Council is off this week but they return next week to a special call workshop on Tuesday to discuss the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Rays. I’ve mostly avoided writing about the stadium deal waiting for it to hit the agenda. I did touch on the subject earlier in the month when some mobility projects in Drew Park hit the CRA agenda earlier this month. Thus far, little has been discussed about the CRA element of the deal.

Which made reading Patrick Manteiga’s “As We Heard It” in La Gaceta last week a bit of an eye opener. In it he discusses a memo sent by County Administrator Bonnie Wise which includes this nugget – “The document reads, ‘These CRA revenues will take several years to materialize. Neither the County nor the City should take this development risk.’”

Beyond CRA TIF funds and tourist tax dollars, there’s also a request for the city to kick in $64 million in CIT funds. So I thought it would be interesting to ask readers and the community, “How would you spend $64 million dollars?” You have the option of giving it all to the Rays or appropriating the funds to 9 different areas of need in the city.

A lot has been made about “economic impact” of the stadium but there’s two sides to that argument. I’d point you to J.C. Bradbury’s recent article “Sorry, Tampa Bay, mixed‑use districts don’t reverse the dismal economics of sports venues”. I was surprised to learn while reading that piece that with all of the comparisons of the Rays proposal to the Truist Park development for the Braves, that development only used $300 million of public funds. The Rays are asking for more than 3x that. And that’s not counting what the state is providing.

As for me, I grew up a baseball nut and have fond memories of seeing the Big Red Machine—Rose, Bench, Morgan, Foster—play spring training games at the old Al Lopez Field. I saw George Foster hit a home run so far one spring if the field was flipped the ball might have landed where the proposed Rays stadium is across Dale Mabry.

But the business side of professional sports has soured me, especially the Rays and how they handled St. Petersburg, to the point it’s purely a money thing and the right now, the money isn’t adding up. I’d rather see a billion dollars put towards public transportation. I’d argue that would have a far greater lasting economic impact than a baseball stadium.

South Howard Flood Relief

There’s no shortage of drama surrounding this project and it’s doubtful that’s going to change before the next election. But the draft engineering report was recently released so I take another look at the project and my take-aways. The single biggest thing I learned is the effect the Armory Gardens area has on Palma Ceia Pines due to insufficient stormwater conveyance north of Kennedy Blvd. Heavy rains results in water running south past Kennedy into the “bowl” of Palma Ceia Pines. That’s an issue that will need to be addressed regardless if the current project moves forward and crystalizes how this project is really part of a much bigger plan. One the city should have been clear about from the start.

Tree Workshop

I have followed the tree discussion closely and in last week’s preview said I think the biggest issue is Crepe Myrtles and Type 3 trees. After watching the tree workshop I can’t avoid saying my take away is folks can’t see the forest for the trees. The planting of Crepe Myrtles has been abused by both developers and the city to check a box for planting trees and that we could do a better job. But I don’t think that should stop good projects from going forward and I don’t think a small group of people however well intended should be gatekeeping the Tree Trust Fund. There are 11 shovel ready projects to get trees in the ground with 70% being Type 1 & 2 trees (oaks, maples, etc). The projects are in mostly underserved neighborhoods that lost canopy from the hurricanes. Use these projects to get trees in the ground ASAP and to improve how the trust fund is leveraged. Read my full argument.

Odds & Ends

A couple of other bits and pieces of city news worth noting:

• The link for Onbase and city agendas has moved. https://tampagov.hylandcloud.com/251agendaonline/ is the new URL city staff shared with me to update my links and scripts. You may think that’s the same URL but note the 251. The previous url was 221. Don’t ask me why there’s 2 versions or why the old version doesn’t redirect to the new (a common thing to do with web servers and URLs) or why Onbase couldn’t be updated without including the version number in the URL. I’ve mostly given up trying to understand Onbase as a piece of software.
• Related, the web app that serves transcripts for council meetings has also been updated. There’s a transcript keyword search now that you can apply across date ranges as well as the inclusion of video. There isn’t timestamp/video sync like I have with meetings.tampamonitor.com but it’s definitely an improvement over the previous version. I’ve shared my work with the team that works in these areas so you never know where things wind up.
• The city is looking for applicants to join the Community Benefits Advisory Council (CBAC) as an at-large member. Large publicly funded projects now require a Community Benefit Agreement (CBA) and this council will advise the Mayor and other officials on how to best implement development projects. They are particularly interested in “individuals who possess expertise or experience in land planning, economic development, banking/finance, affordable housing, landscape architecture, or similar disciplines.” If you are interested in applying or learning more, the city has a more on the city website.
• Something the city launched recently that I hadn’t seen discussed at council is a new micro-grant program for small businesses. Applicants must have a household income at or below 80% of AMI ($83,000 for a family of four) and range from a $1,500 startup grant to $15,000 business loans for businesses that improve access to fresh food.

Tampa Monitor will return next week with any updates on the stadium saga and a regular preview of the Thursday agenda. Council have 2 months until the mayor presents the Fiscal Year 2027 budget on July 16th.