Page 13 - Florida Sentinel 2-3-17

FLORIDA SENTINEL
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2017
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Women Of Worth Conference And Breakfast
BARBARA WHOLUBA
CHARISSE JONES
DR. THELMA DANIELS
DR. PAULINE RIVERS
Deadline is February 6th to register for Women of Worth Conference
Building Strong Families, Inc., in partnership with Plant City Christian Center, Inc., will host the Women of Worth Conference and Breakfast on Saturday, February 18, 2017 from 9 a. m. to 1 p. m. at the Hilton Garden
Inn Tampa East/Brandon. The theme of the conference is
“Unleash Your Greatness” and the speakers include: Charisse Jones, founder of EnSpireU, LLC.; Bar- bara Wholuba, financial adminis- trator and co-founder of Bethel Gospel Tabernacle in Lakeland; Dr. Thelma Daniels, founder of Adonai’s Ministry, Inc. and finance
and contracts administrator for Abe Brown Ministries, Inc.; and Dr. Pauline Rivers, founder and pres- ident of Building Strong Families, Inc.
Some of the topics to be covered include: “See Your Worth: There is Greatness on the Inside,” “Bring Your ‘A’ Game: Preparing for Great- ness”, and “Building Your Net
Worth: Financial Stability.” Music will be provided by Florence In- graham Clark and guests.
Registration is $25.00 and must be received by February 6. There will not be any ticket sales at the door. For more information and to pre- register, contact: Dr. Pauline Rivers at 813-759-0260 or pm- rivers@aol.com.
City Council Delays Action On Tourism Marketing District Assessment
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
Last Thursday, the Tampa City Council delayed action on the re- quest presented by Robert (Bob) Morrison, Executive Director of Hillsborough County Hotel and Motel Association, for hotels in Ybor City and downtown Tampa to access themselves.
Tampa City Councilman Frank Reddick said the delay will proba- bly take about 3 weeks for the City’s Attorney to make a determination as to what non-partisan agency will handle the money.
Morrison said the hotel and motel industry was coming forward to self-access themselves. “The own- ers and general managers are placing an assessment against themselves only,” Morrison said. That assess- ment is called Tourism Marketing District Assessment.
The assessment would add an ad- dition $1.50 per night to each room occupied. That additional fee would only be added to the 14 hotels in the
Tourism Marketing District. Morrison expressed gratitude to Tampa’s Mayor Bob Buckhorn, Sonya Little, the City’s Chief Fi- nancial Officer and Hillsborough County Tax Collector Doug Belden for the assistance provided “while we try to make this new model a reality.” Calling the delay “temporary,”
Morrison explained that the City Attorney and Tax Collector will con- fer to determine where the revenue generated from the hotel rooms would be sent.
This partnership is the first Tourism Marketing District in the State of Florida. There are 90 in the state of California, Morrison said.
After the kinks are ironed out on this first district, the association is looking to include future tourism districts among hotels in Westshore area, USF-Busch Gardens-New Tampa area and in the Brandon area. “Each has a unique reason why peo- ple come to those areas – what busi- nesses or other reasons attract guests to these areas.
“As a destination, our strength is to grow our marketing footprints from coast to coast. Our hoteliers be- lieve our assessment will allow our story to be told.”
The partnership will be a win-win for all involved – restaurants, trans- portation, those who sell equipment to hotels, sales taxes. “Because more people will be coming to town, more dollars will be spent,” Morrison stated. The cost for the Tourism Marketing Assessment to Tampa, government and taxpayers is ‘0’.
However, it won’t be an easy task for hotels. They will be monitored for their hotel bookings and every dollar must be accountable.
ROBERT (Bob) MORRISON
CITY COUNCILMAN FRANK REDDICK