One of the November 7 Gulfport Council presentations discussed the future of the Gulfport Senior Center.City of Gulfport
Do you have something that you think would better the city? Gulfport City Council has you covered. At least, they have a place where you can present your ideas. Following roll call, the first item on each meeting’s agenda is presentations. Here, city councilmembers invite people to speak about issues and topics important to them — and the city. Recently, Council has seen presentations from Pinellas County Commissioner René Flowers, and Dean Hay, a ISA certified Master Arborist. At the Nov. 7 meeting, three presentations were on the agenda, including celebrating the winners of this year’s Halloween decoration contest.
Senior Center Updates
The first presentation was short and sweet. Regina Buscemi, a newly appointed board member on the Senior Center Advisory Committee explained the role of the Gulfport Senior Center.
“We’re tasked with determining the long- and short-term needs of Gulfport’s aging residents,” Buscemi said, with a laugh. People can join the GSC at 50. “We prepare recommendations for Gulfport, and serve as advocates for Gulfport’s aging community.”
Among the various services offered by the GSC is the Welcome to Gulfport Packet. Anyone can get this packet online, but new residents get it when they set up their water service.
While the GSC has various resources, a large problem they face is space. On average, 648 people visit the GSC every day. Because of this, the City wants to build a new GSC, one with more efficient space usage.
“If you’ve ever been to the Senior Center, the rooms are so small,” said Buscemi. “I’m so glad we’re building this new one.”
The November 7 Gulfport Council presentations wasn’t all that happened. Read overheards and shopping budgets.
Hurricane Readiness
Following the celebration of the contest winners, Amanda Moore, director of the Gulf Program at the National Wildlife Federation, gave her presentation. The goals of the Gulf Program are to maintain ecosystems along the Gulf of Mexico, for the benefit of people and wildlife. Recently, they worked on a project across the Gulf of Mexico that uses storytelling and giving people learning experiences to impact people’s understanding of climate risk. The team at the Gulf Program made a film, looking at the experiences of people affected by climate change in the Tampa Bay Area. Along with this, they took people on boat tours to learn about shoreline resiliency structures.
“As a resident of Tampa bay, I can say that it is one of the most vulnerable areas to climate change in the country,” said Moore.
Following the film screenings and boat tours, they surveyed participants to see what they learned. The Gulf Program found that after seeing the film, people were more likely to attend meetings to learn about city and county resilience. Along with this, participants said they were also 35% more likely to participate in hurricane preparedness meetings.
Bookmark The Gabber Newspaper’s storm coverage page for quick access to relevant tropical storm updates. No hype, no guessing, just updates on shelters, sandbags, and closures. Also, check out our Gulfport beach webcam.
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