Page 3 - Florida Sentinel 2-11-22

Feature
Community Leaders Voice Major Concerns About City’s Hanna Avenue Project
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
What was initially sold to community leaders as a major ‘economic opportu- nity’ for East Tampa is now being challenged once the entire scope of the City’s Hanna Avenue project was unveiled.
One of the issues is that the California construction com- pany hired to do demolition in 2015 by Bob Buck- horn’s administration for $11 million, has now ended up becoming a $108 million contract to build in 2021.
The construction com- pany hired by the City of Tampa, DPR, was hired in 2015 to demolish the build- ing.
After the project received approval from the City Coun- cil in November, community leaders learned that there had not been a bidding process, therefore no Black contractors had the opportu- nity to bid on the construc- tion of the building.
When the City Council met on January 13, 2022, several organization repre- sentatives spoke during the comment section to voice their opinions about the lack of Black representation on such a huge project in African American East Tampa.
James Ransom, repre- sentative for Tampa Organi-
zation of Black Affairs (TOBA), chair of the Eco- nomic Development Com- mittee, told the Sentinel that his organization gathered in- formation on the project to be well informed, including meeting with DPR Construc- tion.
However, there were still several concerns and recom- mendations they wanted to share. They want to make sure Black business owners are included in all projects that call for competition, in- cluding spending money with Black media.
The City of Tampa has projected that African-Amer- icans would have 35% partic- ipation in the project.
Stanley Gray, repre- senting the Urban League of Hillsborough County, knew that he was only making a comment at the Council meeting. But, he followed up with an email to each council member and asked a series of questions on the no-bid con- tract. To date, he has only re- ceived one acknowledgement of receiving his email.
“This is the largest con- tract levied by the City of Tampa. I’m not blaming the mayor for anything, but I just want to know what steps were missed,” Gray asked.
Some others who spoke were Hillsborough County NAACP represented by Pres- ident Yvette Lewis, Florida Rising, Robin Lockett,
contractors Joe Robinson and Jonathan Graham, Ernest Coney of CDC of Tampa, Inc., were among other notable organizations that made comments. They all want to know what can be done to right this wrong.
“Was this approved by the previous administration,” Ms. Lewis asked. “We want the City to pull this back and re-bid,” she said.
City Council Chair Or- lando Gudes said initially, he, too, was pleased that eco- nomic development was coming to East Tampa. But, just like the public, the Coun- cil also wants to know what was the actual bidding process. “Did we miss something somewhere, was there an error made? If so, we need to put things in place now to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
City staff is expected to re- turn to City Council on March 3rd to update the Council on the process used.
Residents In Area Are More Concerned About Their Neighborhood
Residents in the immedi- ate area of the Hanna Avenue Project are more concerned about the impact the huge building housing 500 em- ployees, huge trucks and an overload of traffic that will interrupt their living.
Ricky Bell, a former City employee, lives a few blocks
from the building. He doesn’t recall any meetings with the residents directly in the com- munity. He said, “the one lady they did speak with lives about 2 miles from this neighborhood.
“This is a 2-lane neighbor- hood. The traffic that will be coming through this neigh- borhood. I strongly oppose this over-built, over-de- signed project for Hanna Ave. We will have to endure all kinds of fumes coming from Fleet Maintenance trucks. All the big trucks will be tearing up our roads. Once it’s built, we’ll (the community) will be crammed in here.”
Bell is not the only one concerned with the traffic and overload in the commu- nity.
Kay Andrews has been asking questions about the traffic that will impact the area since early last year.
“I was one of the people that initially thought it would be a good idea. However, when the scope of the project was revealed: city employees (500) and fleet maintenance and all that the one building will entail, I started asking about how the neighbor- hoods would be able to deal with the massive amount of traffic. We have nothing but 2 lane roads from the north, south, east and west. So once folks figure out shortcuts, then our neighbor-
hoods will become over- loaded. Adding to an already growing problem.
“On a normal day, traffic backs up on Sligh Ave., just a few blocks away. I want to know who does this project benefit?
“Right across the street, there’s an apartment com- plex with children, an as- sisted living facility, and a nursing home right next door.
“I respect the other leaders who are asking about Black business owners being given the opportunity, and this is huge too, but after the build- ing is built the neighborhood will be dealing with this for- ever.”
Apostle James H. Howell, Pastor of Cathedral of Faith Church, has had conversation with those working on the project, as well as some of the residents in the area. As a matter of fact, the church was used re- cently as one of the informa- tion-giving sites. “There wasn’t a good turnout, how- ever.”
He believes in the project, believes it is a good idea, es- pecially because of the jobs that will be provided for res- idents. “I thought it would be a good place to have a day- care for those working there. When I approached them, the decisions had already been made as to what offices would be there,” he said.
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