Today is April 15th, 2020 uh 2026 at 7 o'clock p.m.

Uh, just as an FYI, all meetings are recorded.

Um, I also wanted to let everyone know that agendas are available on the back table.

So if you did not receive one, you may uh go ahead and get one.

Uh we also ask you to be sure that you silence all your electronic devices, and if you wish to make any sort of comments during the meeting, please be sure to fill out a comment card if you have not done so already.

So at this time, I'll ask all of our committee members to introduce our introduce themselves starting at our left.

That's all we are.

Hello, everybody.

My name is Hannah Menard, and I'm with the Clearwater Brewing Company.

Good evening.

I'm Marilyn Terman with the Clewwater Urban Leadership Coalition.

Good evening, Champlain Davis with the mother's arms.

Good evening, Jason Corbett with Let's Go Garden.

And my name is Kennard Robinson.

I am your committee chair.

Um, so moving it to the first item on our agenda.

Uh citizens to be heard regarding any items that are not on the agenda.

Do we have any?

Okay, all right.

Well, as well, seeing seeing none, uh, we'll close uh this this public comment part of our meeting.

Uh so now we will jump into our new business uh item agenda.

Um the recommendation of proposal for the redevelopment of 706 North Missouri Avenue uh from St.

Benedict's Holdings.

Um at this time, I'll invite our CRA director Jesus uh Nino to uh come up and present.

Otherwise, I won't be able to hear me.

Good afternoon, all hopefully you can hear me.

Do I have to press the button here?

You're good.

They need to increase the scale.

Maybe the yeah, the volume.

So again, my name is Jesus Nino.

I'm the CRA executive director for Craywater.

As far as for the CRA, we have two areas under our purview.

One is the downtown, and the second one is the North Freedom C area area.

Uh before I get into my presentation on the actual proposal, I want to give you a quick uh brief overview of what CRAs are.

So as far as CRAs, there's special districts that are created and municipalities.

They're actually separate entities from the cities.

In this case, the CRA is a separate entity from City of Crew AR.

It's the Clearwater Community Development Agency.

But we do the work for the agencies.

Since it has no staff, our city council sits as the CRA board of trustees for the agency.

Each area of the downtown and the North Greenware area, they have their own trust funds, basically their own accounts as far as funding.

The funding can't be used from downtown to the North Greenwood area.

So each area of the downtown gets more funding than over here, but we're starting to grow.

And one of the ways that we operate is under increment financing using a tool called tax increment financing.

That's how we generate the revenue.

That's what we reinvest that into the community as far as grants, programs, any other type of infrastructure work, capital projects, improvements to housing stock or whatever it may be.

I can't start over again.

So just in case, please.

We can do a lot.

We have to be compliant with that state statute.

So as far as this particular uh item that we have before you, uh today I'm here to provide an overview of the proposal that was submitted by St.

Benedict's Podings LLC, which is an affiliate of Yomamas Inc.

which is down the street here.

So just to give you a little history to kind of go back a little bit, the property, which is a question right now, is 706 North Missouri Avenue, which is also known as the Armory, the U.S.

National Guard Armory site.

So for years that property was owned by the Armory, the military basically, then they transferred it over to the state.

Then the state leased it out to the city around 2005, basically took parks and recreation so they can use that property for storage of parks and recreation items, and also some light offices for some of the staff members there.

But that property has been tax exempt now for decades.

So recently in August of 27, 2025, the state of Florida transferred the ownership of that property over to the city of Clearwater.

Then in January of this year, January 26, 2026, the City of Clearwater transferred the ownership of the property over to the community redevelopment agency ownership.

So as far as how CRAs operate, everything that we do needs to be in compliance with our redevelopment plan.

So if it's not in the state statute, we can't do it.

But in addition, if it's not in your community redevelopment area plan, then you can't do it either.

So we have those checklists that we have to check off before we even entertain certain items.

So in February of this year, the CRA, after we acquired the property from the city, we advertised the property to solicit proposals to or adapted reuse of the site of the armory site.

Then we have that window open for 30 days.

Then our March 24th, 2026, the CRE received one proposal.

Again, an affiliate of the Omamas Foods, which is already headquartered here in the North Greenwood area.

So that proposal has been reviewed by city staff and it has been found to be responsive to the advertisement that was put out.

So at a high level, the proposals includes a 2 million from your mama's.

He's going to kind of go into detail after I'm done with my presentation.

Also a Cincinnati City Manager City Battle if he has any comments, then we'll give the mic over to David Habib who is here today.

So as far as the proposal that was submitted is for two million dollars for the acquisition of the property, and it was advertised that at a minimum the property would be transferred over to a new owner for two million dollars at a minimum.

And also that the existing armory would be preserved as it is now.

In addition, the applicant was to provide us with their financial ability to rehabilitate the building.

So the proposal that was submitted, we reviewed it, and now is coming to the CAC to provide their recommendation with staff.

It's going to request for them to make a motion either for or against or whatever motion they make.

Then whatever motion they make, we're going to put that on the record.

Then right now, for August for April, the 20th, which is Monday, we have it tentatively put on the CRA trustees' agenda for them to consider the proposal and to also entertain to enter into negotiations for development and sell and purchase agreement with St.

Benedict's Hodges LLC.

So the project it would consolidate the campus because it's headquarters right across the street.

And recently he also acquired a contiguous property right to right next to it, also across the street from the armory site.

So again, the property is in alignment with our redevelopment area plan.

But from a high-level economic impact standpoint, the project is will generate additional jobs for the area.

Again, the property is currently tax exempt, so that means no property taxes are being collected for any of the taxing authorities, which includes the city, the county, and all the other taxing authorities that are out there.

Whenever you get your bill for property taxes, it has a big list of entities that it goes to.

So if it if it is acquired by Obama's Foods, it'll become a tax generating property.

And again, we operate with tax governance finance model.

So the property taxes that are generated by the new development and plus bringing it back on the tax rows, the county adval and the city ad alarm tax will completely come into the trust fund for the CRA here in North Greenwood.

So it would have to be by law reinvested back into the North Greenwood area, the property taxes that are generated from the county and the city.

In addition, he's he's going to rehabilitate the building, kind of bring it back to life as far as visually.

Substantially, basically just signage on the site.

In addition, he'll kind of talk about some of the programs that he's already doing in the area.

Just for the record, I didn't want to put on the record here, and I know this is a little bit tedious, but again, we kind of go through our plan to make sure things are in alignment.

So we did when we received the proposal, we quickly went through the plan, which is online if anybody wants to uh take a look at it and kind of named out the page numbers.

For instance, on page 93, one of the goals is to activate unutilized sites and to contribute to continue to contribute to reducing conditions associated with blight.

Then page 93, it also supports the creation of workforce development and increased access to employment opportunities.

Then page 94, which enhances community vitality through reinvestment and improve economic activity.

Then page 94 and 95, redevelopment policies advanced the reuse of properties owned to support economic development and private investment.

Then on page 108, there's an area called Area C, which is the CSX and the industrial area and the armory site specifically spelled out in the plan.

That area calls that the armory will be used with parks and recreation storage and a little bit of light office.

But in the event that the property ever stopped being used by the city, that it would be put back into the market to basically increase the light industrial area for that area in addition to create more employment for the area.

So that's straight out of the plan.

So we we check those boxes.

In addition, it's also in alignment with the city strategic plan.

But from there, I'm gonna hand it over to Mr.

Battle if he wants to say anything in addition.

And if not, then we'll give it over to David Habib.

Like we do every other individual that submits proposals for properties.

We do the staff report, then we give the mic to the proposer to kind of go over the proposal to the community.

I'm gonna wait if I have any comments, Mr.

Chair, members of the committee.

I'll uh provide them at the end or provide any content.

Yeah, of course.

So we're let's go ahead and allow Mr.

Lee to present.

Okay.

So it's got it.

I guess a podium.

Sure.

There should be a microphone there, podium for you.

Yeah, thank you.

Uh Mr.

Chair, but I mean, don't leave because we need to increase this volume.

Thank you all for asking us, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you.

For uh hosting this.

That'll get your audio first.

Sorry about that.

Testing testing.

To our neighbors, thank you all for coming.

This is a wonderful turnout.

Uh to the city staff, thank you for all of your work on this project.

To the advisory committee, thank you for for hosting us and really to everyone who's been part of this project.

Uh we greatly appreciate it.

Um, I hope that everybody has a blue uh piece of paper.

That's what we will be going through right now.

Uh I would want everyone to have a copy of this.

Uh I also have our viewership team here to have boarding from marketing, the Mary from Finance, and we have Joe from operations.

Uh so we are here to answer your questions and to make sure uh that you feel comfortable with the plans that we have proposed here as well.

Uh so a little bit about us.

Uh Joe Wamas Foods were headquartered here in North Greenwood.

We have been since 2019.

Uh our company is nine years old, and we've been here in Airwater since uh 2017.

Uh we relocated to North Greenwood in June of 2019, and uh we were occupied right on uh 114 1125 Albert Street, uh and we just acquired 1143 Elder Street, so both sites adjacent to the artist.

So both sides adjacent to the Army Street.

Our business is focused in on natural packaged foods.

So we do natural foods.

We ship all throughout the US.

And everything is really focused in on only using ingredients that mom has in her pantry.

So it's all clean and fresh.

We do pasta sauces, salad dressings, condiments, we do pizza sauces, white sauces, but really wanted to bring a manufacturing business here in North Greenwood.

Very much wanted to create jobs, and that's been our journey throughout North Greenwood over the past six years.

So today we have 30 employees here in North Greenwood.

About 10% of our staff on average is from this neighborhood.

So specifically the CRA zone.

We have we've put over $3.5 million into this neighborhood as far as rehabbing the Elders Street facility.

I know all of you have all been here for a long time.

Specifically when we moved into 125, it was an abandoned building, had boarded up windows.

It wasn't a very visually appealing building.

So part of our job is to welcome people to this neighborhood and to really make North Greenwood a staple for Clearwater.

So we have buyers throughout the world really come to the North Greenwood area.

We have suppliers, and we really wanted to make this into a wonderful showcase for our neighborhood.

Most importantly, you know, we're here to create jobs for a growing business, and that's very much been our priority within North Greenwood over the past six years and since our business was founded nine years ago.

So if you have this blue paper, this just really gives you a summary of who we are on the top.

We've been working on this Army proposal, and I will also say Mellis County, maybe for also being here, and uh to representative Burfield as well, who's also in the audience.

Everybody has been very instrumental in this project.

We've had uh a lot of work in this proposal.

We spent over six years on it.

So this isn't something that uh you know we've been working on for 30 days.

We've had partnerships with the state, we've had partnerships with the county, we've had partnerships with the city to really invest in this neighborhood and to make sure that we're protecting this this neighborhood and we're protecting the army.

Uh there has been some rumors that I've heard today that uh we plan to demolish the armory.

I can tell you that that is not true.

Uh the armory is a historical building, and our plan is to re revitalize it.

Uh, we have no plan to demolish it, we have no plan to touch the actual infrastructure.

It's a very important part of the North Greenwood neighborhood, and our plan is to restore it and really uh make this this neighborhood be proud of it.

And I hope that you can all see that too with our work at 1125 Elder Street and the work that we're also doing at 1143 Elder Street.

So our business has invested over 150,000 in pre-development costs.

That's legal fees, that's uh state fees, that's you know, we have to do a lot of specific uh projects to make sure that our proposal really fit the bill for the city of Clearwater and most importantly for the CRA.

You know, we have to hire an arborist, we have to do traffic studies.

There was a lot of investment and time that our team took to make sure that this proposal was well received and really uh hit the objectives of the CRA.

Personally, I was part of the steering committee with Victoria and Maryland for a short time in 2022.

So that was my first involvement in the North Greenwood CRA before it was established to really make sure that we as a business had that community outreach to make sure that we were doing what we can in this neighborhood.

Uh we, as I also mentioned, have invested 3.5 million in North Greenwood, and we just acquired 1143 Eldridge Street, which are the two towers, those really tall towers to continue our expansion.

So overall, uh I hope that uh you know all of you can see that we're we're very serious in our plan.

Um we're a top 10 uh U.S.

brand of pasta sauce now, which is really awesome for North Greenwood and Clearwater to have.

And we're going up against a lot of these big corporations like Campbell Soupco and Kraft Food.

So for North Greenwood to have a company of 30 that works very, very hard here.

Um, it's something that we should all be proud of, and I think it's it's something that I'm very proud of as well.

Uh we shipped to 25,000 stores in the United States.

Uh again, we've been in North Greenwood for six years.

Our total proposed investment is 5 million for this.

So, as uh Jesus was mentioning, apologies that my back is to you.

Uh as Jesus mentioned, uh the $5 million investment has increased the taxable income for the CRA neighborhood.

As Jesus mentioned, uh the $5 million investment has increased the taxable income for the CRA neighborhood.

So specifically, the property is not incurring any tax revenue for the city, and within the CRA, that tax revenue would then be reinvested into the neighborhood.

We propose 20 to 30 jobs, and uh again, we we've already developed a lot of different proposals and have uh presented this to the city for their review and for uh your review as well.

Um, some of our awards and recognition.

Uh we were small business of the year last year with the Tampa Bay Chamber.

Uh we've been featured on Good Morning America in July.

We'll be back on Good Morning America.

Morgan's working on that uh in the next two two weeks.

Um so we've had a lot of national recognition.

Um we also have uh uh Pinellas County Economic Development uh has been actively involved in this project, and um the Inc.

5,000 we've we've been on on that list as well.

So I don't uh show show that to you to boast, but I show that to you as uh we hope that you can all be proud uh to have uh a nationally recognized brand here in North Greenwood, and our plan is to very much keep that investment growing.

Um so again, we established our headquarters in 2019 in North Greenwood.

We're not a foreign entity, we're invested here.

We all spend a lot of time here.

Uh we're not some big corporation that has multiple buildings.

This is our home, this is our headquarters, and very much uh where we plan to keep on growing with all of you.

Um we completed a major expansion, so in December, as I said, we acquired 1143 Elder Street.

So again, both sides on the map you can see are adjacent to the Armory.

And our plan is to actually uh relocate the facility that we have in Chicago.

Um Joe can speak a little bit about that, but we'll be relocating that facility here to North Greenwood, and it will be headquartered at the Armory, which will then create more jobs and allow us to do more distribution here in North Greenwood.

Um we'll go to page two now.

So I wanted to give you a little uh background on uh job and community zone.

So specifically, the the city of Clearwater in North Greenwood has a really unique opportunity uh to present an application to declare uh this region as a federal opportunity zone.

And our goal as part of this project for everyone is that this can be a really good uh you know, cornerstone project for the city to show in that application uh to ultimately incentivize uh the entire neighborhood.

So a federal opportunity zone, I won't read this, but it's a federal designation created by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and it allows the government to identify historically underserved census uh tracks and attract private capital and to memory powerful tax incentives.

So in addition to the benefits that we've presented as far as job creation and economic development, uh it's a wonderful opportunity for the North Greenwood uh neighborhood, really, to all benefit from this and for all businesses in this neighborhood to also benefit.

Um, how we hope to make that happen, uh the five million dollars in uh committed private capital uh to a currently tax exempt property, uh the additional 20 to 30 jobs that we'd be adding to this neighborhood on top of our uh current 30 jobs.

Um again, we have a six-year operating history here, so we're not a business that's transplanting to the North Greenwood area.

We're we're already here, and this is very much our home.

And we're a nationally recognized minority-owned uh brand.

So, again, uh we we ship everywhere, but uh this is this is home for us, and that's very much how we want to look at this opportunity.

As far as economic impact for North Greenwood, uh so we went through the jobs with the median salary here.

Um, these would be focusing on both office positions, warehouse positions, and logistics.

Um relocation of Chicago to Clearwater would also be occurring.

Um, this is not a pipeline plan or a pipeline dream.

This is something that would happen immediately.

Uh we would plan to occupy the armory within 24 hours.

Uh we can we can use it, uh we can utilize it.

Again, we're not touching it.

It's a beautiful building.

We plan to restore it, we plan to preserve it, we plan to make it uh we have pictures of it from the 1940s.

We want to make this a historical uh you know, pride to our neighborhood.

Uh and again, if any of you would like to see some of our work, you're all welcome to come to headquarters and see how we've been able to rehab some of our firm building.

Uh, for this tax basic CRA revenue, again, the property screen is generating zero dollars uh per the city.

Um so this would give a new taxable value with some annual property taxes, which would all get reinvested back into the neighborhood.

So local hiring is really important to us.

We have partnerships for feeding Tampa Bay, and St.

Hall, 360 Heats, and we also do a lot of work with Pinellas Hope.

So most locally here in the North Greenwood area area would be HED.

They have a great workforce development program.

So part of that and part of our mission in this neighborhood has been working with HEP on creating opportunities for their clients there.

As far as our workforce pipelines, you know, we have partnerships with SBC, USF, a lot of Florida schools.

So specifically for this neighborhood, there's opportunities for additional jobs, and there's a focus as well on this neighborhood.

If there's any specific resources that any of you know, job boards, postings that we can actively get more involved with.

So we've donated over 52,000 meals just here locally.

We do various donations with feeding Tampa Bay.

That's our our largest charitable giving.

So feeding Tampa Bay, HEP again, three to six to eats all here locally in the Tampa Bay area, St.

Vincent to St.

Paul, as well as our work with Pinellas Hope.

And our vision is really again the preservation and revitalization of the armory.

The windows are currently boarded up.

It's currently occupied by by Parks and Rec.

So from a beautification of our neighborhood.

And that's that's very much our plan.

So we'll bring those windows back to life.

We have pictures from the 1940s again showing what it what it used to look like.

I know many of you also have memories there, and uh before it was actually used uh with parks and recs, it was it was the place of gathering, and uh you know that's that's our mission as as a company.

We we bring people back to the table, and that's our mission with this project as well.

Um as far as the uh increase in local tax revenue.

We spoke about that.

Um and I I have heard some uh discussions around a public use of the building as well.

Um that's something that you know we've obviously looked at and have considered in six years that we've been working on this proposal and project.

Uh but some opportunities, and and I encourage you all to look at the the last section here is we would be creating actual uh you know, wages, we'd be creating jobs, we can be creating taxable uh revenue towards the CRA.

Uh the additional 20 to 30 jobs would directly impact this this neighborhood and this community.

Uh the additional CRA revenue, the additional payroll, the opportunity opportunity zone anchor status, um really gives a unique opportunity for the city to then showcase this project and really a self-sustaining tax-generating asset is very important.

So when we're looking at what's the true benefit to the community, it comes back to the reinvestment in the community, it comes back to the job creation, and it really comes back to making sure that we're a driver of that as well.

So you know, why this proposal, you know, again, we're we're ready to activate it immediately.

We would occupy the building within 24 hours.

Uh there's there's nothing that would stop us from being able to start our e-commerce operations in there.

Um we're obviously Bang Bang Finance, so we also work with a local bank here called Pink Hock Whitney.

We do have a Pinellas County grant already secured.

Um we have a functioning campus again, uh, right across the via street.

Um we've already spent uh significant amount of resources, time, energy, and um you know, really have put our heart and souls into this, and the opportunity zone as well uh gives it a unique opportunity.

So hopefully this gives you a good uh background of our proposal, and um I'd love to invite our team up as well, and I would love to answer any questions that that you have if that's allowed.

I know the mic is really high, so public first.

Okay, back to something high.

Thank you.

Um so thank you, David, for your for your presentation.

Um before we open up to questions from the committee, I would like to ask Mr.

Battle if there's anything else that you would like to like to add.

Okay, so the order of of this right now.

So first we're gonna have questions from the committee, and then once you finish with questions from the committee, then we'll then we'll open up for questions and comments from from you all.

Now, just as a reminder, if there's anything that you would like to say, please be sure to fill out a comment card.

Okay, so are there any questions from anyone?

Yes.

Hi David, thank you for being here today.

Um I do have a couple of questions.

Um I really wanted to touch on being another business owner is employing the residents of North Greenwood.

So you had stated that currently of your 30 employees, 10% of them are from why would you say that it is 10%?

And how do you think that your company can go about increasing that percentage?

If you obtain the armory, and then add 30 plus more jobs.

So our our main partnerships right now are with HEP and uh SPC for local hiring.

As far as the opportunities to create more jobs, we will uh absolutely be doing that.

Uh, when it comes to you know local job postings when it comes to uh specifically targeting this neighborhood, that's what we would appreciate help with, and would very much like to also focus on as well.

You know, our we're an equal opportunity employer, obviously, so we we post everything through indeed.

We work with local schools, we really prioritize hiring here.

Just to reiterate, our company of 30 is in office.

We are not a remote company, so everybody comes to the office every single day.

Um so that's that's our our focus.

We're looking for local jobs, we're not looking for remote positions, and um, as far as the opportunities to focus in on this neighborhood, that's that's our goal, and uh you know, I in full transparency don't know all of the specific resources that North Greenwood has as far as job postings and uh opportunities to continuously uh focus on this neighborhood.

But um, you know, Joe can also speak to some of our workforce development that we've completed with HEP and some of that success.

I will say as well, um, you know, we're about half office and then half warehouse environment for our position.

So um, why some of the jobs haven't worked out?

Um, it's the same as any other small business as as you know as well.

Sometimes people aren't the the right fit either for for them or for the business.

So you know, we as a business uh keep on moving forward.

So I'm gonna I do have questions and comments, however, I'm going to reframe away in some here from the community.

So thank you very much.

Oh congrats on the rapid success.

Um, I like that you're you know you give them back, but I I'm more interested in like what so you give the local food banks, right?

Is the community aware of where those food banks are, and are you gonna be scaling because you're clearly scaling those give back opportunities, like like giving more because this is clearly an opportunity zone, right?

So that comes with a lot of hunger, right?

You've got a great source for that.

So is there you really looking at that?

How are you giving back to this community with your great source of you know pasta's cheap, sauces not so much?

But are you planning on giving like do you have a plan on on how much your scaling to give back to the local food banks here?

Um so I mean there's no specific dollar amount that I can provide, but um it's certainly a goal of ours.

Our our organization is very large in giving specifically.

We focus in on uh homeless empowerment and food scarcity, those are our main pillars.

So uh within charitable giving within our organization, those are directly correlated to our our mission and the company, and uh if there's alignment with any nonprofit, any charity, any sponsorship that we can help with all of you, we're more than happy to do that.

So you know, we give anything uh for silent options, we'll we'll give things for specific events for specific food drives.

But our main main pillars to answer your question are around food scarcity and homeless empowerment, and those are the main focus areas that our company has focused on and and will be focusing on as we keep on expanding.

Okay, just a follow-up to that, because you said give like you've given 52,000 meals, and it sounded like giving Tampa Bay, right?

That's feeding Tampa Bay.

Feeding Tampa Bay.

Um do you know how much has been given to this area by any chance?

Or I I don't have any stats as far as what they provide to to this neighborhood, but as a follow-up, that's certainly something that I can I can look into.

Um for those who don't know if any Tampa Bay is part of the feeding uh America uh organization, uh they're headquartered in Tampa and they focus in on the Tampa Bay region.

Um so they're one of the largest food banks uh in our county and and in our area um in Hillsborough County, but um I don't have any specific stats as far as how many meals have been donated here.

Okay, thank you.

Um I'd like to quickly go back to the question or your reply in reference to the jobs as well, and you're saying you've been here for the six years, but those that you had there just didn't qualify, but you don't know because indeed I I know for a fact that's nothing that in this neighborhood they're looking on for jobs, but you're right here across from like the aquatic center and right within the area, you don't have anyone that can actually go and find the people or connect with the local organizations or jobs to see who can come in and apply because I've never heard of anyone having anything out there for anyone for a job.

Yeah, so I mean our our our basic approach is we always publicly post everything, so we use different resources online to try to attract the best talent.

Um as far as locally here, um you know that's a wonderful idea.

There's a specific job fair that that we can host with food opportunities.

If there's you know anything specific that we can do to make sure that this community knows, especially if they don't have access to indeed or online, um we we'd be happy to to ultimately do that.

Um our hiring process is uh again we're in equal opportunity employer, so anyone is who's welcome to employ and they go through a rigorous application process.

Um we we've been able to accomplish a lot because we didn't easily team that's that's that's here.

So we're always looking for top talent and very much uh would you know welcome anyone in this community.

So if if it becomes an accessibility issue with indeed or not having access to applying online, uh I hope in any ideas that that that you have for us to be able to ultimately advertise better.

And you don't you don't provide like on the job training because you know some people that you're looking for that you're saying that you're talented and things like that, some people need on-the-job training.

Yes, um provide any of that.

I'm gonna let my my my team speak to that because these rock stars behind me do a lot of that.

Okay.

I know you're all probably tired of hearing from me.

Mary or Joe, would you like to present um this is Joseph Smith, he's our director of operations.

Uh Joe really plays a very critical role in our national distribution.

Um I didn't put this, I'm not sure if it's on there, but we also export to 21 countries.

So Joe also manages all of that.

Hello.

Um, yes, so HEP, I reach out to them, let them know we have hiring, and I do a lot of uh um on the job training, yes, but it's more or less a uh working interview.

It's a Kerr.

Yeah, so I work with AGP uh every time we have a job opening, especially warehouse, which is what I'm in charge of.

Um invite people over for a uh on-the-job working interview and I pay them for the day so that they can see if the the job is right for them, and we can see if the job is right or if they're they're right for the job as well.

So um I take up I've taken uh applications for people who walked up to my door and I've thought it in that way.

Um so yeah, good help is our fund.

So we have so when you're saying ATP, you're talking about the homeless empowerment program over here.

Okay, but there's more residents, the that's just a program over a that's what organization is.

I'm so sorry, please please hold your comments for for public comment.

I'm aware of that.

How do you reach the rest of the community?

Because that's like if if you guys have uh ideas, um if there's something that goes on here, I give my email.

Um I would love to know that I I don't I don't know what I don't know until I realize I don't know.

So if you guys have any ideas, any suggestions, I mean more more than half the change.

Are there any other comments from or questions from the committee at this at this time?

No, I'm gonna go.

Okay, I don't I I have some as well, but I'm gonna hold mine as well.

Um so at this moment we will open for public comment.

Now, with the public comments, I say that I I guess the best way to maybe do this to stay organized if you would like to maybe form a line or on the side over here.

All right, so just just a couple of housekeeping items.

So please be sure that of course you have a comment card.

Um recognized, please approach the podium.

Uh state your name for the record.

You will have three minutes to speak.

Um, and we'll be keeping track of your time.

So when your three minutes expires, I ask that you quickly wrap up so that way we can proceed.

Sounds good.

Can we have a first person, please?

You want to chair, you want to read the name or say that.

Yes.

Good evening.

My name is Barbara Sorry Love, and I'm the president of the Clearwater African American Foundation Inc.

And our purpose, our mission is to promote and memorialize African American places, spaces, landmarks in Clearwater, Florida.

And you can go to Clipwater African American Foundation.com and see some of the work that we've been uh working with or we've accomplished.

Now I am against the sale of the proposal that is presented here tonight.

I think I heard somewhere that Mr.

Kabib, I've never seen you before.

Uh I think you said you hired at least how many people in your company?

We have 30 people already.

That would be equivalent to 700 people.

So your hiring is way short according to my information.

Now for Zeus on your advertising the bid or the proposal or whatever the property is.

I I'm suggesting you get a different way to advertise because if you advertise for all these people in here, we would not be in here tonight.

We are in here because we want to know what's going on.

We understand there's only one proposal, but that's I don't think that's appropriate for the North Greenwood CRA.

You have other methods of advertising.

Uh you have a community media specialist that does a great job.

I have a online, it was hard carpet.

I have an online paper, the bulletin news that you could have advertised this in, and I think you fell short on this.

Uh we attended the CRA meetings, the council meetings that excuse me, you all I'm 75 and I'll med.

We attended several council meetings, and Miss Uh Ladrilla Jenkins voiced her concern about the property being sold.

And those are my comments according to my math that you need to hire at least 67 more people to satisfy the 10% in the North Greenwood.

It's up to you.

Okay.

Yeah.

Um so for for the sake and importance of the topic, I I will allow uh responses from Mr.

David Habib.

Uh so after your your comments are finished, uh David will have a a few minutes to to respond.

So I I will give him some time to thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I do appreciate your question.

We are a business.

I can't hire 700 people.

That would make us go out of business.

So how our business works is we have a revenue per employee.

That's our target.

We cannot hire 700 people, so I do appreciate that question.

Our goal is to someday employ 700 people.

I started this out of my parents' dining room.

Again, I'm a small business, just like you.

So I hope that you can appreciate that.

But to uh to state that I need to hire 700 people, our goal is mutual, and we would love to do that in North Greenwood.

That's not something that I can do today.

Please hold comments.

Can you please say your name for the record?

Mr.

Habib, I'm very very passionate about the National Guard Army.

Everyone in here has a memory in that National Guard here.

You didn't grow up in this community.

And what I heard you saying about this community, there's doctors, lawyers, educators, scientists, there's all people that came out of this area.

What I also heard is you painted a picture like this.

This area is devastated with jobs.

There's still working class people here with children in college.

I'm a retired educator.

I ran the uh head start of Miss Icy Gully on North Greenwood.

The property you're trying to acquire.

I ran the Clearwater Center that has been named Peter Hamilton.

I utilize the National Guard Armory in a vastly in that center, and the National Guard Armory was open for the head scar, head start, 150 children and 35 staff to evacuate.

You have a factory over there.

You've been in this community forever.

You only named one organization that you have ties with.

The help center does very well because we as a community, we support that.

I knew I know how the help center started.

I mean, Mr.

Mac, that was his name.

He walked around in the community and he sold mother fish.

And if a single mother, a single father didn't have it, he gave it.

That's how that help center began.

That's true.

We have a love for this community.

You didn't come up in this community.

And for you to talk about what you're gonna do for the CRA, we can do it with the other uh organizations, the Alphas, NAACP.

We can take care of ourselves, like we've always taken care of the North Greenwood.

See, you all call it North Greenwood, but I call it the growth.

And I can tell you the history of the growth.

I'm all about moving forward with progress.

But don't remove the people that have been here forever.

I'm 69.

That National Guard Army, that's how I learned how to pay checkers and cards and all of that.

We felt safe and secure when the storms came, when the National Guard men would be over there.

The CRA and my organization that I'm affiliated with, and everybody else, we can take care of the Army.

Thank you.

And as a quick update, so after a quick conversation with Mr.

Battle, so David, we will allow you to uh respond once all of the comments have been completed for the sake of time.

Uh thank you.

I'm Diane Steve, and I've been a resident here for 70 years.

And um the army, I'm really passionate about it.

It used to be even a center for the hurricanes.

That was our storm she went from the train.

But you say you've been here, but this is my first time hearing about your mom.

Um I'm like what I'd like to know is how many African Americans you have presently working in your back.

100% percentage.

Four?

Okay.

Also, what you're gonna have to do, especially in this community, everybody here is not on social media.

Um everybody's not here on MD.

Everybody doesn't go to him.

So you might want to try and do another way.

And like I said, we have many different people that live and work in this community.

I'm a retired educator, 37 and a half years.

And right across the street at St.

John Primitive, we have a pantry, and every Tuesday morning at 6 o'clock, we have people coming in.

As a matter of fact, we even provide clothes, because we have some people that come out of prison and they're looking for clothes.

Or they're looking for referrals.

We also have Bethany on Springdale that does feed America the first Tuesday of every month.

Sometimes we don't even get meat to feed with people.

So that so if you come in, you might need to come to some of these communities or some of these places around.

And we have churches that you can go and meet because people in church.

So you're gonna have to do a little bit different than what you're doing.

Also, too.

When you have people come and they want jobs, they may not be able to do it right there, but if they've got gut and grit, they're willing to learn.

But if you don't give them the opportunity to show what they can do, you have missed out on a very good opportunity.

But I sit here and I think about it, we do need jobs.

But we need people with open minds, open opportunity, and we don't need you to do like some of these people come over here.

And it's a warehouse, and it looks awful.

And I guess I'm being I want you to think about everything that I say.

All right.

Thank you for your comments.

Um my question is well, you say you've been in the area for six years, nine total, and you have invested 3.5 million dollars.

Um my question is other than your warehouse, the food bank and the towers, I think you said, what other areas in the North Greenwood have you invested in?

Uh so we just have our headquarters building and the towers, that's the main facilities that our company operates.

Okay, so within the six years, you you have no that's your stuff on this area.

Correct, right off of Elder Street.

Right.

So as far as the North Greenwood community, you haven't done any business between $3.5 million, I mean monetary investment.

Okay, supposed to be asked by the answer.

Okay.

Okay.

Good evening, everyone.

Excuse me.

My name is Louisa Perry.

My family has a long history in the North Greenwood area.

Um, one of the questions that I have for you is um summer jobs, after school jobs.

That's what I that's what our kids need.

You say you have about 30 employees, 10% of that is from the North Greenwood area.

Okay, that's three.

That's that's a very small amount.

If you've been in this area for six years and you haven't figured out by now that there's a church right there, there's a church down the street that you can go to to reach out to to how to reach the community, there's something a little off by that.

Um, the other thing is um, same question the young lady before me asked, the 3.5 million put into the North Greenwood area.

Where is that?

I ride down this street every day.

I want to know where that 3.5 million is.

I have another question.

Um, do you actually reside in the North Greenwood area?

I do not.

I reside in the city of Clearwater.

Okay.

And my other question is on Google, you advertise yourself as a black owned business.

That's not true.

Okay.

We're a minority-owned business.

That certificate comes from the state of Florida.

Do not advertise that as a black owned business.

Okay, I really wanted to know about that because I I didn't see that too.

So I just want to see how you plan to reach out back into the community.

And just like um Ladrilla said, everyone else in this community, I have strong, strong memories of that national armory.

That armory built confidence that I have the data center in here to talk to you.

And I don't want to see it go anywhere itself or back into this community to do something with this community if it's only just a shelter for us to go to when there's a hurricane or something.

But you coming, you coming in here and telling us what you're gonna do with your business.

It doesn't sound like you're doing anything with this community.

That's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Alright, thank you for your comments.

Now, again, just to try and keep things in order and to keep things in a timely fashion.

I ask that you make your comments more general if you have questions for David.

Um he will not be addressing them until the end.

But please be sure to keep your comments very succinct and straightforward, and then we'll get David's responses at the end.

Hello, good evening.

My name is Mary Favorett.

I work at Yolama's in the finance department, but I've heard a lot about giving the opportunity to people to get a job at Yolamas.

Just a little bit of history about myself.

I was an elementary school teacher for nine years here in Alls County, and shout out to the educators.

I heard you.

And for real.

And last summer I started working in the warehouse, and that's some of the most amazing people, kids on summer break, working for the summer, um, college students coming through the summer, and some of them came back for spring grade, Christmas break, which we love to see them supporting and coming back to work for us.

Um what an easy way, even here at the Rec Center to put a job application for your mama is to work in wherever your lama is here, right?

Um, something that everybody has said is you know, how how better we can reach this specific area, and I think we're in, you know.

So I just wanted to share that.

I had on the job training.

I was given a chance by your mamas, and hopefully you can see that even an elementary school educator, which all respect, all respect to all of us educators.

Maybe you don't get all of the chances, but your mama's took the chance on me, so thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Lois Dale.

I am a permanent resident of this community.

Um, two things that I kind of heard and that concerned me because when we started with this mission for the CRMA in this area, we were told about another big building that was we were gonna benefit from, but nothing has happened for us.

We got a Northwood elementary.

Now you say this building is gonna, whatever we got going on, we would benefit from that as far as economic development.

But how do we know that?

Because everything was going smoothly when the deal was done, everything changed.

So that's my concern because the broken promises, we don't need those anymore.

I was coming here from through Cleveland, and it breaks my heart when I come through the little, I call it Hispanic zone because we had that here.

We had the connectivity in our community, and to ride through there and see how they are fested, they got all decorated, you know, suit there, let it believe.

But when you come to Greenwood and even going down where you're talking about the armory, so if you're going in there and you're telling us that you're gonna help us out, and then once you get in there, things change.

I just feel sorry for us because I'm frankly I'm tired of the broken promises in our community.

Good afternoon.

The mic went out because of the we can hear you just just keep it close.

Just keep it close.

Get close.

Keep it close.

I promised myself when I came in this room tonight that I would be quiet.

I promised my husband that I would be there.

How many of you believe that?

Well, I don't speak just to hear myself talk.

I speak when I think it's important that I say something.

So if you all will allow me, just submit it a second.

First of all, hats off to you that wanted to come in.

Expand.

I'm sorry, Ms.

Kelly.

Can you please just state your name for the record?

My name is I S A Y Gulf.

I'm a resident.

Now I retired in 21, but I haven't had any time for myself.

Okay, I would say I think it was something missing why so much of frustration in here now about your coming or your wanting this building.

Because so many people didn't know anything about it.

And we have a CRA here, and when you have people that lead the channel that we entrusted the city to use them to help inform us, but if they don't know, they can't bring us.

So I just want to make that clear because before I came, I wanted to know if the CRA knew about this.

Because if it's too many people saying, what kind of media?

We don't know anything about it.

When it's something this big, we don't take it lightly.

Okay, I used to do job creation.

And um, you know, but anyway, that's not about it tonight.

But your collaborative approach utilizing just one organization for job creation.

I was bothered by that.

I'm talking about IC.

I was bothered by that because everyone looking for a job is not at the homeless center.

Okay, some of the people may be working now, and because of transportation gas prices and things, they may want to work close to home.

I'm not in Barbara Green program.

I know her, she knows me.

So it's not about an individual, it's about what's right.

There are other organizations that collect just to help if you should hit this award.

Don't lean to just one because maybe you know that person, but expand your wings and try to get to know others.

We got a ministerial alliance, we got a lot of churches in this community that networking can start with also.

And uh my other question mainly are you willing to hire an outreach person?

You didn't have one before, but you weren't looking to get this building that means so much to us.

And I live in the sub-division right here, so you learn right.

I'm gonna come and say something tonight.

One part of my question, no more.

I don't like cutting you shortness going.

Are we allowed to?

Can I get on a minute?

Yes, we're sorry.

Okay, I won't take it in a minute of your if you house yourself in the umri.

Are you gonna be making your products there?

We manufacture on the east coast of the United States.

Okay, will there be any kind of manufacturing and there, any kind of machinery like anything in that building?

Yes, so we take finished goods and we have an e-commerce facility.

We have a retail facility, so we ship anything from pallets to certain customers and we ship e-commerce orders.

So each day we're we're managing about 800 to a thousand online orders that are pre-packaged and okay.

Well, it won't be no machinery gone or I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, Ms.

Gully, yes.

My name is Kimberly Brown.

Um, and I again the behind this icy going point.

I think the community is so shocked by this because we knew nothing about it.

I know you said for six years you've been working on this.

We have a North Greenwood CRA.

None of us knew, none of us even knew about this, which is completely shocking.

Um, and so it's disheartening, actually, um, to say the least, that something is going on literally right in our CRA area, and you have not a clue.

You probably have the best intentions.

I don't know if it's personal, but again, this is shocking and disheartening that we had no clue about this.

And the CRA has asked about that building.

We have asked if the coalition, the coalition, the C ULC has asked for that building, and we were told no, the city has their equipment in there.

So again, it's very shocking.

Nothing against you personally, but it's disheartening.

I don't know how else to put it.

The second thing is, how are we guaranteed that you're gonna do what you say you do?

Um we some of us have been parts of other CRAs, and gentrification is happening.

We have been promised, as they said before, many things, and then on a dime, you decide you know what is too expensive, we're gonna sell this or do something else.

What are the guarantees that this won't be flipped for a profit or for someone else?

Um, and how do we stop the gentrification?

This is our area, and we don't want that.

So those are my questions.

How do we click in guarantees that the use is going to be what the use is, and that the hiring is gonna be with the higher areas.

Sorry, I'm just thinking that's right, Cameron.

We came in order to get it.

My name is Juana Jackson.

I have one question for microphone I have one question for your company, and I have a statement for the city.

I said Juan the Jackson.

I don't really need the mark, to be honest with you.

If I really talk about I don't need the market, the first thing I have for your company, you said that you're going to hire 10% of 30.

That's three people from our community.

Unacceptable.

I said the higher 2230 new jobs.

But you have 10%.

Pause, pause, please, pause, please.

Just try and keep it.

I'm not being hostile.

It's not about the hostility, it's just about timing and going back and forth.

I'm not gonna go back and forth.

He answered me, he says, made a statement, so I was responding.

You'll have your time after all the comments to respond to.

Okay, so that is a part of my time.

But all I was saying is you did say 10%.

And I was, and it's on that paper too, 10%.

And for the city, we have to come in here and fight for everything.

Y'all have close all our community centers where we have our children that they for years, for 20 to 30 years, you have never replaced it, you have never given it back, given us an alternative or given us something else.

But we have to come in here and fight for for this.

This is unacceptable to me.

That's all I got.

Hello.

Um, my name is Tony Bradley.

We've actually met before.

Uh, I did a tour of your warehouse, but the only reason I knew about it is because I was part of another organization, my business partner and I.

And I actually can see your warehouse from my front yard.

Um what I'm gonna say next, I'm gonna take off my community hat and simply put on a business hat and try to make sure I articulate it maybe in a way that you can have some takeaways.

Your community engagement is what I would call passive and not active.

These are what I would also call words on a paper that do not equate any type of emotion or believability at all, simply because there's not been any motion for the last five years.

I think that would have been a lot more respect from the people sitting in the seats if it would have been a simple business proposal and all of the things that you would like to do and tell me how to do what we're left off and not put on the community's lab to tell you how to recruit in the community.

So I think that's where some of the frustration is coming.

So the act, the active participation, the active part is what's missing.

There's no emotion of emotion for anyone to say, hey, this is good for our community, because it's words on a piece of paper.

There's a not anything action.

And one of the questions that I know you cannot um answer right now, but I would like to pose if you'd like to um answer later is you say a lot about the North Green community.

I want to know what is your favorite memory, favorite thing actually about the North Green community, other than where it resides, your influence resides.

So all respect and I'm happy, you know, how great the business is doing.

I think that you garnered a lot more respect in this room if you would have just said, hey, this is my business plan, versus coming with, hey, this is what we want to do for the community, and it's not real, it's not accurate, and it's being opening our shoulders.

That's just from the strategy perspective.

Thank you for your time.

Well, my name is Gloria Campbell, and I'm the highly paid executive director of the Codewater Urban Leadership Coalition.

That's right.

And the disappointment that I have in the fact that we found out about this at a council meeting on 3 30.

We have worked, when I say we, I mean this community, I mean the coalition for seven years to build the trust of the community.

When we started this, we had people say to us, you can't trust the city.

We've been through it.

And we said we believe that it's different.

We believe we have different people at the table.

We believe we have people who understand the importance of what is happening.

We are working hard.

We are putting in the effort.

We have a CRA, not because the city did it, but because the coalition did it.

We did all the work, the outreach.

We did everything.

So we really felt like we had a relationship with the city.

When people are saying to us now, didn't we tell you?

This is how it was gonna end.

So David, I'm not mad with you.

But I am mad with the way this is turned out and why we're here today.

I want to give you uh a conversation, day two conversation we've had with the city about the Army.

On 521, 2022, we requested through Jim Helios, who was then the Parks and Rec director, a tour of the Army.

On 1024, 2022, we met with John Jennings, then the city manager.

We shared our ideas and how we were interested in the army.

On 1122, 2022, we met with John Jennings again regarding using Arco Fund for the Army.

On 123, 2023, we met with interim city manager, Jennifer Poiere, and we have an agenda here where we talked about the Army.

On 527, 2023, we emailed a letter to our representative, Kim Burfield, regarding the armory.

So there have been everyone except maybe Mr.

Bowley and maybe Hey Seuss, uh, who may have not known that we had expressed an interest in the Army.

Everybody else on city staff knew that.

And so for this to come to be an item that just showed up and my time is up.

Um I'm disappointed.

To be honest with you, my heart is broken over this situation and the fact that the community had to show up here tonight to fight for a community resource.

My name is Petrieva Mack, and I shared the disappointment that Gloria just presented.

And sitting here and listening to Mr.

Nino, and then this young man's input, it just smacked of the systemic history of Littlewater when it comes to this specific community.

We're never asked, and then they play this game.

Now he just talked about so many years of preparation for something that managed put out for 30 days and kept a darn secret.

And like it's something we all should have been aware of.

When they didn't utilize all the resources available to make the information available to other people, and I can tell you being part of the three C Society and learning about breads and dealing with the state and the city.

It just smacks this good old boyism that for some reason we cannot seem to put behind us in order to move forward.

Your idea sounds great, but it sucks in terms of how they call secretly.

It's not fair to us and I green.

And I mean water has to do better.

Yes.

And the excuse.

Oh well.

They they check every box.

I find it amazing that they knew what boxes to check.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Let me spell that B with the Bravo.

R Romeo E like Echo Doug.

William T is a tangle, or is an Oscar and is in November.

All right.

All right.

I got some questions I need to ask.

And number one, I need to know how many students out of this neighborhood have you hired out of our neighborhoods.

Number two.

How many African Americans are in management in your copy?

Number three.

I need to ask this question.

It's an elephant for me.

Are you a part of the your company part of the model 2025 that was executed way back then in 2012?

That's just a question that I'd like to have addressed.

All three.

Can you clarify?

Can you come and clarify real quick your your final question?

The 2025.

Just so that he can address it afterwards.

I'm sorry.

Can you clarify your final question about the 2025?

Oh, about the model 2025.

Are you following the model 2025?

Where it is, it's like someone comes in, they set it up as a corporation, and it gets channeled, all the money gets channeled back to one person within that corporation.

Okay.

And it's not like it's set up to be a part where the money funded out into the community to make the communities drive, it's just set up so that one individual thrives as a hate, and then all of a sudden all the little models come in underneath and act like they're part of which they're not.

All that money is being taken from them and given to one individual going up.

And honestly, down at the bottom, you're not realizing that it's being taken from you until it gets directly to the top, and it's all been depleted, and there's nothing at the bottom.

Okay, thank you for your comments.

Thank you for the clarification.

Yes.

I'm sorry.

I'm gonna hear you, I'm sorry.

Thank you for the clarification.

Good evening, my name is Andrea and it's basically a resident here in Clearwater.

Um two questions uh for the closing team and then one for the city.

Um first question for you, your mama's team is have you factored in your say you'll create the jobs, but have you factored in what automation and AI will do?

Um some jobs as we know are not necessarily human generated, and so is that going to impact your forecast and thus eliminate some of those jobs.

Second regarding jobs, are all of those jobs in your plant or your facility, or are there going to be jobs in finance, admin, the executive levels, management?

Um, because I heard someone share that there are plenty of highly educated people in this community and maybe have opportunities as well, and so that may impact your um salary scheme uh to have those persons apply.

That may be something you want to consider on if you're gonna have those numbers and then uh for the city, what will be the plan should this proposal not go forward?

I think the residents will want to know how can others submit a proposal maybe in another time that will allow some uh opportunities for RFPs from others to come forth.

So those are my questions.

Thank you.

My name is Harold Trust.

And I live here in the North Greenwood area for 50.

Please hold your mic closer.

If you go down this street, thank you for bringing your business here.

But if you get out here and drive down this street all the way down to the Marshall Street and see what the city of Clown have done to this community.

Nothing.

Everything down this street has been one business went down.

All the way down.

We got around our neighborhood.

We got a neighborhood used to call it Avenue.

All the buildings told that.

Thank you.

Then you prompt money to the C RAP.

Go down Cleveland Street.

And it's all beautified.

The problem is what five million dollars for the Greenwood area.

I don't see nothing.

If you have done greenwood area.

Yeah, you got all around our area.

We can walk from the project to the stadium.

Up to the all the way around.

To go to your book.

In our neighborhood.

But they knew about your proposal.

And we did.

And that's kind of like messed up.

Is the biggest enemy for black community?

That's right.

We have done everything to destroy.

We can even play baseball in our neighborhood.

We won't have a lot money to go in.

You build it.

Okay, yeah.

Okay.

Brian Becky.

Can you hear me okay?

Brian, yes.

Mr.

H it sounds like you worked a long time on your business proposal, six years, I think I heard.

You can hear here from the community how blindsided they feel.

And I feel like you have not made that same investment that you've obviously made in your business of meeting people and interviewing the community.

There are so many people here that work tirelessly in terms of this CRA forming the CRA, like Miss Gloria said.

And I'm surprised with the time that you've been here that you haven't gotten to know these folks as individuals, and that you have not been at different meetings that are open to the public where they talk about improving the community.

And so I'd encourage you going forward to make that kind of investment.

People want to be part of the decision making and not feel like they're blindsided.

And so I I'd also ask the city to clarify here for folks the timing.

I know some of that stuff is written on one of the sheets of paper here, but I didn't hear it in the introduction of walking through the timing of when proposals were able to be made and reviewed and why, like in the last third urban leadership uh coalition meeting that nothing was brought up in there about this at all.

I know again people were both siding.

So in the last time, so this uh Barbara Sorry Love asked me this uh to say since she had already uh spoken and forgotten to mention it.

Uh open this up to other proposals is what she said.

Right?

Okay, thank you.

Thank all of you for all your all of your comments, all of your all your thoughts, all of your emotion is definitely uh appreciated alone.

Um so now we will give Mr.

Habib an opportunity to respond to some of the questions that were asked of him.

First off, thank you all.

Uh I can see that um uh this is obviously a very passionate community, and I I appreciate that.

Um so thank you for your questions.

Uh I hope to address most of them.

I was trying to take notes.

Um, the first question uh I'm not a North Greenwood resident.

I am raised here in Clearwater, Florida.

Clearwater Florida is my home.

Um I'm not you know, just because I'm not part of this community, I've I've been welcomed in this community, and I see that you're all you know certainly passionate about it too.

Um, as you're evaluating us as your neighbor, uh I hope you also see us as your neighbor and as someone who's invested a lot of time, money to create a lot of jobs in this community, and um I see you know, please please please keep your comments.

If any of you are a business owner, I hope and would appreciate that you would understand that creating jobs and running a business is not easy.

So uh, you know, in all genuine approach here, you know, creating a business is not easy.

Once again, I started this from my from my parents' pantry.

Uh I started in a dining room table.

My first headquarters was uh a storage unit off of US 19, the nursery.

Um the city has you know economic development specifically, and it's helped take us from a storage unit to where we are today.

Um so again, I I I understand that there's a lot of concern today.

I understand that um there's a lot of upset uh you know people here too, but I would also encourage you to look towards the future.

We're invested here, we've been here for six years.

We're not some foreign entity.

Uh I'm not some someone that didn't grow up in clear water.

So uh I certainly hope that that you can appreciate that.

Um, when it comes to the question around gentrification, um, you know, that's that's a completely uh understandable question.

We're not a developer, uh, we're not here to tear down the armory, we're not building apartment homes, we're not building expensive housing that's not accessible to this community.

So I'll I'll leave it at that.

When it comes to workforce development, uh there's absolutely an opportunity and uh something that we have to do as a business in this community to increase our efforts within workforce development and make sure that our jobs and positions are absolutely heard by your community.

I heard that very clearly, and you have my commitment that uh that we will do that.

So uh that was a very clear message that I heard today is that you want to know exactly what are the opportunities, what are the summer opportunities?

Why don't all these local churches understand what we're trying to do?

Uh I heard that message loud and clear today.

So uh I hope that you understand that you have my commitment that we will be doing that in this neighborhood moving forward.

Uh, when it came to the question of creating a position around workforce development, once again I can't you know promise that I would create a full-time position on that, but um, part of our hiring team and all of our department leads, uh we can certainly make that to a requirement.

I would like to remind everyone as well.

The site has been occupied by parks and recs since 2005.

Uh we're coming in with a proposal to to benefit this community.

There's no current benefit of that facility sitting there for parks and recs department for the next year, for the next five years, for the next 25 years.

So I encourage you to have an open mind on that.

You know, I suffer as a local business here just as much as all of you because my North Greenwood is not the area that I envision it for what we can ultimately build together, right?

So I see a vacant property over there.

I see something that's not utilized properly by the community.

I see something that has bleachers and trash cans and is aesthetically not pleasing.

And there's a huge opportunity here to take something and to honor history and to create jobs.

Uh, when it comes to development and my involvement, I was part of the CRA steering committee in 2022.

Uh I apologize if if some of you don't know me.

I'm growing a business.

That's that's that's the honest answer.

I'm heads down.

I work seven days a week.

Um, so I would love to get to know more of you.

I I very much uh love all of the passion here, and uh I I will say that I I appreciate that.

Um I think it's it's it's wonderful to have the courage to to act on that, and um you know I would like to get to know more of you.

So I hope that you can see uh this proposal as an opportunity to get to know a lot of you as well.

Umce again, the site uh is not currently being utilized, so by proceeding with this proposal, it would create tax revenue for the city, would create jobs.

Um I can't reiterate again that it's this has been uh a lot of work for the community.

It's been a tremendous amount of work for the city, it's been a tremendous amount of work for all of you.

Um but if this proposal you know were to not proceed, then the building is going to maintain the parks and recs, and I will not have any specific benefit uh where we can ultimately honor that and give it an immediate benefit to the community by by putting it into use.

Um words on a nice piece of paper, appreciate that that that feedback.

Um again, you know, uh always always appreciate feedback.

Um not growing up here, I did address that.

Uh model 2025, thank you for bringing that up.

I've never heard of that.

Um that was the first time just to reiterate, you know, St.

Benedict's Holdings is the building that is the LLC.

So we we run A LLC.

Um the property was positioned to have a separate LLC, and that's strictly for a liability purpose.

We're not planning to lease the facility, and those are the protective measures that the city of Clearwater has been very, very uh adamant about making sure that this is protected for the community, and that this is not something that's going to turn into a development project.

This is not something that's going to be a thought in so I do hope that uh I if there's anything that I can give you today is that the city absolutely cares about this community and that they put a lot of work into this specific building.

And I say that with true honesty because when it comes to to the purchase and sale agreement, all of these details that you're bringing up are outlined in that agreement.

So there's commitments that we have to uphold as a business, and that's very much our our goal.

So when it comes to that question of how are we going to make sure that what our plan is stated, all of that is in the purchase and sale agreement, and all of those are the specific details that we are working on to ultimately make sure that you all see.

Max and Marshalls, they want jars and hand stickered.

Um there's no automation that we can do on that type of uh of packaging positions because everything that we do is is very manual.

Um there's certain you know uh machines that we've invested on to ultimately shred cardboard and and to help us, but when it comes to threatening potential jobs, that's that's not something that we see in our future.

Um when it comes to how many jobs are created that are office positions uh versus warehouse positions, it's uh a 50-50 split, and that's how how we are now.

We have about 15 positions in the office and 15 positions into the warehouse, and to answer the question, the additional 20 to 30 positions that we'd be building would be that 50-50 split as well.

Um as far as my involvement in the community, I sit on the board of like Clearwater.

Um, that's something that I've I've I've sat on for three years now.

Um so locally, you know, I am I am plugged in.

This again, I'm not some foreign agent coming here.

Um we are locally involved again in all of the different uh community endeavors.

Um we have a question around how many African Americans do we employ and how many are in leadership positions.

We have one team leader civil uh in our leadership, and um there's a difference of model 2025.

So we have we have one African American leadership for total uh within our company.

Um future site again.

I hope uh if there I'm just trying to make sure I read all of the questions.

Is there anything that didn't answer?

Well, so I'm I'm sorry, David, that this is not an open open form for more people to ask questions after that time has ended.

So once you've completed that, then that's it.

Okay, uh I will give some closing remarks.

Uh again, I appreciate everyone here.

I appreciate all of the questions that uh that you all got.

I appreciate your your passion, and um I certainly hope that uh that we can proceed.

Uh we put a lot of work in into this, and uh once again we've we've been here for six years.

We're not some company that's that's trying to come in here.

So we're committed to North Greenwood.

We're very much committed to local hiring.

Within the CRA plan that this community has brought up.

Economic development is at the forefront, job creation is at the forefront.

So this is really an opportunity for this community to support a business that's committed toward that and has been committed to doing that for the last six years.

So if I can't have your support today, I certainly hope to earn it and uh we look forward to proceeding and hopefully having the opportunity to meet and engage with all of you as well.

Thank you, David.

Sorry to keep running.

All right, it's not so that that concludes the presentation portion.

Um you still have any remarks that you would like to make before we move to a vote.

I want to first thank everybody who came out today.

Okay.

You all don't understand my passion for this.

Really?

For those of you who don't know, back in 2014, I believe it was Pinellas County recognized that they were spending 2.5 billion dollars on poverty in Pinellas County and not making an impact.

They didn't, they didn't did a study and identified the seven pockets of poverty in Pinellas County.

North Greenwood was identified as the highest concentration in the entire county.

How many of you all knew that?

I'm just curious.

All right, many of you may not have known that.

Uh that set a fire in some members here in the community when we learned of that information.

Uh, one of the things that we did when we realized that was the case for this community, and you can look at the community and tell um how it's like a deserted island, and so it's heartbreaking.

Uh Harry, I heard you, I heard you, Harry.

I heard you, I felt you, Harry.

I feel I felt all of you who talked about the things that we used to have.

The fact that people they think it's just with David with Mr.

Hubby, he talks about with Amplified, I've done this, I've done that, I'm HP, and that's all good, David.

But here's the problem.

They tell you to do this as a cookie cutter, but you got to do it with the community.

You can't do it and not include the community, and not just jobs.

We've known each other now since you started on the steering committee when we first began this journey with creating the CRA.

You knew us, you knew who the Blue Water Urban Leadership Coalition was.

We did meeting every fourth Tuesday for almost seven years now.

Almost seven years.

We've not seen you.

You came to one virtual meeting.

I'm gonna give you that.

You came to one virtual meeting.

But when you had those job opportunities, I hope that you will reach out to me since you invited me to come to your warehouse sometime back, and that way we could make certain that we were including the community.

As we began to pursue the creation of the CRA, what we didn't do is we didn't do it behind the community's back.

We invited everybody in this community, all of the pastors.

We met with every single pastor in this community.

We put the word out to every single community organization to come and be a part, one to learn about what a CRA was, how it was going to benefit this community to resolve the issues that we were dealing with being the highest concentration of poverty in the entire county.

And I want you all to know that we have worked for seven years tirelessly.

This is not easy work, but I'm passionate about my people and my community.

I have given up myself.

Is what I always tell people, right?

But we do this because we care.

We do this because when you hear the story that Harry said, he talked about the way things used to be.

When I moved here, I've been here 50 years now, so I wasn't born here, but I did get a chance to see all of those businesses.

David, you're not a bad person.

You're a businessman.

You're doing what business people do.

But you just didn't include the community.

And those who were directing you and ordering your steps.

What they did is they didn't tell you that you should have included the community.

So that is not your fault, David.

I'm just want you to know that that is not your fault.

And we are disappointed, and we are heartbroken that the fact that this community has worked so hard for seven years to really revitalize this community.

And it is very heartbreaking.

And so what I say to everybody, please, whatever you do, stay engaged.

You all know I always say this.

If you're not at the table, you're gonna be on the menu.

So you gotta show up.

You gotta show up at these places.

It's only when we show up like this, is when they hear us.

Regardless of how we decide to vote on this, I don't know what's going to happen.

But I tell everybody to stay engaged, stay engaged, and don't sit back and just allow it to happen.

Yes, there are some benefits that go with this.

We want development, but we want to be included in it, right?

We don't want to be excluded.

I don't care if you have 50 jobs, it's gotta be more than just that.

Because if we want it to be ongoing, we have a project we've been working on with the container project that we've been working on, and um that was just one of several that we've identified as Miss Gloria Campbell mentioned.

We had made inquiry about the armory, and we were told we were blocked every time.

No, it's not, we don't have access to it.

No, you can't come and do those things.

No, no, this is this is for somebody else, and this has been going on for a while.

We've heard that.

So how however God help me, help me, God.

I just got so much to want to say about what I'm gonna do for the sake of time.

Again, thank you everybody for coming, and please stay engaged, please show up.

And those of you who work for the city of Clearwater, I just say to you, I pray that God will touch your hearts and help you to see that we are just as important as everybody else.

It doesn't matter that we live in this community.

We want we want our families to live in places that are safe.

We want great schools, we want great businesses, we want all of those things.

We do.

We do every year, we do this annual event, and I have to mention this.

We do this annual community family fun night.

Last year, 2025, we had almost 5,000 people that showed up at that event on the football field here.

The reason I'm mentioning that is because that was a very diverse event, and that's what we're doing is we're bringing people from all over who see we're dispelling the myth that there's something bad about North Greenwood, that there's something toxic, you don't want to go there, those are bad people, right?

So all the people who control the money at the top and can position you, David, for all of these things, but unless you include the community, you're always gonna run up against this issue.

So that's all I'm saying.

I wanted to save my comments as well.

Um I have to say, generally speaking, I was always disappointed and disheartened to find out about your proposal, David, as late in the game as we did.

I truly believe that had this been a more community-focused effort, there might have been a little bit of a better response.

And one of the things that I know that has always been taught to me is that to whom much is given much is required.

And ultimately speaking, I feel that as a fellow business owner, when you're in a situation to benefit, because let's let's make no mistake, as your business being headquartered in the CRA, there are some benefits that you'll receive that you wouldn't receive anywhere else because of the focus on business growth and economic development.

It's not okay to just say I'm a business owner, I can't afford to do that.

No, let's figure this out and how some of these things can be done in order to truly benefit the community.

It's not enough to simply say, Oh, we're gonna create 30 jobs.

Okay, well, how are we creating those those 30 jobs?

And how are we ensuring that the people that live in this community can get those jobs?

And then for whatever reason they're not qualified to get those jobs, how can we make sure that we're training them up to get those jobs and keep those jobs?

So I think that those are very important things that if for whatever reason, whatever we decide here today, if this does go through, and that it's not okay to just say this is what we're gonna do.

It's gonna be I need to roll my sleeves up, I need to be here, and I need to make sure that I'm giving this community the time, effort, attention, and money that it needs to be successful, not just grow my business here.

So that's just my perspective to you in general.

Now, as it pertains to the city, I I really strongly feel that we need to do better about communication.

Um I was looking back through our calendar and I was looking at some of the dates here.

So we have come uh we had meetings on December 3rd and March 4th.

The last RFP that was sent out was sent out on February 22nd at no time was anything mentioned during our CRA meeting.

And that is something that again, I was very disappointed to find out because how is that possible?

How is it possible that we have uh a beacon in our community uh in the I went to the head star across the street, like I have memories of going to the Armory Building.

So like this is something that touches me very closely, and and to know that a conversation was being had without our knowledge during the process again is disappointing.

And and I'll also say that I hope this city council is listening and making sure that we are being heard and making sure that our history is being preserved.

David, you mentioned a lot about history, and again, this is I'm not trying to attack you, I'm just trying to inform you.

There's a ton of history through the generations, and I was curious to find out how is it that you can preserve the history when you don't know the history?

So I think it's extremely important to be sure that as you continue to grow your business in this community, that you make sure that you ingrain yourself in the community and your understanding who the people are in the community, where they come from and how things have been done so that way you can continue to enrich the community that we've been growing and thriving in for years.

Okay.

So I have one last thing to ask if I may.

Well, okay.

Just a question.

Go for it.

This question is for the CRA director or Mr.

Battle.

Can you tell the community since they're all here today?

What is the role of the North Greenwood Citizens Advisory Committee?

Because I want them to hear it.

Because if our role is what I think that it is, and we didn't know about this, I just need you all to know.

I don't want anybody to think for one minute that we knew we didn't tell you.

I just want I just want to be, and maybe Mr.

Bavel's gonna speak about that.

I'm not sure, but I'll pass the first the CAC to me is extremely valuable.

It is an asset, and I'm happy that the North Greenwood area actually has one.

So your role is to give your recommendations on extremely important topics in the CRA boundaries, even if it's not particularly CRA exactly.

Let's say there's a road or some type of project, you know, staff should be giving you that information, bringing it to you to see if the chair wants to put it on the agenda so that the CAC can review those topics, those items, and those projects, and then you can give that insight from the community perspective to the city council, if it goes that far certain items, or just to give your feedback, which is extremely critical because you are hyper-local, you this is your community, so you know your community.

So I agree with you.

I'm not sure exactly why it didn't come to you.

All we can say is that it's just very short time that's been owned by the CRA.

Before that it was the state of Florida, and I do want to give a comment as far as promises, as far as if he's gonna change his mind if he were to be you know, acquire the property.

State statutes dictates that whoever takes the property through the CR from the CRA, they have to continue to operate even their successors in accordance with CRA plans that are in place.

So good evening.

Um I know many of you, many of you I don't know.

So some of you probably like wise and this guy is stable saying anything.

So I'm gonna say something now.

Um, and and hopefully it will be helpful because it's really to answer your question, but also uh to reiterate something that Jesus has said, then Al Battle Assistant City Manager for the City of Clearwater.

This North Greenwood CAC this volunteer group that works with the city of Clearwater's community redevelopment agency, North Greenwood specific by advising on plans, budgets, and programs and put it from the neighborhood is gathered to ensure local voices are heard.

So that is from our website.

So the purpose of the committee is to do exactly that.

So we take full responsibility.

I take responsibility, I'm not putting anyone else.

We should have come to you with the proposal uh earlier, the idea earlier.

So we take responsibility for that.

I appreciate that.

I'm not looking for a poll.

I just want to put that out there for you.

I'm an admitted.

I'm admitting that we're an error now.

But I will say this, and I think the committee members will agree with this.

Um, once we were headed down this path, I need to ask the CRA staff to get with the committee members to bring them into the conversation.

So while we've missed it on the front of you, we say let's go back and make sure that they're in the loop as the process moves forward.

So the fact that we have a special meeting, the advisory that the committee meets quarterly.

So their next meeting would not have been until June of this year.

This is a special meeting because it is outside of their normal schedule, and it's for a purpose that I think you all would agree is very important.

And in the event we have to have additional special meetings, we'll do that as well.

Um something that Heesu said earlier.

I won't go into the statutory part, but part of um selling and disposing of property in accordance with the CR plans is also to put the business on notice that if we negotiate agreement with you, we enter into a development agreement and a purchase a sale agreement for the purposes of the use of a property that is in accordance with the CRA plan, we're gonna do our darndest to make sure we have requirements as well as performance metrics that the business needs to hit.

So whenever, if ever this comes to that point, we'll provide the opportunity for you to see exactly what that performance, those performance metrics looks like, and if it includes and I pray and I know David is also uh um he's heard you um that we can come back with something that you can really feel comfortable with and feel proud of in terms of what the city and the CRA is doing to protect the interest and to encourage job development.

So I want to tell you that we hear you too, uh, just like committee members.

We are we're not here not having any emotions involved in this.

We represent your interests, and we want to do our darnest to make sure that they're represented properly.

So I appreciate the question.

Um, hopefully that helps answer the point of view that I have, and then I believe staff shares as well.

Thank you.

Okay, hi everyone.

Um first I just want to thank David for making the investment in the North Greenwood area.

I'm also another business owner within North Greenwood.

I own the Clearwater Brewing Company.

Um, and I just feel that it's very important with different businesses to make investments in the North Greenwood area to show other business owners and investors the potential of North Greenwood, right?

And it's not just from a business standpoint, but it's also from a community standpoint.

I have the pleasure of meeting a lot of you in this room.

I love each and every one of you.

Um and so with that said, uh, one of our core values um is that you're only as strong as your community, right?

So although you may not be able to um hire a full-time position for an outreach coordinator, I do feel that it is detrimental to your business to maybe do a dual position where somebody part of the time that is their focus, and the other part is doing something that um you also need done in your business, maybe to make it make sense from a revenue standpoint, right?

Um I also would recommend that this person that you hire is from the North Greenwood area, has the contacts within North Greenwood and can help your business to um better give back to the community, right?

Because that's what I heard time and time again tonight, and I appreciate all your passion and everything that you guys shared.

Um, I think this is a huge learning opportunity, not just for the city, uh also for David and Lama, and also for the CRA, right?

And then also for the community.

Um, so I just hope that uh you know we can uh figure out how to not have this happen again where the community is line-sided, right?

Um and again, I just thank you guys all for your time.

Thank you, David, for your presentation, and thank you to your comments.

All right, so for the interest of time, um and and try to reach uh a conclusion to our meeting.

I think it's important for us to uh make a decision on what we believe should happen at the at the April 20th meeting.

Um so ultimately, I mean I would like to just hear any just general discussion from the committee, but also more importantly, um, a motion as to uh if we would like to see this move forward or if we would like to not see this move forward.

Any any comments?

Oh, are we to vote questions?

Is it under contract?

So to my understanding, nothing is under contract as of now.

So what was what's what is scheduled to take place, well tenderly scheduled to take place on the 20th, is the discussion to essentially recognize the proposal uh and then to enter into negotiations for that proposal to ultimately lead to the sale.

That's that's what is on the table right now for city council for the 20th.

Okay, can it be tabled?

So can it be tabled?

So the question is can this be tabled?

So I will leave that to city staff to make sure that we are aware what if we did decide to either table it or not want to see it go through, what would those what would those next steps potentially look like?

No, sir.

I'm sorry.

Whatever action you take tonight if you if your action is uh a motion to ask the council to defer or table item, you you can do that.

Um the council can act differently, of course.

So we will take forward whatever the result is of this evening.

They'll have plenty of time to have it before Monday's meeting.

So whatever your action is here tonight, that's what we'll communicate to them, and they can decide accordingly.

What time is the meeting?

Meeting is at 6 p.m.

No.

I'm sorry, this is I'm sorry.

I'm thinking of the regular meeting.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

1 p.m.

for the CRA.

Thank you.

Work session.

It is part of the work session, which is the afternoon meeting.

Um, new to our process, so sometimes I say stuff out of order.

Our normal council meetings on Thursday, 6 p.m.

However, the CRA meeting is during the afternoon.

So I apologize for that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Chairman just yelled the next time that would be happening.

I got you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, so um tabling is on the table.

Um, I also heard uh someone in the comments um recommend that possibly opening it up again for proposals if that is a possibility.

Um again, the the decision is is up to us as to as to what motion we would like to put forward.

Um so if there are any other thoughts or questions, we can definitely discuss that now, and then you know if there are any thoughts on what is the best course of action from this body we'll move forward with that motion.

I feel like it should be opened up again.

I feel like it should be opened up again because nobody knew anything about it to even put proposals forward.

So I think other people should have the opportunity to do that before they try to move forward and anything, not anything against you, you know.

You could potentially bring you know progress here, but other people should have the chance to put forth their proposals as well.

Thank you for that.

Um other discussion from the rest of the committee.

Is that something that that we would all agree with?

Yes.

So can you make a formal motion, please?

I make the motion to allow the proposals to be opened back up again for other people to be able to have the chance to put one in.

Thank you.

discussion from the rest of the committee is that something that that we would all agree with yes so can you make a formal motion please I make the motion to allow the proposals to be opened back up again for other people to be able to have the chance to put one in thank you uh we have a motion active uh by chairperson davis do I have a second I second that okay it's been it's been properly motioned and seconded uh by my chairperson turman um is there any discussion seeing none um all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed I need you to speak up I didn't hear all the votes on that okay so yeah okay so so one more time for all those in favor say aye raise your hand thank you all right any opposed seeing none um motion carries um so I have the motion you have it the motion is to read and go out for a formal proposal as adopted by the advisors all right the the motion is to readise and uh accept other potential um proposals yes awesome thank you um well that concludes our meeting ladies and gentlemen uh so we are moving to adjournment at 901 thank you very much