Tampa City Council Workshop
Thursday, October 22, 2009
9:00 a.m. session
DISCLAIMER:
The following represents an unedited version of
realtime captioning which should neither be relied
upon for complete accuracy nor used as a verbatim
transcript.
The original of this file was produced in all capital
letters and any variation thereto may be a result of
third party edits and software compatibility issues.
Any person who needs a verbatim transcript of the
proceedings may need to hire a court reporter.
09:06:59 >>GWEN MILLER: I call the meeting to order.
09:07:01 I yield to Linda Saul-Sena.
09:07:02 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: It's my great pleasure to introduce
09:07:06 Rabbi Birnholz of Schaarai Zedek Congregation. He is
09:07:10 a wonderful figure for good in our community.
09:07:12 Thank you for leading us in this morning's invocation.
09:07:17 Let's all remain standing for the pledge of
09:07:19 allegiance.
09:07:20 >> RABBI BIRNHOLZ: Thank you, Linda.
09:07:22 Our God, we have come before you to offer our thanks
09:07:26 for the many blessings you have given us.
09:07:29 We thank you for our freedom and for a political
09:07:33 process that encourages evolution instead of
09:07:36 revolution.
09:07:37 We thank you for the abundance that we enjoy and for
09:07:41 the reminder that we must help others who are still in
09:07:44 need.
09:07:45 We thank you for our loved ones and pray we will not
09:07:48 take them for granted.
09:07:51 In a world of competing truths, we pray that people of
09:07:55 all faiths and origins will learn that the ultimate
09:07:58 truth is whatever promotes human decency, and we ask
09:08:05 that in a one use your name as a means to promote his
09:08:08 or her personal end.
09:08:10 Be with our sons and daughters who serve far from home
09:08:14 in our military.
09:08:15 Help them to find family amongst one another and to
09:08:18 know how much their sacrifice is appreciated by a
09:08:22 grateful nation.
09:08:24 Bless our city, our mayor, our City Council, all of
09:08:28 our citizens and public servants.
09:08:31 Watch with over them and protect them.
09:08:33 Give them wisdom and patience.
09:08:36 And let them know how much we appreciate them.
09:08:38 Above all, O God, we mind us that material things are
09:08:43 only that, material things.
09:08:47 And that the treasures which mean the most can only be
09:08:49 counted by the beats of our heart.
09:08:52 Amen.
09:08:55 (Pledge of Allegiance)
09:09:11 >>GWEN MILLER: Roll call.
09:09:17 >>JOSEPH P. CAETANO: Here.
09:09:18 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: Here.
09:09:19 >>CHARLIE MIRANDA: Here.
09:09:24 >>GWEN MILLER: Here.
09:09:24 I would like to put on the record that Reverend Scott
09:09:27 will be out of town and will not be in attendance for
09:09:29 council workshop or the evening session this
09:09:32 afternoon, Thursday, October 22nd.
09:09:37 Council member Mary Mulhern due to out-of-town family
09:09:41 commitment, I regret I am unable to attend both the
09:09:44 workshop and the evening session Thursday, October
09:09:47 22nd.
09:09:50 At this time we have a presentation.
09:09:59 >> Good morning, council.
09:10:08 It is my pleasure this morning to do two officers of
09:10:15 the month.
09:10:19 I am not going to talk about them.
09:10:22 I am going to let Chief Castor talk about them.
09:10:25 >> Good morning, council.
09:10:27 Sue Harmison is a 13-year veteran with the police
09:10:32 department and is our Officer of the Month for
09:10:33 September.
09:10:34 She is also a field training officer as you will find
09:10:36 out soon.
09:10:38 Our October officer is as well.
09:10:40 Not only do we benefit the community from her
09:10:42 day-to-day activities, but she trains the future of
09:10:45 our department as well.
09:10:47 Everyone in the community knows Sue.
09:10:49 She is the definition of community policing.
09:10:53 Her area encompasses the Oaks of Riverview.
09:10:56 And anyone who remembers the old Riverview Terrace
09:10:59 that was the predecessor of that location, we had
09:11:01 quite a few crime problems in that area.
09:11:03 Sue has taken community policing into the Oaks of
09:11:07 Riverview.
09:11:08 She knows everyone who works in -- lives in there.
09:11:10 She knows everyone who belongs and who doesn't.
09:11:13 And she does an outstanding job of keeping that a
09:11:16 crime-free area and a safe community for all of the
09:11:19 residents.
09:11:20 She does an outstanding job on a daily basis.
09:11:23 In addition, she's one of those police officers that
09:11:26 isn't content with taking a report and passing it on
09:11:29 to an investigator.
09:11:32 She takes the information she gets, and I have a
09:11:34 myriad of examples where she will take an offense,
09:11:38 investigate that, find the witness, and recover
09:11:40 property and auto burglaries, residential burglaries,
09:11:45 and give that property back and effect an arrest as
09:11:48 well, time and time again.
09:11:50 So she is an outstanding example of a Tampa police
09:11:52 officer, a trainer, and obviously a community police
09:11:55 officer.
09:11:56 And it's my honor to introduce Sue Harmison as Officer
09:11:59 of the Month for September 2009.
09:12:04 [ Applause ]
09:12:09 >>GWEN MILLER: On behalf of the City Council we want
09:12:10 to give you a commendation of all those great things
09:12:13 that she just said.
09:12:16 So I won't read it.
09:12:17 At this time we'll have some gifts and start with
09:12:21 Charlie's steakhouse, a gift certificate for you.
09:12:30 >> Bob Wagner for the Florida Aquarium.
09:12:32 On behalf of the Florida Aquarium, a family of four
09:12:36 annual membership to the Florida Aquarium.
09:12:39 >> Congratulations.
09:12:41 Steve Stickler representing Stepps Towing Service.
09:12:44 We would like to present this statue to you for a job
09:12:48 well done, and again a certificate to Lee Roy
09:12:51 Selmon's.
09:12:53 >> Thank you.
09:12:54 I appreciate it.
09:12:56 >> Jimmy Myer.
09:13:00 I'm happy to give a $100 gift certificate for your
09:13:06 needs up to $100.
09:13:07 Congratulations.
09:13:08 Very well deserved.
09:13:13 >> I would like to thank you for everything you do for
09:13:16 us in the community.
09:13:18 I would like to invite you.
09:13:23 >> Thank you so much.
09:13:42 >>STEVE MICHELINI: How are you doing?
09:13:43 You are going to have to carry some more stuff here.
09:13:45 >> Okay, bring it on.
09:13:47 [ Laughter ]
09:13:49 >> We have a T-shirt.
09:13:51 Stay fit and go work out with the chief.
09:13:54 You think you can do that?
09:13:56 We have a couple different things for you.
09:13:58 We have a gift certificate for you from rigatoni's so
09:14:01 you can enjoy lunch or dinner of your choice, go to
09:14:05 the movies at Channelside, enjoy the movies.
09:14:09 Enjoy Bern's steak house.
09:14:11 You like that?
09:14:12 >> Absolutely.
09:14:13 >> You can only go once, though.
09:14:16 Anyway, congratulations on behalf of these different
09:14:20 companies that would like to recognize you for your
09:14:22 effort and making Tampa a better place to live and
09:14:24 work.
09:14:25 >> Thank you very much, sir.
09:14:26 >> Also you have a watch from Bill Currie.
09:14:32 Danny Lewis wasn't hear to present it today but Bill
09:14:35 Currie always presents a watch to the officer of the
09:14:43 months.
09:14:45 >> I would like to thank everybody.
09:14:48 I do appreciate it.
09:14:49 And thank you, guys, for taking time out this morning
09:14:52 to recognize us.
09:14:53 I have been here almost 13 and a half years.
09:14:55 I love the city.
09:14:56 I love my job.
09:14:57 I love staff.
09:14:58 It doesn't get any better than this.
09:15:00 Thank you.
09:15:01 [ Applause ]
09:15:09 >>GWEN MILLER: Officer of the Month for October is
09:15:11 police officer Shane Gadoury, and our chief will take
09:15:13 over.
09:15:17 >>CHIEF CASTOR: Thank you. It's my honor to present
09:15:17 Shane Gadoury. He hasn't been with our department a
09:15:25 long time, approximately five years, but he does an
09:15:26 outstanding job as well.
09:15:27 He's one of our training officers.
09:15:29 And his name and Sue's name come up on a regular basis
09:15:32 at our staff for the good things that they do on a
09:15:35 daily basis.
09:15:36 And a couple of examples of Shane's outstanding work.
09:15:43 There was a particularly vicious armed carjacking, and
09:15:47 he was able to track down two suspects. He saw two
09:15:51 suspicious individuals in the Belmont Heights Estates
09:15:54 where he works. He got into a foot pursuit that
09:15:56 lasted approximately five blocks, which I said is
09:15:58 about four blocks more than most people would be able
09:16:00 to chase a suspect.
09:16:01 He chased the individual down and took him into
09:16:04 custody, was able to charge him with the carjacking
09:16:06 and also found that he had a large quantity of rock
09:16:09 cocaine on him at the time of his arrest.
09:16:11 No telling what other offenses he had committed before
09:16:14 officer Padori was able to take him off the street.
09:16:22 Also an armed robbery where a juvenile who was a state
09:16:24 certified gang member pulled a gun on another
09:16:26 juvenile, and demanded his bicycle at gunpoint.
09:16:30 When the young man refused, he cocked the gun and put
09:16:34 it right in his face.
09:16:35 Shane was able to investigate that, come up with the
09:16:38 suspect information, and effect an arrest, and
09:16:40 obviously taking a very vicious criminal off of the
09:16:43 street.
09:16:44 And those are just two examples of what he does for
09:16:46 our community out there every day.
09:16:50 For that, he is being recognized as our October 2009
09:16:53 Officer of the Month.
09:16:55 [ Applause ]
09:17:00 >>GWEN MILLER: On behalf of Tampa City Council we have
09:17:02 a commendation with all these good things.
09:17:05 I'm not going to read it.
09:17:06 I'm just going to present it to you.
09:17:10 And I have a gift certificate to Charlie's Steak
09:17:12 House.
09:17:17 >> Congratulations.
09:17:19 And thank you for what you do for us.
09:17:21 From the Florida Aquarium, a family of four membership
09:17:24 to the Florida Aquarium.
09:17:25 Enjoy it.
09:17:28 >> Steve Stickley representing Stepps Towing Service.
09:17:32 Shane, very good job.
09:17:33 And on behalf of Jim and Judy Stepp, we would like to
09:17:37 present this statue also to you, and a gift
09:17:39 certificate to Lee Roy Selmons.
09:17:43 Keep up the good work.
09:17:46 >> On behalf of Lowry Park Zoo I would like to thank
09:17:49 you for all you are doing for us in the community.
09:17:50 We would like to invite you and the family to come
09:17:54 spend a day on us.
09:17:56 Thank you for all you do.
09:17:57 >> I'm only as good as my last mistake.
09:18:01 I guess I didn't bring you a dozen roses but here's my
09:18:05 business card.
09:18:05 I'll deliver them this afternoon, or hold it until
09:18:10 February when they are $75 a dozen. I'll honor it
09:18:12 then.
09:18:15 [ Laughter ]
09:18:16 >> Again congratulations.
09:18:20 I'm from the Tampa PBA, a gift certificate for $100.
09:18:29 Again, congratulations.
09:18:30 You do a great job.
09:18:32 >> Thank you.
09:18:43 >> On behalf of a variety of different folks again, we
09:18:46 would like to present you with a certificate for Bryn
09:18:49 Allen studios.
09:18:50 I forgot to mention Bryn Allen studios portrait
09:18:53 package.
09:18:54 Bern's steak house, $100 gift certificate.
09:18:58 Rigatoni's.
09:18:59 You have a matching T-shirt.
09:19:01 And you have a card to go eat.
09:19:06 There's a couple different people in here.
09:19:08 We joke around a little bit about the police when you
09:19:10 get up here but we really do appreciate what you do
09:19:13 for the community.
09:19:14 And it's a commitment and it putting your life on the
09:19:16 line.
09:19:16 And we never forget that.
09:19:18 And these businesses never forget that.
09:19:22 They do want you to sit down and enjoy yourself.
09:19:24 And because of that, they want to recognize you for
09:19:27 what you have done.
09:19:28 And we all appreciate what the officers do oh on the
09:19:31 street every day.
09:19:32 So I don't want to make too much light of that.
09:19:34 But sometimes you got to get nervous so we try to
09:19:38 lighten you up a little bit. Anyway, congratulations,
09:19:41 and we appreciate what you do.
09:19:42 And just because the chief is here and it's her first
09:19:45 time presenting this we figured we better make sure
09:19:47 she feels welcome, too.
09:19:50 And a gift card so you can enjoy lunch as well.
09:19:52 Thanks again.
09:19:55 [ Applause ]
09:20:00 >> On behalf of Bill Currie Ford, Danny Lewis, here is
09:20:03 a watch for you as well.
09:20:08 >> Thank you very much for the recognition on this
09:20:10 award today.
09:20:12 And the honor and the privilege of working for a
09:20:15 police department that supports and recognizes hard
09:20:19 work.
09:20:19 And they do it almost daily.
09:20:21 It seems like you can't go to the police department
09:20:23 anywhere without seeing something special that someone
09:20:26 has done or some eagles nest or commendation.
09:20:30 This award is really special to me.
09:20:33 Excuse me, I'm a little nervous.
09:20:35 Because I know that the chief and her staff have so
09:20:39 many great police officers to choose from.
09:20:41 I know because I work alongside of them.
09:20:43 The best staff you can work around.
09:20:47 Everybody has very strong work ethic.
09:20:49 Again I thank everybody for the award.
09:20:51 We certainly appreciate it.
09:20:52 And if I can say my passion for this job started with
09:20:56 my father who passed a away in march.
09:21:00 He was a retired police officer.
09:21:02 So if I could I would like to dedicate this to him.
09:21:04 Thanks.
09:21:05 [ Applause ]
09:21:24 >>CHARLIE MIRANDA: If I may ask Chip Fletcher are, he
09:21:27 has some special guests from Stetson law school.
09:21:39 >> Thank you.
09:21:39 Chip Fletcher, city attorney.
09:21:41 Stetson today, it's pro bono service day, and today we
09:21:48 have three students from Stetson.
09:21:50 We also have a few this evening for the evening
09:21:53 meeting.
09:21:54 And we have Kevin Maloney, Gina Belflower, and Rachel
09:22:01 Batten, all raised locally and now studying law at
09:22:06 Stetson and want to welcome them here today.
09:22:12 >> Why don't you stand so we can recognize you?
09:22:15 [ Applause ]
09:22:21 At this time we are going to our workshop on the
09:22:23 Gasparilla event.
09:22:28 >> Good morning Madam Chair.
09:22:31 Santiago Corrada, neighborhood services administrator.
09:22:36 As always it's a pleasure for me to appear before you.
09:22:38 This morning we are here to discuss the improvements
09:22:40 we will be making to the Gasparilla pirate invasion
09:22:43 event.
09:22:44 Before I do that, though, I want to make sure to thank
09:22:48 all of the community members that brought the issues
09:22:51 to our attention.
09:22:52 The community members that endured the event, that had
09:22:57 to deal with the hundreds of thousands of folks that
09:22:59 descend to their neighborhoods for the event.
09:23:02 I want to thank all of the departments that have been
09:23:04 involved now for the past, I want to say, six months
09:23:08 on making the event better, the Krewe, and of course
09:23:11 the event organizer and the school system, because the
09:23:13 school system has become a very, very active player.
09:23:16 Before we move into our PowerPoint presentation, I
09:23:20 really want to talk a little bit about the process
09:23:22 that we have always used.
09:23:23 Many of you are aware of it because you have
09:23:25 participated every year.
09:23:27 We have a pre-event meeting out in the community where
09:23:29 we discuss what the event will bring.
09:23:32 We discuss street closures, parking arrangements.
09:23:35 We also send out letters to all of the neighborhoods
09:23:37 that are impacted.
09:23:38 We go into the event and then we have a post event
09:23:41 meeting with the community to figure out how we can do
09:23:45 better, we take great pride in how we do our special
09:23:49 events.
09:23:49 We would like to hear from the public in how we can
09:23:51 make the event better each and every year.
09:23:53 This past year, we heard a number of issues that were
09:23:57 well presented by the media.
09:23:59 In fact we want to thank the media for being here
09:24:01 because it's a message we want to get out to the
09:24:03 public of the changes that are coming to the event.
09:24:05 So we thank them very much for covering it this
09:24:08 morning.
09:24:09 We do want to present a letter for the record that I
09:24:12 believe you received from one of our neighborhood
09:24:15 leaders, who has been at all of the pre- and
09:24:19 post-event meetings at least since I have been here
09:24:21 and for many, many years prayer to that to let us know
09:24:24 how the neighborhood is reacting to the event and what
09:24:27 we can do to make it better.
09:24:28 There won't be any surprises this morning.
09:24:31 We have already presented these findings to the
09:24:32 community and made promises to the community of some
09:24:35 of the things that we will put into place to make the
09:24:38 event much better for the community as well as for all
09:24:40 the participants.
09:24:42 If we could have the PowerPoint, I would like to start
09:24:44 with that.
09:24:47 Move on to the next slide.
09:24:54 Of course, we know the history of Gasparilla.
09:24:56 It's been a tradition in our community for over 100
09:24:59 years.
09:24:59 The Krewe Eventfest and city are always committed to
09:25:03 making it an enjoyable event for all the participants
09:25:06 as well as the community.
09:25:07 And we will continue to focus on the event.
09:25:09 And we will continue to make it a better event.
09:25:12 I want to go back to the parade route for a moment.
09:25:16 We all know what the venue is.
09:25:18 And I have to be very, very honest.
09:25:21 I always am with City Council.
09:25:23 When we came up with our recommendations, we didn't
09:25:28 please 100 percent of the people 100 percent.
09:25:31 We had recommendations to move the parade off the
09:25:34 route.
09:25:35 We are not ready to do that at this time.
09:25:37 We don't believe, if I can use the cliche, the baby
09:25:41 out with the bath water.
09:25:42 We wanted to make some improvements and try those
09:25:44 first before we went to a more dramatic move.
09:25:47 But certainly there were individuals that voiced that
09:25:50 opinion.
09:25:50 They wanted the event moved completely off of the
09:25:52 route.
09:25:53 And we sought to make some improvements rather than to
09:25:56 do that.
09:25:57 The outline of the recommendations is really no
09:26:01 surprise.
09:26:01 Many of the issues that we heard had to do with
09:26:04 security enforcement, specifically in the
09:26:06 neighborhoods, to make sure that the ordinances and
09:26:10 the laws that are in place are followed.
09:26:13 So we heard that loud and clear.
09:26:14 We also heard that there weren't enough Port-o-Lets or
09:26:19 portable restrooms.
09:26:20 So there are recommendations that we will be putting
09:26:23 forth to deal with that issue.
09:26:25 The event site layout and the parade route, meaning
09:26:29 how much of the waterside is open to the nonpaying
09:26:33 public as well as how the parade route could either be
09:26:36 expanded or moved in a different direction to attract
09:26:40 more spectators to a different part of the city rather
09:26:43 than everyone down at the Bayshore.
09:26:45 And finally, we heard a lot about underage drinking
09:26:49 and youngsters behaving in an inappropriate fashion.
09:26:53 So education initiatives will be also very, very key.
09:26:57 We put together a team of city departments as well as
09:27:03 EventFest, the event organizer and the Krewe, and our
09:27:06 first presenter this morning to deal with our new
09:27:10 layout for security enforcement is our assistant chief
09:27:12 Marc Hamlin.
09:27:18 I'll turn over the PowerPoint to him.
09:27:20 >>MARC HAMLIN: Good morning.
09:27:21 Assistant chief Marc Hamlin on behalf of the police
09:27:25 department.
09:27:26 We are going to start off.
09:27:27 It takes about 1400 police officers to staff the
09:27:30 Gasparilla event.
09:27:31 As you know we have about 1,000 police officers in the
09:27:33 City of Tampa.
09:27:34 So we partner up with the Hillsborough County
09:27:36 sheriff's office, the Florida Highway Patrol, and
09:27:39 state beverage, alcohol, beverage and tobacco.
09:27:42 Without them we could not staff this event properly.
09:27:45 But we are going to have to ask for additional support
09:27:47 from state beverage.
09:27:49 They have what they call a spring break deployment.
09:27:52 Yes, they deploy officers from all over the state to
09:27:56 certain locations in Florida where spring break is a
09:28:00 location that is used by students.
09:28:03 So we are going to request that they deploy officers
09:28:05 from all over the state to help us with Gasparilla as
09:28:07 well.
09:28:08 We are going to have to coordinate with the state
09:28:10 attorney's office, probably the misdemeanor division
09:28:14 chief, as time gets closer because we are going to
09:28:17 make a lot of quality of life arrests and we want to
09:28:20 make sure that they are going to prosecute, that we
09:28:25 make those arrests properly, and put a group of people
09:28:28 together that are urinating in public, drinking in
09:28:30 public, et cetera, that are causing us massive
09:28:34 problems.
09:28:34 So we are going to have to partner with them as well.
09:28:36 We have asked for additional support from the
09:28:38 Hillsborough County sheriff's office.
09:28:39 And by that I mean they are going to take up more of
09:28:42 the route by spreading out more of the route, we have
09:28:47 had a lot less problems on the route than we had in
09:28:49 the surrounding neighborhoods so we feel we could
09:28:51 spread the police, the deputies and troopers out
09:28:54 further, and that would free up, we hope, about 50
09:28:56 Tampa police officers to go into the neighborhood.
09:28:59 Now, we already had about 210 officers, plain clothes,
09:29:04 uniform, mounted patrol, et cetera, in the
09:29:06 neighborhoods last year.
09:29:07 We are going to try to up it to around 260.
09:29:10 And that will increase observation in the crowd.
09:29:15 Also some techniques, there's an observation tower.
09:29:19 You might have seen them at Busch Gardens and places
09:29:21 like that where an officer or someone can be in that
09:29:24 booth and get a better point of view.
09:29:25 We are also looking into getting some cameras to
09:29:28 possibly put up in key locations at the community has
09:29:32 let us know a problem and possibly have an officer
09:29:37 mounted to those.
09:29:38 We also had some residents tell us they have cameras
09:29:41 in their houses and we are going to ask them to also
09:29:43 report that behavior to us and I'll explain in a
09:29:45 second how we are going to do that.
09:29:47 The officers that are going to be working in those
09:29:49 neighborhoods will be wearing fluorescent green
09:29:51 traffic vests so it will be more apparent to the
09:29:54 people in the community and they can reach out to them
09:29:56 easier.
09:29:58 I spoke briefly about reallocating additional manpower
09:30:02 to the neighborhood operations.
09:30:03 One thing we are going to do on November 5th when
09:30:05 we do meet with the Hyde Park community again is bring
09:30:09 with us the commanders and supervisors of the officers
09:30:11 that are going to be working in those neighborhoods.
09:30:13 Those people will be assigned a geographic locations
09:30:17 and I'll explain to you the layout in a further slide.
09:30:19 But those officers are going to share with the
09:30:21 community their cell phone numbers.
09:30:23 They'll know what officers are in charge of their
09:30:25 neighborhoods so that they can reach out directly via
09:30:28 cell phone during the parade when they see incidents
09:30:31 that occur rather than having to call 911 or the
09:30:33 non-emergency number and go through a third person.
09:30:38 We are planning on installing additional signage with
09:30:41 the cooperation of the event personnel.
09:30:45 That will show -- also on a further slide -- that will
09:30:50 show exactly what we mean by our lack of tolerance for
09:30:53 these issues.
09:30:55 So we understand that there's going to be more arrests
09:30:59 made than usual, if the behaviors don't curtail.
09:31:03 As Mr. Corrada mentioned about getting the information
09:31:06 out to the schools and the media and other venues to
09:31:09 let people know these things that seem like they were
09:31:11 once tolerated won't be tolerated anymore such as
09:31:15 underage alcohol consumption, those other quality of
09:31:18 life issues like public urination.
09:31:21 We have another recommendation that came from the
09:31:23 community was assigning officers to the parade area
09:31:26 early to try to stop these behaviors before they
09:31:28 start, and that we think is a great recommendation
09:31:31 from the community that we want to follow through on.
09:31:34 And while that's a key, in any special event we do, we
09:31:37 don't want to make any arrests.
09:31:39 Any sporting venue, any parade, we don't want to make
09:31:42 any arrest.
09:31:43 And that's a successful event for us when no one has
09:31:45 to go to jail, behavior doesn't disrupt the event, et
09:31:48 cetera.
09:31:48 So as we go through this process, keep that in the
09:31:52 back of your mind.
09:31:53 We also plan on doing more visible layered operations
09:31:59 in the neighborhood so officers can monitor and engage
09:32:00 the public when violations are observed.
09:32:03 Once again, let's stop it before it starts.
09:32:05 So you get an idea of the area we have to monitor.
09:32:08 And now it is obviously a public area.
09:32:11 But we want to treat it more like a venue where the
09:32:13 people are coming into this, as you see this area
09:32:17 that's described in the slide.
09:32:19 The signs are apparent.
09:32:20 There's officers that are engaging them.
09:32:22 Possibly preventing activity before it starts.
09:32:26 If they see kids that seem to be underage that have
09:32:28 alcohol, things like that, possibly engaging people
09:32:31 before they have to arrest them.
09:32:34 Now, this is an example of the type of language we
09:32:37 would like to see on those signs.
09:32:40 The zero tolerance for the alcohol consumption,
09:32:42 et cetera.
09:32:42 What are the prohibited items, kegs and large vessels
09:32:49 of alcohol, and glass containers, et cetera.
09:32:55 Basically, in summary, we understand that we are going
09:32:58 to have to change the culture, not only of the event
09:33:01 goers but also the police.
09:33:03 Police always have discretion to make arrests, not
09:33:06 make arrest, but we have to let them know they can't
09:33:09 ignore behaviors even if they are not criminal that
09:33:11 may lead to these kind of interruptions of the peace
09:33:15 and the quiet of the neighborhood during the event.
09:33:17 So we are hoping that by getting the message out
09:33:20 through the media, through the schools which have
09:33:23 partnered with us and to other areas like that, that
09:33:25 we could help change the behavior of the people before
09:33:28 they get there.
09:33:29 And unfortunately we think that enforcement will
09:33:33 increase and it might take several years before the
09:33:35 message gets out that this isn't a free for all.
09:33:38 If you have any questions I will gladly take them or
09:33:40 take them at the end of the presentation.
09:33:42 >>GWEN MILLER: End of the presentation.
09:33:50 >> Our next presenter is Darrell Stefany with
09:33:53 EventFest, and he's here to talk about the additional
09:33:57 deployment of Port-o-Lets and restrooms and how we are
09:34:00 increasing those numbers so I would like to welcome
09:34:02 Mr. Stefany.
09:34:03 >> Thank you, Santiago.
09:34:05 Council members, it's great to be here in front of you
09:34:07 today.
09:34:08 I have had the distinct honor and privilege of
09:34:10 representing the Gasparilla celebration in Tampa
09:34:12 for -- I think this is my 19th year.
09:34:15 It is one of the most unique and great community
09:34:18 festivals in the United States today.
09:34:20 It has grown over the time frame that we have had it.
09:34:23 We certainly want everybody to continue to be proud of
09:34:25 this event, and from the standpoint of some of the
09:34:28 activities that took place in the neighborhood and
09:34:39 improve the quality of the event for not only people
09:34:42 that go to the event but people that live near the
09:34:44 event.
09:34:45 Somebody said I probably qualify as being the
09:34:47 Port-o-Let czar if there were such a title.
09:34:50 I really don't want that title.
09:34:52 I will give my part of the presentation by addressing
09:34:55 the Port-o-Let situation at Gasparilla.
09:34:58 We learned a lot about Port-o-Lets over recent months.
09:35:02 There is some language in the health department code
09:35:07 for the State of Florida, some tables, if you will,
09:35:10 that address some of the quantities of Port-o-Lets
09:35:12 that are supposed to be at events.
09:35:14 And certainly one of the things that we have addressed
09:35:17 in reaction and concerns of the neighborhoods as well
09:35:20 as some of the behaviors that have taken place at the
09:35:22 event.
09:35:23 We have effectively more than doubled the amount of
09:35:25 Port-o-Lets for the Gasparilla event for the coming
09:35:28 year.
09:35:30 I wish Port-o-Lets were free.
09:35:32 They are not.
09:35:33 It's added a tremendous financial burden to the event
09:35:37 budget but we have found some ways and we are very
09:35:39 much appreciative of the sponsors and sporting
09:35:43 elements that reserve tickets as well as the vending
09:35:46 that helps correct to the revenue to help offset these
09:35:49 increased expenses.
09:35:50 We certainly will be adding a great quantity of extra
09:35:54 units, not only on Bayshore Boulevard itself where we
09:35:56 would like to maintain the bulk of those units, but we
09:36:01 also want to have some units actually in the
09:36:04 neighborhoods themselves to try to help put prevent
09:36:08 some of the behaviors that have taken place inside the
09:36:11 neighborhoods.
09:36:12 If we could go back to the PowerPoint presentation
09:36:14 we'll follow this and go through it with you all.
09:36:24 One of the things that I want to make sure that
09:36:26 council is aware of, there have been more Port-o-Lets
09:36:31 placed at Gasparilla every year I have ever done this
09:36:34 event.
09:36:35 And now we are spending as much money on Port-o-Lets
09:36:39 as the entire budget when I started this event in
09:36:42 1992.
09:36:43 So there is a big jump in the line item this year.
09:36:45 As you can see effectively over 1600 units will be
09:36:48 placed for the event.
09:36:49 And both inside the neighborhood and out on Bayshore
09:36:51 and in downtown Tampa.
09:36:53 >> How does that compare to last year or the years in
09:36:56 the past?
09:36:56 >> It effectively will more than double the quantity
09:36:59 of units that are in the area especially in the public
09:37:01 area.
09:37:05 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: Can I?
09:37:06 Just as a question.
09:37:09 What is your budget?
09:37:11 What will your budget be this coming year for
09:37:12 Port-o-Lets?
09:37:15 >> Darrell Stefany: The line item budget right now
09:37:19 for Port-o-Lets is around $76,000.
09:37:24 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: And your company picks up the tab
09:37:27 on that because you get the revenues from concessions
09:37:32 from the whole event?
09:37:33 >>> That's correct.
09:37:34 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: Okay.
09:37:36 One of the slides that we have, if I could go back to
09:37:38 that briefly, we have a couple different maps to show
09:37:42 you.
09:37:43 I don't know how well it shows up on the monitor.
09:37:45 But this particular map is one of the neighborhoods,
09:37:48 Hyde Park preservation.
09:37:50 One of the things we have done over recent months is
09:37:52 we have met with all of the neighborhood
09:37:54 representatives along Bayshore Boulevard, all the
09:37:57 neighborhood representatives.
09:37:58 I think there's eleven of them that we had meetings
09:38:00 with, at least one meeting, some of them several
09:38:03 meetings.
09:38:04 We have asked them to help us identify areas in their
09:38:07 neighborhoods that are areas of concern.
09:38:10 There is the Port-o-Lets being placed there, they
09:38:15 feel, would be helpful.
09:38:16 As you might imagine it's not an easy task to locate
09:38:18 Port-o-Lets.
09:38:20 Everybody wants them, but nobody wants them on their
09:38:22 property or near their property.
09:38:23 So this has been somewhat of a laborious process.
09:38:27 But we really appreciate the neighborhood's
09:38:30 participation because frankly we are putting on an
09:38:32 event out in Bayshore and in downtown Tampa, and they
09:38:34 know their neighborhoods better than I do, and they
09:38:37 know what takes place in that neighborhood better than
09:38:39 we do.
09:38:39 So we really appreciate their help and facilitating
09:38:43 arriving at these maps.
09:38:44 So what you see here is not only a location circled in
09:38:49 purple, but also a quantity of numbers of units.
09:38:53 This particular neighborhood -- and again this does
09:38:55 not include any of the Port-o-Lets that are out on
09:38:58 Bayshore Boulevard itself.
09:38:59 This is just inside the neighborhood placement.
09:39:02 I believe we had 21 units placed in this particular
09:39:06 neighborhood in 2009.
09:39:07 This year there will be 56 units as indicated on this
09:39:10 map that's on the screen right now.
09:39:12 Again thank you to Cindy and the neighborhood
09:39:17 associations for all their input and all the help that
09:39:19 she's been helping us with over the years.
09:39:26 The next slide, Port-o-Let and restrooms will be
09:39:28 located in areas obviously sensitive to the
09:39:31 neighborhood as I already mentioned.
09:39:33 We will also target high traffic areas of concern as
09:39:36 identified by these neighborhoods.
09:39:38 Al Lopez, portable sanitation of Tampa Bay is our
09:39:41 vendor that we worked with for many years.
09:39:43 Al lives and works here in this community, and we are
09:39:46 very pleased that he cares about this issue as much as
09:39:49 we do, and he has always done a good job to the point
09:39:53 of at times moving things several phone calls about it
09:39:57 not being quite in the right spot at times.
09:39:59 We really appreciate his commitment to keeping the
09:40:01 neighborhood happy about the placement as well as
09:40:05 sensitive to their concerns and position of these
09:40:08 units.
09:40:15 The next part of the presentation that I would like to
09:40:17 address is the event site layout.
09:40:19 One of the things that takes place at Gasparilla is
09:40:21 there are some reserves seating areas, to try to meet
09:40:25 the demand of people who would like to have a reserve
09:40:29 seat for the parade and not arrive at dawn for a
09:40:32 parade that starts at 2:00 in the afternoon.
09:40:34 So some of the reserve seating has been rearranged to
09:40:38 create some open space on the waterside of Bayshore.
09:40:40 We think this will help provide some additional space
09:40:42 for the public to see the parade.
09:40:45 In addition to some changes in the parade route in
09:40:47 downtown Tampa which I will review right now.
09:40:52 Waterside reserved seating, great seating, between the
09:40:56 Howard Avenue and the Rome intersection of Bayshore
09:40:59 Boulevard has been redeployed or moved south, to be
09:41:03 relocated between Bay to Bay and Howard.
09:41:07 So in a more concentrated area.
09:41:09 It will allow us to open up the waterside of Bayshore
09:41:12 between Howard and Rome which is about a half mile
09:41:15 length of the parade on Bayshore Boulevard.
09:41:18 It's a very difficult map to probably see in detail,
09:41:23 but this is one of our scaled detail maps of Bayshore.
09:41:27 This is between Barcelona and Howard, shows the
09:41:31 five-row-high bleachers that will be set up on the
09:41:34 waterside of the street between that area and again
09:41:37 it's pretty concentrated between Barcelona, actually
09:41:42 Bay to Bay and Howard for 2010.
09:41:46 One of the other things associated with the street
09:41:52 layout obviously is street close innings of Howard,
09:41:55 DeSoto, Gunby and Rome that will now be open for
09:42:00 public access to cross the street.
09:42:02 We'll have to monitor the density, if you will, of
09:42:04 that side of the street.
09:42:05 It's not something that can continue to have
09:42:08 quantities of people enter that area without being
09:42:11 able to escape, if you will, it's kind of a sardine
09:42:15 effect we have to keep some monitoring on but it will
09:42:17 be available on a first served basis on the day of the
09:42:21 event and we expect that to be a popular area.
09:42:24 It's a beautiful spot to see the parade.
09:42:27 And this is again a slide from the detail maps of
09:42:30 Bayshore that show Howard to Rome and you will see the
09:42:33 area that's on the waterside of the street that has
09:42:35 been opened up.
09:42:38 Again this area that we just mentioned.
09:42:50 The parade route has expanded in downtown Tampa and I
09:42:53 think I have been is going to come up and cover that
09:42:55 part.
09:42:59 >> There's a question, but before he leaves he
09:43:03 mentioned he's the restroom czar so I don't pretend to
09:43:06 be the restroom czar so I will have him keep that
09:43:09 title.
09:43:09 But part of the equation with the number of
09:43:11 Port-o-Lets is if they are serviced or not.
09:43:13 So in one of the slides the Port-o-Lets on the route
09:43:17 in the neighborhoods will be serviced during the
09:43:18 event.
09:43:18 So that helps with the equation as well as having
09:43:22 businesses provide restrooms and we are encouraging
09:43:26 businesses in the area to also open their restrooms to
09:43:29 some of the spectators.
09:43:30 So that helps as well with the calculations on
09:43:32 restrooms.
09:43:33 I believe councilman Dingfelder had a question for
09:43:35 you.
09:43:38 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: Thanks, Darrell.
09:43:41 I know ever since -- well, Gasparilla is a year-round
09:43:45 issue for you, and ever since the last one ended you
09:43:48 have been working to make the next one better, and we
09:43:51 appreciate that, along with all the staff and TPD who
09:43:55 have been working on that with you.
09:43:58 The question I have is, as we observed the parade
09:44:02 often from the parade, you get into these areas that
09:44:06 are extremely thick.
09:44:07 I know you are addressing that in some ways by
09:44:10 allowing more people on the waterside, which I think
09:44:12 is a very positive step.
09:44:16 But I just wonder if you in working with TPD or on the
09:44:20 staff have addressed that issue, that let's say around
09:44:25 Orleans, in that area of Hyde Park, if the waterside
09:44:33 fills up, or the kids don't want to spread out on a
09:44:37 longer parade route because a lot of times they just
09:44:39 want to hang out where they want to hang out, do we
09:44:42 have any way of impacting that, and perhaps curtailing
09:44:47 that?
09:44:48 In other words, on the front side, on the parade side,
09:44:52 barriers on the backside as well, or anything like
09:44:54 that?
09:44:55 Have we talked about that at all?
09:44:57 >> Are you specifically addressing the kids that
09:44:59 gather like on Willow and inside the neighborhoods
09:45:02 that do that?
09:45:03 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: Well, in some places where you get
09:45:06 those widened areas, I'm thinking about Willow,
09:45:09 Orleans, some of those streets, the closer you get to
09:45:14 downtown, those crowds just seem to get so, so thick,
09:45:18 you know, like 50 or 100 people thick, and then they
09:45:24 just seem to be pushing and shoving and they can't get
09:45:27 in or out.
09:45:28 It almost seems dangerous.
09:45:29 I'm just wondering, have we addressed that?
09:45:33 And even, chief, if you want to respond to that, is a
09:45:36 public safety concern as well?
09:45:38 Looking at it from the parade side, sometimes it just
09:45:40 seems to be such a crush of humanity that it almost
09:45:46 seems dangerous.
09:45:46 >> Well, I will certainly let police as well as Irv
09:45:50 get up and address it in regards to the extension of
09:45:54 the parade route for the lineage of the parade for
09:45:58 2010 and beyond.
09:46:00 But the answer is yes, I think some of what we have
09:46:02 done and addressed in opening waterside as well as
09:46:05 extending the parade route will help with the routes.
09:46:08 We are excited that people enjoy Gasparilla and as
09:46:10 many people attend the event and come from outside our
09:46:14 community.
09:46:14 It is an event that is a $46 million economic impact
09:46:18 to our community and that's a good thing for Tampa, in
09:46:20 or out of the economic crisis like we are in right
09:46:22 now.
09:46:23 And I do believe that some of the measures that we
09:46:27 design for 2010 in opening up these areas and
09:46:30 extending the parade route should help that.
09:46:32 We are excited -- I am going to steal Irv's thunder
09:46:37 but we are going afraid it will -- we developed Curtis
09:46:42 Hixon space which is a great people space, great that
09:46:46 downtown Tampa has a special event space of some size
09:46:49 for community events again.
09:46:51 And we have been missing that over recent years and we
09:46:53 are excited that's about to come back on line.
09:46:55 So I think these things will help.
09:46:57 We are going to do everything we can to encourage
09:46:59 people to participate and enjoy the parade in downtown
09:47:02 and enjoy the stages, it's all free for our community.
09:47:05 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: Thank you.
09:47:09 >> When I was talking earlier about observation posts
09:47:12 and bringing officers in earlier to stop things before
09:47:14 they start, that was in reaction to the community
09:47:17 telling us about -- you mentioned some of the
09:47:20 locations that they referred to as the crowds
09:47:22 gathering, people aren't even a tending the parade,
09:47:25 they are just hanging out there the whole time.
09:47:27 So that's our philosophy.
09:47:28 We are going to put observation posts there so that
09:47:31 one officer in an observation post can monitor a crowd
09:47:35 that would typically take several, and also try to
09:47:38 keep those crowds moving, and can stop the loitering
09:47:41 in the streets by bringing those officers in earlier.
09:47:44 That's what we are doing in reaction to those
09:47:45 complaints.
09:47:48 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: Even if we get to the point -- it
09:47:50 might not be this year but maybe in some future years
09:47:53 where we might need to adopt some ordinances, and we
09:47:59 want folks to go down and enjoy the parade but we
09:48:02 don't want to just be a big party, now, in the Hyde
09:48:05 Park streets and neighborhoods.
09:48:10 So I think we are heading in a good positive
09:48:13 direction.
09:48:14 But if you need help from council, you know where we
09:48:16 are.
09:48:16 >> Thank you.
09:48:17 We discussed that.
09:48:18 You know, you guys enacted the clean zone ordinance
09:48:22 during the Super Bowl and we discussed some of those
09:48:24 things.
09:48:25 And now there's always that delegate balance between
09:48:28 convenience and security.
09:48:29 And we want people to come enjoy the rich tradition of
09:48:32 Gasparilla.
09:48:32 And yet we have these issues that wave to deal with in
09:48:35 the neighborhoods.
09:48:36 So there's no question in my mind.
09:48:38 I think I said it earlier, it may take several years
09:48:41 to fully change this culture, but that is something I
09:48:44 think we would have to in a scenario look back at and
09:48:50 think how could we have done things better? We do
09:48:52 that with every event all the time, so every football
09:48:55 and hockey game to a large parade like this.
09:48:58 So point well taken.
09:49:07 >> Good morning.
09:49:09 Chairman Miller, Irvin Lee, director of public works.
09:49:14 I want to take a few moments to just highlight the
09:49:16 distinction, the proposed distinction of parade, and
09:49:19 as Darrell already mentioned to share with you what we
09:49:22 believe to be some of the benefits of this extension.
09:49:24 If I could have the next slide, please.
09:49:27 Having those three additional blocks will also give us
09:49:38 additional units.
09:49:42 You will see in the succeeding slides.
09:49:45 We will also create a stronger linkage between the
09:49:49 parade and the downtown cultural arts district.
09:49:51 This will also be a benefit from being able to
09:49:57 terminate the parade, what we believe is going to be a
09:50:00 world class engine, and it really going to be a
09:50:03 special area, we think having this particular area
09:50:07 will provide just a wonderful experience as already
09:50:12 articulated.
09:50:14 Additional when you look at the entire synergy that
09:50:18 you have downtown, all the parks, the riverwalks, by
09:50:21 allowing this extension, and when you see the route
09:50:26 you will see again we are moving the center of gravity
09:50:29 of the parade from the downtown area over towards the
09:50:34 park.
09:50:35 And I'll let you see the satellite sort of view here
09:50:39 as well.
09:50:41 The new routes you see there in magenta, or the
09:50:47 extension there in the green.
09:50:49 You will notice that we will be disbanding on Cass
09:50:52 Street and moving out towards what will be the west in
09:50:56 this picture.
09:50:57 And that's in the cyan or light blue at the top.
09:51:05 Here is a little better perspective of the downtown
09:51:09 area.
09:51:09 You can see as we go over the Brorein Street bridge,
09:51:13 turn left on Ashley, and then as I said disband along
09:51:17 Cass Street.
09:51:20 And here is our artist concept of that world class
09:51:24 venue that I talked about.
09:51:26 I really think that this will be the crowning glory to
09:51:30 the end of that parade.
09:51:36 Before we bring Darrell back up to speak to the
09:51:39 education initiatives, and we just had a spectacular
09:51:43 meeting with all of our private schools, our public
09:51:45 schools about getting the message out.
09:51:47 The last thing we want to do this Gasparilla is arrest
09:51:51 5,000 young people for underage drinking.
09:51:53 So again we are very appreciative that the media is
09:51:56 here because we do want to get the word out to those
09:51:58 young people that that is not our intention, that they
09:52:00 are expected to abide by our city ordinances and
09:52:03 behave the day of the parade.
09:52:08 Talking back to what Irv mentioned with the layout we
09:52:11 have had some challenges in the past with the parade
09:52:13 route and the St. Pete Times Forum and a concert or
09:52:17 event happening the same night after the parade ends,
09:52:20 so redirecting the parade into downtown not only
09:52:22 allows for that extension, allows for some additional
09:52:25 viewing areas that we think are going to be very
09:52:27 attractive to drain some of the crowds from the
09:52:29 Bayshore into the downtown, but also allow the forum
09:52:33 to have events on that night that would not conflict
09:52:36 with the ending of the parade and having to get
09:52:39 everyone away from downtown and having incoming
09:52:42 traffic to the concert venue.
09:52:44 So we think it works on a number of different levels
09:52:47 now I want to bring back Darrell to speak to the
09:52:49 education initiatives we have been working on because
09:52:51 those are critical to our success in the next event.
09:52:58 >> Darrell: Thank you again.
09:53:00 Not the Port-o-Let czar this time.
09:53:02 The education initiative czar, I guess.
09:53:04 We are very delighted to be working with Hillsborough
09:53:06 County schools and the independent high schools in the
09:53:09 Tampa Bay area, really on an initiative of responsible
09:53:13 behavior.
09:53:13 Again this is not a unique initiative to Gasparilla.
09:53:18 And I don't really want it to be seen that way, if
09:53:20 Gasparilla helps provide an initiative that we can
09:53:24 have our young people to respect each other, to
09:53:26 respect the property that they are visiting and to
09:53:28 respect others.
09:53:29 That's a message that's good 365 days a year.
09:53:32 And we are delighted to be working with the leadership
09:53:34 of our school system in the Hillsborough County as
09:53:36 well as the bay area in trying to address this
09:53:39 situation.
09:53:41 We first met back in May with Mary Ellen ELIA from the
09:53:45 Hillsborough County school system who pledged their
09:53:47 support, complete support, and helping with this
09:53:51 initiative obviously.
09:53:52 I cannot, through Gasparilla, cannot go into the
09:53:57 school system property and hold sessions and things.
09:54:00 It's their schools.
09:54:01 So we certainly need their help and help getting out
09:54:05 the message.
09:54:05 We can put out all the Port-o-Lets we want to.
09:54:08 We have to get people to use them as well.
09:54:10 And one of the things that we obviously heard from the
09:54:12 neighborhood this past year is how some of our young
09:54:14 people were deciding not to use those things in the
09:54:17 neighborhoods.
09:54:18 So this initiative is a combination and it involves an
09:54:21 awful lot of parties.
09:54:23 And it's really my role at times to talk about what
09:54:26 sponsors do for events.
09:54:27 One of the things that I have done in my career is had
09:54:30 a role in doing some wonderful community events for
09:54:33 our community.
09:54:33 These events are free to the community because
09:54:35 sponsors pay the bills.
09:54:38 And we are working with some of our sponsors.
09:54:41 We initially talked to friends -- there's an
09:54:45 organization called the Century Council that has some
09:54:49 initiatives in addressing underage drinking, and some
09:54:53 responsibility messaging.
09:54:56 It is gender specific and it is age specific, believe
09:54:58 it or not it starts in middle school.
09:55:01 Unfortunately but necessary.
09:55:02 It goes through high school with some different
09:55:04 initiatives and even has some college-age and
09:55:06 gender-specific initiatives as well available on their
09:55:09 Web site at centurycouncil.org.
09:55:11 I want to go back to the PowerPoint and kind of cover
09:55:14 some of this information.
09:55:17 We also will be working with Anheuser-Busch, and they
09:55:20 were present and flew in some of their leadership from
09:55:24 Miami yesterday to our meeting in helping their
09:55:29 "responsibility matters" in regards to behavior as
09:55:33 well as consumption.
09:55:34 Here is some information on the Century Council.
09:55:39 I'll kind of go through this a little quickly but I
09:55:42 really encourage the media to encourage people to see
09:55:44 this information.
09:55:45 The centurycouncil.org is a Web site address that you
09:55:49 can go to and look at these initiatives.
09:55:51 They are good.
09:55:52 I am a parent in this community.
09:55:54 My kids go to high school here.
09:55:55 This is important stuff for parents.
09:55:57 It's not only to talk to our kids about alcohol or
09:56:01 abuse with alcohol.
09:56:03 And they have some very, very good resources.
09:56:06 If you don't know how to talk to your kids you can go
09:56:08 on this Web site and look up some of that information.
09:56:10 So we are delighted to have that as a resource that we
09:56:13 can help share with people.
09:56:18 As I said, it targets, the centurycouncil.org target
09:56:24 the middle school, high school and college, as well as
09:56:28 gender-specific material so it's pretty comprehensive.
09:56:31 As an example of one of their slides that they have on
09:56:35 their Web site, it's 65% of kids that drink from
09:56:44 friends and family.
09:56:45 Stunning statistics.
09:56:47 Let me talk a little about the public school
09:56:49 initiative.
09:56:50 We had a great meeting yesterday.
09:56:51 In my career here in Tampa over the last 19 years, I
09:56:55 don't know that I have ever seen public school and
09:56:57 private school work hand in hand like I'm seeing in
09:57:00 this initiative so I'm very encouraged by this.
09:57:03 We had representatives from obviously Hillsborough
09:57:07 County schools as well as representatives from
09:57:09 independent private schools, high schools here in the
09:57:11 bay area that attended yesterday's meeting.
09:57:13 We will be having other meetings as we have approached
09:57:16 what we call the Gasparilla season.
09:57:18 But again, a program to integrate the schools,
09:57:26 messaging with the schools is being developed.
09:57:28 There's some discussions going to be held with some of
09:57:30 their principals, key principals especially in the
09:57:32 high schools and areas that certainly enjoy Gasparilla
09:57:38 as a celebration here in our community, some of the
09:57:40 schools here in South Tampa as well as some of the
09:57:42 surrounding schools.
09:57:43 And we will be meeting again in a couple of weeks
09:57:45 following up on some of their recommendations.
09:57:47 And we will have a plan in place to address this and
09:57:51 communicate this to our children.
09:57:52 And even more importantly to the parents of our
09:57:54 children as to what's going on and what we want to
09:57:57 remind people of.
09:57:58 It's not just a reminder that pay attention to
09:58:03 Gasparilla, because the rules have changed.
09:58:05 It's a responsibility messaging campaign.
09:58:08 It really is an address to talk to kids and their
09:58:11 parents about what is a community and cultural
09:58:13 problem.
09:58:14 And that's irresponsible behavior especially when it's
09:58:20 associated with alcohol.
09:58:22 Private school, we are delighted that Kevin Sumner,
09:58:25 the head of school at Tampa prep here in Tampa, has
09:58:28 offered at our first meeting this past spring to kind
09:58:31 take a leadership position in gathering the
09:58:36 independent school leadership to help in this
09:58:39 initiative, and we really appreciate his support.
09:58:42 I believe Kevin is here today and we appreciate all
09:58:44 that he's doing and rallying to get independent
09:58:48 schools here in our bay area with the same messaging.
09:58:51 And then Gina Firth is the associate director of Dean
09:58:56 of students at University of Tampa.
09:58:58 Gina has been outspoken at some of our meetings, and
09:59:03 we are delighted that she has volunteered to help
09:59:05 assist and lead the college and university initiative,
09:59:10 holding a meeting the beginning of next month to
09:59:17 address this program of information that we are trying
09:59:21 to get out to the colleges and universities regarding
09:59:23 responsibility and the Gasparilla season upcoming.
09:59:28 So that is the education initiative that we are proud
09:59:31 of, and frankly we hope will not only change the
09:59:35 behaviors on Gasparilla day but maybe change the
09:59:39 behaviors throughout the year.
09:59:40 Thank you.
09:59:45 >> SANTIAGO CORRADA: Thank you, Darrell. We
09:59:49 appreciate that. We continue to work with the
09:59:51 community.
09:59:51 We did ask for some community support.
09:59:53 And they have been just great about providing that.
09:59:56 We needed neighborhoods to identify leaders to pair up
10:00:00 with law enforcement so that during the day of the
10:00:02 event that communication can be ongoing and direct.
10:00:05 I don't know if chief Hamlin mentioned that cell phone
10:00:09 numbers will be provided to residents in those
10:00:11 areas -- those officers that are assigned to those
10:00:14 geographic areas so if there is an a issue they can be
10:00:17 contacted on the cell phone and be there in an
10:00:19 instant's notice.
10:00:20 So we are very excited about that.
10:00:22 Also help us to communicate these educational
10:00:25 initiatives.
10:00:26 One of the things that we found is that a lot of the
10:00:29 house parties that go on have some underage drinking
10:00:33 associated with it the day of the event.
10:00:35 And then those young people head out into the event.
10:00:38 So we are asking them to share that, not in our house,
10:00:42 age-specific policy, because that does worsen the
10:00:49 situation and communicate that zero tolerance message.
10:00:52 You know, many of you may not know that special events
10:00:55 is one of my major areas of responsibilities, and you
10:00:58 don't know if because we don't usually have issues
10:01:00 with special events.
10:01:01 We run hundreds of events, concerts at the forum,
10:01:06 events at the stadium, parades, Super Bowls, women's
10:01:10 final fours.
10:01:13 And you not that you hear many complaints in our city
10:01:18 because we have a incredible team of professional who
10:01:22 take incredible pride in how we run special events and
10:01:25 I like to go to other cities to critique us and I have
10:01:29 been very frustrated when I go to on the cities with
10:01:31 the way they manage traffic, with the way they manage
10:01:34 crowds, and I can say I may be agent biased we really
10:01:40 spend a lot of time and attention on how we do special
10:01:42 events.
10:01:43 We look at the little details that affect how folks
10:01:46 enjoy events.
10:01:47 In summary -- and I will go back to the slide -- we
10:01:50 are committed to continuing to work with our
10:01:52 neighborhoods.
10:01:52 We are continuing to work with our departments, the
10:01:56 private sector, Eventfest, the Krewe to make this an
10:02:00 enjoyable tradition for everyone to enjoy in our city,
10:02:03 and for those who come to it from outside of our city,
10:02:06 and we know many do, because we know that more folks
10:02:08 attend Gasparilla than live within the city limits on
10:02:12 any particular day.
10:02:12 So we know we always have over 300-plus, sometimes
10:02:19 more than 350,000 people come enjoy the event.
10:02:21 So we want to make sure that everyone enjoys it and
10:02:24 those communities around the event are not severely
10:02:26 impacted.
10:02:27 Finally, just a review of the recommendations.
10:02:30 We went out, did our post-meeting with the community
10:02:33 March 4th, 2009.
10:02:36 We listened for over two hours.
10:02:38 And we heard everything they had to say.
10:02:41 We were sincere in our appreciation for their issues,
10:02:44 because we are out there every Gasparilla, and we
10:02:47 observe some of the things that they observe so we
10:02:51 were genuinely interested in making it better.
10:02:54 We promised we would come back in 60 days and we came
10:02:58 back into the community May 7th, 2009, and came
10:03:02 back with those recommendations dealing with security
10:03:04 enforcement, Port-o-Lets, restrooms, event site
10:03:07 layout, modifications of the parade route, and a of
10:03:10 course the educational initiatives.
10:03:11 And that really concludes our workshop.
10:03:13 And if you have any questions for any members of our
10:03:15 team, we would be glad to answer those at this time.
10:03:18 Thank you, Madam Chair.
10:03:20 >>GWEN MILLER: Thank you.
10:03:21 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: I was going to suggest that we hear
10:03:23 from the public and then we ask questions.
10:03:25 >>GWEN MILLER: Is there anyone in the public that
10:03:26 would like to speak?
10:03:40 >> Talking about the change -- I think just eliminate
10:03:44 sale of alcoholic beverages completely from the
10:03:47 krewes, to spectators, everyone is bringing it in
10:03:55 coolers.
10:03:56 And if we have all these problems with teenage
10:03:59 drinking.
10:04:01 The Port-o-Lets, at one time using the bleachers.
10:04:16 They had to go way out of your way to go to a
10:04:18 Port-o-Let.
10:04:20 Assigned Port-o-Lets at the site.
10:04:22 Also, like being on Bayshore.
10:04:25 One part of Bayshore, Davis Island, the bridges, they
10:04:32 have a bus access route.
10:04:33 And they have these huge giant tents, giant air
10:04:40 balloons, hogging up space, and a lot of spectators
10:04:50 are so cramped together on one side of the road, and
10:04:53 they have more open space.
10:04:55 and we just don't have enough room for everybody in
10:04:59 one area.
10:05:00 It's crammed together.
10:05:01 And that's a reason why we have a lot of fights, they
10:05:05 are too close together, you know, like sardines in a
10:05:08 can.
10:05:09 And it's just like don't take children down anymore
10:05:19 because of the drinking.
10:05:22 You need to get rid of the alcohol.
10:05:30 >> Good morning.
10:05:31 Rosemary Henderson, president of the Historic Hyde
10:05:33 Park neighborhood association.
10:05:35 And I think sometimes we are quick to speak up when we
10:05:39 see problems in the community.
10:05:40 So I want to be quick to speak up when I think a job
10:05:45 has been well done.
10:05:47 I am just very impressed with everything that's been
10:05:51 done to pull together so many solutions to what really
10:05:54 has been a problem.
10:05:55 So I just commend everyone that's involved, the City
10:05:59 of Tampa, especially the police department, the
10:06:04 schools, the public schools, Mr. Plummer for heading
10:06:08 up the private school initiative here, Darrell
10:06:13 Stefany, the Krewe, the list goes on and on.
10:06:16 But it's an all-out effort.
10:06:18 And I'm impressed with the scope of what's been
10:06:21 undertaken.
10:06:21 So I applaud everyone.
10:06:24 We thank you from our neighborhood.
10:06:25 And we look forward to what we know will be a better
10:06:28 day.
10:06:29 And I think we have probably been able to avoid some
10:06:33 real catastrophes that could have happened.
10:06:35 We were not headed in the right direction.
10:06:37 And we really do thank you.
10:06:38 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: Thank you.
10:06:46 >> I'm Cindy Graham, Hyde Park preservation.
10:06:50 I want to echo Rosemary's comments that she just made.
10:06:55 We have been working extensively with Darrell, with
10:06:59 the Krewe, with the city, with the officers.
10:07:03 They have been incredible as far as trying to listen
10:07:05 to us, to meet our needs, to address the situation,
10:07:10 and the school system as well.
10:07:12 We are very, very pleased with what we are hearing,
10:07:14 and we know it's going to take a few years to kind of
10:07:17 get us back on track but we are anxious to see the
10:07:19 beginning start.
10:07:20 Thank you.
10:07:28 >> I am Kevin Plummer, Tampa preparatory school.
10:07:33 I too want to add my commendation to everyone, to
10:07:35 Rosemary, Cindy, and thank the Hyde Park community for
10:07:39 galvanizing a conversation that needed to be had in
10:07:42 this community.
10:07:43 The efforts of Santiago, the Tampa Police Department,
10:07:46 the neighborhood association, and now public and
10:07:48 private schools, to raise awareness about helping
10:07:53 children, it's been a rewarding conversation and I
10:07:58 thank you everyone involved.
10:07:59 I thank you for your time this morning.
10:08:07 >>> Harold walker.
10:08:09 I live at the corner of Delaware and Morrison in Hyde
10:08:13 Park, been a resident there the last 24 years,
10:08:16 experienced a broad range of Gasparilla activities and
10:08:19 especially the public members ha have gotten up here
10:08:23 this morning and spoken.
10:08:24 I think March 4th and the following meeting in
10:08:29 May, I will tip my hat to everybody that's been
10:08:32 involved, from Darrell Stefany, the police department,
10:08:38 and heading hopefully in a positive direction.
10:08:43 Everybody heard through the media and public meetings
10:08:46 all the situations that were beyond belief, that have
10:08:51 happened over the last several years, and I just have
10:08:53 a few logistical questions or concerns based on the
10:08:57 improvements, possibly this year or 2010 or years to
10:09:02 come, we might be able to take it even more so.
10:09:07 Council member Dingfelder made a mention that there
10:09:10 seems to be areas in Hyde Park proper, known as Old
10:09:13 Hyde Park, where the vertical north-south streets
10:09:17 create clusters of density, and that activity could be
10:09:22 spreader out for a longer route by stopping traffic
10:09:25 from the north side from Swann down towards the
10:09:27 Bayshore to move those numbers down to Rome or
10:09:29 everyone towards downtown.
10:09:32 The attempt to move traffic over to the Bayshore side
10:09:37 was once upon a time traffic very heavily before the
10:09:41 bridges got up, it's a great attempt.
10:09:44 At Rome, but I do sincerely believe that there needs
10:09:47 to be another version of that closer to downtown, and
10:09:53 my question is, with the access point to Bayshore, how
10:09:57 does that become available during the parade?
10:10:02 Is that no longer available?
10:10:04 Is it supposed to stop every sequence of time to let
10:10:07 members come and go?
10:10:09 That's a very big issue.
10:10:11 56 Port-o-Lets.
10:10:12 56 Port-o-Lets in the neighborhood.
10:10:14 I don't know anybody on the council.
10:10:16 I don't know anybody in any neighborhood that pays the
10:10:19 kind of taxes that are paid in Hyde Park who wants 56
10:10:23 Port-o-Lets in their neighborhood.
10:10:25 A lot of us are family members.
10:10:28 It's a great attempt.
10:10:29 I have seen Port-o-Lets, the 21 that have been there
10:10:32 the last several years.
10:10:38 The people come, they line up, for those who have been
10:10:41 in a situation where they have been maybe overserved,
10:10:45 when you are in line at a Port-o-Let it becomes more
10:10:48 than five or ten people, patience becomes a real
10:10:50 issue.
10:10:51 And the Port-o-Lets don't become an asset, they become
10:10:55 a liability.
10:10:55 And so my belief is those Port-o-Lets -- the real
10:11:00 concerns is from Morrison to Bayshore.
10:11:04 And residents in Hyde Park in the 800 block and 700
10:11:07 block, they really don't understand quite candidly how
10:11:11 some of the 900 homeowners, what the problems are,
10:11:15 what basically takes place is it's all condensed.
10:11:18 When you have Port-o-Lets from Morrison to Bayshore,
10:11:21 it becomes a very convenient location for people to
10:11:23 have a drink, walk over to the Port-o-Let, come out,
10:11:26 have another drink, go back to the Port-o-Let, have a
10:11:29 third drink and maybe not make it to the Port-o-Let.
10:11:32 So that's an issue.
10:11:33 The Port-o-Lets should be on Swann, so basically it
10:11:37 takes people away from the Bayshore up to Swann, and
10:11:41 maybe they don't come back.
10:11:42 But once again, everybody's efforts have been great
10:11:46 and I applaud it.
10:11:54 >> Good morning, council.
10:11:55 It's always nice to be down here and see you.
10:12:00 I'm with the Courier City group, which is basically
10:12:03 from Swann to Kennedy Boulevard, which with I did not
10:12:07 see addressed in any of the presentations so far.
10:12:14 Pre-parade, the problems that we have in my
10:12:17 neighborhood are parking, people trying to get a
10:12:22 parking space about 10:00 in the morning.
10:12:24 You take your life in your hands if you go on the
10:12:27 street.
10:12:30 We keep the children and the cats and everybody else
10:12:32 inside until the next morning.
10:12:37 The main problem comes post-parade.
10:12:43 Because everybody, not withstanding that they have
10:12:44 been down there drinking for four or five hours,
10:12:48 gravitate back up to our bars and restaurants, and
10:12:51 let's have a few more.
10:12:54 Let's have a few more until 3:00 in the morning.
10:12:57 So what we end up with is major violations of open
10:13:03 container law.
10:13:05 The morning after the parade, there's beer bottles and
10:13:09 cans and everything all over the neighborhood.
10:13:15 Until approximately 4:00 in the morning, we have
10:13:19 screaming and yelling.
10:13:20 It's not enough that you scream and yell for beads at
10:13:23 the parade.
10:13:24 You continue that in the neighborhood until the early
10:13:27 hours of the morning.
10:13:30 We have tremendous vandalism of various and sundry
10:13:33 street signs about parking, and the resident-only
10:13:38 parking.
10:13:38 A lot of these signs are ripped out of the ground and
10:13:42 thrown into bushes, and the neighborhood generally is
10:13:46 vandalized quite a bit.
10:13:48 After the parade.
10:13:51 And lastly, all night long, from the end of the parade
10:13:54 on, we have got cars racing up and down the streets
10:13:58 and fighting for those parking spaces so they can be
10:14:02 closer to the bars.
10:14:03 And so it would seem to me that once the parade is
10:14:06 over, you have got some leftover police officers, you
10:14:09 can send them over there, because we have certainly
10:14:12 got plenty of work for you to do.
10:14:14 Thank you.
10:14:14 >>GWEN MILLER: Thank you.
10:14:15 Would anyone else like to speak?
10:14:20 >> I just had a question of Mr. the gentleman from
10:14:30 Courier City.
10:14:31 Were you at the neighborhood representative included
10:14:34 in the meetings that were held about Gasparilla?
10:14:38 >>> No, ma'am.
10:14:40 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: Well, we need to include you
10:14:41 because you are so impacted by this.
10:14:43 And I'm looking at Mr. Santiago coming up behind you.
10:14:47 You are absolutely right.
10:14:48 The after-party is Soho and you all have the impact
10:14:52 and you need to be included in this conversation.
10:14:53 >>> I think what it is is the major impact during the
10:14:58 parade is from Swann down to Bayshore.
10:15:03 The post parade, we get it all.
10:15:07 You know, everybody comes back to our neighborhood,
10:15:10 our bars, our restaurants.
10:15:13 And it's just a nightmare.
10:15:17 And I'll be glad to attend -- everybody has my e-mail
10:15:22 address, you know where to find me.
10:15:29 >>> If I may, for us the more the merrier.
10:15:31 We welcome all voices.
10:15:32 In fact I was taking notes on some of the issues that
10:15:35 were presented here today, solutions that we might be
10:15:38 able to look at and see if we can tweak before this
10:15:41 year's event.
10:15:42 If not certainly for next year's event.
10:15:44 We already have two pre-event meetings scheduled.
10:15:47 One for the Hyde Park area which we always do, and
10:15:50 this year with the event layout going into downtown,
10:15:53 and us having residents downtown, we are going to host
10:15:56 a meeting pre-event here, that we want to do here in
10:16:01 the chambers for the downtown.
10:16:03 So we certainly welcome anyone to come to those
10:16:06 meetings with suggestions and ideas.
10:16:08 And I want to go back to what I said earlier.
10:16:10 We are willing to look at tweaking and making
10:16:12 improvements on an annual basis.
10:16:14 And I have only been here for five of the 100 years.
10:16:17 And I can tell you over those five years, we have
10:16:20 tweaked it and improved it every single year after we
10:16:23 have had our post-event briefing with community
10:16:26 members, private sector individuals, and any and all.
10:16:30 So we are committed to doing that and continuing to do
10:16:33 that.
10:16:34 Thank you.
10:16:36 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: I think Judge Fennelly brings up a
10:16:42 good point, but I know it's not news to you because
10:16:46 I'm sure your incident reports show a lot going on in
10:16:50 Soho, you know, probably for another ten hours after
10:16:54 the parade is officially ended -- ended with various
10:16:59 types of arrests.
10:17:01 What have we done in the past, or what can we do in
10:17:03 the future to address that?
10:17:05 And is there a special deployment over and above your
10:17:09 normal deployment for Soho for a typical Saturday
10:17:12 night?
10:17:14 >> Our efforts don't end when the parade ends.
10:17:17 We have a nighttime deployment.
10:17:18 And we know that area is busy.
10:17:20 We will filter the DUI squad into that area.
10:17:25 All the plain clothed units that haven't worked during
10:17:30 the daytime at nighttime will be down there.
10:17:32 We also have large crowds at Channelside, and also
10:17:34 Ybor City afterwards as well.
10:17:36 So it's a tough balance.
10:17:39 The incidents that he spoke of, you know, are real,
10:17:41 and we just want to let the community know that they
10:17:44 need to call the police when those things happen.
10:17:47 What I will do is I'll check the rate of incidents
10:17:50 after parade time before the nighttime and see how
10:17:52 drastically different that is from a Saturday night in
10:17:55 Soho, and we'll let the commanders of that district
10:18:00 one know those are issues.
10:18:02 But also welcome talking to the judge at the November
10:18:06 5th meeting and see if we can come to some sort of
10:18:10 agreement on that deployment.
10:18:13 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: Thank you.
10:18:16 Is Irv still here?
10:18:19 Irv?
10:18:31 I'm so impressed whoever is involved in cleaning up
10:18:36 after our parades and within four or five hours it's
10:18:39 just amazing how great the Bayshore looks and the
10:18:41 surrounding streets.
10:18:42 But do your clean-up efforts currently go up and the
10:18:48 Soho area, into those surrounding streets?
10:18:51 And I'm talking about as Walter mentioned, I'm talking
10:18:54 about all the way up towards Azeele, Platt, Azeele,
10:18:58 and Kennedy, you know, and obviously Howard.
10:19:02 >> I would have to get back with you on those specific
10:19:05 details.
10:19:07 The primary focus obviously is on the parade route
10:19:12 associated neighborhoods there.
10:19:15 So at this point, I have to get back with you.
10:19:20 >> The trash and littering goes on everywhere.
10:19:26 My wife and I live off of Bay to Bay and MacDill,
10:19:30 and even our neighborhood is subject to parking and
10:19:33 therefore subject to trash and littering.
10:19:36 We kind of take care of it ourselves in our own
10:19:38 neighborhood.
10:19:39 It's not that bad.
10:19:40 But the closer you get to Howard and Rome, et cetera,
10:19:44 there's definitely a huge amount of pre- and post
10:19:47 parade littering and stuff.
10:19:49 >> Madam Chair, the clean-up after the event, just
10:19:52 because I have to know where all the moving parts are,
10:19:54 our combined effort between solid waste and the parks
10:19:56 and rec department.
10:19:58 We will look at those areas wherever we do put up the
10:20:02 temporary no-parking signs and street closure signs,
10:20:05 we do go in and do some clean-up.
10:20:07 But we'll certainly look at those additional areas for
10:20:10 redeployment of staff after they are done with the
10:20:12 major parade route and see what we can do.
10:20:14 But it's a combined effort of several departments
10:20:17 having to deal with the Bayshore and when it was going
10:20:19 over into the Channel District area, and they combine
10:20:22 their efforts to make it look as good as it does
10:20:25 within a short period of time.
10:20:27 >> One other question, and this is unrelated,
10:20:29 Santiago.
10:20:31 Well, it's related but it's not directly related.
10:20:38 I'm going to assume that the two Publixes that are in
10:20:41 that area, now that there are two, one there on the
10:20:45 Bayshore and the other one over there off of Howard,
10:20:49 and the Sweetbay on Swann, I'm going to assume that
10:20:52 they probably sell beer and wine during the parade,
10:20:57 during, before and after the parade.
10:20:59 Has anybody approached those as business owners, as
10:21:02 members of our community, to perhaps have a 12-hour
10:21:06 moratorium on the sale of beer and wine?
10:21:08 And was there a response to that?
10:21:11 >> That's a great question.
10:21:13 And it's almost as if you were at our meeting
10:21:14 yesterday.
10:21:15 Because when we had the representatives from
10:21:18 Anheuser-Busch and the folks at Pepin distributing,
10:21:21 they want to reach out to those businesses in the area
10:21:24 about selling alcohol responsibly, selling alcohol to
10:21:29 the folks of appropriate age, making sure that it's
10:21:32 done correctly, having some signage up regarding the
10:21:36 zero tolerance effects.
10:21:37 So we talked about this just yesterday.
10:21:40 >> But that's a more moderate approach.
10:21:42 I'm talking about a prohibition.
10:21:44 Not a prohibition because we can't prohibit it.
10:21:48 It's by state law.
10:21:49 But a voluntary moratorium on beer and wine sales for
10:21:53 those three stores.
10:21:54 Because I have some things that there are huge amount
10:21:57 of beer and wine sales for the hours before, during
10:22:02 and after the parade.
10:22:05 And it just has to exacerbate the problem.
10:22:07 I mean, we can keep the kids and the young people from
10:22:10 bringing that beer and wine down to the parade route.
10:22:13 But if they are buying it at those three stores and
10:22:17 drinking it within a block of those three stores, and
10:22:20 then headed to the parade route, then they go back to
10:22:22 the stores for more, et, et cetera -- and I see the
10:22:25 chief sort of nodding her head like I'm not that far
10:22:28 off -- then, you know, we have a problem.
10:22:31 So I maybe -- at the end of this meeting I think I am
10:22:35 going to suggest that council send a letter to those
10:22:39 three stores and ask them to consider voluntarily
10:22:41 doing that as good members of our community.
10:22:43 >> Thank you.
10:22:44 We appreciate that.
10:22:45 Because we have had those discussions.
10:22:46 In fact as recently as yesterday morning.
10:22:50 >>GWEN MILLER: Mr. Miranda?
10:22:51 >>CHARLIE MIRANDA: Thank you, Madam Chair.
10:22:53 I'm not in disagreement but if you are going to start
10:22:55 doing that, there's certainly a lot more than three
10:22:58 stores.
10:22:58 You have a lot of mom and pops.
10:23:00 You have a lot of gas stations that have -- you have a
10:23:05 lot more.
10:23:06 So if you are going to send a letter to one, two or
10:23:08 three, you better send to the all of them.
10:23:10 Because that way you have a basis that you are not --
10:23:14 and I'm not disagreeing with you -- of coverage on the
10:23:18 same item.
10:23:20 It would be paramount I believe to do that, and I
10:23:23 think we can do that with licensing within those
10:23:26 boundaries.
10:23:27 However, keep in mind that somebody that wants to
10:23:29 drink beer or wine, as soon as this happens, guess
10:23:31 what -- they'll pick it up somewhere, West Tampa, or
10:23:36 north Tampa, or bring it.
10:23:39 If you want to do something, banks are robbed because
10:23:48 they got money.
10:23:49 They are not doing it for fun or to get their picture
10:23:52 taken on the camera.
10:23:52 So it's paramount that we do that and see how much you
10:23:56 can keep out of the area.
10:23:59 That being said, I want to thank everybody for at
10:24:03 least having a comprehensive commitment to work this
10:24:07 out.
10:24:08 I know in the past you have had these things, and they
10:24:10 have worked somewhat, but I think in the direction
10:24:14 that I have heard from cross sections of the community
10:24:16 saying that there's a ray of hope, there's sunshine on
10:24:20 this venue, that may work better than it worked
10:24:24 before, and I'm certainly for that.
10:24:26 On the other hand, I can tell you that I live near a
10:24:28 big venue that is not once a year but 15 times a year
10:24:33 or more.
10:24:33 And I have the same problems that you have, 15 times a
10:24:37 year.
10:24:37 So I have it 15 times greater.
10:24:42 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
10:24:43 It sounds like we are making progress which is a
10:24:45 really good thing.
10:24:46 I remember historically the Bayshore parade didn't
10:24:48 always go up -- I mean the Gasparilla parade didn't
10:24:51 always go up through Bayshore, it went through
10:24:54 downtown.
10:24:54 And I think we need to monitor the progress, see how
10:24:56 well this goes, and not be wed to the idea that it
10:24:59 always has to go up Bayshore because -- well, we'll
10:25:03 see how we can improve it.
10:25:05 I know we can save some staff because we don't need
10:25:10 the transportation signs on Davis islands we are
10:25:13 currently putting there and we received some feedback
10:25:16 from Vickie Pollyea that the streets that are closed
10:25:19 to her neighborhood are closed very early in the day,
10:25:21 and perhaps we can do that a little later.
10:25:23 I think this is tweaking is all important.
10:25:26 I think that the cultural shift we are talking about
10:25:28 is ambitious, it's very ambitious, because
10:25:34 Gasparilla's 100-year-old reputation, and hopefully
10:25:37 things can become more civil, because the children's
10:25:42 parade at this point is a model of that.
10:25:46 And I think that having a lot of people and enjoying a
10:25:54 big event on Bayshore and having it be civil, I think
10:25:57 alcohol is really the tipping points.
10:25:59 So it's really reining in alcohol so.
10:26:07 So thanks to everything that's been done.
10:26:09 Kudos to Santiago for heading this up.
10:26:12 I attended the first meeting.
10:26:13 It was a pretty wild meeting.
10:26:14 I mean, the neighborhood was justifiably upset.
10:26:17 And it seems like we are making some good strides.
10:26:20 And thank you for your leadership in this.
10:26:23 >>GWEN MILLER: Other questions from council members?
10:26:26 That will end our workshop then.
10:26:30 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: Move to receive and file.
10:26:31 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: Second.
10:26:32 >>GWEN MILLER: I have a motion and second.
10:26:34 All in favor of the motion say Aye.
10:26:35 Opposed, Nay.
10:26:37 Information from council members?
10:26:39 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: Under new business, two issues.
10:26:41 The first issue that I would like to do is address
10:26:44 this letter that we just talked about from council.
10:26:49 And --
10:26:51 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: Excuse me, which letter?
10:26:53 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: The letter to grocery stores and
10:26:55 the gas stations.
10:26:57 And what my motion would be that we would send a
10:27:00 letter from City Council from the chair, blessed by
10:27:03 all of us who support it, to the grocery stores, to
10:27:06 the convenience stores, to the gas stations, and all
10:27:09 other package stores.
10:27:10 Santiago, if we sent this letter to the grocery stores
10:27:15 and that sort of thing, what sort of geographic area
10:27:20 might we define?
10:27:22 Do you have a particular map?
10:27:23 >> We can come up with something, councilman.
10:27:25 We can come up with something geographically for
10:27:31 vending.
10:27:33 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: Charlie brings up a good point.
10:27:35 We want to be sure we impact everybody who has a
10:27:38 package, a C.O.P. license to sell package goods within
10:27:42 a certain geographic area.
10:27:44 Then we just send the single letter, dear sirs, to
10:27:48 whom it may concern, whatever, you know, to those
10:27:51 folks.
10:27:51 Maybe you can help us draft that, Santiago, and we
10:27:54 would send it from the chair.
10:27:56 And just ask them on a voluntary basis to curtail
10:28:00 their sales of their beer and wine and any other
10:28:04 liquor during a period of time, window of time that
10:28:07 you think is reasonable.
10:28:08 >> Yes, sir.
10:28:10 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: And we can start it on a voluntary
10:28:12 basis.
10:28:13 If that doesn't work then maybe next year if we
10:28:15 continue to have these problems, then maybe we can
10:28:17 look into any legal grounds for some type of
10:28:20 moratorium on sales, you know, like creating a zone
10:28:25 like we did for one with of those other events.
10:28:28 But I don't want to go that far this year.
10:28:30 Let's ask people to do it on a voluntary basis and see
10:28:34 if we can't.
10:28:37 >>GWEN MILLER: I think we need to wait till we have a
10:28:39 full council.
10:28:41 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: Let's try it.
10:28:42 >>GWEN MILLER: Burr they need to have some input.
10:28:44 The chair is not here.
10:28:49 >> They weren't here to see how bad things were
10:28:51 either.
10:28:52 But I'll make a motion, if it doesn't pass it will
10:28:55 carry over.
10:28:55 It's a voluntary thing.
10:28:57 >>GWEN MILLER: I know.
10:28:58 I would like to hear the others.
10:29:00 We just have four members to vote on it.
10:29:02 Another three is not here.
10:29:04 I think take it over to next week and have them and
10:29:07 see if they --
10:29:09 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: All right.
10:29:10 I'll ask our legal counsel working with Santiago, the
10:29:14 motion for them to draft the letter for Mr. Chairman,
10:29:18 bring it back and put it on the agenda for next week.
10:29:20 >>GWEN MILLER: I can support that.
10:29:22 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: That's fine.
10:29:24 We are still four months till Gasparilla.
10:29:26 That will be my motion.
10:29:29 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: Second.
10:29:29 >>GWEN MILLER: I have a motion and second of the all
10:29:31 in favor of the motion say Aye.
10:29:32 Opposed, Nay.
10:29:34 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: And the second thing is a little
10:29:36 more mundane.
10:29:37 The MPO is putting together a long-range
10:29:41 transportation plan that they do periodically every
10:29:44 couple of years.
10:29:45 And of course this one is very important because it
10:29:48 includes the mass transit and that sort of thing.
10:29:54 They are asking for a fair amount of time.
10:29:56 They have a 14-minute video.
10:29:59 And then some questions and answers and that sort of
10:30:01 thing.
10:30:01 They are looking at 20 minutes total.
10:30:06 And they said they need to do it by December -- no
10:30:11 later than December 9th.
10:30:13 So I am just going to throw that to council, when you
10:30:17 think that would be appropriate.
10:30:19 To do that.
10:30:21 In a morning meeting, in an afternoon meeting.
10:30:24 I don't know if we have an available workshop to
10:30:27 accommodate that between now and December 9th.
10:30:32 >>GWEN MILLER: Do not have a workshop to accommodate
10:30:36 that.
10:30:37 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: So in the afternoon or something if
10:30:39 you think the mornings are too busy.
10:30:40 I'm all ears to whatever council wants to do.
10:30:44 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: I have a question.
10:30:48 Will this be different substantively from what they
10:30:51 presented to the MPO?
10:30:53 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: I doubt it.
10:30:55 I think they just want to expose it to the rest of
10:30:57 council members who aren't on the MPO.
10:30:59 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: I don't serve on the MPO.
10:31:01 I'm really interested in this.
10:31:03 Perhaps we could schedule it as a special discussion
10:31:05 meeting one day.
10:31:06 So the people who don't serve on the MPO like Mrs.
10:31:10 Miller, myself, Mr. Miranda could attend, as well as
10:31:17 MPO members if they want.
10:31:18 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: If you want to do on Thursday
10:31:21 afternoon, call a special discussion meeting?
10:31:23 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: This way it doesn't have to be a
10:31:25 quorum for some of the MPO meetings, who are also
10:31:28 council members, don't have a to attend.
10:31:33 >>JOSEPH P. CAETANO: Is that the one we saw at the
10:31:35 MPO?
10:31:36 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: No, I don't --
10:31:38 >>JOSEPH P. CAETANO: That was the Hillsborough --
10:31:43 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: This is something they are just
10:31:45 putting together.
10:31:46 Remember when they videotaped us individually?
10:31:48 Were you there for that and they put together a video,
10:31:51 and now they are putting together the long-range
10:31:53 transportation plan, and it all builds, and I think we
10:31:57 are going to adopt in the December, January, something
10:32:00 like that?
10:32:01 >>JOSEPH P. CAETANO: I'm thinking of the other one
10:32:02 that was put on by -- not Hartline.
10:32:07 The chairman is Joe.
10:32:13 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: TBARTA?
10:32:16 >>JOSEPH P. CAETANO: Expressway authority that they
10:32:17 put on.
10:32:22 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: I have a suggestion perhaps.
10:32:23 November 5th we have a regular council meeting.
10:32:25 We are coming back at 1:30 for appeal hearings.
10:32:28 And if we set it for a special discussion meeting at
10:32:31 1:45, that way -- it would come after our appeal
10:32:37 hearings, and we don't have an evening meeting.
10:32:39 I think --
10:32:42 >>MARTIN SHELBY: If I can, council, assuming that
10:32:44 those three hearings are going to go, you will have
10:32:46 members of the MPO staff continuingly sitting here for
10:32:50 an hour and a half.
10:32:54 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: They can watch it on TV.
10:32:56 This may be a most --
10:32:59 >>MARTIN SHELBY: You have nothing scheduled for the
10:33:00 workshop day for the 12th in the afternoon at all.
10:33:03 The 12th of November.
10:33:04 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: But we have an evening session that
10:33:08 night.
10:33:10 I think we are due back at 1:30 and that's why God
10:33:15 made cells phones.
10:33:16 They can call and say it's coming up in five minutes,
10:33:18 come over.
10:33:21 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: So you are looking at, Mrs.
10:33:24 Saul-Sena, November --
10:33:26 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: 5th at 1:45.
10:33:28 As a special discussion meeting that would happen
10:33:31 after the appeal hearings.
10:33:32 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: We could do the 19th in the
10:33:36 same format you just described.
10:33:38 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: Yes, but then we have a greater
10:33:40 number ath of 1:30 hearings scheduled.
10:33:46 >>GWEN MILLER: We do?
10:33:47 We have more?
10:33:48 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: We have more on the 19th.
10:33:51 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: Oh, I see what you are saying.
10:33:54 Okay, yeah, you're right.
10:33:58 Seven.
10:33:58 Well, I'm fine with the 5th.
10:34:00 We have a special discussion meeting.
10:34:01 We can call it 2:00?
10:34:03 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: 2:00.
10:34:05 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: And see how it plays out.
10:34:07 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: Second.
10:34:08 >>GWEN MILLER: I have a motion and second.
10:34:09 All in favor of the motion say Aye.
10:34:11 Opposed, Nay.
10:34:13 Anything else?
10:34:17 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: Madam clerk, if you would let the
10:34:19 MPO folks know that.
10:34:20 That's all I have.
10:34:21 Thank you.
10:34:24 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: I'm sort of disappointed that we
10:34:26 have this workshop time right now when we have been
10:34:30 putting things off till like February because we
10:34:33 didn't think we had any.
10:34:34 This happens frequently with workshops.
10:34:36 I don't know how we can get better at assuming how
10:34:41 long a conversation will last.
10:34:43 I want to ask the clerk a question.
10:34:44 Do we have something else scheduled for 10:30 or 11
10:34:50 today that was pulled?
10:34:52 >>THE CLERK: Last Thursday council rescheduled the
10:34:54 workshop on the alcohol beverage rules from today to
10:34:59 January 28th at the request of the administration.
10:35:02 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: Well, I think that we should do
10:35:05 this.
10:35:05 I think that what we need to do is say because our
10:35:09 workshop time is precious, it's only available to us
10:35:12 in a very limited way, that we have more than the
10:35:17 week's worth of notice, that we have two weeks' worth
10:35:21 of notice from the administration when they don't want
10:35:23 to discuss something that we scheduled, so that we
10:35:26 have an opportunity to fill in with another topic
10:35:29 that's important, that oftentimes we have been waiting
10:35:32 quite awhile to schedule, because this has happened a
10:35:35 number of times, and I think that it just uses
10:35:40 council's time more efficiently if we were to do that.
10:35:43 So I don't know that this needs -- let this be a
10:35:46 question for Mr. Shelby.
10:35:48 Do we need to do this in the form of council's rules?
10:35:54 It's really kind of an administrative --
10:36:00 >>MARTIN SHELBY: I can share your concern with the
10:36:02 chairman who can relate that to the chairman who meets
10:36:04 with the chief of staff regularly, and the legal
10:36:07 department.
10:36:07 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: And Mr. Fletcher is there in the
10:36:10 audience.
10:36:10 You know how frequently we are frustrated because
10:36:15 things that we are involved with get put off because
10:36:17 we don't have time on our workshop agenda for several
10:36:20 months.
10:36:20 And when the administration pull something a week
10:36:23 before, it's too much of a scramble in one week to
10:36:30 fill that opportunity for additional discussion.
10:36:31 So I think two weeks would provide council and the
10:36:35 administration a chance to figure out what else we can
10:36:38 move up.
10:36:38 Because we have a laundry list of things that we are
10:36:41 trying to address.
10:36:42 And we are eager to do that as expeditiously as
10:36:44 possible.
10:36:45 So if you don't think it needs to be an ordinance --
10:36:48 not an ordinance but a council rule change or
10:36:51 anything, that's fine, we'll just have that
10:36:54 conversation, that would be great.
10:36:58 >>MARTIN SHELBY: Depending on the response, the
10:36:59 additional steps, I think that would be the first step
10:37:01 to work cooperatively, to be able to arrange that.?
10:37:03 >>GWEN MILLER: Anything else?
10:37:06 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: Yes.
10:37:06 This is not exactly a workshop question, but it's a
10:37:10 CRA question, and that is, I think strategic planning
10:37:16 has been really productive and I just want to throw
10:37:18 out the idea for discussion at a future CRA meeting
10:37:21 whether we should do a strategic planning session for
10:37:24 the CRA.
10:37:26 To be thought about in the future.?
10:37:27 >>GWEN MILLER: We can think about it but we can't make
10:37:29 a motion.
10:37:30 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: No.
10:37:31 >>GWEN MILLER: Mr. Dingfelder?
10:37:33 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: This relates back to the Gasparilla
10:37:37 issue.
10:37:37 >>GWEN MILLER: No, Ms. Saul-Sena wants to ask.
10:37:40 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: No, that's okay.
10:37:42 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: I missed this letter from Mary Lou
10:37:46 Tuttle who I think most of us know livers about a
10:37:49 block off of Bayshore and she couldn't be here today.
10:37:52 But I am just going to mention this for the record,
10:37:56 and it might be something we have to address after
10:37:58 this year's Gasparilla if things don't improve, but
10:38:00 she said that, I think council knows my extreme
10:38:05 displeasure with the city for allowing the beer fest.
10:38:08 I live a block off Bayshore and have to fence myself
10:38:11 in each year.
10:38:12 Please tell council I appreciate everything they are
10:38:14 doing to calm down the mess.
10:38:15 I have spoken out at each meeting, it's fallen on deaf
10:38:18 ears.
10:38:19 If the city oh could prohibit the sale of beer on the
10:38:21 route then the police could do a better job of
10:38:23 controlling drinking.
10:38:24 And she does bring up a good point, is to raise funds,
10:38:36 several years ago we started allowing those beer tent,
10:38:39 and they say that the money goes to nonprofits and
10:38:42 charities and all that.
10:38:43 That's a wonderful thing.
10:38:44 But I think we are exacerbating the problem with those
10:38:48 beer tents and the beer fest, even if you are selling
10:38:51 to folks who are of age, it's still a problem.
10:38:53 So to Ms. Tuttle, if she's listening, let monitor how
10:39:00 we do this year.
10:39:01 And if it continues to be a problem we are the one who
10:39:04 license those beer tents every year, and if it's not
10:39:07 working then we might need to eliminate those beer
10:39:09 tents along the route, especially on the Bayshore part
10:39:12 of it.
10:39:15 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: Thank you for noticing that, Mr.
10:39:16 Dingfelder.
10:39:16 I don't think we can not hypocritically ask other
10:39:23 folks not to sell alcohol if we are selling.
10:39:27 I think it's something that --
10:39:31 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: Well, when the issue comes up with
10:39:33 the temporary permit, because they usually bring that
10:39:35 to us, I think, in December --
10:39:38 >>LINDA SAUL-SENA: Yes, but it part of the overall
10:39:41 financial structure of the event.
10:39:45 That's why I don't think we could change it for this
10:39:49 year.
10:39:49 But I think that it also gives us pause in making the
10:39:52 request of the grocery stores and the other stores.
10:39:55 I think that's something -- I think something that
10:39:59 wasn't shared with us is the financial structure of
10:40:01 Gasparilla.
10:40:02 I think that would be very illuminating.
10:40:05 So I would like to request under staff report, when we
10:40:08 come back November 5th, if through Mr. Corrada, to
10:40:17 appear and share that with council, to the extent that
10:40:20 he knows it.
10:40:21 But I think it's really germane because it is really
10:40:23 one of those private-public partnerships, and if we
10:40:26 are partners we need to know that.
10:40:28 For example, if we are upping the number of police
10:40:30 presence by 400, who is pake picking up the tab for
10:40:33 that and how is that being picked up?
10:40:35 I think that's all part of the sort of overall
10:40:38 addressing of this.
10:40:41 And how that compares to the financial structure for
10:40:43 the children's parade.
10:40:44 >>JOHN DINGFELDER: Second.
10:40:46 >>GWEN MILLER: I have a motion and second.
10:40:48 All in favor say Aye.
10:40:49 Opposed, Nay.
10:40:53 Mr. Shelby, anything?
10:40:54 I would like to have a commendation for Warren Hope
10:40:56 Dawson to celebrate his 70th birthday.
10:41:00 I have a motion and second.
10:41:01 All in favor say Aye.
10:41:02 Opposed, Nay.
10:41:03 Anything else to come before council?
10:41:05 We stand adjourned until 6:00 p.m.
10:41:07
DISCLAIMER:
This file represents an unedited version of realtime
captioning which should neither be relied upon for
complete accuracy nor used as a verbatim transcript.
The original of this file was produced in all capital
letters and any variation thereto may be a result of
third party edits and software compatibility issues.
Any person who needs a verbatim transcript of the
proceedings may need to hire a court reporter.
|
