News & Public Affairs

Hillsborough drafting ballot language for light rail amendment listen

04/01/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Hillsborough County Commissioners today took their first concrete step toward getting a possible sales tax referendum on the 2010 ballot that would help pay for a mass transit system.

The Board approved a motion to have the County Attorney and staff work with a task force to come up with draft language for the proposed referendum – but not before one commission said he didn’t think the measure would pass anyway.

Lucia Garces is the with the Administrative Planning & Infrastructure Depar...

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Hillsborough budget process analyzed listen

03/31/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Budget, economics, Hillsborough County, Tampa

Officials with Hillsborough County announced earlier this month that decreasing property taxes would leave a huge deficit for next fiscal year, possibly more than $100 million. County Administrator Pat Bean said the reduced revenue could lead to 1,000 layoffs in the county, an admission which stunned some Commissioners and led to a heated discussion about how the County Commission ultimately works.

Leading off the discussion was county Budget Director Eric Johnson, who had little positive ...

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Tampa water situation gets more dire listen

03/26/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Water conservation, drought, Tampa

A week after the Tampa City Council announced strict water rationing rules, and a week before they go into effect, the city’s Water Director said the flow of the Hillsborough River has never been this low at this time of year.

Brad Baird said Tampa is unique in being the only local government that draws from the river.

Meanwhile, the city has been contacting landscapers and utility contractors to discover whether it makes business sense to fill watering trucks with reclaimed water that...

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Iorio focuses on economy and transit in State of the City address listen

03/23/09 Seán Kinane
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Tags: Pam Iorio, Tampa

Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio gave her annual State of the City address this morning to an overflow crowd made up mostly of city workers at the Tampa Convention Center.

Iorio focused on progress that has been made in the city since she was elected in 2003 in areas such as mass transit, infrastructure, and economic development.

Even though Tampa has been through economic downturns before, Iorio says that the current ...

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Tampa gets tough, bans sprinkler watering listen

03/19/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Drought, water, water shortage, Tampa

Addressing a drought situation that appears to only be getting worse, the Tampa City City Council today voted to ban the use of lawn sprinklers, beginning April 3.

The vote was 5-1, only John Dingfelder opposed the measure.

Brad Baird, Water Department manager for the city, said the drought and the lack of potable water available from the reservoir and desalination plant forced the drastic action.

Currently, Tampa citizens can irrigate once a week -- Tuesday for addresses that end in...

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Hillsborough Homeless Coalition doing more with less listen

01/29/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Hillsborough County, homelessness, homeless count, Tampa

The head of the Coalition for the Homeless in Hillsborough County says his organization is trying to do more with less this year.

Rayme Nuckles told the Tampa City Council that when the Coalition does its annual count of the homeless next month, he expects to have a higher count than a year ago. And, he says the organization will be doing the count with fewer dollars.

Nuckles said he has great hopes for the economic stimulus package that passed the House of Representatives Wednesday nig...

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PETA wants Lowry Park Zoo investigated listen

12/22/08 Seán Kinane
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Tags: Lowry Park Zoo, Lex Salisbury, Tampa, audit

Lex Salisbury resigned his position as president of Lowry Park Zoo last week after the zoo’s board asked for his resignation. It came on the heels of a Tampa audit that found Salisbury used resources and animals from the zoo for his own for-profit animal park called Safari Wild.

Over the weekend Salisbury resigned from another post, according to tbo.com. He and Lowry Park Zoo’s director of collections, Larry Killmar, resigned last week from the Zool...

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Lowry Park Zoo president resigns listen

12/18/08 Seán Kinane
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Tags: Lowry Park Zoo, Lex Salisbury, Tampa, audit

Embattled Lowry Park Zoo president Lex Salisbury has resigned. He made the decision this afternoon at a five-hour zoo board meeting at the Mainsail Suites Hotel in West Tampa.

Salisbury has been criticized because of questions regarding his for-profit business called Safari Wild. He came under even more scrutiny following a scathing 60-page audit report released last week by the city of Tampa.

According to the city audit, Salisbury owes the zoo more than $200,000 for such things as $700...

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Tampa officials outline plan for dealing with foreclosures

11/13/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Neighborhood Stabilization Program, Hillsborough County, Tampa, mortgage crisis, foreclosure

The city of Tampa will get $13.6 million from a federal grant to purchase and refurbish approximately 100 homes in Sulphur Springs and West Tampa.

The funding comes from the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, passed by Congress and signed by President Bush to deal with the foreclosure crisis.

According to new statistics issued today by RealtyTrac, Florida posted the third-highest foreclosure rate in the nation in October, with one in every 157 housing units receiving a filing. Foreclos...

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City of Tampa gets new legal eagle listen

06/18/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Tampa, Pam Iorio

Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio held a news conference this morning to announce that the city’s attorney, David Smith, was stepping down to go back into the private sector.

Smith will be replaced by Chip Fletcher, an environmental and administrative law attorney, who served a short stint on the Tampa City Council last year.

Fletcher also worked with Democratic Congressional candidate Christine Jennings in her challenge to the election results in the disputed election in the 13th District in Flo...

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