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Council Delays Vote On Central Park Village Plan


BY JOHN W. ALLMAN
The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Any vote on an effort to revitalize Central Park Village and its surrounding neighborhood won’t happen until next week, allowing Tampa city officials time to thoroughly examine a new deal being proposed by Hillsborough County commissioners.

The Tampa City Council, acting in its capacity as the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, voted unanimously this morning to postpone discussion of a proposed redevelopment plan for 143 acres between downtown and Ybor City, including the blighted Central Park public housing property, until June 15.

David Smith, city attorney, said the extra time was needed to review a 4-2 vote Wednesday by the county commission that approved the CRA designation with two controversial addendums. Commissioner Tom Scott demanded that the county be allowed to claim two seats on the Community Redevelopment Agency, per a new state law that takes effect in July. He also wants the city to allow the county to pick two citizens to sit on a Central Park advisory panel. The city, which has eight existing CRAs, historically appoints a community panel to oversee each one’s progress.

Scott’s demands, which took many city and county staff by surprise, led to the split vote. Commissioners Mark Sharpe and Kathy Castor, who both said they support revitalizing Central Park Village and its surrounding area, voted against Scott’s motion because of its late arrival and a number of questions surrounding the legality of what Scott wanted.

The CRA designation is critical to prolonged efforts by the Tampa Housing Authority to replace the aging 28-acre Central Park Village with a new mixed-income housing community. Bank of America and other private investors have pitched a plan to redevelop the site, but the deal hinges on revenue generated by a special taxing district that only is created if the CRA is approved. The tax revenue would allow for necessary infrastructure repairs such as road and water/sewer system repairs.


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What this article really means is : What are we going to do with the poor black folks who are living where we want to build homes for the rich white folks. Remember when they turned the area around the old T.P.D.into a blighted area. Now the houses are $200,000 plus. Where are the folks who used to live there? Suitcase city.

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