This post is late in writing because to be honest, I’m struggling to make sense of anything going on in this country right now. For the past month it’s become increasingly more difficult to focus on local issues and process while at the federal level chaos reigns hourly. But it’s now crept into Council meetings. We now have to ask earnestly “will the federal government honor the DOT grants tied to some of the biggest projects planned?” It’s not like these grants are a check the federal government hands over to a local municipality. They are reimbursement funds. We spend it, they write a check after confirming the money was spent the way it was agreed on. We shouldn’t have to question whether the federal government is going to honor a pledge, but then again, I never expected the United States to side with Russia over Ukraine. I mean, I feel like I live in upside downville when I wake to a headline “Kremlin says US foreign policy now ‘aligns’ with Moscow’s vision.”.

More personally, in the cover of night President Musk dissolved 18f. I discovered 18f through their open sourcing of their work 9 years ago. I got my start with the web in open source and have been a fierce advocate for 20 years now. The idea of government work being open source—it’s our code, we own it, it should be open, just like with data—inspired me to look more into this new idea of “civic tech”. Which led to finding Code for Tampa Bay, volunteering with Code for America on hurricane shelter tracking with the Red Cross and FEMA. When that project ended successfully I tried to take what I’d learned and been exposed to back to local level. I began advocating for better digital services. The only 2 times I’ve spoken in person before Council were related to the agenda itself and the migration from SIRE to Onbase. The importance of keeping the commitment to the community to provide the agendas and documents publicly online in an accessible format. A lot of my early posts were before Onbase was launched and it was even more difficult to track the agenda. Progress has been made and I send a friendly nudge to check in on where things stand from time to time.

All of that is to say, 18f was the very best of what we can do to bridge government and technology. They broke the code to better procurement and routinely were saving agencies money on technology. They were already eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in tech. And were starting to help states learn how to do large technical procurement contracts. Eliminating a team of less than 100 that had that kind of effect is as clear of an example that none of what Musk is doing is about “government efficiency” and all about lining his and other oligarchs pockets.

And don’t get me started on the cuts being made to NOAA and National Weather Service.

So, where do I start about this week at Council? How about recognizing our City Clerk Shirley Foxx-Knowles for being named the Josephine Howard Stafford Memorial Award winner this year. The award was created to honor a current or former City of Tampa female employee who demonstrates outstanding commitment to her position and the community. Every document for the agenda passes through her office and they have done an amazing job handling the aforementioned migration from SIRE to Onbase.

As to the agenda this week, and what Council will be voting on, I’d say it’s generally benign. I don’t see any “big” decisions beyond a Development Agreement (item 78). This isn’t a Live Local project, rather under 166.04151, Florida Statutes it allows a petitioner to ask to build residential without changing the underlying land use or zoning classification if they include at least 10% affordable housing. In this case affordable is defined by Section 420.0004, Florida Statutes “ ‘Affordable’ means that monthly rents or monthly mortgage payments including taxes, insurance, and utilities do not exceed 30 percent of that amount which represents the percentage of the median adjusted gross annual income for the households”. Adjusted gross income is important. Median gross income not adjusted was $76,528 in 2023. Fannie Mae has the number at $92,000.. 30% of $92,000 $27,6000. Broken down monthly that’s $2300. If we use the $72,000 number, that’s $22,800 a year or $1900 a month. What’s market rate for an apartment in Tampa currently?

This project is proposing 192 units, 10% “affordable” on a plot of land near Ybor that is bound on the north by the interstate. The Property has a Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use designation of Community Commercial-35 and Residential-83, and a zoning district classification of PD. What I think should be defined is the “at least 10%”. The law says at least 10% “must” be affordable as defined by that statute and that the municipal body “may” approve it. If the agreement doesn’t state more than “at least 10%” that’s all they are obligated to. The agreement could be explicit in a number of units or the developer is committing to or higher percentage than 10. 10% is the floor. Clearly there’s an incentive for the developer to ask, I’m just not sure what it is. Maybe it’s just a cost savings.

That’s not to say that Council won’t be approving some large purchases and contracts. One that initially caught my eye was a $2.3 million repair contract for TPD helicopters but they clarify this is a 3 year contract that is already factored into their maintenance budget. They aren’t asking for $2.3 million in new spending, just to approve the contact with the vendor/service provider.

If heavy equipment is your thing, there’s a bevy of contracts for machinery this week.

There are also 2 review hearings of applicants appealing the decision of the zoning administrator. One looks problematic in that it has some history, the second looks like a technicality in that people want to put in kitchen appliances in a secondary entertainment space in their (very large) home. I guess to get a permit to install the kitchen equipment they applied to use the space as an “extended family residence” but the space exceeds the maximum allowed for such a space by 300 feet. An extended family residence is capped at 600 feet.

The lack of “big” votes is probably good because an important conversation that was on last week’s workshop agenda—discussing the $23 million budgeted in FY24 and unspent—was continued until this week. There’s also going to be more discussion related to stormwater funding in the short-term and where that money will be spent. Conveniently there will be a scheduled monthly update from Mobility on stormwater maintenance progress as well.

Speaking of Mobility and Stormwater, the South Howard project is still a very hot topic. I will update the dedicated post soon, but in the meantime, the city shared their site for the project. shstormwater.com.

If I missed something you think deserves attention, please leave a comment on the web or shoot me a note and I’ll take a closer look.