to the banks, credit unions, wealth building coalition, and other partners for helping this reach more people each day.
UPDATE JUNE 2011
Bank on St. Petersburg has enrolled more than 2,00 new customers into the mainline banking system so far. A majority have also taken financial literacy training and have opened savings accounts. Many are laying the foundation for responsible home purchases.
Posted on 06/17/2011
The Council PSI committee approved a proposal of mine that will help people who want to install solar hot water on their building at least 25% of the cost! I learned of a program in Portland and Beaverton, Oregon and adapted it to our community. The City will market a purchasing co-op to bundle 50 customers at a time who want to purchase solar hot water and then bid out the installations. The customer signs the contract with the installer. The city will have vetted the installers to be sure that are licensed, insured and experienced. Early conversations suggest that citizens will be able to save 25% or more by bundling the purchasing like this.
It appears that for a family of 4, the cost of installation will be repaid in less than 4 years after including the federal tax credit and possible Progress Energy credits. After that, hot water is free except on the days with no sun!
Citizens will be able to sign up on the city website www.stpete.org shortly.
UPDATE 6/29/11
Over 500 people have signed up to request a quote on a co-op purchase of solar hot water. Staff is working on a process to match up possible vendors and customers. Clearly, there is sufficient interest to make this work.
Posted on 04/24/2011
Now that the U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled 10-0 that the City of Orlando can sharply limit public feedings in city parks, it is possible for St. Petersburg to follow suit. We can again make Williams Park our town square and the residents of the Mirror Lake area will not have to hire someone to clean up garbage everyday around Mirror Lake park.
The city has been asking the groups that feed in city parks to move to indoor facilities with tables, chairs, garbage cans, bathrooms and most important kitchens for many years. Unfortunately, there are several groups who honestly think they are helping by these feedings. The city hired an expert in homelessness who says that public feedings work against all of our efforts to get the homeless back on their feet and into the mainstream.
I introduced a new business item on April 15th which the Council took up on the 22nd. Council which has waited for four years while the Orlando case was heard, instead decided to request a "report" from the legal department rather than move forward to pass an ordinance. The residents, visitors and businesses downtown have suffered for long enough, in my opinion.
The report will come back and obviously state just what the U.S. Court of Appeals said: we may sharply limit public feedings. According to our homeless expert, it should take about ten days for the feedings to shift to decent facilities and the parks will be used again by the general public. Although the progress was slowed needlessly, we will get this done and I will keep pushing.
Posted on 04/17/2011
The City has just received Neighborhood Stabilization funds to purchase, rehab and sell foreclosed homes in some of our struggling neighborhoods. I argued without success for many months during the first round of money in late 2009 and early 2010, that it made no sense to rehab or rebuild one house on block and not touch the other boarded houses on the same block. Naturally, the City is struggling to find buyers for those houses.
Fortunately, I was able to convince the Mayor to duplicate the lesson we learned when Rebuilding Together Tampa Bay rehabbed, with our help, several houses on Paris Ave in Bartlett Park. The street was turned around, crime dropped sharped, values increased and the improvements lasted. The Housing Department staff will target a few blocks on another street in Bartlett Park and rehab several houses. I expect that we will then sell the houses reasonably quickly and move to the next targeted area.
I will update this as concrete action approaches.
UPDATE JUNE 2011
Rebuilding Together Tampa Bay is raising money to make improvements to 15 houses surrounding the area where the city will work. I believe we can create sufficient momentum to make a significant difference in the neighborhood.
UPDATE October 2, 2011
The "Paris Project" to improve many of the homes on 15th Ave South is coming together thanks to support from the Mayor, many city departments, Rebuilding Together Tampa Bay, Habitat for Humanity and the Urban League. I believe this is the model of how to have real impact in a community. The scattergun approach that has been traditionally used is incapable of bringing the transformative change that many neighborhoods need and is a staggering waste of public and private money. We will launch this project as soon as all the pieces are in place to transform this street.
Posted on 02/07/2011
2/5/11 Police Chief Harman reported to city council that convenience store robberies dropped a stunned 65% during the first year after Councilmember Nurse's proposal was adopted. Seldom does any anti-crime tactic generate this kind of improvement.
3/5/09 - City Council passed the ordinance to require crime preventation efforts
at the convenience stores. It passed on a 7-1 vote. We will be a little
safer as a result.
2/20/09 - City Council approved the "1st reading" of the safety ordinances on
Thursday. The Chief of Police approved funds for the stores to add safety locks for evening use to further improve the safety of customers and employees at these stores. The final passage will be on March 5th.
2/18/09 UPDATE
The two ordinances to protect convenince stores will come before City Council
for "first" reading on 2/19/09. They should be passed on March 5th. Our
community will be a little safer as a result.
1/11/09
City Council agreed with my proposal to consider a local ordinance to require convenience stores to remove sufficient advertising from their windows to help
people see into the stores in case of robberies. We have had a rash of convenience store robberies and shootings recently. State law rquires this for some convenience stores. However, the law is adminsistered by the Attorney General's office and he has no staffers in Pinellas County. Studies are very clear, if convenience stores will adopt a series of simple anti-crime
efforts, their chances of being robbed will drop by about 40%.
Workshop is scheduled for Feb. 12th at 2:00PM at City Hall.
Posted on 02/07/2011
Recent shootings bring to light once again that as a society that we have done a poor job keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill. It seems like a fairly simple idea and does NOT mean that we should try to prevent the rest of us from exercising our constitutional right to bear arms.
Nationwide over 550 Mayors have signed on to www.Mayorsagainstillegalguns.org
in an attempt to 1) get the criminals and mentally ill on the 'may not purchase' list and 2) close the gunshow loophole. Locally, there are things that the police departments can do to improve reporting the criminals and the mentally ill to the may not purchase lists.
While I recognize that stopping all guns from getting into the hands of criminals is impossible, that does not mean we should give up.
Posted on 02/07/2011
I am honored to be voted the Vice Chair of City Council for 2011. This will allow me a better opportunity to help bring the changes we need and meet the challenges that await us. In addition, I will remain the Vice Chair of the Housing Committee which focuses on the issues of our neighborhoods. I will push to turn the corner to reduce the number of boarded homes.
Posted on 02/05/2011
Winter 2011.
The city council voted to put more teeth in the ordinance to prevent the demolition of downtown buildings without building permits and financing for the replacement buildings. Obviously, we can undo the tear downs that scar our downtown, we can stop this from happening again.
June 2008.
Councilman Nurse proposed a change in permitting aimed at preventing the tear
downs of properties downtown unless the new buildings are going to follow quickly. Currently, there are large parts of several blocks downtown where projects were announced,the existing homes and businesses torn down, and then the project went bust. The change is being drafted by the legal department to only allow the tear downs once the developer has approved building plans and evidence of financing.
Posted on 12/05/2008
Dec 5th - Update - City Council approved the staffs draft ordinances to lower the maximum building heights on Al Lang, Mahaffey and future Dali Museum properties along the waterfront starting just north of the airport. This now goes to the Planning & Visioning Commission. It will have to come back to city council for public hearings before this is final. Currently, it is the FAA airport regulations that determine maximum building heights in this area
which is not way to zone in my opinion.
Sept.25th - Update.
The City Council met in workshop on Sept 25th to discuss the maximum building heights on the Al Lang, Mahaffey and future Dali Museum properties along the waterfront. Currently, the "height map" allowed buildings up to 300 feet for all these locations. Council directed staff to bring an ordinance to counci
in mid October with a 75' height for the Al Lang property and 125' for the other two frontwater properties. This is another victory to protect our waterfront.
July 2008.
City Council voted to direct staff to draft a zoning change to park zoning for
Al Lang Field on 7/10. This will provide a greater level of protection for our waterfront parks. I proposed allowing the citizens to vote on a similiar,
but stronger, measure a few weeks prior. That was voted down by Council. However, in light of the withdrawal of the Ray's proposal, the Council stepped up protect our waterfront this week!
Posted on 12/05/2008
City Council approved my proposal to televise debates between candidates for Mayor and City Council starting with next year's elections. It will be on the city channel and moderated by the League of Women Voters. As President of
CONA (Council of Neighborhood Associations), I twice attempted to get Council
to agreed to provide this opportunity to citizens. Both prior attempts failed.
Dec 4th - City Council Committees dates, times, places, agendas and backup
material are now on the City website. This was a request of mine because it is in committee where ideas to change things first have to go. Previously, none of these meetings were on the website so people did not even know when issues were coming up. Now, if you go the website and look under City Council and then go to meetings and agendas, you can get this information.
Posted on 09/05/2008
The St. Petersburg Times recently wrote a story on the first hundred days of this job. It outlines what I have been doing. Click on the link below to read at.
Todays article:
St. Pete Times article: Council member Karl Nurse knows clock is ticking
Posted on 07/12/2008
Sept 25th, 2008
City Council and the adminstration agreed to a series of changes to City Council procedures to make our actions more open generally and in particular
in economic development actions.
All additions and deletes from the City Council agenda will be posted on the City website through the end of the day prior to the City Council meeting. This will apply to all items. The background material will also be available.
The economic incentives approval process will include the above plus it will not be on the "consent" agenda. It will be on the regular agenda and a report will be given to Council prior to voting. This combination will prevent tax breaks being given to companies, in exchange for job creation, without it being an open process.
City Council approved a request of mine to direct city staff to draft a change in the city's TV ordinance to allow us to televise candidate debates in
city elections. This will allow thousands of people to see candidates directly respond to our concerns. As CONA President, I had requested this change prior to the 2007 city elections without success.
A considerable amount of press has occurred in recent days about how the City approved tax incentives to keep and attract business. I have a proposal
before City Council on 7/17, requesting a Council workshop to review the competing needs to attract business and have open government. I hope to convince council members to provide a more open process and not allow these
items to be approved on the "consent agenda" where the subject is not even
announced at the meeting.
CITY ELECTION DEBATES ON THE CITY TV STATION. This is another open government
proposal of Councilmember Nurse. Many cities use their TV station to allow
the League of Women Voters to organize debates which they televise. This allows thousands of voters to directly see their choices in local elections.
This comes before a city council committee on Thursday.
VICTORY FOR TV DEBATES - The city council committee voted to direct the staff to draft an ordinance to provide for one televised debate in the primary and
one in the general election for the 2009 city elections. Thanks to members
Jeff Danner, Leslie Curran and Jim Kennedy for standing up for democracy! -
July 24th,2008
OPEN GOVERNMENT FOR CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEES - Councilmember Nurse requested this week that the agendas for city council committees be posted on the city
website along with the city council meeting agendas. Most proposals go to a
committee first and currently it is very difficult for a citizen to learn the
status of proposals until it reaches the full city council. This brings another part of city government into the open.
OPEN Government Workshop set for Sept 18th. Staff will present the process for the City to follow the state law when providing tax incentives to keep and attract good jobs to St. Petersburg. We will also consider how to make this process more transparent. This can include: tax incentives not on the
consent agenda, putting adds and deletes on the web site (staff has agreed to
this change), limiting last minute additions to the agenda or at least prohibiting putting them on the consent agenda.