Tampa CRA
Thursday, July 21, 2016
10:40 a.m.
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[Sounding gavel]
10:40:46 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
[Off microphone.]
10:40:51 >>cHARLIE MIRANDA:
Here.
10:40:51 >>FRANK REDDICK:
Here.
10:40:53 >>HARRY COHEN:
Here.
10:40:54 >>GUIDO MANISCALCO:
Here.
10:40:56 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Present.
Okay, we have our monthly report is going to be presented by
Owen LaFave, downtown CRA.
Thank you.
10:41:06 >> I am thankful that I don't have any sides to present.
Owen LaFave, with the downtown CRA, CAC.
Like the mayor said, downtown, a to of development going on
downtown, and a lot of activity, with I is really an
exciting time for our city.
Since the last meeting, STP plans to officially start
construction on August 29.
They have been meeting with the staff, city staff, to
discuss the franchise agreement for the shared chiller plant
in the district.
The chiller line.
Permitting, I understand, is almost complete, and actually
some of the early work is scheduled to start this month.
There's going to be a groundbreaking ceremony sometime in
December.
I'm sure that will have a lot of excitement.
915 Franklin, they just began their construction of the
third floor in that apartment building.
The city recently met and has continued discussion was the
FDOT for the improvements of Jackson street with the cycle
track and bike Lane and resurfacing both Jackson and
Kennedy.
Another exciting development is the downtown Tampa
partnership, the shuttle service.
We talked about it previously.
But it's finally here, getting ready to start in August.
There's four bidders that operate that service.
And 12 shuttles have been ordered.
So looking forward to seeing those to move people in our
downtown corridor.
The CAC at our last meeting voted to fund part of the ferry
service that will be -- the test service going from Tampa to
St. Pete.
And then I guess finally, the old jail site, right now
currently vacant and the city is actually having a potential
lease discussion to lease that site for additional parking,
to have up to 300 parking spots on that location.
And you all know we need it.
Parking is an issue downtown.
Hopefully that will work out.
And that concludes my presentation.
Thank you very much.
Pleasure to be here.
10:43:20 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Any questions?
Seeing none, thank you very much for your report.
10:43:25 >> Thank you.
Have a great day.
10:43:27 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Yes, Mr. McDonaugh.
10:43:33 >>BOB McDONAUGH:
Economic development.
Owen stole some of my thunder but we are working with DOT
about Jackson street, because it has a removal of parking
spaces so we are offering an alternative because we didn't
think it was an appropriate plan.
But on the up side we are working with them on the old jail
site which will cover about 350 parking spaces.
We are working with TECO because they have a replacement
program for poles, and we are working with them in several
CRAs as well as neighborhood.
Trying to get that right-of-way nailed down so the
neighborhood are comfortable without changeout in the poles.
This weekend, be prepared for some interesting costumes
downtown.
The metro CON is at the convention center, respecting about
12,000 people there.
Next week we'll have different people with costumes at the
convention center, 4,000 people coming to take their board
exams.
(Laughter)
Starting Friday night, we have the Fourth Friday.
And the free water taxi rides, free discounted or free
admission to several of our downtown attractions.
And so it's a great time to bring people down, enjoy the
Riverwalk and our museum and places of comfort.
We are working with TECO again in Ybor for the restoration
and rebuilding of the arches, the lit arches which have
become a very popular attraction.
We are working on that right now.
Looking forward to the completion of 21st and 22nd
street.
We should have a date on that relatively soon.
And the YCDC is accepting applications for grants for the
special events.
That opened up at the beginning of this month and runs into
next month so the people out there listening that have not
applied, it would be a good time to get that in.
Channel District, we start soil boring, so start soil boring
today for the channel club which is the project at the
corner of Meridian and Twiggs.
And then the Heights, we are processing permits right now
for infrastructure, apartments, and the rebuilding of the
trolley barn.
Questions?
10:46:02 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Any questions?
Seeing none, please proceed.
Okay.
Okay, we have got number 3, Gas Worx site, Adamo drive, and
it was continuously per motion of Councilman Reddick and
seconded by Councilman Cohen.
Does anyone want to begin the conversation?
Thank you, Mr. Reddick.
10:46:47 >>FRANK REDDICK:
Well, I was assuming since it was on the
agenda that someone -- why is it on the agenda?
Was somebody from staff going to discuss this?
10:47:00 >> No, sir.
There was a conversation, I think, last month where we
talked about it and you had asked for some clarification by
Mr. Territo about exactly where we were.
We have had a conversation.
I can tell you an update on that property is that it has
closed.
I spoke to the new owner yesterday.
He does not have a specific plan for it.
And is more than happy to work with the CRA, exactly what
their pleasure is.
10:47:26 >>FRANK REDDICK:
Well, did we make the motion to have Tampa
report back from legal in August?
10:47:37 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Yes.
I am going to start off with this memorandum from Mr.
Territo that came to everyone after the fact.
And the letter begins: By now most if not all have heard
Patrick Mantiega's column, in my estimation, this is -- we
do not take lead from Patrick Mantiega so we could have
totally left out.
The other thing is what brought this up was that the fact
and some of the background that was presented to the YCDC
board on May 24, 2016.
My point here was, I do not recall -- and I looked back --
the only thing that we voted on at this CRA board was to
prepare a letter to the attorney general for an opinion.
It was not -- it was not sent.
And there were different opinions of why.
So we need to know the reason why it was not sent.
And, also, I looked at our -- we never voted on presenting
the YCDC an alternative way of accomplishing anything.
We never discussed it here.
So it was done -- and what I look at is there's a mix-up on
the chain of command here.
And the mixup of this board is the board that votes, and
directs the administration, not the other way around.
To have this presented without this board's knowledge was a
egregious misstep.
So when I saw this, I realized that we needed to discuss it.
We needed to bring this back and discuss exactly what we
want done as we were leaning in that direction when we
first, back in August, I believe it was, of last year.
So this is going -- it's going to be a year.
And we were leaning in that direction.
We see here -- I looked up, and the baseline according to
the state statute does not move -- cannot move.
So that concern was -- let me see here.
It's upside down.
The CRA -- and this is under section 163-3661 Florida
statute, outlines the procedure, public hearing notice
requirement, to modify CRA plan.
And the paragraph says the CRA based year is fixed and may
not be reset or modified once the initial CRA plan is
adopted.
There is no mechanism available to reset the CRA base year.
The only available option in a situation where the
ad valorem revenue has fallen so low as to eliminate the TIF
funds, it is to follow the statutory procedure to dissolve
the CRA and establish a new CRA meeting all the statutory
requirements, dissolving the CRA requires all the existing
bond obligations, and it goes on.
So the fact that -- or the fear that the base would be
modified according to state statute can't be modified.
So a lot of misinformation was presented.
And I really think that we need to have a public discussion
on this.
And, you know, I've heard, you know, it's about the money.
Yes, it's about the money.
It's about the money for downtown.
It's about the money.
But the mayor this morning just presented us with what's
going on in the core.
We are talking about a 52-story building on Ashley and
Brorein.
We are talking about -- you are talking about revenues to
downtown.
The Vinik project, revenues to downtown.
So this parcel tug-of-war, if you will, needs to be cleared
up, needs to be defined, and we need to decide as we want to
move forward on moving it, or whatever combination, whatever
it is that we want to do, but as the board, we decide on
that.
We can have the recommendation of the CAC from the different
CRAs, downtown, Ybor, the Heights, Channelside, but this
board is the one that makes the decision, and is held
accountable and should be held accountable within those.
With that, I want to ask that we either proceed with this --
yes, Mr. Reddick.
10:53:47 >>FRANK REDDICK:
Well, let me just go back.
I made the motion based on the recommendation of our legal
adviser that we send a letter to the attorney general and
for an opinion.
And I think it was a unanimous vote of the CRA word board.
And the thing is that the letters have not gone out, and
discussion in between wherein I try to inquire about the
letter, I was told that we are working on it, we are working
on it, but we never goth the letter to go out.
Now we hear that there's some concern of what effect it
would have on other CRAs.
But the problem we are having, that we voted by unanimous
vote, and this letter said -- and it was done based on a
recommendation of our legal adviser.
Legal adviser wants to suggest that the letter go to the
attorney general for an opinion.
And I believe that's why we had a unanimous vote of the CRA
board because the legal adviser gave us that opinion.
And that's the only reason I made the motion because of
that.
I think I make the point now, we have got a choice.
Either we are going to be enforce the legal adviser to --
force that legal visitor send that letter to the attorney
general for that opinion or to go ahead and put the Gas Worx
site into the CRA in Ybor City.
Now that's the option we have got, because this has been
going on.
Why it's taken this long to send a letter.
I mean, we don't know what the attorney general is going to
say.
Nobody knows what the attorney general -- how the attorney
general is going to respond.
And the speculation that it could affect other CRAs,
because we are speculating on what the attorney general is
going to say before we send the letter.
And this is coming from our legal adviser.
Now, we could spin this any kind of way, Mr. McDonaugh.
We could spin this any kind of way.
But the bottom line this council, this CRA, voted to send
that letter.
Now, someone needs to give us a justification why that
letter didn't go.
Now, I said that patiently, and each time I would ask
Mr. Baird or someone what's the progress on the letter.
And I think also part of that motion was our council
attorney review the letter prior to it going to the attorney
general as part of that motion.
And each time I asked the county attorney, have you seen the
letter? Have you seen the letter?
And here we are.
I mean, it's been a while.
So we are in a bind now, and we have got two options.
To have the legal adviser, the staff, write the letter to
the attorney general or we make a motion to take other
action.
And I think that's the frustration that I'm having with the
whole process.
10:57:07 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Now, just to understand, just that we vote
to move it doesn't mean the process and procedure and what
we are voting for is to start that procedure, if we vote for
it.
Thank you.
Mr. Suarez.
10:57:24 >>MIKE SUAREZ:
Thank you, Madam Chair.
A couple things.
First, Mr. McDonaugh, who bought the property?
10:57:31 >> Darryl Shaw.
Along with a number of other.
As you might recall he was the winning bidder at the
property at 12th and Nuccio.
10:57:42 >>MIKE SUAREZ:
That's a different owner than what we
thought --
10:57:46 >>BOB McDONAUGH:
That's correct.
He said he does not have an actual plan right now.
I would like to, if I may.
10:57:51 >>MIKE SUAREZ:
No, let me finish.
I'll ask a question if I want to ask a question.
When you want to speak you can speak afterwards.
I have the floor right now.
What I would suggest, Mr. Reddick -- and I think part of the
problem and the angst that the staff is having about going
to the attorney general is that an attorney general opinion
doesn't have any kind of weight other than an opinion of
another attorney.
What I would suggest -- and this is, I think, maybe we can
come to some kind of agreement to get an answer about be
this, because I think many of us, not all of us, understand
that we don't want the base year to change and we don't want
it to have an effect on any of the CRAs.
I think we are all in agreement on that.
And I think we are at a point now where it will either or
will not, but we can make a decision going one way or the
other.
I think that an opinion -- and I think legally we
probably -- the Florida Redevelopment Association is the
preeminent leader when it comes to these type of issues.
They have seen practically he have issue there is with CRA,
than any other point across the State of Florida. I do not
know, and maybe Mr. Territo can answer the question, do they
have a legal department with the FRA?
They do have an attorney there?
10:59:07 >>SAL TERRITO:
Outside counsel.
They have had that for many years.
10:59:11 >>MIKE SUAREZ:
And I think that to me would carry a lot
more weight because they carry these issues on a day-to-day,
year-to-year basis.
Secondly, and again, I don't really care whether we go to
the attorney general or not but I think that we might get a
better, more specific type of decision from the folks that
do this all the time, as opposed to the attorney general who
doesn't really deal with this issue for the most part.
This is part of the statute where cities and counties have
control over the way that this is operating.
The second thing is -- and I said this publicly and I'll say
it again -- the moving of a piece of property from one CRA
to the other, I don't care as long as there is a net zero
effect in terms of dollars for either one of the CRA
districts that we are moving it from.
It doesn't bother me if we want to move it.
We do have some contractual obligations that are part of it.
We have to renegotiate the contract that we have with the
strategic property partners.
I don't see that that necessarily will be a bad thing.
I mean that's not a bad thing but a difficult thing.
Also we have to make sure that the county gets on board with
us.
I don't think we'll have a problem with that either.
But the problem I will have if it's causes any dollars to be
lost from one CRA to the other or from both, Forbe that
matter, because it's not the elimination of a base year.
It's not necessarily a change of a base year but now you are
putting a property that has a different base year.
That's really the crux of the argument.
And we need to figure out if by moving it causes any other
ripple effect.
And I know there's some legal -- not just statute but also
precedent that's in there that may or may not affect it.
I don't know because I am not an attorney, as you know.
But I think we need to really investigate it that way in
addition.
If you want an attorney general's opinion I have no problem
with that you about I don't think we are going to get the
kind of answers we really need unless we get someone who has
the expertise and the experience in knowing begun CRAs
directly.
So that's my own opinion about it.
You know, I want to listen to the rest of my colleagues to
figure out what to do next and so on.
11:01:26 >>FRANK REDDICK:
Let me just say the only reason why we
made the motion, the motion was made to go to the attorney
general, was the recommendation that Mr. Territo gave.
He said go to the attorney general for an opinion.
11:01:40 >>MIKE SUAREZ:
I think that what had happened, if I may,
Councilman Reddick, I think that probably that was a mistake
on Mr. Territo's part, primarily because it was suggested by
some of the members of the community in addition to -- and
it came up to Mr. Territo by that avenue, and not by a
specific legal look at it.
And I don't want to put words in your mouth, Mr. Territo,
but that's my memory of it, and I may be wrong about it.
So my guess is that going directly -- and again, I don't
have a problem with the attorney general's department, but I
do think the Florida Redevelopment Association has more
control in terms of knowing these issues better than any of
us short of people that practice in this on a day-to-day
basis.
11:02:26 >>FRANK REDDICK:
I don't have any problem in terms of
ending my motion to do that.
11:02:31 >>MIKE SUAREZ:
I agree.
Thank you.
11:02:33 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Just a remind they are came up because
municipality after municipality has moved their CRA property
from one to the other.
And we found that there was no effect.
And then it was suggested that maybe we should look into
possibly an effect, where there was none prior.
So just a reminder on that.
And, yes, Councilman Cohen.
11:02:58 >>HARRY COHEN:
I think I have a couple points to make on
this.
I think it's important that we have some -- some documents
from some, whether it's Florida redevelopment association to
the attorney general, I think it's important to have
something to depend on when making a decision like this.
I have to tell you, though, I really agree with Councilman
Reddick about this.
When this council passed the motion to write a letter, if
the letter is not going to be written, then we need to be
informed immediately, and be talked to immediately, and we
are available here in our offices, not wait two months
without sending the letter.
It really is a breakdown in the way that business is
supposed to be done.
Finally, my third point is this: I really think if you
listen to what the mayor said this morning -- and this
really goes to the merits of the issue of moving the parcel.
-- if you can get over the hurdle of whether or not there's
any net loss in revenue to the city, if you listen to what
the mayor said this morning, the amount of development going
on within the downtown CRA is enormous.
And that is going to be where there's going to be a
tremendous amount of revenue generated.
If idea is that we have the opportunity to move even part
of -- even if it's just one parcel into the Ybor CRA to
benefit that area.
I think makes a lot of sense based on just general explosion
that's going on in downtown.
It just to me feels like it's an equitable way to sort of
spread the wealth throughout the city.
And that's really what I think the council or the CRA is
trying to accomplish with this.
I agree with Councilman Suarez.
I don't really care where we ask for the opinion from.
I think we need to get something from somewhere so we can
move forward.
But whatever it is, whatever we ultimately ask for after
everyone speaks on this subject, I think whatever we vote
for, we ought to get.
11:05:03 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Councilwoman Montelione.
11:05:07 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Can either you, Mr. McDonough, or you, Mr. Territo, tell me
why the letter hasn't gone out?
11:05:17 >>SAL TERRITO:
Yes, I can tell you, because after research,
asking questions, they cautioned me that we are concerned
about than that, because we have done it in different ways
because we aren't sure that there is --
11:05:31 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
But --
11:05:32 >>SAL TERRITO:
And people who do this all the time were
concerned that it might end up -- for example, we have
already done this, we added a knew piece to downtown.
The sums was made back then.
There's no change.
Easy.
The old piece keeps its old baseline.
Nothing changes.
If the attorney general goes, oh, you shouldn't have done
that the way, does that mean the baseline -- there are
concerns because it is an unknown, not because we are trying
to oppose.
I have no policy decision it's your decision, not mine.
I am not trying to stall this thing.
But we have got earn concerns from other redevelopment
associations that there is another way of doing this without
dealing with all these legal issues.
That was --
11:06:26 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
Well, I want to ask you --
11:06:29 >>SAL TERRITO:
Mr. Shelby was informed.
He was informed.
11:06:31 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
Did you have a conversation with any one
of us about that?
11:06:38 >>SAL TERRITO:
I have not.
I came to make a presentation generally.
The reason I -- it isn't because I was afraid to make the
decision.
11:06:47 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
I didn't read the column so --
11:06:50 >>SAL TERRITO:
And it was going to him.
I thought I would send it to you but I didn't want there to
be an impression of why this was done.
I what there is sort of to say, look, you want to do this,
let me find a way to do this for you without creating legal
problems.
It was suggested to us by other members of the redevelopment
association around the state.
It gets you to the same place.
And it doesn't cause all the legal issues.
And that is the only reason we are at this point.
It isn't because we are stalling.
Because there may be an alternative way of doing this that
doesn't -- we may be wrong, we may be right.
11:07:27 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
The concern I have, there's two separate
now concerns that I think from what I hear we all have.
One is the actual mechanics of doing this or not doing this,
and how to go about it and those questions.
But the other is, as Councilwoman Capin said, chair Capin
said, is the breakdown of our system and Councilman Cohen
mentioned it as well.
So if we make a motion, a unanimous motion of council, and
that direction is not carried out to staff, or by staff, we
need to know, and we need to know why.
So, you know,
Having vice chair, Councilwoman Capin is chair, I don't
recall anyone contacting me.
We can't talk about things outside of this room.
But I don't recall anyone contacting me or my office to
advise that the letter was not being sent out or that there
was a breakdown in why you had concerns, or any such
discussion.
And that -- the two things that are going on here.
And I have got to say that I share the disappointment with
my colleagues.
And I know Mr. McDonaugh --
11:09:07 >>BOB McDONAUGH:
I agree that you should be kept in
informed and actually I thought we had conversations,
talking about -- Mr. Territo did the research and I thought
he had wrought it up at subsequent CRA meetings that he has
not been able to find any background, that there was a
concern.
11:09:25 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
That's true, but I wasn't informed that
the motion to send that letter to the attorney general was
not going to be carried out by staff and why it wasn't going
to be, so that we could have come back here as a body and
decided whether or not we wanted to withdraw that motion to
send the letter to the attorney general to modify it, to
change it, you know, asking some other body, or, you know,
and we did not have the opportunity to have this discussion
about why this letter wasn't going out and to modify the
action that we took.
11:10:06 >>BOB McDONAUGH:
We should have taken a formal action on
one of the agendas and had a discussion about why the legal
department felt that this perhaps was not in our best
interest.
And what we were pursuing was, was there a way of achieving
this without jeopardizing the baseline?
And I'm sorry if we took too much license in doing this.
We were trying to achieve the goals without jeopardizing the
baseline, because we could not find case law.
11:10:35 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
I do want to say in five years of
sitting and doing this, there have been a couple of other
occasions where the ball has been dropped, and actions that
either we have taken as a CRA or actions we have taken as a
council were not carried out.
In five years a couple of instances, I think we still have a
good track record.
It's just this is, you know, a volatile situation, or
discussion point carried out in public and the media and,
you know, there are a lot of people who have been anxiously
awaiting the resolution of this situation.
So I guess apology accepted.
By me.
11:11:18 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
I am going to make a point.
Mr. McDonaugh did come to me and tell me the concerns that
were there.
Not our attorney.
Mr. McDonaugh, did discuss it with me.
And what possibilities could be achieved.
The next thing I know, it's being presented the Ybor YCDC.
That should never have happened, in my opinion.
Never.
Without the discussion being brought to here to our council.
11:11:49 >>SAL TERRITO:
If I may interrupt you.
[Off microphone.]
The general way of doing this, the board who recommends, you
get a presentation.
Their presentation.
I wasn't trying to bypass you.
They are the ones that are going to say, did you go to the
YCDC Ybor?
The first here asked, was did they make a recommendation?
That's why I did it.
I wasn't trying to bypass you.
11:12:17 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
No, here is the way it works.
Here is the way it works.
You bring it to us in the sunshine.
We discuss it and we ask you to present it to the YCDC, to
the CRA advisory board.
And then they can come back.
That's the way it works.
Not the other way around.
We are the ones that make -- again, we are held accountable,
as we should be.
And how can we be held accountable when we did not -- we are
not aware that this is going to be presented or even when it
was, and that to me is the point that we have here.
We needed to discuss it out in the sunshine, absolutely,
then bring it to the CRA.
And if that is something that is in our policy then we need
to change it.
We absolutely need to change it.
Things cannot be brought up to us secondhand.
It can't.
So that's the issue there.
Now, as far as moving the property, I will say this, that it
is a long procedure.
It is an involved procedure.
Maybe part of that would be to agree to move it pending that
opinion, or that opinion be part of our decision later on to
go forth, along with everything else.
Is that something that we can --
11:13:59 >>SAL TERRITO:
That's when I got concerned.
I have written the opinion.
My request has been written.
All I have to do is send it out.
And no delay on that.
So based on that --
11:14:15 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Send it out to --
11:14:17 >>SAL TERRITO:
The attorney general.
I have already written the request.
It's ready to go.
All I have to do is change the date on there and it can go.
11:14:24 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
What is not -- okay, who gave the opinion
of -- where is the opinion that was brought to the YCDC come
from in order to work around not moving the property?
11:14:37 >>SAL TERRITO:
We had some suggestions from members of the
redevelopment association that have gone through this
process before that said, look, there's no case law out
there, there's no attorney general opinion out there, it's a
blank piece of paper.
Rather than getting into that, we never asked permission
before, we have done it here as well, we have got the same
results without having to go through --
11:15:01 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
An opinion from some -- we need to know who
gave the opinion, woo it is.
Okay, recommendation.
11:15:09 >>SAL TERRITO:
A different name for it.
Redevelopment -- other cities have done this, and their
concern was, look, we have done these things.
We have never -- we don't want to have it come back and find
out, oops.
So we have done it the way it would work and that's where
the suggestion came from, in a different manner, come to the
same conclusion, getting the same benefits without having to
go through legal issues.
That was the reason why I went to the YCDC as well, but the
alternative way of doing it -- plus, they start getting
money before that property is developed.
That was why that was suggested.
It wasn't trying to solve.
It was trying to find an it will tern with people that have
done this and find out they have done it wrong.
We do what you want to do, not what somebody else --
11:16:08 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Here is the issue.
The board was not informed at all as to who -- where this
recommendation came from, what it was.
I did discuss what it was with Bob McDonaugh.
But it never -- I don't have the authority to say move it
forward.
And I didn't give that authority.
I just said, okay, that sounds like another plan, but that
was it.
I don't want to keep going around this.
The point is this.
We need to be informed.
We demand to be informed.
We are held responsible.
We are held accountable.
Not you, us.
11:16:46 >>FRANK REDDICK:
I would like to amend the motion, and I am
going to ask Mr. Suarez to give me the name of that.
11:16:54 >>MIKE SUAREZ:
Florida Redevelopment Association.
11:16:58 >>FRANK REDDICK:
Florida Redevelopment Association.
I would like to amend my motion, that a letter be sent to
than the Florida Redevelopment Association requesting an
opinion.
11:17:16 >> [Off microphone.]
11:17:17 >>MIKE SUAREZ:
I know I had a deja vu.
11:17:25 >>SAL TERRITO:
[Off microphone.]
11:17:34 >>HARRY COHEN:
I want to ask Councilman Reddick.
Because in framing this motion, it sounds to me like, okay,
let's forget for a moment how we got to this point.
It sound to me like you have identified a way to do this.
To accomplish what we want to accomplish without sending a
bunch of letters.
Is that correct?
11:17:55 >> That's correct.
11:17:56 >>HARRY COHEN:
If councilman Reddick can make a motion then
to go ahead and do this the way that you are suggesting,
just because we had a convoluted way of getting here
perhaps, it's the right way to go, that would put us along
the road to getting where we want to go to moving the
parcel.
Is that correct?
11:18:14 >> Correct.
11:18:15 >>FRANK REDDICK:
Then I will make a motion.
11:18:17 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
May I?
Except do you know what that recommendation is?
11:18:23 >> I think it's in the memo.
11:18:25 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Yes, the memo.
11:18:29 >>SAL TERRITO:
I think I spelled out what the advantages
are --
11:18:36 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Okay.
11:18:37 >>HARRY COHEN:
Because what you are saying if I may
paraphrase, in your memo was that there was more risk to
asking for an opinion that could affect our past decisions
than there is in moving forward under a different structure.
11:18:50 >> That's correct.
And again the same results, without having to ask anybody
else's opinion, and also gives a benefit to Ybor City,
because rate now that parcel has a value.
If you move it to Ybor that value was set back in 83, so
they will start getting that money now rather than waiting
till that property is developed.
11:19:19 >>FRANK REDDICK:
Yes, but isn't that what you presented to
the YCDC in Ybor and didn't they turn that down?
And that's what made you to write that letter about MANTEGA,
he chastised you for coming in with that recommendation.
11:19:38 >>SAL TERRITO:
I wanted to say, look, that's not our
position here, I wanted you to be clear that that is not the
presentation that I made to the YCDC.
11:19:47 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Let me make this clear.
We move on that, we are talking about a presentation that
was already made to the committee.
They need to weigh in on that presentation, whether we move
with them or not, because it has been presented.
So we are going to move on something without, again, hearing
from the CAC what their opinion is.
11:20:14 >>HARRY COHEN:
Perhaps, though, this time if the
presentation is made if there's knowledge that we are
actually doing it in the spirit of trying to move in the
direction that they want to go, and it's communicated that
it's coming with our knowledge and interest in their
reaction, perhaps there will be -- perhaps there will be,
you know, a good result.
And if not we can go down the other way.
11:20:43 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
I would like to hear -- I just want to
say aye or nay.
11:20:55 >> First, let me just address what the law is, the black
letter law.
So there is no confusion.
So I was confused and I'm not sure why because we have been
over this.
But the statute says very specifically that you can modify
any CRA property by transferring property in or transferring
property out.
It's called a modification.
I'll tell you how to do it.
You have a public hearing and a resolution.
And that goes over to the county.
There is no confusion about that at all.
It is black letter.
It's in the first paragraph of the statute which I provided
to you.
So that whole issue of this scare tactic -- it may not be
legal or it could cause -- the statutes don't tell you to go
do something if there's going to be a penalty.
And if there was a penalty, which they couldn't put on there
by telling you go ahead and do this, it would, if they don't
have a penalty on it, you can't put a penalty on it because
it's called absence of due process.
It's governed by the big people in paper in Washington, the
Constitution.
And if you have a statute that says you can do this, you
cannot then have a sneaky penalty that doesn't exist and
doesn't provide prior notice.
So that's a complete nonsense.
And why I mentioned this to staff, well, I have just don't
agree.
And I said you don't agree with the Constitution are? I
don't agree.
11:22:27 >>SAL TERRITO:
I didn't same I don't agree with the
Constitution.
11:22:29 >> Well, at the time --
11:22:35 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
Wait.
Mr. Territo.
Hang on.
Hang on.
11:22:38 >> You know the rules of professional conduct.
So anyhow --
11:22:45 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
[Sounding gavel]
11:22:49 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
Councilwoman Capin is the chair of this
meeting.
And if there's going to be discussion between the two of
you, she has to recognize questions and answers and people
can speak.
And we talked about this before when Mr. Miranda was chair,
when Mr. Reddick was chair, and now with Mr. Suarez,
Councilman.
They run the meeting.
11:23:16 >> But I --
11:23:18 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
So I asked you to come up here to answer
a specific question, not to walk us through the information
that you gave us.
11:23:24 >> Okay.
11:23:25 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
So when I said I want to hear from Mr.
"A," I want to hear about the presentation that was made to
the CRA, to the YCDC, and what the YCDC board, or, you know,
if there were people there from the public, if there were
public comments, what transpired after that presentation was
made?
We can read the statutes.
We are very familiar with the regulations.
We have read Mr. Territo's memorandum.
And we have had conversations, albeit the conversation you
and I had a long time ago when this issue first came up.
And if I am speaking for myself, not the others.
But I know I voiced the concern that once it goes to the
county -- because we were in the middle, if you remember, of
afternoon negotiation with the county at the time on other,
you know, CRA.
So having this discussion at the same time as that
discussion, we were on kind of precarious ground.
So that's no longer an issue but that's what Mr. Territo and
I had discussed way back when this first came up.
And so if you could just tell us about the presentation,
because I do want the presentation --
11:24:44 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Mrs. Montelione, real quick.
Are you the president of the YCDC?
11:24:48 >> No, I am a board member.
11:24:50 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
And you are speaking for them are?
11:24:53 >> I am speaking for the Ybor City community as well as the
YCDC.
11:24:57 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Is the president of the YCDC here?
Okay, I just want to make clear.
Thank you very much.
And thank you for clearing up who is in charge.
(Laughter).
11:25:17 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
And, you know, use that gavel.
I encourage you.
11:25:22 >>MIKE SUAREZ:
The convention is affecting everybody.
(Laughter).
11:25:27 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
I have been watching every night.
So I understand your thoughts and it came from you.
And that's why I asked you to talk this morning.
But Sean, if you would like to as president answer my
question about the presentation.
Thank you.
11:25:51 >> Sean Robinson, chair of the YCDC for Ybor City.
And yes, the presentation did come to the YCDC group.
We listened to him.
We had some questions back and forth regarding not just his
ultimate proposal but as well as what we initially requested
that I believe was part of the request from the attorney
general about the actual movement of that parcel to the Ybor
CRA.
Overall, from my perspective of what we felt, this was not
just about the money.
I know that that's a big portion of it, but also about what
really should be Ybor City.
And as far as the CRA for Ybor.
And so we presented that request to also look at expanding
Ybor City, the boundaries of it, that was more contiguous,
including going to Adamo, expanding east and making sure we
went to 26th and 275 on that.
So that was additionally -- that was additional to what we
wanted to look at.
But we felt that that was an alternate proposal that we can
look at, get more information.
Our treasurer currently has some concerns as well about that
alternative proposal, whether or not we could actually do
that, taking funds from one CRA and work around to get it to
another CRA.
What we are more, at least from my perspective, more
concerned with the aesthetics of the district and because it
is the connector in Ybor City, that it does meet with than
historic designation that we have, that it is a grand
entrance into Ybor City, and that it doesn't look like it's
someplace else.
11:27:37 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
Was there any kind of vote taken at that
meeting?
11:27:40 >> If memory serves me correct, I wasn't prepared to answer
that question.
I believe we did refer that back to get more information.
That was really the vote that was taken.
She's got the minutes there.
There was a motion for the issue to go back to the have been
structure committee which we have as part of the YCDC, new
information presented today, and direct the committee to
evaluate and explore expanding the Ybor City CRA boundaries
within the area of I-4, I-275, Adamo Drive, Nebraska and
26th street at the eastern boundary, and the vote was
passed unanimously.
That was the vote that he would did.
11:28:19 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
So it was for more information referring
to the subcommittee.
11:28:24 >> Yes.
11:28:25 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
So it appears that this conversation is
still being had by the YCDC and by its members and by its
board.
11:28:33 >> Yes.
11:28:34 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
So before we can take action as an
agency, we need to have a recommendation from the YCDC, and
from what you just read to me, there is still no
recommendation from the YCDC on this particular subject.
11:28:52 >> That's correct.
11:28:53 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
So we need to continue this discussion.
We need to have the YCDC find some resolution, conclusion,
suggestion, that we need to hear from you before we can, you
know, move anything forward and take an action.
I mean, in my mind, that's how it's supposed to work.
That's why we have committees, and we have each of the
committees come and give us a monthly presentation.
You have been here before to give your monthly presentation.
As to what actions and activities are going on in the CRA.
And that's why the CAC, Ybor City Development Corporation is
a little bit different.
11:29:46 >> Yes.
11:29:46 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
Of a structure.
But I think before we make a decision, you guys have to make
a decision.
11:29:56 >> I agree.
And we do have our board meeting next week and hopefully
will have a recommendation from the planning structure
committee to go forward.
11:30:03 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
Thank you.
11:30:05 >> Thank you.
11:30:06 >> [Off microphone.]
11:30:14 >>FRANK REDDICK:
What was Mrs. Montelione was saying put in
the form of a motion that YCDC report back to this CRA prior
to our next meeting with their recommendation.
That is in August.
11:30:31 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
Plaintiff Robinson said your meeting is
next week.
11:30:34 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Also, before that motion, I want to hear
from the treasurer.
Are you the treasurer?
Because he mentioned concerns.
What exactly are you talking about?
I'm sure you are going to present it next but you are here.
11:30:52 >> Thank you, City Council for listening to this.
We have had discussion the past year back and forth.
We do feel we fully vetted this.
We have --
11:31:04 >> Please give me your name.
11:31:06 >> I'm sorry.
Grant Eulick, chairman of Ybor City, YCDC.
Personally what I would like to think this council to think
of, we have listened to Sal.
Sal did come and give us a presentation regarding --
speaking outside the box.
And I do appreciate that he did think outside the box as to
having revenue given to Ybor City.
The two biggest things that our board has discussed when we
have concerns is that if you use revenue out of the CRA --
and I am not an attorney, this is just on my research --
which is what Sal has proposed, is I think you have
inherently created a worse problem, because then are you
violating the CRA charter by taking money out of one CRA and
I did verting to the another?
So this discussion that we are having back and forth, I
think that really needs to be vetted out, which then brings
me back to my other point, is that if the YCDC board is just
trying to align our historical boundaries, and this was
something that falls into it, because I still believe from
what I see, from what I have heard, that the most simplest
way is to have this council address and discuss the
modifying the CRA boundaries, and therefore moving this
property into our CRA boundary.
I think what Sal has proposed -- and it's a great idea
outside of the box -- from what I see is it could be
inherently more risky than actually what we are proposing,
which is modifying the boundaries.
11:32:40 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Thank you.
Any questions?
11:32:45 >>FRANK REDDICK:
I go back to my motion then.
11:32:48 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
With your indulgence.
11:32:49 >>FRANK REDDICK:
Whatever you all decide to do, you need to
report back your recommendation to this CRA prior to, I
think, August 11th.
11:33:02 >>HARRY COHEN:
I'll second it.
I could ask a question of the maker of the motion?
I'm not sure if even the question is germane.
But just so the question is clear, if we get back the
recommendation that they don't wish to go down this road,
would it then be our intent to move down the road of getting
an opinion and going in the other direction?
That would be my sense.
11:33:29 >>FRANK REDDICK:
We still have that motion out therein, the
redevelopment association, part of the motion with Mr.
Suarez and include that?
11:33:41 >>SAL TERRITO:
[Off microphone.]
11:33:44 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Councilman Miranda.
11:33:46 >>CHARLIE MIRANDA:
On this discussion I haven't spoken, but
it makes sense at the same time that while we wait for the
recommendation that we send the letter in the essence of
time, so you can ask what you think would happen if this
scenario without being direct, and you would get the
information, and then you save time.
We are going to wait now till August 11 to send the letter
and then we get back, you lose a month and a half.
11:34:13 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Single-family that a friendly amendment?
(multiple discussions).
11:34:23 >>CHARLIE MIRANDA:
If be this scenario was to happen, what
are the repercussions without being bound by it.
So that you can understand that in essence of time you
certainly enhance the possibility to do what you want to do.
Tampa Florida Redevelopment Association and the Florida
League of Cities, and God if he wants to be involved.
11:34:49 >> He's seen all of it.
11:34:52 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Do we have a second?
11:34:58 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
Second.
Thank you.
So there's a letter that's going to go -- we get that
hopefully back by the 11th.
By that time we will also have the YCDC hopefully make their
decision.
But I want to -- there were two questions here.
One is moving the one parcel from one to the other, and the
other, as we heard just a minute ago, is changing the entire
boundary.
So I just want to make sure that in the letter, that there
are two separate scenarios.
11:35:38 >>SAL TERRITO:
The first one is moving one to the other.
The other is not in a CRA area.
So if you want to expand the boundaries just by getting it
from someplace other than CRA, that's not an issue.
But a new parcel, they will get a new baseline.
11:35:53 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
But doing one won include doing the
other.
11:35:56 >>SAL TERRITO:
That's up to you.
11:35:57 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
So if you change the whole boundary it
would include the new parcel, it would include the areas,
moving from one CRA to the other, and it would also include
the area that's not currently in the CRA.
11:36:07 >>SAL TERRITO:
I understand that, but immaterial saying
it's up to you if you want to Don one or both but the second
one doesn't require an opinion.
That was very clear.
If you want to add property to the CRA first of all the
county has to agree to that.
11:36:20 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
Right.
No, I understand that.
But if we change the boundary we are only going to do it
once.
And the boundaries --
11:36:29 >>SAL TERRITO:
Talking about changing the boundaries --
that's different than changing it to another CRA.
I know what you are asking.
11:36:40 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Okay, we have a motion.
Are you clear on the motion are? Have been.
11:36:43 >>THE CLERK:
No, ma'am.
Jim Crew, city clerk's office.
May I ask the full motion be formally stated, please?
11:36:51 >>FRANK REDDICK:
Made a motion to first have the YCDC to
report back to the council their recommendation by August
11.
Under CRA.
And then also we had a motion that Mr. Territo send the
letter to the Florida redevelopment association as well as
the League of Cities, and God if he wanted to.
(Laughter)
And who else?
So that was the motion.
11:37:27 >>THE CLERK:
Thank you.
11:37:32 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
We have a motion by Councilman Reddick.
Seconded by Councilman Cohen.
We have a motion by Mr. Reddick.
Seconded by councilman Cohen.
All those in favor?
Opposed?
Unanimous.
Move forward.
Thank you very much, council.
11:37:49 >>BOB McDONAUGH:
Item number 4 is informational.
It's an interlocal agreement between the City of Tampa, the
city of St. Petersburg, Pinellas County, and Hillsborough
County.
For a joint funded action to fund a six-month trial with the
ferry.
And the reason the final document did not reach you was that
when you have the attorneys from the City of Tampa, the city
of St. Petersburg, Hillsborough County, and Pinellas County,
everybody wants a bite at the apple.
We saw perhaps an example of that a little while ago.
But there is an action item that we will look at later in
the agenda pertaining to this.
But this gives you a background which will be brought to you
as City Council.
11:38:37 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Yes, Councilwoman.
11:38:44 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
I have a question for you on the
agreement before you bring it to council.
Maybe you can get the answer to this if you don't have it
now.
Paragraph 27, letter D, Tampa will negotiate in good faith
with HMS to allow HMS to obtain necessary dockage for the
pilot ferry service.
And in the next paragraph 4, letter E, says Tampa shall
waive all docking fees to the pilot ferry service.
So what are we negotiating?
11:39:19 >>BOB McDONAUGH:
Well, and I am not even sure if we are
able to waive dockage fees.
And that's something we are looking into right now. This
was a topic that came up yesterday.
The idea is to have a dock at the convention center.
11:39:32 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
Yes.
11:39:33 >>BOB McDONAUGH:
I believe that's done by ordinance but I
don't know if we have the ability.
11:39:38 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
So if you could --
11:39:42 >>BOB McDONAUGH:
That was one of the things that just
dropped up that needed to be delineated, yes.
11:39:46 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
As I am reading the agreement, that was
pretty much the only concern that I had.
It's a fairly short, straightforward agreement.
Now that everybody has weighed in, I'm surprised it's so
short.
11:40:04 >>MIKE SUAREZ:
Just to remind everyone this will not be
coming back tonight which what was originally suggested.
The mayor of St. Petersburg had reached out to me and the
staff to make sure that it was not to be on the agenda
tonight, primarily because there were so many other issues
concerning what it's going to cost and so on.
So we are going to see this back probably as early as our
next regular meeting.
So, you know, hopefully we will be able to have it on the
agenda by next week.
Thank you.
11:40:40 >>MIKE SUAREZ:
11:40:43 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Thank you.
Anyone else?
11:40:45 >>CHARLIE MIRANDA:
I will just say this.
And I am just talking about myself. This money should never
be spent from the CRA for private venture.
This HMS is a private venture.
They have their own money.
And if they have all the money they need, why are they
coming to us?
If they don't have any money, I don't need them.
So to do this and set up what we are doing, the funding is
set up of a statistical review of what the feasibility
studies are.
And you are spending a million four of which that is 350,000
by four governments to do this.
And if the due diligence of those individuals who own this
company, to guide that company where they want to go, basic
government is what we are all about.
We are not about funding private ventures.
And that's what this is.
If they were to fail then that return would be zero.
If it were to succeed the net return on your 1.47 million is
still zero.
You may have some benefits of other things, but the net
return to taxpayers is zero when you spend 1.4 million.
That's all I have got to say.
11:41:50 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Anyone else?
Thank you.
For your report.
Now public comment.
Thank you.
Public comment.
Start now.
11:42:07 >> Okay, I'm Ed, Ed Tillou, Sulphur Springs, which was
mentioned a little bit today.
Okay.
I handed around what's actually homework for next week.
I won't be discussing it today.
There is a little bit about stowage.
Going on history, you can get a sense of social problems of
dab, and here is a little bit about gun control.
All going to these a little bit next week.
But here is a very important one.
I have already distributed this in the past.
And this is very, very, very important if you want to talk
about Riverwalk and things like that.
Well, anyway, talk about poles.
Public works commission -- he's not here, but the public
works commission really needs to get concerned about bicycle
paths, because I already wrote to not TECO but who owns TECO
now about moving poles, because poles interfere with what
could be a solution to the bicycle pathways.
In other words, you don't need 7 and 8-foot sidewalks in
Sulphur Springs.
You need smaller sidewalks, and you need a separation from
these bicycles.
They are coming roaring down the sidewalks.
Anyway, so much for poles.
Okay.
Here is something about the ferry, interesting thing.
You could start checking security all the time, you don't
want a replay of this thing with the psychiatrist or
whatever he was.
He went nuts and killed about, what, eight or ten servicemen
over at that base in Tennessee.
So anyway, an additional plus for the ferry.
Okay.
I notice in this -- this was discuss add lot today -- and
what goes with it is that there's been a little bit of
contraction, I noticed the moneys are a little bit less.
15 million of the money to come.
And the rowing facility that was not really appropriate, I
think, was I think changed into a community center, which is
good.
Okay.
In this regard, this came up last meeting.
After I left.
I didn't realize but something about air conditioning that
will service Channelside.
Now, what is the impact of this on climatic change?
This is the kind of stuff -- this is the way you have got to
start thinking.
Because I am getting tired of this.
I keep circulating about Chevy volts which can make a major
impact, and I have been corresponding with the northeast.
These are approximate people that are going to be on the
line when this staph starts to happen because nothing is
done here.
(Bell sounds)
You are in denial.
And it's the ground zero of climatic change denial here.
Tampa is the ground zero of climatic change denial.
And that might make a difference to the Canadians and the
people in the northeast who will be under ice.
11:45:55 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Excuse me.
Thank you, sir.
Next.
Thank you.
11:46:03 >> Madam Chair, council, good morning.
My name is Rick Fernandez, 2906 north Elmore, Tampa 33602.
Tampa Heights.
I'm the president of the Tampa Heights Civic Association.
I sent an e-mail out to all of you good folks yesterday
afternoon under a subject heading retention of independent
consultants to address impacts of TBX.
This was an idea borne of this body between two meetings, as
I recall, both in April and May.
Actually kind of cemented itself down in May.
The idea being to hire an independent consultant using CRA
funds from an aggregate of funding from Tampa Heights, from
Ybor, and from downtown.
To hire an independent consultant to do an impact study
related to the TBX project.
What the scope of that study would be, I think that's still
probably a fundable issue.
It seemed to focus mostly on the transcript around economic
impact.
Nonetheless, the conversation took place in May.
There was to be some follow-up on that in June.
I didn't see any evidence of that in reading the transcript.
In fact I think I was hear at the meeting in June and it
didn't come up.
So I wanted to make sure that that I deep did not get lost
somewhere in the shuffle because there's a lot of dust in
the air about a lot of other things.
And it certainly is an issue that we would like to see
advance.
I did visit with Tampa CAC for Tampa Heights, river CAC,
yesterday.
I think it was yesterday.
Monday, Tuesday?
The days are flying.
And they are in support of that.
Bob was there at the time so certainly his memory may be
better or more clear than mine at this point.
But the CAC was supportive.
I also contacted capital and Harvey, and in fact he had a
proxy at that meeting of the CAC, and he confirmed that.
So as far as I know, what is left to be determined is
whether or not downtown and Ybor are on board with be this
in terms of their funds being used for this purpose.
And then developing the scope of what that study might
actually be.
And I do have a subrequest to all of this, and it is that we
see -- the CRAs that are involved and have skin in the game
that we also be allowed some involvement in this process,
whether it be in review of the consultants that might be
proposed, that we have some input on that, maybe even being
able to suggest some consultants to be considered.
Quite honestly when it comes to trust values, in this whole
TBX process, it's relatively low.
It would be nice to have more transparency at this point.
And while we certainly appreciate the study and the intent
behind it we would like to have a little bit more
involvement in that process.
(Bell sounds).
11:49:16 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Thank you.
Councilwoman Montelione.
11:49:20 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
Mr. McDonaugh, so requests such as this,
this item that we discussed here quite some time ago, with
an RFP would normally be done, scope of work by your
department, and then at the request of Mr. Spearman?
11:49:53 >>BOB McDONAUGH:
Contract management probably.
Professional services like that.
11:49:56 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
And this would be an expenditure of CRA
funds.
Again, we would have to go back to the CRA to budget.
It would be affecting one or two, to get their approval,
although Mr. Fernandez mentioned that he had talked to them
already, we would need to have someone, the president of
that CRA come and give it theory blessing.
Correct?
11:50:21 >>BOB McDONAUGH:
We can have it on each of their agendas at
the month meeting to participate in the funding of the
study, and I'm assuming that would be the Heights, downtown,
and Ybor.
And actually West Tampa as well, because they would be
affected as well.
The expressway.
11:50:38 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
Okay.
And to your point, Mr. Fernandez, is that in order for folks
who do not sit on the board of those CRAs, if you want to
have involvement in the scope of work, or as you suggested,
Tampa RFP process is put out to bid, and then people
respond, so, you know, someone would have to contact if you
have consultants who are interested, we put it out there.
We want people to respond so we don't go out and pick and
choose who the respondents are.
11:51:19 >>BOB McDONAUGH:
I think Mr. Fernandez expressed a concern
that it's not someone that is necessarily under contract
with FDOT, because of the potential conflict.
I think that's the concern.
11:51:31 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
And then the scope, likewise, would you
attend each of their meetings of those CRAs, the CACs
and then get involved that way.
So I'll make a motion as a suggestion, thank you, of
Councilman Cohen, that Mr. McDonaugh, the various CRA
managers for the Heights, Ybor, West Tampa, and downtown, be
consulted on whether or not they would be amenable to
funding this study that was requested at our previous CRA
agency meeting.
11:52:15 >>BOB McDONAUGH:
Just to be clear, I believe that the
conversation that took place in that meeting was the concern
of exactly what was the economic impact on the value of real
estate adjacent to highways during an expansion phase.
I believe that was kind of where we were going.
11:52:35 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
Yes, it was an economic --
11:52:37 >>BOB McDONAUGH:
Somewhere between an economist and a real
estate appraiser with that would know the information as
to --
11:52:45 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
Well, I would also say with input from
transportation engineers, because the amount of traffic that
is going to be put on the street, or be taken off the
street, is also going to play into that.
11:52:57 >>BOB McDONAUGH:
Okay.
11:52:59 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
So I don't know that you are going to
find one person with all three qualifications but they might
have to subcontract with others to get about their opinion.
11:53:08 >>BOB McDONAUGH:
To opine.
Yes, I will do that.
11:53:11 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
Thank you very much.
11:53:12 >>BOB McDONAUGH:
That is a motion in itself.
11:53:23 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
We have to vote on this.
11:53:24 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
I am going to bring in the last meeting
with the FDOT, I asked the question is this a 20 year plan?
Were any of the people that bought the property 15 years
ago, five years ago, informed of the possibility of their
property being in jeopardy?
And they did not have an answer.
And two days later in the "St. Pete Times" it was stated
that they don't let people know.
They wanted to push it over to the real estate agent, which
if they have the information, they are obligated to divulge
it.
But the real estate agent needs to have the information.
So that part of it, you know, the value is -- we are talking
about here is very important, but it also is very important
for people to be informed as to what's come their way when
they purchase these properties.
And that is not something that took place according to them.
So that's besides -- but I keep repeat approximating it
because I think it is extremely important, as I asked our
transportation director the other day when she presented the
roundabout.
Because they noticed issues with the intersection, that if
they noticed issues with any other intersection, because,
again, those properties are affected if there's a change.
So with that, we have a motion.
11:54:52 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
I need to amend.
Can we include East Tampa as well in that? Because I think
they will also be affected so I think they should all weigh
in.
11:54:59 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
You accept?
A motion by Councilwoman Montelione, seconded by Councilman
Cohen.
All in favor? Opposed?
Passes.
Thank you so much.
11:55:10 >>BOB McDONAUGH:
Agenda item number 5 is a request to move
money within the budget of the downtown CRA, specifically
for the funding of the ferry service trial.
11:55:23 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
And the amount?
11:55:26 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
350,000.
306,000.
Specific to the pilot ferry is 350,000.
11:55:31 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Okay.
11:55:33 >> Move the item.
11:55:34 >>SAL TERRITO:
Moving it internally -- represent [Off
microphone.]
11:55:47 >>MIKE SUAREZ:
I move the item.
11:55:48 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Moved by Councilman Suarez, seconded by
Councilman Cohen.
All in favor?
Opposed?
Okay.
11:55:54 >>THE CLERK:
Motion carried with Miranda voting no.
11:55:57 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Thank you.
11:56:00 >>BOB McDONAUGH:
Last but not least, hopefully last but not
least, we have two applications for the Channel District.
And I would ask you to please take a look at their resumés
and choose a member, please.
Neither of the applicants are here this morning.
11:56:14 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Thank you.
That was my next question.
You read minds pretty well.
11:56:21 >>MIKE SUAREZ:
I think Mrs. Foxx-Knowles.
11:56:41 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
There's two applicants, is that correct?
11:56:44 >> Yes.
11:57:48 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
It takes me a whale to sign my name.
(Laughter)
Thank you.
We'll move to information reports.
We'll start with Mr. Miranda.
11:58:17 >>CHARLIE MIRANDA:
None, ma'am.
11:58:18 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Councilman Reddick.
11:58:21 >>FRANK REDDICK:
No, Madam Chair.
11:58:24 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Councilman Suarez.
11:58:25 >>MIKE SUAREZ:
Yes, I have one item.
It doesn't have anything to do specifically with CRA but
because we always talk about neighborhoods I wanted to
mention something that happened in my neighborhood,
Riverside Heights, last night.
A group of neighbors made a decision to put blue lights on
their porches to support our police officers, and I just
wanted to thank our neighbors, starting with Dakoda Davis
who did this, primarily because of the e-mail -- I shouldn't
say e-mail but she said the presentation by officer Jackson
of Baton Rouge, talked about how tough it was to be a police
officer, and of course left an infant child behind.
And it touched her heart enough that she made a decision to
do this.
And Daniel Bodine and Julianna Bodine, and Chung, and
Collette Duke all came together and did this at our
neighborhood last night.
We had a roll call for our police officers.
It was widely reported last night and it was a wonderful
thing.
It got all the neighbors out into the street.
All of us were there for the roll call.
All of us were there to essentially acknowledge the support
that we give to our police officers, but at the same time --
and I think more importantly, it really brought with out
neighbors to an event that was totally brought up from the
ground up and not because someone had told them that they
had to be there or anything else.
It was really about the neighborhood coming together.
And I just wanted to thank all of them for doing that at
Riverside Heights. It was a wonderful experience.
11:59:58 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
I am going to interrupt.
I think we have our results.
12:00:02 >>SHIRLEY FOXX-KNOWLES:
Good morning, council.
Shirley Foxx-Knowles, CRA city clerk.
The individual collect selected for the Channel District CRA
community advisory committee is Elise Batsel.
12:00:27 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Thank you and congratulations.
We will continue with our information reports.
Councilman Maniscalco?
12:00:36 >>HARRY COHEN:
No new business.
12:00:38 >>GUIDO MANISCALCO:
No.
12:00:39 >>LISA MONTELIONE:
No new business.
12:00:41 >>CHARLIE MIRANDA:
Move to file --
12:00:44 >>YVONNE CAPIN:
Wait, wait, my turn.
(Laughter)
Here we go.
I just want to state this, and it's in vain with what Mr --
what Councilman Suarez said.
This morning, my colleague Maniscalco is wearing a police
badge with the black ribbon, and -- oh, Councilman Suarez,
also.
I didn't see yours this morning.
And it's sad that he and our law enforcement people are
wearing these badges with the black ribbon on them.
At the same time, it is a sign of mourning, it's also a sign
of solidarity, and it's very important that we keep that in
mind.
I want to just say something about our police Chief Ward.
When he came on board, he came on board as they say baptism
by fire at the time, and he has proven to me that he has a
steady and firm hand on leading our men and women in blue.
I also want to give a shoutout to the leaders of the
African-American community in helping to defuse what could
have been a very divisive time and held the community with a
very tight hug.
To all the law enforcement community, stay safe while
keeping our city safe.
The city leaders have an obligation to call out.
It is unacceptable, discriminatory culture, and we did, and
I feel that that was part of why this very volatile,
possibly volatile situation was defused, because it was
taken up and it was very seriously taken up.
So thank you to our new chief.
He's not new anymore bum he was new.
Chief Ward on his steady hand.
That's it.
That's what I wanted to mention today.
Thank you.
12:03:16 >> So we are adjourned.
12:03:21 >>THE CLERK:
Who made the motion, please?
12:03:34 >> All in favor?
And it passes.
12:03:38 >> 6:
00 tonight or 5:30?
12:03:41 >>HARRY COHEN:
5:30.
(CRA meeting adjourned.)
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