Page 4 - Florida Sentinel 1-1-21

Feature
State Attorney’s Office Launches New Data Dashboard
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Last month, Hillsborough County State Attorney, An- drew Warren, introduced a new step forward for trans- parency, by launching a groundbreaking public Data Dashboard.
This new tool was brought into existence by the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office, along with prosecutor’s offices in Jack- sonville, Chicago, and Mil- waukee, worked with criminologists from Florida International University and Loyola University of Chicago on a multi-year project. The purpose was to create a 21st Century blueprint for track- ing data and measuring pros- ecutorial success.
Attorney Warren said,
ANDREW WARREN Hillsborough County State Attorney
“Transparency builds trust. It’s that simple. Now, more than ever, we need to make sure everyone — from every neighborhood and every background — can have trust in their justice system.”
The goal of the new proj- ect is to: take action to re- form juvenile justice; focus
on making sure a person’s race does not affect their out- come; and working to reduce “poverty traps” that start a downward spiral for families. These are three of the 23 in- dicators the Data Dashboard tracks from the work of the State Attorney’s Office to ad- vocate for victims and im- prove public safety. More indicators will be added in the months following the launch.
To produce the revolu- tionary new tool, the team from FIU and Loyola was given access to analyze hun- dreds of thousands of files from Florida’s 13th Judicial Circuit, covering Hillsbor- ough County, and Florida’s 4th Circuit, covering metro Jacksonville.
After State Attorney Melissa Nelson of the 4th Circuit in Jacksonville launch their office’s own Data Dash- board later this month, to- gether, the two new public portals w8ill become Florida’s first Data Dash- boards for prosecutors.
“This borrows some of the best ideas from the business world. We’re digging into the data, even the data that’s not so pretty, to understand whether we’re delivering the products our customers want. For a prosecutor’s of- fice, the products people want are a safer community, fair outcomes, and lower costs for taxpayers,” Attor- ney Warren said.
Other efforts to provide transparency include: releas- ing public summary and evi- dence every time deadly force is reviewed; creating the of- fice’s Racial Justice Work Group with community members and prosecutors; and studying racial dispari- ties in the office and publish- ing results from FIU researchers.
The MacArthur Founda- tion’s Safety and Justice Challenge funded the work in Hillsborough and Jack- sonville, as well as Milwau- kee and Chicago, with a $1.7 million grant.
Members of the public can access the Data Dash- board at sao13th.com/data.
3-Week S.W.E.E.P Leads To 20 Tons Of Debris Collected In East Tampa And Surrounding Areas
BY MONIQUE STAMPS Sentinel Staff Writer
The Tampa Department of Solid Waste offers many benefits to residents, includ- ing the Solid Waste Enhanced Environmental Program (S.W.E.E.P.) collection serv- ice. Director Mark Wilfalk recently scheduled a three- week SWEEP in the East Tampa Community Redevel- opment Area (CRA) as an early Christmas gift to resi- dents.
Wilfalk says, that “the initiative originally started with CRA past-President Natasha Goodley. Godley had emphasized a need within the East Tampa com- munity for improving the aes- thetics of the neighborhood and removing debris from the right-of-way.” The Solid Waste team partnered with the city of Tampa’s Neighbor- hood Empowerment Depart- ment.
Wilfalk says that ‘his de- partment had slowed down a bit late this year and repur- posed some equipment to as- sist with the project.’ Postcards were mailed to res- idents within the East Tampa CRA and other areas with trash and debris that were collectively identified. The 3- week project led to more than 200 tons of debris and items collected.
Since his appointment by former Mayor Bob Buck- horn, Wilfalk has tried to improve the outreach of the Solid Waste Department and make sure he remained fo- cused on the community. Part of his department’s mis- sion statement is to ensure that they are the public’s choice for solid waste dis- posal.
Wilfalk says he realizes that they are in a competitive business. But his goal is to
MARK WILFALK ...Director Solid Waste Department
improve the communication rate in East Tampa, and his team is looking for areas where there is constant dumping.
In 2021, Wilfalk will be doing more advertising and promoting waste reduction programs. He is looking to improve and expand the recy- cling program in East Tampa. A new $43 million Transfer Station that will double the capacity of the amount of trash will be a priority. Ear- lier this year, his department took over the management of the waste energy plant bring- ing in an additional 55 jobs.
Wilfalk completed his Bachelor of Science Degree in Communications from the University of Florida in 1994. In 1996, he moved to the Tampa Bay region to work with a Recycling Corpo- ration as an Operations Su- pervisor. In 1998, he joined the City of Tampa Depart- ment of Solid Waste as a Solid Waste Supervisor.
In 2005, he was promoted to serve the City of Tampa as the Chief of Operations for the Department of Solid Waste and Environmental Program Management. In 2014, he was promoted to Di- rector of the Department of Solid Waste and Environ- mental Program Manage- ment.
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