Show of Force by Seminole Heights at the Tampa City Council Meeting Today

I went down to the Tampa City Coucnil meetin this morning to speak during the public comment period. I thanked Council Chairman Thomas Scott for making the motion at the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority board meeting recently to get the Expressway Authority staff to look into the feasibility of having bicyclists bike on the top deck of the Selmon Expressway for short periods of time on Sunday mornings when there is hardly any commuter use.

But it was fellow Seminole Heights resident Chip Thomas who stole the show during the council's public comment period when he implored the council to do something about the crappy conditions facing pedestrians in this city. Chip showed more than a dozen photos portraying horrific sidewalk situations with utility poles jutting out of sidewalks and in one a concrete wall jutting into a sidewalk leaving a pedestrian about a foot or so to navigate along a busy road.

It was a busy day for Seminole Heights residents down at the city council meeting. Jeff Harmon, president of the Old Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association, was there along with Randy Baron, the immediate past OSHNA president, and a few other residents came to protest the city's billboard settlement that will allow digital billboards along main roads in Seminole Heights.

No wonder Seminole Heights is the best 'hood in the city of Tampa. We have people who take action.