Ward 1 Candidate Forum
After some doubt in the last few weeks as to whether there would be a Gulfport Candidate Forum for the upcoming municipal election for Ward 1 on March 17, it appears such an event is tentatively in the works. Gulfport City Clerk Lesley DeMuth announced at the council meeting on Tuesday, January 21 that she had spoken with Gulfport Merchants Chamber (GMC) President Barbara Banno that morning about the group hosting the event. DeMuth said Banno was working with city staff on the details.
“She got in touch with Justin this morning,” DeMuth told council, “so it’s just a matter of scheduling and see how that works out.”
Proclamation of National 2-1-1 Day
Mayor Sam Henderson presented 2-1-1 Tampa Bay Cares Vice President of Finance John Thomas with a proclamation for National 2-1-1 day, to be observed on February 11.
A free hotline service, 2-1-1 Tampa Bay Cares operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week and provides free and confidential crisis and emergency counseling, along with disaster assistance, food and healthcare assistance, housing and veterans services among many other services.
Primarily, the service identifies underlying issues and provides resources to help the issue at hand and prevent it from continuing.
In 2019, the hotline “answered almost 11 million calls and one million texts, chats and emails,” Mayor Henderson read. In Pinellas County 2-1-1 “alone has responded to 121,289 requests and provided $1,281,425 in financial assistance to those in need to prevent evictions and insure sustainability of water and electric for our most vulnerable residents.”
TBRPC Resiliency Coalition Presentation
On, Tuesday, February 4 during the regularly scheduled city council meeting, there will be a presentation from The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council’s Resiliency Coalition. The coalition is a call to local governments to get involved in the region’s ability to plan for and react to climate changes, the need to increase clean energy practices, the fight to stop oil drilling off of Florida’s coast and a plethora of other environmental issues that affect communities now and in the future.
