City Council - Apr 11, 2024

Welcome to the City of St. Petersburg City Council Meeting. Your elected officials are Mayor Ken Welch, District 1 and Council Vice Chair, Copley Gerdes, District 2, Brandy Gabbard, District 3, Ed Montenari, District 4, Lissette Kanowitz, District 5 and Council Chair, Deborah Figg Sanders, District 6, Gina Driscoll, District 7, John Muhammad. And District 8, Richie Floyd. Good afternoon, everyone. We call to order the April 11, 2024 City Council Meeting beginning with a roll call. Kanowitz? Here. Rick Sanders? Here. Driscoll? Here. Muhammad? Floyd? Here. Gerdes? Here. Gabbard? Here. Montenari? Here. Thank you. Now we will have our invocation given by the Reverend Elizabeth Sippling, the pastor of New Faith Free Methodist Church. Please stand as she gives the invocation and remain standing following for a moment of silence. Thank you for this opportunity. Let us bow our heads. Dear Heavenly Father, we gather here today seeking your guidance and your blessings for our beloved city of St. Petersburg. We ask for your protection over our citizens, our elected officials, our law enforcement officers, emergency services personnel, faith leaders, and all those that tirelessly serve our communities. Grant us the strength and the wisdom to navigate challenges and embrace opportunities so that our city may prosper and experience continued positive economic growth. We pray for an end to violence and crime and that our streets may be safe for all and for a resolution to our housing and our homeless crisis. That every member of our community may have a place to call home and to live in harmony. May your divine light shine upon us as we work together for the betterment of our city of St. Petersburg. Amen. Please join me in a moment of silence as we honor former St. Petersburg City Council member and Pinellas County School Board member, William Bill Dudley Sr. Thank you. Pledge of allegiance. Pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Please be seated. Thank you, Pastor Sifling, for those words, and I do appreciate you being here and blessing us today. Before we get started, we are going to have a few brief words about former Councilmember Bill Dudley, and we're going to ask our Councilmember Montaneri, who will say a few words, because you worked with him, you served with him, and we would love for you to grace his honor with us today. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. I met Bill Dudley when I was in high school at Northeast High School, and we called him, and everybody that knew him, loved him, and called him Coach. And he was a wonderful, kind, caring man that cared very much for our city and our community and valued education. He graduated from Northeast High School in 1963 and earned an Associate of Arts degree from St. Petersburg College. He then went on, continued his education, and earned a Master of Arts degree from USF in 1968, and then went on and got a Master's of Science degree in administration from Stetson University in 1980. From 1965 to 1966, he served on the U.S. Capitol Police Force, and he was appointed by Congressman William Kramer. He began his teaching profession in 1968 and taught in Pinellas County, in the Pinellas County school system for 37 years before retiring in 2006. He coached numerous sports and was recognized by Pinellas County as the Wrestling Coach of the Year in 2001 and 2006. He was inducted into the Northeast High School Hall of Fame in 2010. Coach Bill Dudley was elected to the St. Petersburg City Council in 2007 and re-elected in 2011. He then went on to serve as a Pinellas County school board member from 2018 to 2022. Coach Dudley is survived by his wife, Michelle Dudley, his daughter, Jennifer Tippett, and his son, Bill Dudley Jr. He has four grandchildren and many nieces, nephews, and great nieces and nephews. I ran against Bill Dudley for the City Council in 2007. Although it was a tough race, we were always friendly, and we stayed on the issues that were important to the City of St. Petersburg. And when he got elected, we became even closer and worked together on many things to make St. Petersburg a better place. I want to thank Coach Dudley for being such a good friend to me personally. I'm going to miss him deeply. He was a great husband, father, friend, role model, and a wonderful and thoughtful public servant for both the City of St. Petersburg and the Pinellas County school system. He loved education, he loved people, and he loved the City of St. Petersburg. God bless the Dudley family with this loss. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Member Montaneri. That was touching. Thank you so much. So with that being said, Council Members, we have an agenda before us with the addition of adding L1, a time change of our April 18, 2024 Council meeting. I'll entertain a motion for approval. Second. Now that it has been properly motioned and seconded, clerk, can you please open the machine for voting? All Council Members, please place your votes. All President and Council Members have voted, so can you please tally and announce the votes? Madam Chair, motion to approve the agenda passes unanimously with Council Member Mohammed being absent. Thank you. So now we will move to open forum, and I'm sure we have cards. If you would please read the rules for us. If you wish to address City Council on subjects other than public hearing or quasi-judicial items listed on the agenda, please sign up with the clerk. Only the individuals wishing to speak may sign the open forum sheet. Only City residents, owners of property, business owners in the city, or their employees may speak. All issues discussed under open forum must be limited to issues related to the City of St. Petersburg government. If you are speaking to an item on the agenda, you may only speak once during the open forum or when the item comes up on the agenda. In order to provide an opportunity for all citizens to address Council, each individual will be given three minutes to speak, and after which the microphone will be muted. If you wish to address City Council through the Zoom meeting, you must use the Raise Hand Feature button in the Zoom app or enter star 9 on your phone at the time the agenda item is addressed. When it is your turn to speak, you will be unmuted and asked to state your name and address. At the conclusion of your comments or when you have reached the three-minute time limit, you will be muted. All raised hands will be lowered after each agenda item. Regardless of the method of participation used, normal rules apply, including the three-minute time limit on comments. The requirement that any presentation materials must be submitted in advance of the meeting and the rules of decorum. If light public comments is disrupted by violations of the rules of decorum, the chair is authorized to accept public comments by alternate means, including by e-mail only. And, Madam Chair, we do have some speakers. The first two speakers is Peter Kent and Martha Bowen. Please go to either podium. Please state your name and address for the record, and you'll have three minutes to address Council. Go ahead. Good afternoon. My name is Peter Kent, 8 Academy Way, St. Petersburg. I want to report back on the feedback on the letter that I wrote that was published yesterday in the Tampa Bay Times, pointing out that the proposed Rays-Hines deal, every city family of four is giving the Rays $28,000 over the next 30 years, or $1,000 a year. And that seemed shocking to many in the feedback that I've got. And also, please read tomorrow's editorial by Graham Brain, where he reviews the many economic studies on stadiums and shows that these stadiums are very poor investment with terrible returns. But today I wanted to quickly point out why this deal gives Heinz over a million dollars per unit, whether they build or don't build the 600 affordable housing units in the project. The deal fixes the price of Heinz's 65 acres at $105 million, or $1.6 million an acre, for over 20 years. The surrounding parcels are selling for over $10 million an acre today. And they do not require the city to contribute $130 million of infrastructure. Effectively, the city is paying Heinz $25 million to take control of land worth over $650 million. In exchange, Heinz promises to attempt to build 600 affordable housing units or pay a $15 million penalty. The net is that the city is giving Heinz over $1 million for each of the 600 affordable housing units, whether or not they are built. Is this meeting the council member's fiduciary duty of wise administration of city taxes and assets? Thank you. Any questions? Thank you. Thank you. Hello, I'm Martha Bowden. I'm the CEO of SPCA Tampa Bay. We own a veterinary hospital at 3255th Avenue North in St. Petersburg. I'd like to start by thanking you for your long hours of dedication and service to our city. Your leadership comes at a key time and a historic moment for St. Petersburg. As the CEO of Pinellas County's largest and oldest animal shelter, I also wish to thank you for the city of St. Petersburg's decades of sponsorship of our annual SPCA Tampa Bay Pet Walk held just last weekend. I am here with the support of my community-based board of directors to express our wholehearted support for the historic gas plant district's new ballpark and vibrant community gathering space, as well as the preservation of the legacy of St. Petersburg's African-American history. Over the years, SPCA Tampa Bay has been fortunate to receive steady support from the Tampa Bay Rays and the Rays Baseball Foundation. We offered guidance on the Tampa Bay Rays' first-ever Dog Day in the Rays event. In the past two years, we have gratefully received a Rays Community Fund grant along with many other charities. We participated in Rays Fan Fest and hosted an SPCA Tampa Bay night with the Rays. Additionally, the Rays' employee community outreach team spent an entire day at the shelter last year building a much-needed play space for dogs in our care. Now we're working together on a new mental health outreach initiative at the ballpark to highlight the beneficial relationship that pet adoption brings to both humans and animals. The Rays' contributions and efforts have played a crucial role in our ability to provide care and shelter for countless animals in need and the people who love them. The partnership between SPCA Tampa Bay and the Tampa Bay Rays is a shining example of community collaboration and support. The prospect of a new baseball stadium and the associated redevelopment signifies progress and growth for St. Petersburg and reaffirms the baseball team's commitment to our region. It is a testament to the dedication and hard work that has been put in over the decades to reach this point. I believe the historic gas plant district and new baseball stadium will provide our residents entertainment, housing, office space, museums, and pride, and serve as a beacon of hope for local organizations like SPCA Tampa Bay. And let's continue our tradition of being a dog-friendly city, too. I urge you to consider the impact that signing the contract for the new baseball stadium and redevelopment will have on our region, its residents, and the organizations like ours that rely on the support of the baseball team. This moment is a culmination of years of partnership, of dedication, and progress, and I believe it has the potential to shape a brighter future for all involved. Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to the positive impact the historic gas plant district will bring to our community, and the continued support of the Rays and all the animals they support at SPCA Tampa Bay. Thank you. Thank you. The next two speakers is Owen LaFay and Lee Allen. Please go to either podium, state your name and address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address Council. Thank you. My name is Owen LaFay, and I'm at 200 Central Avenue. I am the Pinellas County Market President for the Bank of Tampa. I lead a team of 30 employees, three banking offices located in downtown St. Pete, Largo, and Clearwater. We're a $3.1 billion community bank, and in Pinellas specifically, we've got $266 million in assets and $234 million in deposits. And, lest I'm mistaken, the first public meeting we had on redeveloping Tropicana Field was in 2016 at the Coliseum. I was there. That year, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series for the first time in 108 years. Hamilton won a Grammy, the iPhone 7 was released, and the Zika virus was spreading. COVID didn't exist. Neither did chat GTP or the new peer. Since then, we have had countless meetings, two RFPs, and in the end, Ray's Hines was willing to pay more than any other developer. The city's independent consultant found the Ray's Hines deal provided 72% higher net benefit than any other proposal that was received. And the potential gross property tax revenue over 30 years is $1.4 billion with $475 million of that coming to the city. And it's not like we're going to tear those building downs after 30 years. So that benefit will live on well beyond that 30-year period of time. And we're not taking into consideration any of the property tax revenue for the retail sales that will be generated by the businesses that are going to be located in the gas plant. In 2017, my wife and I were on vacation in Willamette Valley, and I was walking down the street, and I saw a husband wearing a Tampa Bay Ray's hat. We were over 3,000 miles away, but I yelled, go, Ray's, and we immediately had a connection and something in common. They were from Largo. We talked about the Ray's, the potential for a new stadium, losing the team to Tampa, and whether or not we were going to make the playoffs that year. And if anybody remembers, we didn't. But baseball, like many professional sports, symbolizes community pride, unity, a shared passion, especially in today's world that's divisive and polarizing. There aren't many things that have the ability to bring us together, but sports teams do, and the Rays do also. Where else can you find people of all economic and social backgrounds rooting for a common cause or connecting with a stranger over 3,000 miles away from home? The stadium is only 20% of the site, but the Rays are going to be an anchor in what is going to be a dynamic, mixed-use neighborhood that gives the community everything that we asked for. The Rays listen to us. Affordable housing, more apartments, office space, medical space, hotel rooms, 14 acres of parks, an amphitheater, a convention center. They've also committed to $50 million in equity initiatives and $500 million in supplier diversity. We're not going to get that selling it off parcel by parcel. What we're going to get is a hodgepodge of different buildings that it's going to take 30 years to develop that out. I know you're hearing a lot of negative voices. Two weeks ago, I attended an event that there were 40 community leaders. Specifically, the mayor had asked the room, is anybody against the project? Everybody said we were supportive. There was only one group in the room who said that we couldn't answer, but we weren't opposed to it. What I'm asking is let's not be Chicago and have to wait 108 years for our team to win a World Series. And that's not because the Rays are a bad team or had bad luck. It's because we were Oakland and we allowed our team to move to Charlotte or Nashville. And more importantly, let's not lose something that gives us a sense of civic pride. Thank you. Good afternoon. Lee Allen, 18th Avenue Northeast. And first off, again, thank you for your public service. And you've got a lot of work ahead of you in the next few months. And I applaud you for your efforts. I did come here originally to talk about the importance of public transit and getting around the city and in the future and now for safely and how it's good for affordable housing if you don't have to own a car. But I'll save that for another day because I was having lunch at Ferg's today and remembered about a week and a half ago I happened to see Bill Dudley there. And it was shocking, you know, when I saw the news and I didn't know Bill at Northeast High School. I went to Lakewood High School. So I didn't know Bill until he was on city council. And I just remember how he brought the everyday man perspective to the council and good listener, good mood, ask good questions, fair questions. And just a great public servant. So I just want to give a shout out to Bill and his public service. Thank you. Thank you. The next two speakers is Bill and Kathy Harrelson. Good afternoon, honorable chair and council. It's a pleasure to be here today. Excuse me. Can you please state your name? Yep. 664th Avenue South. The clerk is passing out a two-sided information sheet on what I'm going to be talking about today. But first I wanted to say what a pleasure it was to be in this chamber with so many fellow citizens from St. Pete who are going to be getting proclamations on so many worthy causes. I'm here for the environment as I have been for 50 years in St. Pete, but that doesn't mean that I don't care about all of the things that are listed here and more, especially the gentleman who was going to talk about transportation. I'm bringing up something that was touched on at a HERS committee meeting a month and a half ago, and that is the thought of St. Petersburg becoming its own utility. What I've passed around and what I'm sorry I didn't put up for the audience is Duke Energy has almost 1.9 million customers, yet we have the highest bills in the state. We pay an average of $235 a month, whereas Tampa Electric, just across the way, pays $193. We don't have the representation we used to in Tallahassee to protect consumers from continual rate hikes. There are almost 50 non-investor-owned utilities in the state of Florida, the closest one to us in population, St. Pete having, not St. Pete, yep, or Pinellas County. I'm sorry I don't have that exact number. I think it's us. It seems like we're pretty crowded, 500,000 people here. They pay an average of $188 a month for power, for 1,500 kilowatts a month. I think we should be investing in St. Petersburg, having dividends go to us, not pass through charges that are continually approved by Tallahassee and the Public Service Commission, which are not elected. We have no control over these dividends and profits could be put back in the city for every single one of these programs that everyone is here today, who needs funds, who we can be sustainable. We can take care of our own city. It's not impossible. It is done all over the United States, and if we want to say, we are St. Pete, we care about St. Pete, we love St. Pete, we can do this for St. Pete and fix our problems with tons of money. And Duke, they might have to move their headquarters. We love them, but I'm sorry. Thank you. Hi, I'm Kathy Harrelson. I live at 32nd Ave North in St. Pete Heights, and I was thinking about Bill Dudley also, because I also ran against him in 2007, which is when I met him and Councilmember Montaneri. Both of you moved on. Sadly, I did not. But, Bill, there was one little story when we were trying to pass the fertilizer ordinance between, you know, I don't know, 2009, 10, and I remember, Bill, we were talking about educating people about the overuse of fertilizers and what it does to our waterways, and I remember Bill saying, yeah. He said, when I look at the package and I see that it says add half a pound, I just figured, well, I'll just add a pound. I mean, more is better, right? And it was just funny, but just an example of how important education is about these topics. I'm up here just to say that I did send you all an email about Stop the Chop, which is something I think I've mentioned to each of you somewhere along the line, and it comes out of a subcommittee of the Urban Forestry Committee, and I want to thank you all, by the way, for the support that the city does give to urban forestry. But I think we can do more. I think when I saw that there are over 36,000 permits to cut or trim trees and thought there's Shane Largent, the one-armed paper hanger, trying to, you know, manage it all, I thought, wow, it's worse than I thought. So the idea of Stop the Chop is we need to save our big shade trees. The heat is on, folks. It's going to get hotter every year, like it or not. We need to keep those trees, not substitute big box houses with a little palm in the front yard. And we all know palms are not real trees. So I just want to say that we are asking to get on the Hearst Committee with that Stop the Chop presentation to create a task force literally of all the members of the community who are involved in development and construction and business and, of course, environment. So I hope you will hear us on that and look forward to it. Thank you. So happy Earth Month. Thank you. The final speaker is Zion Rowland. Please state your name and address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address counsel. It's a pleasure to speak in front of counsel. I am Zion Rowland. I'm a four-generation native here at St. Petersburg, Florida. My granddad, Steve Cooper, Sr., was the first black man to own a lawn service business here in St. Pete. He was a victim of what is called eminent domain. Even though he was a homeowner, the government owned the land and the soil underneath his home. And because of redlining, of course, his area was a lot cheaper for land when it came to new development. And he lost his home. My granddad, Steve Cooper, Jr., who also was a prominent role in the blues age in St. Pete, was a victim of eminent domain. And so all I'm here to ask today is that during this new gas plant, of course, I'm excited about the new Ray's development. The Ray's has been something very charitable to all St. Pete natives. I mean, during graduation time, most of the black family meets up at the Ray's Stadium to see their kids graduate. So, of course, I'm excited about it. All I'm here to ask is that when it comes to affordable housing and compensating the natives who are at loss or at the expense of this new project, you know, think for yourself. What would you do if someone decides to build a stadium on your home? Thank you. Thank you. Madam Chair, no more speakers. And we do not have any speakers on Zoom. Thank you so much. So now we will close open form and we will take up item F1. Council members, before you today, you have a resolution to approve changing the starting time of the April 18th, 2024 council meeting to 4.30. I entertain a motion for approval. Move approval. Second. Now that it's been properly motioned in a second, clerk, can you please open the machine for voting? Council members, can you please cast your votes? Now that our present council members have voted, can you please tally and announce the votes? Madam Chair, motion to approve agenda item F1 passes unanimously with Council Member Mohammed being absent. Thank you. So now what many of you all are here today is we're now going to move to our awards and presentations. And we're going to begin with item D4, our Kids and Club Trophy presentation. And I would like to welcome our Vice Chair Gerdes, as well as our Recreation and Programming Superintendent, Rich Craft, to present. Madam Chair, colleagues, thank you. I'd also invite up Will Michaels and some of the representatives from the Kids Club. Last month, we had the opportunity to have our annual Kids and Cubs softball game. Madam Chair, I know each year we review the policies and procedures for city council on absenteeism. I won't mention that we had some council members decide not to play relatively late, but that's okay. We won't hold it against them. It was a struggle, but we managed through without them. But I do want to say a big thank you to the Kids and Cubs. This year, the Kids and Cubs supported 10 organizations during this game. As I read through those, and as I met those representatives at the game, it is such a wide swath of representation across our city. And it's just an amazing thing that the Kids and Cubs do in their 94th year, 74-year-olds out there playing and above, out there playing softball. And it was an absolute blast. And so I just want to thank you, Will, and everybody else for everything that you do in our community. And I'll turn it over to Rick to say a few words, and I'm sure Will, and then Madam Chair, we'll present the trophy to you. Thank you, Vice Chair Gerdes. I'm Rick Craft, Parks and Rec Superintendent. We have Will Michaels with us today, who serves as the club president. We have John Reynolds with us as well. He does the PR. And we also have Ethel Lehman with us, who I'm told is the oldest player. She just got off second base today, I'm told, and it is the Women's Softball Hall of Fame. So, as Vice Chair Gerdes said, the Kids and Cubs have been around for a long time. They're one of the St. Petersburg's foremost tourist attractions along the Waterfront Parks with Million Dollar Pier, Sunken Gardens, Web City. People came to St. Pete to see them. In the early leagues, they were known as the Sandspur League and played most of their games at what's now Outlaying Stadium, which was Waterfront Park Field. They moved to North Shore Park in 1966. And in 1971, the Kids and Cubs game began with the City Hall Stars. And just, I think, about 20 years ago, we started playing the Tasco Teens as well. So, they play our Tasco Teens in the morning, play the City Hall Stars in the afternoon, and it's just a wonderful day. I just want to thank them for all they do. They have an office at the Sunshine Center, and they're great community ambassadors for us. And I'll turn it over to Will at this point. Well, thank you. I think you said everything except Ethel's age. And she said it's okay to share with you that she's 94. So, the St. Petersburg community has been so good to the Kids and Cubs, to senior softball in this community, and we very much appreciate that. Back in the 1980s, we decided to set up a trust fund to see that the Kids and Cubs continues into the future, but also to give back to the community. And the way that trust fund works is that every year, the interest from the trust fund is divided between supporting the operations of the club and giving back to various charities that were just mentioned here and many others over the years. I think we've provided about $200,000 in financial support to charities throughout the city in the last few years. So, today, what can I say? We're not here to receive a proclamation, but we're here to present a trophy. We've been doing the Marist Games here since 1971. We're in our 53rd year of that fun. It's all about fun, even though we've lost badly in the last couple of years. And this year was no different. I think it was Yogi Berra who said, it's deja vu all over again. But watch out, because if you go back and count the number of wins and the number of losses between the Kids and Cubs and the City Hall Stars, as you're called, and the mayor, we've won 25 years. And the city has won about 15 times there. My dad keeps reminding me. Okay. You're on a streak. But, again, as Yogi Berra said, it's not over until it's over. Okay? So, what else can I say here? I think the main point I want to make is that the Kids and Cubs has been privileged to be a part of this wonderful tradition of baseball, Major League Baseball, dating back to 1914 when Branch Ritchie was here with the St. Louis Browns. And we've had Major League players participate in the Kids and Cubs going back to Babe Ruth and coming all the way down to Don Zimmer in more recent years. And it's such a privilege to be a part of that, oftentimes playing on the same fields as the Major League teams. So, without further comment, let me see if I can lift this up and send it to our city council chair here. I need the face of the city council chairman. Yes. The trophy is nice. Gotcha. Super. Yeah, that's a good point. Just one last commercial here. We're recruiting players for next year, men and women. You need to be 74 years of age and up. There's no upper limit there, so let us know. We had 17 new players this past year. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. I can only hope at 94. No, at 74. Let me get 74. We'll be okay with that. So, next we will now have item D2, our Arbor Day Proclamation that will be presented by our own Mayor, Kenneth Welch. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of council, and our community, and our great St. Pete team. Good to see everyone here. Before I start, I wanted to echo the comments. Thank you, Council Member Montaneri, and send our prayers and uplift to the Dudley family as well. And we're so thankful for Coach's many years of service to our community. I have two proclamations I'd like to present, and the first is in recognition of Arbor Day and the importance of trees to our environment. I know Kathy's happy. Is Kathy still here? Did she leave? Okay. We have several members of our Forestry and Sustainability and, of course, our Parks and Rec team to receive the proclamation. So, I'd ask you all to join us, Urban Forestry Specialist Dean Hay, the Urban Forestry Committee representatives, and Mike Jeffries in Parks and Rec leadership, if you all would join me. I don't have to stand so far away. And the proclamation reads, And whereas trees enhance the quality of life by cleansing air and water, providing critical shade and serving as natural and vital habitat for a variety of birds and foraging fauna. And whereas trees help moderate temperatures by creating a cooling effect, which can counteract the heating effect of pavement and buildings in an urban environment. And whereas trees promote social, economic, and environmental health by capturing and slowing stormwater runoff, filtering air pollution, reducing nutrient loading in water, systems, and flooding of neighborhoods, and contributing to the character and aesthetic beauty of neighborhoods and business districts. And whereas the City of St. Petersburg wishes to create awareness and appreciation for trees among all the residents of our community. And whereas Arbor Day was first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska. And whereas the City of St. Petersburg supports the concept of Arbor Day and wishes to enhance its tree resources through commemorative plantings on an annual basis. And whereas the City of St. Petersburg supports being designated a green city through programming to conserve water, plant trees, preserve estuaries, and sensitive lands, provide earth-friendly recycling programs and the City's initiative to reduce its carbon footprint. Now, therefore, I, Kenneth T. Welch, Mayor of the City of St. Petersburg, Florida, do hereby recognize the observation of Arbor Day through our annual Green Thumb Festival held on the fourth weekend of April, and encourage all residents to join us in this observance. Thank you all for your leadership. And there you are. Good afternoon. I'm Barbara Stalbert, Assistant Director for Parks and Recreation. And thank you, Mayor, for that proclamation. And I just want to reiterate our commitment to trees in this city and the importance of them to all of the residents and all of the staff in our department and throughout the city. So I hope to see you at Green Thumb Festival this year. You don't want to miss it. Tree giveaways, native tree sales, all kinds of great vendors to visit. And also really appreciate our Tree City USA designation, and hats off to Dean Hayes for taking the lead on that this year. We appreciate that. So thank you very much. Thank you. I just wanted to congratulate the city on another great year. This is our 37th year as a Tree City USA. That's something to be exceptionally proud of. This is our seventh growth award that we received this year as well. Growth awards are something that shows that the city is going beyond what their previous year's commitment were to planting and maintenance of trees. And also that this year, for the first year ever, the city of St. Pete is now a Tree Cities of the World, which is a new organization that allows us to have resources for the nearly 200 member cities across the world. and share strategies as well as stories about how urban forestry is important throughout all of our communities. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you. We appreciate it. We'll allow you the opportunity to take your seat. Oh, we have people that want to speak. I'm sorry. Okay. Council Member Driscoll. Thank you. It's wonderful to look at everyone standing here. So many friends who I've planted trees with, talked with about trees, worked with on getting more trees. And it is because there are so many people like you that care about this important topic that we do have that status and that we continue to look for more ways to add to our tree canopy. I just, I can't thank you enough for being such strong advocates for this important issue. I wanted to just ask, and maybe Barbara, you can help. I know it's been discussed, you know, after the storm last year, that there was the potential for a lot of tree damage. And we weren't really going to know until the spring if some of, if many of those trees were going to come back, especially those that are close to the water and in our waterfront parks areas. Could you tell us, what are you seeing out there? I know from me, just a regular person, it looks like many of them are coming back, which makes me very happy. But there are some that I'm still kind of worried about. Are you guys, are you all working on that assessment right now? What's it looking like out there? Absolutely. Yeah, thanks for that question. So we were shocked at the number of mature trees that we lost, that it appeared we lost. But we are seeing some of them bud out. We are closely watching them. So we are finding, just like you, that there are some that are starting to bud. Sometimes trees can take a long time to die. So they may still flush out, but they may still be in decline. So right now it's kind of a waiting game. The ones that do flush this season, we have high hopes that they'll continue to thrive for at least, you know, a good amount of time from here on out. There will be some loss. So the total number, we won't know probably until we're in the height of the growing season. Okay. Okay. And I know we've allocated quite a bit of funding for trees just within the last year. And so I hope that that can help with any efforts to replace the ones that we lost. So, and not only that, but actually increase the number of trees that we have. So just was wondering where we were with that. We appreciate your advocacy and support, especially when it comes to the waterfront park system and the trees that are there. We know you support trees everywhere. But as Barb indicated during some of the storms, we did see some unusual flashing of the trees that were there. Barb is an arborist and frequently goes out into the parks and is examining and really kind of checking the health of those trees. We have all of our staff that's continuing to monitor those. We do have a plan in place. Should we need to remove those trees that did not survive and we'll be replacing those with like species or something that would be even more salt tolerant as we anticipate continuing to see some of the storms that we've been getting over the last couple of years. So that's our plan. Barb is very strong in the tree arena. I call her the Lorax and she will do everything she can to make sure that we're headed in the right, the right path. Excellent. Thank you. And yes, I did mention the, the waterfront parks because the trees near the water are the ones that got, that we saw the most, the biggest effects on from the storm. And on a different note, I just wanted to thank you also for the Green Thumb Festival and everything you do to make it such an incredible success. Yes, I've placed on myself a moratorium on buying plants up until then. So I will be there. And if anyone has a wagon I can borrow, I could really use one that weekend. Thanks. Thanks, Vice Chair. Thank you all for all that you do. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Vice Chair Gerdes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Now, just a big thank you to the team. I know all of us up here, it's a, it's a big thought and concern for us to make sure that our tree canopy continues to thrive and grow. I did want to just echo a couple of things that Barbara said. Dean, I want to give you a big thank you. I know you've been out and about to our neighborhoods and to Kona in front of a lot of residents giving presentation. I was just with you, was it last night or the night before? It gets mixed up in my head these days. Last night at Old Pasadena and just your, your calmness and your information and the way you communicate that information, I think just makes our residents feel very good about the future of our tree canopy. And I just want to say a big thank you. I didn't get to say it last night, but people, people notice and they're taking notice of, of what you're communicating and the care that you're giving to that. The other thing is, just in case you didn't know, the Green Thumb Festival is April 27th and 28th at Walter Fuller Park, which is in District 1. Mayor, I promise you won't have an allergic reaction if you go that far west, but we're looking forward to having everybody in District 1. Hopefully it'll be a dry year. Last year it got a little wet, but it's an amazing place to have this amazing festival and we're excited, very excited to host it again. And just for everybody, I would echo what Council Member Driscoll said, just thank you for all the work that goes into it. It's an amazing, amazing event. My kids went last year. You get to see cool plants and trees and how it's done and trains and birds of prey. It's just an amazing show off of not only our city, but an amazing festival during this month. So thank you, everybody, for everything that you're doing. And Mayor, we'll see you on the west side in a couple of weeks. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Council Member Montaneri. Thank you. One of the few times I go out to the west side is for the Green Thumb. But I go a lot. Do you have lunch when you go? Yes, I do. It's a long way out there. I wanted to thank not just our city team, but everybody that volunteers for this project. You know, this city council and our mayor and our administration, we value our environment here. And I believe I'm correct that the city of St. Petersburg was Florida's first green city. Back in around 2007 was when we won that award. And that's a legacy that we want to carry on. And we, as a city council, make trees a priority. And we want to continue to enhance our tree canopy and make sure that it's there for future generations. It makes a big difference. And, Kathy, thank you for the comments about former Council Member Dudley. And I remember the campaign that we were on back then. And I value you and Beth, your advocacy for trees in our environment. Thank you. Thank you. Seeing no other requests to speak, we want to thank you. And thank you, Mayor, for this proclamation. Madam Chair, for the record, I have photographic evidence that I did attend. Mike Jeffries has that. So our next proclamation honors the heart of our economy, our small businesses. More than 60 years ago, the U.S. Small Business Association began celebrating National Small Business Week to recognize the contributions made by America's entrepreneurs and small business owners. This year, we celebrate Small Business Week April 28th through May 4th and salute the many Americans who either own or work for a small business. Here in St. Pete, we take the mission of supporting small businesses seriously, where the mark of our small business community can be seen in everything from our favorite cup of coffee to professional business services or handmade goods in one of our many boutiques, artisan crafts available in shops throughout the city, and booths at one of our many community events like Saturday Shops and Localtopia. We celebrate this year with several opportunities to engage with and support small business, including our greenhouse, a partnership between the city and the Chamber of Commerce to promote small business year-round. You'll hear more about the greenhouse from our co-manager, Tracy Smith, and at this time, I'll ask Tracy to please join me along with your team as I read the proclamation. Straight behind me. Okay. And the proclamation reads, Whereas the President of the United States has proclaimed National Small Business Week every year since 1963 to highlight the programs and services available to entrepreneurs through the U.S. Small Business Administration and other government agencies, and whereas America's progress has been driven by pioneers who think big, take risks, and work hard, and whereas from the storefront shops that anchor our business districts to the high-tech startups that keep St. Pete on the cutting edge, small businesses are the fabric of our economy and the cornerstones of our city's promise, and whereas the city of St. Petersburg is proud to recognize small businesses and our value collaborative partners who contribute to their development and growth by providing support and services. And whereas when we support small business, jobs are created and local communities preserve their unique culture. Now, therefore, I, Kenneth T. Welch, Mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida, do hereby proclaim April 28th to May 4th, 2024, as National Small Business Week in the city of St. Petersburg, and urge all citizens to observe this week and honor the strength of small businesses, local, state, and nationwide. And thank you all for your great work in supporting our businesses. Thank you so much, Mayor. And I'm going to ask, come on up here now. There you are. Come on up here and join me. Again, thank you, Mayor and Council Chair Fakes-Sanders and Council Members. Good afternoon. I am joined today by our Greenhouse Co-Manager representing the St. Pete Chamber, Ms. Rennell Montgomery. On behalf of our Greenhouse team and our full Economic and Workforce Development team and our Chamber team, we are honored to accept the proclamation of Small Business Week. And we thank you for this recognition that provides us with yet another opportunity to elevate the contributions small business owners and those who support them and make to our beautiful sunshine city. As we all know, small businesses are the backbone of our economy. And we are so fortunate to live in a community that values and encourages the entrepreneurial spirit, yet still seeks out new ways to continue to improve that support. And with that spirit of continuous improvement in mind, today, we not only like to recognize the outstanding work of business owners who have been growing and developing their businesses with the support of our Greenhouse and our valued partners who are here with us today, we'd also like to preview some exciting changes that we have coming up for our Small Business Week celebration. But first, we're going to start with the recognition of our businesses. We are joined today by some of the participants of our current MicroFund program cohort. And as you know, there are 45 business owners in that cohort. So would you all please stand? I am so proud of you for coming out to support. Thank you for coming today. This group represents the 24 brick-and-mortar, 11 home-based businesses, 6 child care, 1 shared commercial space, and 2 early-stage startup businesses, that are participating in the current MicroFund program. With most of the businesses already at the spending plan stage of the program, or even beyond, which is one of the final benchmarks of the program. And so they have been building capacity and networking with intention and planning with a purpose for their businesses. We're so proud of them. This is an outstanding group of individuals and entrepreneurs. Thank you again for being here, and thank you for your hard work. We're also joined by two additional business owners who have accessed greenhouse services and have been growing their businesses and expanding their services. I'd like to recognize Ms. Vivia Barron. Vivia's here joining us. She's a MicroFund program graduate and an artist, and she's been busy rallying other artists on her business corridor to form an artist collective. So we're going to be hearing more from Vivia very soon. Vivia, thank you for being here. Another business owner I'd like to recognize is Ms. Deb Cooper, a longtime client of the greenhouse and owner of Adoo Glue. If you haven't found her on First Avenue South, you need to check her out. It's a gluten-free bakery, and Deb has realized her dream of growing her cottage business to a brick-and-mortar just last year. So, Deb, thank you for being here. Absolutely. Congratulations. And, of course, Small Business Week is the perfect time to recognize our amazing small business navigators. We have an outstanding team. I'm so proud of all of you. Thank you. And our economic and workforce development team who's here with us as well, our expanded team, and our incredible expert team of collaborative partners who are here this afternoon as well. We have Dr. Walter McCracken from SCORE. We have Mr. Brent Everett from Tampa Bay Black Business Investment Corporation. And Ms. Peggy Elberton, also from SCORE. She might be hiding. Thank you all so much for being here, who provide that technical support that is so important for our small business owners. And these are just a few of the many, many very important collaborative partners that we work with in our entrepreneurial ecosystem here in St. Pete. Thank you all for being here. Finally, I mentioned earlier the continuous improvement that we've been working on at the greenhouse, and that comes into play with our Small Business Week celebration. And we're so excited about this. And, of course, that is taking place during the week of Small Business Week. And that is obviously the week of the last week of April going into May. So on Tuesday, April 30th through Friday, May 3rd. On Tuesday, April 30th from 10 to 2, we will host our first annual Greenhouse Open House. Yes, Greenhouse Open House. We are swinging open the doors of the greenhouse. We will be hosting 20 service providers, and resources will be on hand to engage with business owners to help their businesses start, grow, and thrive. This is also an outstanding networking opportunity for businesses to connect. During the week, we will continue with capacity building workshops, which will be held each night of the week. And then Friday, the grand finale will be Food Truck Friday at Williams Park on May 3rd from 11 to 2. So we're very excited about that. So once again, Mayor, Council, thank you again so much for this opportunity to shine the light on St. Pete's Small Businesses and those who serve them. Thank you. Thank you. Before Vice Chair Gerteson speaks, I would like to remind those of you that weren't in the meet and greet, we're asking everyone that's receiving an award and proclamation today if you can just hang out with us so that everyone getting a proclamation can receive the same visual applause that you all are providing with them today. So Vice Chair Gerteson. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to say a thank you to the Greenhouse Administration, my colleagues, and the community for the continuous support of our small businesses. I try not to think often of starting my own business 13 years ago because then it reminds me of the tears and the failures of doing such. But as I sit here today, other than marrying my wife and having my kids, it's the best decision I ever made. And it's given me the opportunity to be a good husband, be a good dad, be there for my kids. It's given me the opportunity to do this. And I'm just so appreciative of all the support that administration, the Greenhouse, and this council gives to our small businesses. Lastly, I want to thank those in the room that are small businesses or starting your small business. I promise you, if you work hard and you can garner the support of people around you, because that's certainly what I needed, you will succeed. Now, the scale of which is totally up to you. And that's a good thing. But it will be the best decision, one of the best decisions you will ever make. And I'm very proud of you. Know you have a cheerleader in me and I think most of the other people in this room. And if there is anything I can ever do to directly support our small businesses, especially those in the cohort now, do not hesitate to knock on my door or call my phone. Because now, see, now I'm thinking about it and I'm almost to tears. And so I'm just, I'm very proud of you. You have cheerleaders. And I know the Greenhouse and this administration and this council are a part of those cheerleaders. So thank you for your courage. Thank you for your work. Keep doing it. Fight on. It is a fight. Do not let anybody tell you otherwise. But you have people in your corner. Thank you very much, administration, Greenhouse, and all the supporters, staff, and council. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Vice Chair Gildersfield, to give you his number, and his number is. So I'll let him argue. Well, first of all, you cannot say small business and not get my attention, because small business has been one of my passions and one of my platforms before I was even elected to office. And I think I can also say smaller businesses. You know, we have to all start somewhere. And everyone doesn't start, you know, at the high end of a small business. All of us don't start with, you know, employees. Sometimes it's just only us, you know, and we continue to call that a hustle. But I call it a small business, regardless of the size, regardless of the revenues earned. Once you put yourself out there to take control of your own destiny by working for yourself, I applaud all of you. I applaud you all for doing that, because it was stated that small business is the fabric of our community. Our big box stores would not be who they are without small businesses and them being able to sell our products to provide our services. And those are the ones that have the most intimate relationships with our community. So I want to thank all of you for small businesses. I want to thank all of you for providing a small business. I want to thank all of you for hiring and continue to provide with our economic workforce and development of our citizens here in the city of St. Petersburg. So thank you, and thank you, Mayor, for the proclamation. So our next proclamation will be item D1 for our Fair Housing Month proclamation by our Council Member Gabbard. Thank you, Chair, and thank you for the opportunity, Mayor, to present this proclamation. We do a lot of work here in the city around affordable housing. Let's wait. Oh, sorry. Let's let anyone that's leaving. All right. We'll give it a second. As I was saying, we do a lot of work here in the city around affordable housing. Even this morning, we had a fantastic presentation in our Housing, Land Use, and Transportation Committee about the progress of affordable housing here in our city. And while that work is critically important, we cannot ignore the, I guess, partnership that is important when it comes to fair housing because we can create the housing, but without the ability for everyone to be able to access that housing without bias, all the work is for naught. So I'm joined today by Housing and Neighborhood or Housing and Community Development Director, Joshua Johnson. Joshua is also the St. Pete representative to the Tampa Bay Fair Housing Consortium. We are also joined by Housing and Community Development Assistant Director, Dr. Avery Slyker, and Pinellas Realtor Organization Vice President of Public Affairs, Joe Farrell. These are actually the people who do this work every single day. So I want to present this proclamation. Joshua, I will go ahead and give it to you. And I will read it. So, whereas, in honor of the 56th anniversary of the signing of Title VIII of the 1968 Civil Rights Act, also known as the Fair Housing Act, April is designated as Fair Housing Month to bring attention to the landmark legislation that guarantees fair housing and equal opportunity for our nation's citizens. And whereas, by supporting, promoting, and enforcing fair housing laws, as well as equal opportunity, we are contributing to the quality of our city, state, and nation by encouraging others to abide by the letter and the spirit of the National Fair Housing Act. And whereas, providing fair housing opportunities for all citizens is an essential goal of the City of St. Petersburg, and it joins with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, concerned citizens, and the housing industry in working to realize the dream of fair and affordable housing for all city residents. And whereas, the City of St. Petersburg is proud of its efforts to further fair housing and recognizes that this can only be accomplished through forging partnerships with other government agencies, corporations for profit and non-profit organizations, entrepreneurs, and all persons interested in furthering fair housing. And whereas, in recognition of Fair Housing Month, the Tampa Bay Fair Housing Consortium will be hosting its 20th Annual Fair Housing Symposium on Wednesday, April 17th, in collaboration with the Pinellas Realtor Organization, who is a professional trade association since 1908, holding certification and continuing education events during Fair Housing Month. So now, therefore, I, Council Member Brandy Gabbard, on behalf of Kenneth T. Welch, Mayor of the City of St. Petersburg, Florida, do hereby proclaim April 2024 as Fair Housing Month in the City of St. Petersburg and urge all citizens to observe this month by preserving and promoting each person's right to housing without regard to their status to celebrate the Fair Housing Act that protects these rights for all. Joshua, would you like to say a few words? Good afternoon. Joshua Johnson's Housing and Community Development Director. It's been my pleasure for the past 21 years to attend and facilitate with the Tampa Bay Fair Housing Consortium our annual meetings and get-together. We meet on a monthly basis to plan an annual symposium, which will be held next Wednesday. And what we do is we address fair housing issues with all of the rental department units, the attorneys who represent the rental department units, and the tenants. We provide them information and education on Fair Housing Act requirements. And for those who call me from time to time, I might direct them to the Pinellas Office of Human Rights to address their fair housing issues. And I would have Mr. Representative from the Pinellas Realtor Organization to say something briefly in reference to this and follow up by Ms. Slyker. Well, Joshua, when you always call me Joe, you'll forget my last name is Farrell. And I am Vice President of Public Affairs at Pinellas Realtor Organization. We are proud to work with the Tampa Fair Housing Consortium. There is many different stakeholders within that group, but our two groups are here today, so they're the ones I'm going to mention. I will mention one more. We have heard it from both previous speakers that the Fair Housing Consortium's annual meeting will be happening next week. It's going to be at the Tampa River Center. And this is great. And as Joshua touches on all the rental and the stuff that comes to the city, our goal in our organization is to reach out to the people that are practicing helping people find housing. And make them aware, especially of the things that aren't as obvious of what may be happening in housing so they can identify and see it. Throughout the whole day, there's going to be several different panel discussions and educational events for folks, and they're going to learn about these things. And about 300 people usually come to this. It's a pretty good event if you can make it. I will say this. We've come a long way since the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s. That's where Fair Housing came from. We still have a long way to go. I once heard a person say it's like taking a cross-country trip. We've made it to Vegas. We only have a little bit farther to go. But just because you've made it that far doesn't mean you've done a good job yet. This isn't one of those good job things. This is the ones you have to have a great job at, and you've got to get it done. So our organization is happy to be part of that, and thank you for your time. Thank you. I just want to echo, that's where I was going to go with it, is that we've come so far and yet we have so far to go. For those of us that were at the HLUT committee meeting this morning and we heard about the Emergency Rental Utility Assistance Program and the great dire need that's out there and that some of this need was caused by landlords not being responsive enough to those that were renting. And so we do still have some work to do, and I'm very proud to be part of this city to be doing that work. And so I thank all of you for your support, and I thank all of our city residents. Thank you all. Thank you. So you ready for your next proclamation? We're going to have item D3, Earth Day Proclamation by Council Member Gabbard. Thank you, Chair. And this one is very exciting because we have a lot of people here for this one today. I think everyone hung in there. So if I forget anyone who's here for Earth Day, please just come on up. But I certainly want to start with our friends at the St. Pete Youth Farm. For those who don't know, the Earth Day celebration takes place. This will be the fourth year running on April 20th this year at the Youth Farm. That will begin at 9 a.m. and run through about noon. So we are joined today by St. Pete Youth Farm Collaboration Manager, Carla Bristol. We are also joined by several of the Youth Farm ambassadors. I know there were more ambassadors here. I met them down in the meet and greets. So we'll let them be shy. But come out to the Youth Farm to meet them in person on the 20th. We also have St. Pete Youth Farm Program Assistant Manager, Miriam Ziad, and Eckerd College Community Farm Facility Director, Dave Hemelfarb, and lots of Eckerd College students, I hope, are still here with us as well. We have our Sustainability and Resilience Director, Allison Mihalich, and Senior Urban Forestry Specialist, Dean Hay, and our Senior Operations Analyst, Whitney Blair, and all of her teams. So we're very happy that you're all here today for the Earth Day Proclamation. Thank you for joining us. Carla, I will go ahead and give this to you. We'll do it again at the celebration on the 20th, but for today, we'll go ahead and read the proclamation which reads, Whereas, the Tampa Bay region is an environmentally rich and ecologically diverse community with an estuary that is valuable and protective regional resource. And whereas, Earth Day was originally observed on April 22, 1970 by more than 20 million Americans leading to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. And whereas, the Tampa Bay region faces challenges to protect our environmental resources and quality of life, including the basic needs of clean air, pure water, and natural habitats for future generations. And whereas, the Tampa Bay area's environmental resources have greatly benefited from the legislative and public awareness generated by the observance of Earth Day. And whereas, April 22, 2024, is Earth Day to be celebrated throughout the month of April in many communities in the Tampa Bay region. And now, therefore, I, Councilmember Brandy Gabbard, on behalf of Kenneth T. Welch, Mayor of the City of St. Petersburg, Florida, do hereby proclaim April 22, 2024 as Earth Day in St. Petersburg and encourage all citizens to commemorate Earth Day by attending community events and by acting both individually and collaboratively to promote a more sustainable and resilient future for the City of St. Petersburg. Carla, would you like to say? Hello, my name is Jazz Smith. I'm an ambassador for the St. Pete Youth Farm. And I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the St. Pete Youth Farm and the Parks and Rec Center for this opportunity. We'd like to extend that thanks to Brandy Gabbard and the Council. This really is a big deal for us. I'd like to stress the importance that it means to me and everyone who would be here with me if they could. And just as a youth ambassador, I can speak for all of us saying that this really is a big deal for us. We want to have a big event for this. This is something that we're passionate about and we strive to make leaps and bounds towards whatever goals that we set forth for ourselves. So I'd just like to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you to the Council people for having us. Thank you to the Mayor. So my name is Dr. Dave Himmelfarb and I'm an Environmental Studies Professor at Eckerd College. But I'm also the Faculty Director of the Eckerd College Community Farm. And I'm here with our Farm Manager, Maggie Jensen. And we have two students, Isabella and Anna, who have worked with the farm not only as farm workers but also on our compost and food waste diversion program with the Collard Greens Festival. And so this is our third year in production. But we have been operating as a space for food production since 2009. Actually, Maggie was one of the original students to work there. But we are a liberal arts college but we're also a liberal arts farm. Now that seems weird to a lot of people. What does that mean? And for us what that means is the kinds of education that we offer in terms of hands-on, interdisciplinary, community-oriented, and environmentally sustainable kinds of work. That's everything that we do on the farm. And so it's such a pleasure to be able to receive this proclamation today on behalf of so many other people here in St. Petersburg doing such wonderful work like Ms. Carla, like Ms. Miriam, and all the farm ambassadors at the Youth Farm, at the 15th Street, AgriHub, so many other places. So we're part of such a wonderful community here. And I think a lot of that is owes to the support that we get from the local government because we couldn't do the kinds of work that we do without that support. And anybody who works in environmental issues knows that it can be pretty grim. You know, between climate change and all the other kinds of environmental problems that we face here today, it can look a little bit grim. But what's wonderful about these urban agriculture and agricultural education kinds of projects is that every day we see moments of hope. We plant seeds, they grow, we eat that food, we grow community. And today I had 35 students from the Gulf Shores Elementary School come out. They were third graders, fourth graders, and fifth graders. And the enthusiasm, the joy that they took in running around the space identifying different kinds of native species of plants, of insects, of seeing how compost happens, seeing how plants grow, and for those of you who think that kids won't eat vegetables, take them out to the farms and they will eat it. So there's a lot of hope in the kinds of work that all of us do. And so we thank you all. And we also invite every single one of you to come out to the Eckhart College Community Farm anytime you want. This goes for not only the council members, but also anybody in the audience. We are an open space and our goal is to leverage the resources of the university to contribute back to the community. So thank you all very much. We really appreciate it. I just want to extend a heartfelt thank you for the recognition of Earth Day. Thank you to city council and city administration leadership for your commitment to protecting our environmental resources. Like Dave said, it can sometimes feel grim. We have big goals and we've got big plans. I like to joke, our team, we are climate optimists, to your point, at Eckerd. There's so many reasons, particularly in the city of St. Petersburg, to have hope. And so I would invite everyone to celebrate Earth Day every day. That is our motto. And there are numerous Earth Day activities planned all month long. So our public service announcement is check out stpete.org slash Earth Day and social media. Everything from recycling tours, you can see where your recycling goes and how to recycle, travel to clothing swaps to a ton of different events. So come out and let's have some fun. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you very much, staff, our partners, Carla, Eckerd College. Eckerd College, I'm going to put you to the test. I'm going to bring my son out there to see if he'll eat vegetables. If he does, you'll have a donor for life. And so, no, I love Eckerd College. It's one of my favorite places. It was part of me growing up. So thanks for all you're doing over there too. And then Council Member Gabbard, thank you for your leadership, not only on this, but on fair housing as well. I know it's been, these are two very close to your heart platforms that have been a part of you since the very beginning of council. So thank you for your leadership and thank you everybody for being here. Okay, we will move on to D5, Black Maternal Health Week proclamation. And we are joined by our chair, Deborah Figg Sanders. Chair Figg Sanders. Hello again. So it gives me honor to present this proclamation, but it is a reality that so many of us have to deal with in regards to where we are in the state of our community. During Black Maternal Health Week, we recommit to ending the maternal health crisis that impact women of color, dying at a higher rate from pregnancy-related causes than any other women in other developed nations. We stand to acknowledge that this is a global issue and we celebrate those here locally who work to eradicate and raise awareness of the state of Black Maternal Health here in Tampa Bay. And they're also amplifying the voices and experiences of Black women, families, and our communities. And with that, I'm going to ask Ms. Alyssa Beddart, a doula, to please join me. Dr. Massara Frost to please join me. I must admit, also a woman of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Ms. Mai Waller and Dr. Renee Wilson. Would you all please join me as I read the proclamation? Whereas annually during Minority Health Month, April 11th through 17th, is recognized nationwide as Black Maternal Health Week to raise awareness and improve the desperate birth outcomes among African American and Black mothers and babies. And whereas each maternal death is a tragedy with devastating impacts on their family, community, and society as a whole. And according to the Florida Maternal Mortality Review Committee, nearly 70% of these deaths were considered preventable. And whereas Tampa Bay Black Maternal Health Week initiative ways created as a mechanism to improve Black maternal health outcomes through education, advocacy, and community support through the development of a week-long health campaign, Black Maternal Health Week of Tampa Bay, comprised of several events and a form of recognition, celebration, and acknowledgement of Black maternal health. And whereas, the Tampa Bay Black Maternal Health Week initiative aims to honor the strength and resilience of Black mothers and birthing persons by shedding light on their unique social circumstances and health care challenges and will host its inaugural Mama Fest at the USF University Area Community Center on Friday, April 12, 2024. And whereas, the inaugural Black Maternal Health Week of Tampa serves as a catalyst mobilizing our community towards a brighter future for Black mothers and babies in the Tampa Bay area, the state of Florida, the city of St. Petersburg, and beyond. Now, therefore, I, Chair Deborah Fick Sanders, on behalf of Kenneth T. Welch, Mayor of the City of St. Petersburg, do hereby proclaim April 11 through 17, 2024, as Black Maternal Health Week in St. Petersburg and encourage all women, mothers, parents, and supporters to promote health and justice in their families and communities. Now we're going to ask, and I'm going to just say a little so I don't mispronounce the last name, to say a few words. Okay, so we're going to have, they changed my, Dr. Frost to say a few words. I'm just going to say a few words first and then Alyssa's going to jump in. But, hi everyone, my name is Mashara Frost and I'm the creator and founder and director of the Tampa Bay Black Maternal Health Week initiative. And we created this initiative because according to the most recent data from the Florida Maternal Mortality Review Committee, Black mothers in Florida are four times more likely to pass away due to pregnancy-related causes. And this initiative strives to promote optimal Black maternal health outcomes through an intentional and coordinated campaign to unite the community across the Tampa Bay area and serve as a catalyst to mobilize in a collective movement towards a brighter future for us all. So now I'm going to turn it over to Alyssa, who is a local doula who is assisting us in this fight for birth equity. Good afternoon, council members and St. Petersburg residents alike. My name is Alyssa Love Bedard. I stand before you a St. Pete native, a maternal and child health community leader, a mother, and most importantly today, a seasoned doula, a change agent, and a champion for Black maternal health. Now, I live my life by a thought of context and connection before content. And for those of you in the room that lack a little bit of content and why we're here and why today is so important, I'm going to just share a bit. There's something wrong. I can feel it in my spirit. There is something wrong, she said. A mama had told me this a few days before her 38th week prenatal appointment. I encouraged her to reach out to her provider, to someone she should have trusted, to someone that should have listened to her, to someone that should have recognized a tone in her voice, heart-wrenching, and listened to her truth. You see, she had an intuitive knowing that something had happened, that something was wrong, but she was dismissed. She is a Black pregnant woman in America. And for the sake of time today in this place, in this space, quickly going through, a few days later, when her provider did finally take the opportunity to see her in office outside of her scheduled appointment, they were unable to find a fetal heart tone. They immediately sent her to be induced, which I quickly met her at the hospital, to support her physically and emotionally through the pains of labor, and eventually through the birth of her dead baby boy. She birthed the baby onto the hospital bed with no nurse and no provider in the room because up until the very last minute of her experience, she was dismissed and not listened to. She ended up having a severe postpartum hemorrhage and later on a life-threatening blood clot. She was a Black pregnant woman in America. You see council members and residents, until you're able to hold a dead baby in your arms, until you're able to hold a mother who's also clinging onto life in the same hospital room, maybe some of the staggering disparities we hear seem far, far in the distance. Until one's advocacy of body autonomy falls short of being heard and respected, maybe the ongoing maternal health care challenges in the U.S. seem like they're someone else's battle to fight. And maybe, just maybe, until you rub the feet and rub the back of a weathered woman, again, the three to four times higher disparity rates and mortality rates in Black women seem like just a statistic. As we recognize today and celebrate Black Maternal Health Week, we must really understand the significance of this work and commit ourselves consciously to moving the needle forward with a collaborative and patient-centered approach to care. Structural racism and systemic racism has played our Black communities for generations and continues to steal joyous moments such as childbirth and a baby's first birthday celebration. The U.S. still has the highest mortality rate in all of the developed countries. Today, still, this year, still. Preventable deaths from negligence, discrimination, unconscious bias, overt racism, classism, gender discrimination, and the marginalization of humans is no longer acceptable. We must be intentional and we must move quickly. We pledge to move forward today, which we are grateful for your support of. We also must continue to focus on making maternal and reproductive health care more accessible, more equitable, and more inclusive. This means proper representation, both medically and politically, to fight for the rights of birthing people. This means that we must address ongoing social and political determinants of health and establish policies that create lasting change to mitigate their impact. We must ensure that women have the necessary support to make decisions about their bodies, about their babies, about their families, and that we have not only a positive birthing experience, but healthy outcomes. Access to doulas and midwives is an essential part to this. We understand that the communities are only as strong as the people committed to the cause and committed to the change. And in this room today, we have people who have longstanding been part of this change. We're encouraged that you all are a part of this change. I personally recognize the ongoing equity and inclusion efforts that St. Petersburg continues to establish to make our city a safe space to work, play, and live. Must we remember to also make it a safe space to birth? We need to listen, to really listen. We must protect black women, protect black babies, protect black bodies. And as a sister who holds women in their most vulnerable moment, a moment they'll never forget, I want to thank each of you for your efforts, for your commitment, and for your continued support for all of the families here in St. Petersburg and in the Tampa Bay area. Thank you. Councilmember Gabbard. Thank you. Thank you, Chair Fig Sanders, for bringing this forward. It hasn't been too long ago that I read an article and the headline of it talked about mortality rates and it was an issue I was not incredibly familiar with. And so I started reading that article and as I continued to dig in and read more and understand that this issue, as you said, is very much a uniquely American issue and it is disgusting and shocking whenever you really read how much this affects specifically our minority communities and communities that continue to not have access to health care, access to the dignity and the resources that so many other people have. And so thank you for bringing light to this today. I think that more people need to know about this issue, especially in a time when women's rights continue to be stripped away and access to health care, comprehensive health care, body autonomy, and we know that those who have not had access will continue to be the greatest harmed. And so I just thank you for bringing this forward today. I wish we did not have to have these conversations, but it's important to. And so I just want to thank you and thank all of you who advocate for women every single day. It's critically important and I want to thank you and I support you. So thank you for being here. Thank you so much. And although I would love to take credit for inviting you, I want to thank the mayor's office in asking me if I would be honored to present it. And of course, when I saw what it was, of course, I had to jump on it. And I just want to, again, say thank you because, you know, how they say lived experiences can tell the best stories because I was one of those mothers who knew something was wrong, knew something wasn't right, kept saying that there wasn't right. I couldn't breathe until I didn't. So that was, anytime you see this girl on my neck, you'll know I was one of those mothers, 29 weeks pregnant, that nobody believed something was going on. So I salute to you. I applaud you. We're going to together continue to spread the awareness of what that looks like and who it impacts. I'm a middle class black female. You wouldn't have thought I would have had those issues, but I did. So it is very real. It is something that faces us on a day-to-day basis right here in the city of St. Petersburg. So again, I thank the mayor for wanting to make sure that this particular item has life and had a voice. And I want to thank all of the voices that are here today to help share that message. Thank you so much. Thank you. Now we will move on to item D6, our Water Conservation Month proclamation. That will be Councilmember Hanowitz. Thank you, Chair. I don't know if you all noticed, there were some storms that rolled in today. And so it's a blessing because we've been in a drought since December and we have water restrictions all the way through July. Although sometimes when we have storms that strong coming in, we just joined by our Public Works Administrator called Tankersley. It also causes a lot of stress. As he was out there today after our meeting, I saw him come back in and he was on the road checking all the neighborhoods because obviously depending on the time of day and the tide and how strong the storm is, it causes a little bit of flooding. So we are joined here today by our Public Works Administrator, Claude Tankersley. John Palinshaw is here. He's our Water Resources Director and also Al Smith with Water Resources. And I am going to read the proclamation for April Water Conservation Month. Whereas water is a basic and essential need of every living creature and whereas the state of Florida water management districts, Tampa Bay Water and the city of St. Petersburg are working together to increase awareness about the importance of water conservation and whereas St. Petersburg and the state of Florida have designated April typically a dry month when water demand increases as Florida's Water Conservation Month and whereas St. Petersburg has always encouraged and supported water conservation through various incentive programs, educational presentations, and special events and whereas every business, employee, industry, school, and citizen can make a difference when it comes to conserving Florida's precious water resources. Now therefore, I, Council Member Lissette Hanowitz, on behalf of Mayor Kenneth T. Welch, do hereby proclaim the month of April 2024 as Water Conservation Month in St. Petersburg and urge each citizen, visitor, and business to help protect our precious resources by becoming more aware of your use of water and using water-saving appliances and practices and with practices, there's water restriction so you are not supposed to water your lawns more than once a week and with that being said, I'll give it to John Kalachar. Excellent, excellent and I'm just going to, and this is for you, Al, and I want to thank Council for their continued support for Water Conservation Month. This is something that comes to Council year after year for over a decade and year after year for over a decade, Chris Claus and Al Smith have been working tirelessly to promote water conservation within the city of St. Petersburg. We are a leader within the region in water conservation and that has shown by our continued low water consumption per capita. And that is solely due to the efforts of the team that Al Smith is representing. And even to this day, we have a sensible sprinkling program that over 3,300 customers have received a checkup and 3,000 rain sensors have been distributed. We have a rainwater rebate program where almost 2,000 residents have attended 65 rainwater seminars and received over 1,000 rain barrels. And so this is a program that we're going to continue to provide our effort and our attention towards because we know that water is the most valuable resource that we have as a community. And without that, we don't have a community to move forward with. So Al, it's going to provide you some information on our program and give you some updates. Mr. Smith. Madam Chair and the Council, by making this proclamation, St. Petersburg joins other municipalities and organizations, water management districts and the state of Florida in recognizing the value of protecting our environmental resources. With your permission, I would like to provide information for customers who wish to learn more about the city's water conservation programs. The Rainwater Rebate and Education Program provides an online class on rainwater collection, free rain barrels to city utility customers and a rebate for stormwater utility customers who have installed a rain barrel or rain tote or rain garden on their property. Information, documents, class schedule and application requests forms are provided at stp.org forward slash water programs. The city gladly participates in a regional program that offers more than 13 different rebates for St. Pete single-family, multifamily, and commercial and governmental properties. Rebated items include toilets, shallow wells, cooling towers, and soil moisture sensors. Customers can find details and check their eligibility at tampabaywaterwise.org. The Water Conservation Office continues to provide online classes on topics such as rain barrels, water-wise living, drought-tolerant plants, and rain gardens. To view the class schedule and register, please visit stp.org forward slash water workshops. For more information on all these topics, residents can call 727-892-5688 or visit stp.org forward slash water conservation. And again, as I stated earlier, we also want to remind everyone that we are currently under a mandatory once-a-week water restriction for potable private wellness surface water irrigators. Addresses ending in an even number are permitted to irrigate on Saturdays only and addresses ending an odd number are permitted to irrigate on Sunday only. For more information, you can visit stp.org forward slash water restrictions for all the details. We thank you again. Madam Chair, Council, one of the questions that I receive every now and then is what is the practical benefit of water conservation? Do we actually see the practical benefits of it? And so I wanted to share an anecdote with you. Back in 1971, the city did an analysis and did a projection of the water use that the city was expecting us to see sometime around 2020. This is something we do on a regular basis. We look ahead as to what our needs are. And at that time, that report estimated that the city at that point would be, in 2020, would be using approximately 62 million gallons per day in water. And so we designed our water system to handle that. Right now, we're using half that. We're using about 30 million gallons per day. And so we have extra capacity in our system that is there only because of our water conservation methods. And by having that extra capacity in our system, we're now not having to expand the system once again for future. We've got that capacity in the system right now. So that's one of the practical advantages of our water conservation programs. And thank you for allowing us to have this proclamation today. Thank you. Thank you so much. And seeing that we have no request to speak, we're going to now move into our new business item, G1, and that is Councilmember Driscoll. Thank you. For this new business item, I'm respectfully requesting a referral to the Housing, Land Use, and Transportation Committee or other relevant committee for a discussion on a universal basic mobility pilot program. This is a pilot that's been done in other cities across the country where a select number of people are given a mobility wallet that is loaded with a monthly stipend that people can use for any kind of transportation transportation except for owning and maintaining a car. So it's one card that they can use for a bus, for bike share, for electric scooter share, for Uber or Lyft, whatever it takes for them to be able to go to work, go to school, go wherever they want. What they get is those opportunities, and we get the feedback from them on how it affects them. In other cities, there's been significant change in the way that people use transportation and how it enables them to get ahead in society, whether that is being able to work extra shifts outside of when the buses run or being able to take a job that's a little bit further away but it pays more, being able to go to school, things like that. The research that I've done is showing that this has a real, real positive impact on people and I would love for us to explore the different ways that we might be able to start a pilot program like this ourselves and in my conversations with Evan Morey, with Brad Miller, the CEO of PSTA, and others, there seems to be some real support from this. It does take a lot of collaboration so I was happy to see that there's a real interest in starting this so I am hopeful that you all will agree and I do move approval. Second. Hearing that there's a motion to properly second it, no request to speak. Clerk, can you please open the machine for voting? Now that all present council members are present and voted, can you please tally and announce the votes? Madam Chair, a motion to approve agenda item G1 passes unanimously with Council Member Mohammed being absent. Thank you. Now we will move on to open form and I do understand we have a card. We do. Erica Fulton. Fulton, state your name and address for the record. You'll have three minutes to address council. My name is Erica Fulton. My address is 7960 2nd Street North, St. Petersburg, Florida, 33702. And I'd like to thank you members for the opportunity to speak today. There is a problem in St. Petersburg that's been going on for many years and it has to do with our sidewalks. Whereas the average person can walk past around or through a broken sidewalk, a wheelchair cannot. And that causes major problems in the city. I brought some pictures that I took of some of the sidewalks near my home. I don't drive. I live by myself and I'd like to share these with the council members if possible. And my grocery store is along this route with all of those pictures are from my one block area near Gateway Mall between Martin Luther King Street North and 4th Street North. In order for me to go to the grocery store, that's what I have to pass through every single day. The last page is a route that I decided to change. Rather than go to the public's at Gateway where I have to cross 4th Street North and go through these sidewalks to get my groceries and my prescriptions, I decided to try to go to Winn-Dixie on 110th and 4th. The last picture is the dog feces piled up on the sidewalks in front of an apartment complex. Again, I can't walk around it. I have to find a way through. The odor is horrible. It's a blight on our city. I don't know why it's allowed to continue. I've tried calling the city of St. Petersburg Code Compliance where I used to work as a matter of fact many years ago and I spoke with the director or the supervisor there and about two months ago he said that he would look into it and get back to me and I have yet to hear a word and when I call back I get his voicemail. So it is a major issue and not just for people in wheelchairs. Two weeks ago I was coming down Martin Luther King Street North, Junior Street North, sorry, and there was an ambulance between 70th I would say and 80th right there on the east, the northeast side from Gateway Mall if you want to, southeast side of Gateway Mall there was an ambulance and a first responder saw me coming down the sidewalk and went stop, stop. He stopped me because he was afraid I was going to be injured just like the runner had been injured and was being taken to the hospital because the sidewalk was this high up. There's not an orange strip on it to warn people. There's no warning. Thank you so much. I would really like to see a commission put together to address this serious, serious issue. Thank you. Madam Chair. So we now have Madam Chair. No, I see. I just want to make sure we don't have anybody on Zoom. We have, ma'am. That's it. Okay. So now Council Member Gabber. Ma'am, so my legislative aide is standing right behind you and I'm your city council member. So we would like to get some more information from you. So if you wouldn't mind to speak with her and then we'll follow up with you as well. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Vice Chair Gerardus. Thank you, Madam Chair. First, I just wanted to thank Council Member Montaneri for sharing Bill Dudley's story and his memories of Coach Dudley and it was great to see some residents come out and share those memories as well. I just wanted to quickly echo Coach Dudley. I've known since probably first memories. My parents went to school with Dudley's and Wechter's and so all of us have been intertwined and I have very fond memories of watching Coach Dudley and my dad on television together on this dais. that was a sight to see sometimes and I'm just I had lunch today at Ferg's. I know that was his Thursday spot just as a little tribute today and he will be sorely missed in this community and I think I can't remember Council Member Montaneri or one of the residents they talked just about how you know he was a real guy on the dais and I think his his sense of humor along with his sense of reality was a great gift to this council and when when when I started to run for city council he was the second phone call I made. My dad was the first one he was the second one because I knew I wanted to have some of that on this dais if the if the people so chose and so you can blame some of my jokes on him and but I'm very thankful I got to experience him as a kid as a wrestling coach watching my brother wrestle against his northeast high teams and as an adult and as and as frankly a colleague for the last few years of being a council member as well and so very blessed to have known him the city was blessed to have had him and I just wanted to send my love and support to the Dudley family and and everybody that's in mourning this week his funeral is tomorrow morning they're doing another celebration of life at northeast high school on Saturday and so just very thankful for coach Bill Dudley thank you madam chair thank you so much we're going to close form and now open form and now we're going to go to announcements does anyone have any announcements anything that they would like to share council member Gabbard just on a personal note chair I just want to thank everyone so many people from the community reached out to me over the last weekend had a medical emergency with my mother and so many people in the community just praying for her and miracles happen every day and that happens because of prayer and so I just wanted to thank everyone who's reached out called sent a text sent a prayer it really does make a difference and so thank you all for the support thank you and we're so glad that you're back and everything worked out and that you got back safely I do appreciate that seeing that no one else has any other announcements we will officially call this meeting adjourned yay thank you thank you about it chair Thank you.