Mayor Rob Marlowe
This year has been one continuous rush. Between the demands of work, family duties, various city issues coming up, and a political campaign, I have had precious little quiet time to simply kick back and dream. This past weekend was an exception.
For the first time in over a month, I could queue up an LP, sit down and dream about things we can do to make our city THE city on the Suncoast that people consider special.
We have quite a few things that set us apart from other cities in the Tampa Bay area. We have an award winning public library. We have a river that changes from “wilderness” to suburban as it flows through town. We have some of the most amazing parks in the area. We have some superb eateries and shops. We have an urban gardening movement that threatens to make us famous far beyond the editorial page of the Tampa Bay Times. We have some amazing people all dreaming about how we can make the city an absolutely amazing place to live.
Planners and academics like to have groups go through something called a SWOT analysis. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. We hear enough about our weaknesses and various threats. Today is a day to considering our strengths and dreaming about the opportunities presenting themselves.
I had the opportunity a week ago to spend time at the Grey Nature Preserve. There are people that drive right past it daily that have no idea that there is a 94 acre Nature Preserve sitting inside our city. I gave one of them a tour. The further we walked, the bigger his eyes got. He had no idea it existed or how cool it is. As we dream, we need to think about how a new entrance, at the south end of Congress Street, is going to make the Preserve more accessible and how Gulf Middle School will be able to take advantage of it as they teach our children about nature. Might a nature education center be worth building? It could tell the story of the Cotee River, from its origins north of SR 52 all the way to the gulf.
I will put our city library, its staff, and its programs up against the library of any comparable city. We can definitely make it better, but we are starting at a high level already. I am particularly proud of the Banned Books concert series and Tasty Tuesdays. I fully expect lots of new ideas on how to expand our library services going forward.
Making the city more bicycle and pedestrian friendly is another dream that I believe we can make a reality. My last NPR Note went into some detail on this topic: https://robmarlowe.com/long-range-long-distance-planning/
The current work downtown replacing the Drake Elms is an opportunity to re-think both how we provide shade to pedestrians and how we use outdoor spaces downtown. Will local businesses take advantage of city matching grants to install awnings over the sidewalks?
There was a spirited discussion on Facebook this weekend about the virtues of extending sidewalk dining into a few of the parking spaces on Grand.
Outdoor Dining – Picture posted on facebook by KC Quaretti.
This is definitely an idea worth exploring. The trade-off is between more cafe style sidewalk dining and the lose of convenient parking.
There are opportunities to make New Port Richey “greener”. There is a new solar farm going up in East Pasco. My mom’s doctor is installing solar collectors on her office’s roof. The city has empty property and roofs that might be suitable for solar gear. If the cost recovery period is short enough, it might be worth considering.
EV and Plug-in Hybrids are becoming mainstream. Now is the time to think about where we might put public charging stations and consider whether or not it would be cost effective to start looking at EVs and Plug-ins as our city fleet ages out. We can learn from neighborhood communities, such as Oldsmar, Clearwater, and Sarasota County.
I spent part of Saturday morning driving around to see how easy it would be to run power from our library, rec. center, and other buildings out to the curb for charging stations. There is no technical reason we can’t do it. The question is how much it might cost and could it be monetized to cover the cost. Oldsmar and Clearwater both charge for charging. I’m pretty sure that our current commercial grant programs would make it painless for businesses to add charging stations of their own.
Sometimes stepping away from the daily grind and dreaming about what could be is good for us.
Rob Marlowe, Mayor
Our great little city is one of the best, if not THE best, river cities in Florida. What lies between the Grey Preserve and the Gulf of Mexico is a fabulous resource. Whenever we take visitors out on the Cotee, they are amazed that such a river wonderland exists right here in our backyard. We already have six, I think, parks in place that provide river access. In my dreams, I see us EFFECTIVELY BRANDING New Port Richey as a scenic river city and promoting our river for citizens and visitors alike to enjoy.
New Port Richey lies between two of Florida’s great bike trails: Suncoast and Pinellas. A couple of months ago I sat in a citizens input session at the rec center regarding our NPR recreational future. I dream that New Port Richey can be a destination for bikers traveling between the major trails or for those just getting out locally for some fresh air and exercise. Two participants at the rec center session offerred GREAT IDEAS. The first involved changing the unnecessary four lane section of Grand Blvd to two lane with the eliminated two lanes converted to a bike trail connecting between downtown and our new bike connector on Marine Parkway. From there, its pretty easy access to Tarpon Springs and the Pinellas trail. Even easier when we get that pedestrian bridge over 19 built. The second GREAT IDEA proposed making Grand from downtown NPR north to 19 into a one way with a bike trail.
Someday, I hope to sit on a Saturday outside at Rose’s Bistro, or some new outdoor cafe, among cyclists in colorful outfits and boaters coming in off the Cotee for lunch.
Keep dreaming Lou! None of this stuff is out of our reach. It is all very much doable.
100 percent is indeed a tall order, but I’m glad photovoltaics are part of your vision for our city’s future. My husband and I wrote a grant for PC at Marchman Technical College. He and his Electricity students would be interested in partnering with the city in solar powering our city buildings. Are you interested in seeing what he has going at MTC? We can arrange a tour. School ends soon, so the sooner the better. We would only need an hour or so. -Linda Blake
That sounds like fun.
Press on leaders! West Pasco is a great part of Florida and a wonderful community to live, work, and play! #PascoProud #RenewPasco
I think continuing the sidewalk on GRAND north to 19 would indeed provide safe walking and biking. This would be in cooperation with Port Richey but would open the doors to pedestrians from both NPR and PR enjoying safe walks and each other businesses. Right now the use of any area north of Massachusetts is both dangerous and somewhat blighted the closer you get to 19.
The biggest problem is the lack of right of way to use to construct a sidewalk on Grand north of Mass. Ave.
As a visitor, you have a wonderful location and beautiful community. As someone who is considering places to retire, NPR has all the draws of a future facing city with all the charm of a hometown. As a librarian who has won awards and works hard with a small budget to provide innovative services, I would move to NPR for the progressive library services alone! Only 5 gold star in the State!
We are all very proud of our New Port Richey Public Library. I am confident that you will see even more innovative services there in the future.