Last week was a blur. We had a great work session Tuesday night looking over the latest plans for upgrading Sims Park. Some of it is still “pie in the sky”, or perhaps I should say “ziplines in the sky”, but there was quite a bit of meat to the plans and the council directed staff to get going on the preliminary stuff that has to be done before we start constructing the parts that we think make sense.
I spent the better part of Wednesday at the FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation) office in Tampa. We convinced the FDOT that the median closure at Sunset and 19 was a bad idea and they are going to fix it. We were less successful in making the case for a median cut further north so that senior citizens don’t have to make U-turns right in front of traffic flying off the bridge. That will be revisited in a couple of weeks.
After I got back from Tampa, I had a nice chat with the Governor’s Office regarding the Hacienda and what it means to our community.
Thursday included a Greater New Port Richey Main Street lunch meeting where we heard from the chief of police about various initiatives that are taking a proverbial bite out of crime. (In one case, literally).
I went to the Chamber mixer at Gilldawg’s in Port Richey Thursday evening. It was a nice event and I had some interesting conversations with folks who want to see our community become everything it can be.
The positive outlook of so many folks I talk to about the city is contagious. I even got stopped at church this morning repeatedly by folks who are excited to read in the paper about the good things that are in the works.
Somewhere in between all of the city stuff, I actually got quite a bit of geek work done too.
This week promises to be at least as exciting. I can hardly wait.
Rob Marlowe, Mayor
City of New Port Richey