New Port Richey welcomes Debbie Manns as our new city manager, effective tomorrow, June 2nd. The city council agenda for Tuesday night is 273 pages long!
While the future of the Hacienda is on the agenda in the form of ranking the developers, it is by no means the only thing up for discussion. Also on the agenda are the wrap up of a reclaimed water project, the first reading of a Special Exception Application for a new charter school, an alcoholic beverage special event application, an overview of the county’s Harbors Plan, the Sims Park Master Plan Final Document, an update of Community Development Block Grants, and more.
With the city going into budget season later this month, things won’t get much calmer until after October 1st. I suspect marathon agendas will be the rule rather than the exception.
It isn’t just city council meetings either.
The business incubator has its first two business tenants moving in this week. The Pasco Economic Development Committee (PEDC) has interviews lined up for more businesses that want to move into the incubator. SCORE has training programs scheduled in the incubator and at least one of them is already sold out.
We welcome Jimmy Ferraro’s Studio Theatre as part of the downtown this Friday. How many cities the size of New Port Richey can boast TWO live theaters within a block of each other right downtown? I’ve ordered my tickets for this weekend. Have you? Some of their performances are already sold out!
Still not impressed? We’ve got a classy new restaurant coming downtown soon. How classy? They have approached the city about using part of one of the city parking lots for valet parking! Valet parking? In New Port Richey? Yep.
The Market Off Main has another concert this afternoon. I’m headed that way as soon as I finish writing this to check it out. Today the music will be from the 50’s and 60’s.
The city is poised to take off and we have an activist city council pushing for positive change, not just in the downtown, but all over town. With a new city manager bringing her “can do” attitude to the job, I predict we are going to see quite a few interesting developments in the coming weeks and months.
Running shoes are definitely going to be the footwear of the day for quite a while.
Rob Marlowe, Mayor
City of New Port Richey