Page 2 - Florida Sentinel 3-11-22

Feature
Hanna Avenue Project Updates Moved To March 17th City Council Meeting
BY MONIQUE STAMPS Sentinel Staff Writer
The controversial Hanna Avenue Project will have to wait as the Tampa City Council asked for additional time.
Since the announcement on February 7, 2022, that Mayor Jane Castor would hire an advocate to “help achieve the city’s unprece- dented goal for minority and small business participation in the construction of the planned City Center on Hanna Avenue in East Tampa,” several community members have accused the city of doing the opposite.
As the Sentinel-Bulletin has reported, many con- cerns over the bidding process and a lack of ap- prenticeship opportunities have raised concerns over the project’s adherence to the city’s own rules. There have also been a growing number of concerns over the high volume of traffic in the East Tampa neighborhood.
Two weeks ago, on Feb- ruary 17, 2022, the Council voted for staff to report back
Hanna Avenue Project Concerns Still Have Not Been Addressed
meeting of the Council.
The Council accepted re- ports from citizens and city staff to review the bidding process. A report from Adriana Colina, Director of Logistics & Asset Manage- ment for the City of Tampa, submitted a report for re-
view.
Another action item that
will be discussed at the March 17, 2022, meeting is the question of whether the Council can reverse its pre- vious vote to approve the Hanna Project.
For any citizen of East Tampa that has a concern over the bidding process, apprenticeships, or traffic congestion, the City Council meetings begin at 9:00 a.m. and can be viewed on Gov- ernment Access TV.
To express an opin- ion, go to https://www.- tampa.gov/city-council- meeting-public-com- ment-form. For general information, contact the Office of the City Clerk, Old City Hall, 315 E. Kennedy Blvd., Third Floor, Tampa, Florida 33602 – Telephone No. (813) 274-8397 – Fax No. (813) 274-8306 – E- Mail Address: cty- clerk@tampagov.net.
on the first of these con- cerns, namely the selection of the general contractor, DPR Construction. An addi- tional item to be investi- gated was the city ordinance requiring large construction projects to hire apprentices.
Additionally, the selec- tion of DPR to oversee the project beyond the original scope of its initial design phase ended. Despite claims
by city officials that the choice was necessitated by time and lease constraints, local minority businesses claim the awarding of the project to DPR cut them from one of the largest proj- ects in recent history.
As concerns by the com- munity continued to build, the city council requested additional reporting on the bidding and apprenticeship
process. The goal of 35 per- cent minority participation was also under review. The findings were to be pre- sented and discussed at the March 3, 2022, meeting.
On March 2, 2022, City Council Chairman Or- lando Gudes requested that all staff involved in the report generation be present for questions on their infor- mation, however no city of- ficial attended.
At the meeting however, the discussion was contin- ued to the March 17, 2022,
PAGE 2-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2022