Tag: Money

The Tampa City Council voted to support spending an additional $500,000 a year on storm drain maintenance as residents called for more information about why so much flooding occurred this past hurricane season and getting updates on what’s being done about it monthly.

During a presentation about short-term solutions to flooding, city Mobility Director Vik Bhide said the department planned to ask for $10.5 million next week to upgrade the city’s 16 pump stations, adding back-up generators to power them where they don’t exist as well as monitoring equipment.

Bhide said it could take up to two years to implement the upgrades. In the interim, the city will switch to generator power the day before a storm arrives to avoid power outages taking them out of commission, an issue during Hurricane Milton in October.

The division also asked for the additional $500,000 to address maintenance and improve its pipe inspection system.

The department is working on longer-term solutions with seven consultants that include looking at each drainage basin within the city, Bhide said. That work will begin in February and include modeling using current data and standards, which would allow the department to create a list of capital needs and costs.

But some residents were not put at ease.

Steve Michelini, general manager of the Soho Business Alliance, called the solutions “a day late and a dollar short.

“All of a sudden it’s a crisis that they’ve ignored for many years, not just this mayor,” he said. “It goes back several years. Back then we didn’t have a problem because we didn’t have storms of this significant magnitude.”

He said near his own South Tampa house, every rain brings floods because of poorly designed drainage systems.

Michelini said the council didn’t need new plans but needed to execute ones already in place and focus on maintenance. He said the department would need an immediate appropriation.

“Get the ditches and the retention ponds and the culverts cleaned out,” he said. “And that will solve a lot of problems. It won’t solve an 100% but it’ll be a good first step.”

Other residents spoke of cracks in pipes, poorly maintained retention ponds, culverts, ditches and drains — with trees growing out of some. They spoke of the flooding that came to their neighborhoods as a result.

Pam Cannella, who lives on San Rafael Street in South Tampa, held up binders of photos to show the council.

Anneliese Meier with the Historic Parkland Estates Preservation Society, who is working with neighborhood groups in Concordia Park, Bayshore Gardens, Palma Ceia Pines, Beach Park, Virginia Park and Forrest Hills, said residents want to know where the stormwater assessment fees they pay are going.

“We also want to know what equipment the department has (for) stormwater maintenance, because I don’t think they have enough,” she told the council.

Bhide said the maintenance assessment funds 62 positions in stormwater operations. He also said in the Parkland Estates neighborhood, the Mobility Department removed more than six tons of debris over the past year. He said the department also inspected and cleaned over 7,000 miles of pipe.

“Was it enough to make sure everything was great?” he asked rhetorically. “We feel we’ve done everything we can within the resources we have.” The area, he said, needs more capital infrastructure.

David Laxer, president of Bern’s Steakhouse Co. sent an email to the City Council the night before the meeting, calling the verbal report from the Mobility Department “absurd.”

“Please pay close attention to the items being discussed, Stormwater and Flooding, and note that ALL THESE ITEMS DO NOT HAVE ANY WRITTEN BACK-UP REPORTS!” he wrote. “… No written documents, no maps, no photos, nothing to review in advance. …The lack of transparency and candor to the citizens of Tampa and City Council should disturb you.”

“Management failures and processes/procedures are not in place to properly maintain our current stormwater systems, thus putting our neighborhoods and citizens at risk,” his email said.

Council member Lynn Hurtak agreed with the calls for a breakdown in spending and for monthly reports.

“Just part of what will make people feel better is a continual reminder of where we are, what we’re doing, the types of movement, of movement that’s coming,” she said.

The Tampa City Council voted to support spending an additional $500,000 a year on storm drain maintenance as residents called for more information about why so much flooding occurred this past hurricane season and getting updates on what’s being done about it monthly.

During a presentation about short-term solutions to flooding, city Mobility Director Vik Bhide said the department planned to ask for $10.5 million next week to upgrade the city’s 16 pump stations, adding back-up generators to power them where they don’t exist as well as monitoring equipment.

Bhide said it could take up to two years to implement the upgrades. In the interim, the city will switch to generator power the day before a storm arrives to avoid power outages taking them out of commission, an issue during Hurricane Milton in October.

The division also asked for the additional $500,000 to address maintenance and improve its pipe inspection system.

The department is working on longer-term solutions with seven consultants that include looking at each drainage basin within the city, Bhide said. That work will begin in February and include modeling using current data and standards, which would allow the department to create a list of capital needs and costs.

But some residents were not put at ease.

Steve Michelini, general manager of the Soho Business Alliance, called the solutions “a day late and a dollar short.

“All of a sudden it’s a crisis that they’ve ignored for many years, not just this mayor,” he said. “It goes back several years. Back then we didn’t have a problem because we didn’t have storms of this significant magnitude.”

He said near his own South Tampa house, every rain brings floods because of poorly designed drainage systems.

Michelini said the council didn’t need new plans but needed to execute ones already in place and focus on maintenance. He said the department would need an immediate appropriation.

“Get the ditches and the retention ponds and the culverts cleaned out,” he said. “And that will solve a lot of problems. It won’t solve an 100% but it’ll be a good first step.”

Other residents spoke of cracks in pipes, poorly maintained retention ponds, culverts, ditches and drains — with trees growing out of some. They spoke of the flooding that came to their neighborhoods as a result.

Pam Cannella, who lives on San Rafael Street in South Tampa, held up binders of photos to show the council.

Anneliese Meier with the Historic Parkland Estates Preservation Society, who is working with neighborhood groups in Concordia Park, Bayshore Gardens, Palma Ceia Pines, Beach Park, Virginia Park and Forrest Hills, said residents want to know where the stormwater assessment fees they pay are going.

“We also want to know what equipment the department has (for) stormwater maintenance, because I don’t think they have enough,” she told the council.

Bhide said the maintenance assessment funds 62 positions in stormwater operations. He also said in the Parkland Estates neighborhood, the Mobility Department removed more than six tons of debris over the past year. He said the department also inspected and cleaned over 7,000 miles of pipe.

“Was it enough to make sure everything was great?” he asked rhetorically. “We feel we’ve done everything we can within the resources we have.” The area, he said, needs more capital infrastructure.

David Laxer, president of Bern’s Steakhouse Co. sent an email to the City Council the night before the meeting, calling the verbal report from the Mobility Department “absurd.”

“Please pay close attention to the items being discussed, Stormwater and Flooding, and note that ALL THESE ITEMS DO NOT HAVE ANY WRITTEN BACK-UP REPORTS!” he wrote. “… No written documents, no maps, no photos, nothing to review in advance. …The lack of transparency and candor to the citizens of Tampa and City Council should disturb you.”

“Management failures and processes/procedures are not in place to properly maintain our current stormwater systems, thus putting our neighborhoods and citizens at risk,” his email said.

Council member Lynn Hurtak agreed with the calls for a breakdown in spending and for monthly reports.

“Just part of what will make people feel better is a continual reminder of where we are, what we’re doing, the types of movement, of movement that’s coming,” she said.