First, congratulations and welcome to Tampa City Council’s newest member, Naya Young. Council Member Young was sworn in Friday after a decisive win in last week’s special call run-off election. She and the rest of council will be sitting for a single regular meeting Thursday morning with a 67-item agenda. Items they will be voting on range from accepting a $10,000 CERT grant for Tampa Fire Rescue to a $67,401,584 omnibus resolution (more on that later).
Before getting into the omnibus resolution (two actually) , an item on the consent portion of the agenda worth highlighting is Item 18. A request for the city to contribute $350,000 for the latest iteration of the cross bay ferry. This shouldn’t be controversial either in the dollar amount or the goal. The lack of transportation options between Tampa and St. Petersburg won’t be solved by this small scale project, but hopefully it will be successful and part of a long term solution.
Trees
Another topic that’s back on the agenda (three items: 25, 63, and 66) is trees. Specifically the tree trust fund; its management and implementation. The administration is arguing well intended separation of funds by region is burdensome to manage and limits how and where the city can plant trees.
Advocates for trees (we all should be advocates for trees but there are folks who have worked for decades to grow and protect Tampa’s tree canopy) are questioning how much has been collected and how/where it’s been spent. One could probably carve out a lane running on the platform that the city will never plant another crepe myrtle or palm and call it planting a tree. Where the city’s tree canopy stands was the purpose of item 66, however another request to continue to report has been submitted by staff…