NPR NOTES

Commentary by Mayor Rob Marlowe

  • Home
  • About the Mayor
  • Get NPR Notes By Email

Archives for December 2018

New Year 2019

Posted on December 28, 2018 Written by Rob Marlowe

Mayor Rob Marlowe

Mayor Rob Marlowe

I can’t believe we are already going into 2019.  The past year has certainly flown by.

The transformation of the downtown has been nothing short of amazing.  New businesses have opened up, including our first downtown grocery store in decades.  Our local businesses are offering a unique feel to our downtown that makes it a special place to visit.

Some projects, most notably the boardwalks out onto Orange Lake, will be completed shortly.  Others, like the multi-year work to improve our streets and efforts to improve the Leisure Lane / Van Doren area, will continue.  New projects, like the Central On Orange Lake, should break ground within the coming weeks.  New Port Richey today is much improved over what it was a year ago.  I’m confident that the city will look even better this time next year.

The city council will hold three workshops in the next couple of months.  They cover three issues that we need to sort out moving forward.

The first workshop, at 5pm on January 2nd, will be a discussion regarding the city’s Main Street Program.  The city has been a Main Street participant for the last quarter century.  The discussion will likely revolve around whether or not New Port Richey should remain in the program or try something different.

The second workshop, at 5pm on January 15th, will be a discussion regarding special events in Sims Park.  The park has been quite popular as a venue for special events and it is somewhat the worse for wear as a result.  I expect this to be a wide ranging discussion regarding the number, type and size of events in the park.

Parking will likely be discussed.  Event goers have historically parked on the old Baptist Church property east of Orange Lake.  Given that the property will be an active construction zone momentarily, that will not be an option going forward.  Faith Baptist became the first group to arrange for parking shuttles for their event this past fall.  It is my understanding that the Chasco Fiesta folks are actively working on a similar solution for this year’s Chasco.

Downtown businesses have been quite vocal in pointing out that special events centered in Sims Park typically do not result in more shoppers downtown.  There is evidence that at least some of the special events actively harm the downtown businesses.  Should the city sponsor more small scale events in the downtown and fewer large events in Sims Park?  I suspect this will come up as well, both at the Main Street workshop on the 2nd and at the special events workshop on the 15th.

There will also be a discussion regarding past events that have failed to pay for the city costs involved in having their events at the park.

Finally, there will be a workshop on February 5th to discuss future Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) projects.  This might seem to be a workshop designed for urban redevelopment geeks, but it is actually a very important discussion that we need to have.  The CRA is up for renewal this year.  There are potentially some very interesting projects that could be funded with CRA dollars.  One prime example:  The Leisure Lane / Van Doren area.  The city, Pasco County, and Habitat for Humanity are currently working closely together to clean up this blighted area.  The area is a so-called county enclave that is completely surrounded by the city.  Assuming that the city proceeds with plans to annex the area, expanding the CRA to cover it and then using CRA dollars to complete the work that has been started there is worth serious consideration.

I expect that we will also discuss our current residential and commercial grant programs with an eye on making them more effective.

All three workshops start at 5pm and all are open to the public.  If you attend, you will have an opportunity to speak and make your thoughts on these issues known.

2019 promises to be an exciting year with continued progress on the horizon.  I look forward to seeing how much we can do to make our city an even better place to live, work, and play.

Rob Marlowe, Mayor

Filed Under: Local Commentary

My Day Job

When I'm not doing mayor stuff, I spend my time at Gulfcoast Networking. I solve Internet issues, clean up infected computers, and build websites. I'm always happy to take a break from computers to talk about New Port Richey's future, so feel free to come by my office at 6335 Grand Blvd to chat.

City of New Port Richey

This website expresses my views and not necessarily those of the city.  If you are looking for the official City of New Port Richey website, you can find it here.

Recent Posts

  • A Matter of Scale March 10, 2023
  • New Year 2023 January 2, 2023
  • Happy Thanksgiving 2022 November 22, 2022
  • Ian Recap October 3, 2022
  • Stroads July 25, 2022
  • Celebrating Our Independence July 3, 2022
  • Road Trip – Durham, NC May 10, 2022
  • Dreams and Opportunities April 26, 2022
  • Chasco Fiesta – 100 Year Anniversary Edition March 23, 2022
  • March Update March 3, 2022

Recent Comments

  • Bonnie Martin on A Matter of Scale
  • Marc Yacht MD on A Matter of Scale
  • Joan Rees on New Year 2023
  • Chris Lineman on New Year 2023
  • Rob Marlowe on New Year 2023
  • Frank Starkey on New Year 2023
  • Rob Marlowe on New Year 2023
  • Ken Houghtaling on New Year 2023
  • Rob Marlowe on Ian Recap
  • Joan Rees on Ian Recap

Archives

  • March 2023
  • January 2023
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • July 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • September 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • March 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • March 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014

Copyright © 2023 · Rob Marlowe · · Log in