Sandy Murman

Commissioner Murman mentioned for championing solutions for homelessness in this Times article:
Kill rate at animal shelter needs to be reduced, commissioners tell administrator
By Bill Varian, Times Staff Writer
Bill VarianTampa Bay Times In Print: Thursday, May 3, 2012

TAMPA — Hillsborough commissioners told their administrator Wednesday to come up with a strategy for killing fewer dogs and cats at the county’s shelter.

The move came a little more than a week after County Administrator Mike Merrill announced a shakeup at the county’s Animal Services Department. The changes included the abrupt retirement of the department’s director of operations.

At the time, Merrill said he wanted the county to get more aggressive in reducing the number of animals euthanized at the shelter. Wednesday’s 6-0 vote, with Commissioner Les Miller absent, formalizes that.

The changes within the department have prompted applause but also protests from some animal activists and members of a panel that advises the county on animal issues. Commission Chairman Ken Hagan, who initiated Wednesday’s discussion, said he is not advocating for Hillsborough County to adopt a no-kill policy like some other shelters around the country.

But he said he believes Hillsborough can do a better job even as it makes gains in reducing the number of animals killed each year.

Since 2005, the county has reduced the number of animals euthanized at its shelter by 52 percent, to fewer than 14,000 dogs and cats last year. But the county still kills 65 percent of the animals that end up at its shelter.

“To me, that is unacceptable,” Hagan said.

Some animals inevitably will still need to be put down because they are sick or dangerous, he added.

As part of the analysis, Merrill and his staff were asked to present the financial implications of a more aggressive approach. Would it require more space as animals are sheltered longer, and more employees to watch them?

“I think it’s important to lower the kill rate,” said Commissioner Al Higginbotham. “I am concerned about, do we have the space? Do we have the staff?”

Animal Services has experienced sharp financial cuts due to declining tax revenue in recent years. The department no longer traps nuisance feral cats or picks up road kill.

Under the proposal, Merrill said his staff will work closely with the county’s volunteer Animal Advisory Committee. That group’s meetings will also get broadcast on the county’s television station, as the issue is expected to draw strong community interest.

Merrill said he expects to announce a new director for the department in coming days.

In other action, commissioners agreed to give the nonprofit group Mental Health Care Inc. $2.1 million to purchase and renovate a 24-unit apartment building near the University of South Florida.

The building will be converted into living quarters for the chronically homeless, in an effort to stabilize their lives and get them necessary services, such as mental health care. The so-called “housing first” initiative is intended as a pilot program and was championed by Commissioner Sandra Murman and a homelessness task force she helped create.

Commissioner Murman mentioned in this Creative Loafing article on the homeless initiative:

A plan for the homeless is announced in Hillsborough County

Posted by Mitch Perry on Wed, May 2, 2012 at 6:55 PM

After years of failing to adequately address the rising number of homeless in Hillsborough County, the County Commission began what might be just the beginning of a new phase today by approving $2.1 million to fund the acquisition and rehabilitation of Villa Seville, a 24 unit affordable housing development located off of Fowler Avenue in the University area of North Tampa.

The deal locks in agreement between the county and the Tampa Heights based group Mental Health Care, with the funds coming through federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds and from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The plan was unveiled by Commissioner Sandy Murman, who has been leading a group of public and private individuals over the past year who have come together to seriously attempt to do something tangible about the homeless in Hillsborough County.

Murman discussed the concept they are utilizing to attack homelessness – a “housing first” approach used in many other U.S. cities. She said the “incremental strategy” is all about creating a small scale facility like Villa Seville that is located near public transportation, shopping areas and behavioral health facilities.

Saying what the County has done in the past has been “creating a treadmill with very little success,” Murman said the intent of the public-private group is not just to manage homelessness in the county but to solve it.

Among the business officials involved with the Murman group is M.E. Wilson Company president Guy King, who agreed with Murman that “We believe we can solve this problem.”

Appearing with King in addressing the Board was Tampa Bay Lightning chief executive officer Tod Leiweke, who briefly discussed his earlier work on homelessness while living in Seattle. He said beginning small was intentional, saying they didn’t want to let ambition “wreck the first step.”

Leiweke said the plan would be to have success with Villa Seville, and then go to the private sector for funding to help rehab other buildings, while having the county concentrate on services.

Commissioner Kevin Beckner asked Leiweke what was the motivating factor in Seattle to get the private sector to be involved?

Guy King responded, saying that the business community has compassion for the chronically homeless, but perhaps more importantly, businessmen and women are passionate about the community. “I’d like to go to Platt Street and not trip over people,” he bluntly asserted. “It’s quality of life for everyone going to work.”

The modest first step comes nearly half a year after Tampa passed a partial ban on panhandling. Since that time, various members of the City Council have expressed frustration with the Buckhorn administration for not going forward in trying to acquire a property for the homeless, a la Safe Harbor in Pinellas County.

But Buckhorn has steadfastly said that homeless services is not something the city is charged with working on, and has essentially said the issue was being worked on.

That was accurate, but those discussions were outside of public view – until today.

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tribune article on Economic Prosperity Committee:

Economic panel’s makeup criticized

By MIKE SALINERO | The Tampa Tribune
Published: April 04, 2012 Updated: April 04, 2012 – 12:00 AM

TAMPA —

A new Hillsborough County economic development committee is being criticized because its membership is heavily weighted toward development interests.

Citizen activists say they will attend today’s County Commission meeting to protest the composition of the Economic Prosperity Stakeholder Committee. The activists worry that a developer-friendly committee will want to strip away development regulations that protect taxpayers, neighborhoods and the environment.

Of the 19 people already appointed to the committee, two are county commissioners and 14 are developers, land-use lawyers, real estate brokers, civil engineers or professionals in other development-related fields.

Commissioners will make the final two appointments to the 21-member committee today. The three candidates for those two slots are a land-use lawyer and two civil engineers. That means the final committee makeup will have 16 members in development-related fields.

“I think the name of the committee — economic prosperity — suggests that a broad base of economic interests would be brought to the table,” said Mariella Smith, a Sierra Club member who was appointed to one of two committee seats allotted to environmental groups.

“But when you look at makeup of the committee,” Smith said, “you see that the focus is on enhancing the economic prosperity of one specific industry — development.”

According to its mission statement, the committee is to examine the county’s regulatory structure and make recommendations on how to ease the burden on businesses.

At the same time, the recommendations should not undermine the county’s commitment to quality of life and environmental stewardship, the statement says. It does not point to a specific industry.

Commissioner Sandy Murman, who will chair the committee, said she wants the members to make recommendations on transportation, infrastructure and other building blocks of economic prosperity.

Murman said she is happy with the committee membership, including her appointee, Richard Harcrow, an executive with Newland Communities, developer of FishHawk Ranch and other planned communities.

“I feel like in order to move this vision forward, we have to have developers at the table,” Murman said. “They’re not going to be sitting there so they can propose this and that to help themselves. They’re going to be providing a vision of what we want our area to be.”

Some critics of the committee membership blame developers for the housing bubble of the early 2000s; the bursting of that bubble is generally viewed as one of the main factors behind the recession. The county should be trying to find ways to diversify its economy, they say, and lessen its dependence on home-building.

“They should be looking to make other industries part of our economic engine,” said George Niemann, a member of the grass-roots group United Citizens’ Action Committee. “Instead they’re focusing on building more homes that no one wants.”

Niemann said he thinks developers and land-use lawyers on the committee will come back with recommendations to reduce the impact fees they pay and to strip county land-use codes of regulations that protect residents.

The result will be more development sprawling into rural areas with taxpayers footing the bills for sewer, water, roads and schools, he said.

But Dan Malloy, the committee representative from the Tampa Bay Builders Association, said Niemann’s theory is faulty on several counts.

For one, Malloy said, most of the committee appointees he knows have the public’s best interest at heart. Plus, the committee meetings will be open to the public and the county commission will have the final say.

Ultimately, Malloy said, whatever regulatory changes the committee recommends will have little effect on speeding up the building permitting process.

“You can change things in the books and ultimately it’s not going to have any effect if there’s a delay on ruling on things,” Malloy said. “You have to change the culture of the organization.”

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tribune article on county negotiating with Tampa Bay Rays:

By MICHAEL SASSO | The Tampa Tribune
Published: March 22, 2012
Updated: March 22, 2012 – 6:58 AM

TAMPA —
Growing restless at what they call a stadium standoff, some Hillsborough County leaders say they are willing to start talking with the Tampa Bay Rays about a future on this side of the water.

This week, Hillsborough County Commission Chairman Ken Hagan signaled he’s willing to champion talks between the Rays and the county. Ideally, Hagan said, he might be involved in those discussions, along with Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and someone from the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce.

Getting to that point could be tricky, though.

The team is bound by contract to play at Tropicana Field through 2027, and St. Petersburg has vowed to hold the Rays to their contract. St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster has said he might allow the team to look around St. Petersburg for a new ballpark site but not across the Bay.

The challenge for Hillsborough’s leaders: finding a way to talk with the Rays without igniting a legal battle with St. Petersburg.

Hagan said he will ask the county attorney whether Hillsborough County can engage the team in discussions without provoking a lawsuit. He also expects to bring the issue before the full county commission within a few weeks.

He wants to see whether Hillsborough has a stadium site suitable for the Rays, and he’s frustrated at what he sees as inaction on the issue in St. Petersburg.

“To sit idly by and see if the issues mysteriously work themselves out is impractical,” Hagan said.
The Tribune was unable to reach Foster on Wednesday. Leslie Curran, chairwoman of the St. Petersburg City Council, said she had nothing to say about Hagan’s efforts to speak with the Rays. She’s focused on helping the Rays succeed in St. Petersburg.

“I guess we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing,” Curran said. “This year, it’s improved ticket sales this season and improved attendance this season.”

To be sure, other groups already are working on the Rays stadium deadlock.

A group called the Clutch Hitters is lobbying local government leaders on the need for a new stadium. A group led by the Tampa and St. Petersburg chambers of commerce is studying how to pay for a new ballpark.
The chambers’ group expects to issue a report this summer. The group, however, isn’t studying where to put a new stadium.

Hagan said location is a crucial issue. If a stadium were built at the Florida State Fairgrounds east of Tampa, for example, the state might be persuaded to donate the land. If it were built in downtown Tampa, a stadium might qualify for a type of property tax funding called tax-increment financing, he said.

How can you consider paying for a new stadium without knowing where it will be, he asked.

The Tribune polled four other county commissioners on Hagan’s push to start a dialogue with the Rays. Sandra Murman and Mark Sharpe support the idea; Al Higginbotham and Victor Crist say talks would be premature.

Step one is reaching out to the Rays, but not necessarily lobbying to move the team across the Bay, Murman said. Still, she said, she respects Hagan’s efforts to break the stadium deadlock.

“Let’s try and get the ball moving down the road here and see if we can get something done,” Murman said.
Crist said he would rather let St. Petersburg and the Rays continue negotiating. He’d also prefer to see the chambers of commerce issue their report first.

“I think it’s safe to say that I’m not there yet,” Crist said.