This time we'll call the order the April twenty twenty-six meeting of the City of Clearwater Community Redevelopment Agency.

This time we'll move to item two point one on the agenda.

Approve the minutes of the March two twenty twenty-six CRA meeting.

Motion to approve the minutes.

Second.

All those in favor?

All right.

So this can be heard regarding items regarding the uh CRA.

Uh items that are not on today's agenda.

Four point one.

Present new vision behavioral health inc as an April twenty twenty-sixth recipient of the business spotlight program.

My name is Tasha Hatley, CRE specialist.

And I'm pleased to recognize New Vision Behavioral Health as our April 2026 Business Spotlight winner.

Operating from the Willow Carson Health and Wellness Center at one one zero eight North MLK, the practice delivers counseling services that support mental and emotional well-being in North Greenwood.

Founded by Zeneda Ellison McGraw, New Vision Behavioral Health has was created with a clear purpose to expand access and communities where it's needed the most.

We see individuals, families, and we provide group counsel services.

We serve those who are dealing with mental health as well as addiction and just kind of need that support.

So someone who's come into therapy, uh, specifically my practice for the first time.

I want them to know that we here are passionate about serving people.

I know that a lot of people feel like, oh, I don't want somebody in my business or to judge me.

But our job is not to get in your business per se.

Our job is to know enough about you to see where we need to support.

I remember having a client who was so deeply into her grief in her depression that we weren't sure if you know tomorrow was promised for her.

Three years later, she's still with me, still thriving, still working through becoming self-directed and working in her own little layers of mental health that you know she's grateful for the support that she was able to receive, all because she was willing to step out and get the help that she needed.

Our hours of operation are Monday through Saturday, essentially from 9 a.m.

to 6 p.m.

We have multiple locations in the St.

Pete, Tampa, and Clearwater area.

We also serve those who need to have access to getting into the office by providing telehealth services.

Very good.

Congratulations.

She's looking at the city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

She's having it.

She's gonna come back.

Can let's do a group picture, please.

All right.

Three, two, one.

One more.

Three, two, one.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

So I just want to personally thank Tastar for seeing the value of highlighting our organization and the work that we not only do in communities, but in the lives of individuals, children, and families.

We have been able to support the Willow Carson and the great work that they do with providing free health care services for the last three years with our ability to secure grant funding to provide free mental health services.

So these mental health services are free for any Tampa Pinellas County resident by way of Bayfront, not Bayfront, but um I can't remember.

They care, they care, yeah.

Don't kill me.

Bay Care's grant.

And so we are so grateful for the opportunity to serve children and families, and we want more people to know that we're there.

The Willow Carson is there.

The Willow Carson has been great with serving those who are uninsured or underinsured or just don't have access to help here.

So thank you again for the opportunity.

Thank you.

Okay.

Accept a proposal for the redevelopment of 706 North Missouri Avenue from St.

Benedict Holdings L L C and authorized CRA staff to negotiate an agreement for development, purchase and sale of property with said entity.

Good afternoon.

Hey Susanino, CRA executive director.

Today I'm here to provide you with an overview of a proposal for the redevelopment of 706 North Missouri Avenue.

We're going to show you some maps here as far as the property.

So 706 North Missouri Avenue is more commonly known as the Armory Site.

This is the way the building looks here.

So this is the map for the public here, so they can kind of see where the armory is located at.

You can see North Missouri Avenue to the right, Seminole Street to the North, then Eldridge Street to the south.

Then as far as the location of the armory site, again, this is for the public that's watching.

You can see the boundary for the North Greenwood Community Redevelopment Area in yellow.

You see the property here highlighted in green or blue.

So it's right by the boundary of the CRA.

Just to give a little bit of background, on August 27, 2025, the state of Florida transferred the property to the city of Clearwater.

Then on January 26, 2026, the city transferred the site to the city's community redevelopment agency to support redevelopment with the North Greenwood Community Redevelopment Area.

So currently the property is being used by the city's parks and recreation department for storage and limited office space.

This has been a tax exempt property for decades now, basically.

So it's been generating no advalorm revenues.

So following the transfer to the community redevelopment agency, in accordance with Florida statute, the community redevelopment agency issued a public notice on February 22, 2026, inviting proposals for the adapted reuse of the site.

So that notice did establish minimum requirements for submitted proposals, including a minimum purchase price of $2 million, along with a project description, financial details, and a development schedule.

This solicitation period closed on March 24th, 2026.

The community redevelopment agency did receive one proposal from St.

Benedict's Holding, the Limited Liability Company, which is an affiliate of Yomama's Foods, which is already headquartered in the North Greenwood community redevelopment area, right across the street from the site.

So the proposal was reviewed by staff and determined to be responsive to the advertisement or the notice and meets all the minimum requirements, including the required purchase price.

So at a high level, the proposal includes a $2 million acquisition offer and focuses on adaptive reuse of the existing armory site and building.

So rather than demolish the building and the structure, all the structures on the property, which is not our preferred choice, the applicant proposed to re repurpose the site into a logistics, warehouse, and light manufacturing hub, integrating with their existing business across the street, which is the Omama's Foods, St.

Benedict's Holding Limited Library Company.

So this project will create a consolidated campus supporting distribution, e-commerce fulfillments, and continued business growth.

This is in alignment with the North Greenwood Community Redevelopment Area Plan, particularly particularly the vision for this area.

And from an I level economic development impact standpoint, the project is expected to generate additional jobs, while also converting a long-time tax exempt property, putting it back on the tax rows to start to generate revenue.

So the revenue that will be generated that's called the increment, that increment advalorum taxes from the city of Clearwater and Pinellas County will be deposited into the North Greenwood Community Redevelopment Area Trust Fund.

And those funds will be used to reinvest back into the community.

From a redevelopment perspective, the proposal aligns again with the North Greenwood Community Redevelopment Area Plan by activating an underutilized site, supporting job creation and advancing private reinvestment.

More specifically, and just to put this on the record for the public and those that are watching.

This is from the plan, the North Greenwood Community Redevelopment Area Plan.

Go number one, public safety, which is page 93 of the plan, activates an underutilized site and contributes to reducing conditions associated with blight.

Go number three, poverty reduction, that's page 93 again, which supports job creation, workforce development, and increased access to employment opportunities.

Then go number five, quality of life, page 94.

Enhances community vitality through reinvestment and improve economic activity.

Then for redevelopment policies, page 94 and 95, it advances the reuse of publicly owned property to support economic development and private investment.

So this is a map that comes out of the redevelopment plan on page 108, page 108.

It's called Area C, the CSX industrial area and armory area.

So if you can see on the slide there, it shows that the armory site is contiguous to the existing redevelopment area industrial zoning district, shown here in purple.

Then the armory site shown in blue, it's contiguous to that zoning category.

It's contiguous to the zoning category.

In addition, you also see a boundary around all of that is called the emphasis area for industrial purposes.

You see it here in brown, the little dotted line there.

So that section also states that if the armory were ever to go out of use for the city's purposes, that it was recommended that it go back out as far as for industrial purposes for job creation.

So in addition, it also aligns with the city's broader strategic plan, priorities by strengthening public private partnerships and supporting business growth within the community.

This proposal is tied to an existing operating business, Yomamas Foods, St.

Benedict's Holdings Limited Liability Company, which has its presence in the North Greenwood Community Development Area across the street from the armory site.

They have identified that they need additional space for increased capacity in the area.

And for the record, I would also like to highlight, and I do want to stress highlight that the North Greenwood Citizens Advisory Committee or CAC, they held a special meeting on Wednesday, April 15th, 2026 at 7 p.m.

at the North Greenwood Recreation Center.

The purpose of that meeting was for staff and the applicant to present the proposal to the community that was in attendance.

So there were approximately 89 individuals that attended the meeting.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the citizens advisory committee made a motion recommending that the trustees reopen the solicitation period to allow for additional proposals to be submitted and considered.

That motion passed by a vote of five to zero.

So many of those citizens advisory committee members and other community members are here in the audience.

I saw them when I looked over.

So at this time, your agenda material also outlines potential actions for your consideration.

And again, they're just for your consideration.

One is accept a proposal submitted by St.

Benedict's Holdings Living and the Liability Company as respondent to the public notice and compliant with the minimum requirements.

Two, authorize staff to negotiate a development purchase and sale agreement along with any other associated legal instruments.

So with that, that concludes my staff presentation.

So Mr.

Habib, the applicant, and Mr.

Battle, we're all here to answer any questions.

And if you wish, Mr.

Habib has a presentation ready to provide you, and it's loaded up here on the screen.

That'll be up to you.

And I'm not sure if Mr.

Battle wanted to add anything else.

But I'd like to hear the presentation from the applicant.

There's no objection, so I'd like to invite the applicant.

Ms.

Call, thank you so much.

Katie Cole with the law firm of Hill Ward Henderson, representing Mr.

David Habib and the various entities that make up the Yomama's food company, including St.

Benedict's Holding, which is the respondent to this RFN.

So we're here today for a very specific reason to ask that you authorize staff to negotiate consistent with the present with the bid that you issue.

And that is intended, it was intended to fulfill the community redevelopment area's goals as Mr.

Nino already covered.

Some of the issues that were raised on Wednesday night.

We know that there are others that will continue to be evidenced, and hopefully through the negotiations with your city staff and it with the contract to come back to you all for approval.

Many of those things can be addressed.

We also know there are things that this presentation and this request will never address, and those are concerns that I think we all hope to work on as a community.

The city's request was specifically to seek a buyer for the armory that met the goals of the CRA.

And the CRA plan as Mr.

Nino said identifies the North Greenwood Community Redevelopment Plan as Area C zoning emphasis, as this is an industrial area.

In addition to the two the exhibit that Mr.

Nino said, there are two other references to this property in the plan.

The RFN asked for a minimum purchase price that was intended to cover the relocation costs of the parks and recreation staff that currently occupies the facility, a project description.

I'm sure intending to meet the goals of the adaptive reuse and intending to maintain that appearance of the armory, a financial plan to ensure that the respondents and the per eventual purchaser has the sources and budget to fulfill those plans, and a development schedule so this doesn't linger or or waver in any kind.

So what you asked for in the response for negotiations is exactly what Mr.

Habib's response and the St.

Benedict Holdings response provided.

It required a local business headquartered in Clearwater, a warehouse distribution and light manufacturing, because that was something that, despite the institutional zoning, could be supported and was reflected in the plan.

Job creation and CRA area hiring commitment and a capital investment facilitating further tax increment growth.

Most importantly, the community and substantial economic benefit to the CRA.

Why this proposal fits in the plan and how it delivers exactly what you thought and what you asked for.

The private investment and job creation in the corridor increases the employment employment above the density which was called out in the plan.

There is a proposal to increase employment by 20 to 30 members.

Currently, Mr.

Habib employs 20 about 24 employees on site.

This would more than double his employment numbers with a $65,000 median salary.

As we discussed, as we heard on Wednesday night, it was important to the community and I think important to Mr.

Habib that those jobs vary from the stock and warehousing jobs to the executive jobs, and of course, all employment opportunities are available.

It takes a tax exempt property that was previously owned by the state until recently and converts it into a tax-paying owner.

This would generate between 45 and 55,000 in tax increment financing to the CRA immediately, and that's an annual increase.

Obviously, the way tax increment financing works is as property appreciates because of investment, those dollars increase, creating more opportunity for reinvestment into the community.

Working through St.

Petersburg College through the pipeline, he already has a hiring partnership with Homeless Emergency Project or HEP and he also is committed to providing summer internships within the community.

The CRA plan calls for the adaptive reuse and preservation of historic assets, which this does within the response was a draft flexible development application that's been submitted pending this outline, which shows what the plan for the armory is, including the restoration of the original building.

Aesthetic improvement of underlying utilized properties, the facade and site improvements that were proposed show a visibly better building on a visibly better block, accompanying the parcels across the street with which Mr.

Habib's entities own where Yomama's currently operates.

He also the plan calls for minority-owned business support in the district, and also included in his response was his certified minority-owned business certification from the state of Florida.

This has been headquartered here for over six years.

I'll hand it over to Mr.

Habib to tell you a little bit about Yomama.

Thank you, Katie.

Mr.

Mayor, Council, and City staff, thank you for your time today.

For those who don't know, but um really this is at the heart of our Clearwater Origin story, and this is a project that we've been working on for over six years.

Our company is nine years old.

We were launched on Mother's Day in 2017 in my parents' dining room here in Clearwater, Florida.

What this picture shows you is our first headquarters, uh, which was a storage unit off of US 19 and Clearwater off of Nursery Road.

So uh, you know, we're a Clearwater-born company, we're a Clearwater-raised company, and we very much want to stay here in Clearwater.

As Katie mentioned, we've also been in North Greenwood for the past six years.

Uh so since our founding on Mother's Day of 2017, we have grown to an established national brand.

We're now a top 10 United States uh pasta sauce brand, and that data comes from from Nielsen.

Um so we've we've come a long way in our humble beginnings here in Clearwater to ultimately become and ultimately have a national presence here in Clearwater, which we want to keep on growing on.

These show you some uh specific figures around uh our Instacart growth.

We were named number two on InstaCart's fastest growing brands list.

Uh so we hope that this shows you that this is an established business and something that's uh we take very seriously about keeping it in Clearwater and uh obviously wanting to stay here as well.

So we're expanding, we're not leaving.

We did acquire the site of 1143 Elders Street in addition to 1125 Elder Street, which is our main headquarters.

1125 Elder Street was acquired in uh June of 2019, and 1143 Elder Street was acquired in December of 2025.

So as Katie mentioned, this uh goes on to our plan of ultimately anchoring a campus here in North Greenwood.

Uh so really again, we're we're built in Clearwater.

Um, we're one of the top 10 uh pasta sauce brands in the United States.

We export to 20 countries in the U.S.

Um, excuse me, we uh ship to 25,000 uh stores in the United States and we export to 20 countries outside of the U.S.

There's over six years in North Greenwood.

We've invested over 150,000 in pre-development costs into this project as well in over six years of time.

So this really was a coordination between the state, between the county, and between the city.

We propose a five million dollar total investment, and uh in addition to that, 20 to 30 new jobs at the site over the next five years.

So nine years again, one one zip code.

Um, we started uh in the family kitchen.

This just shows you some of our pictures.

I say this because Clearwater is a very uh important piece of our story, and uh it's a very important piece of my upbringing.

I was raised here in Clearwater.

I went to school here, and this community specifically is very important to us as a business.

As Katie mentioned, our entire team is at headquarters.

We don't have uh remote positions, we all come to work every day.

It's been a centralized location for our company to come from Tampa, Oldsmar, Palm Harbor, really everywhere.

So having that headquarters anchored in North Greenwood specifically in Clearwater is very important to us.

We did establish our headquarters in North Greenwood in 2019.

For those who are not familiar with the site of 1125, it was business record management.

The business uh the building uh needed a lot of work, and we've committed to that.

So, as we've uh improved our building, our neighbors have also made a lot of improvements in the area as well.

We expanded our campus, as I mentioned in December of last year, and this is very much you know a very big piece of our mission to continue to be anchored in Clearwater.

So we're not arriving again.

We've we've been here, we've been part of the Clearwater community uh since our origin.

We have partnerships with Feeding Tampa Bay.

Uh we we do a lot of different um opportunities and donations for food scarcity specifically with them.

We have a partnership with McDill Air Force Base here in Tampa Bay.

Um we also have partnerships with 360 Eats, HEP, and as Katie mentioned, St.

Petersburg College, USF, UT.

We do a lot of different local internships and a lot of uh hiring opportunities as well.

Uh so what the op what the armory ultimately adds to the community.

Um this is our our commitment is uh you know by allowing this to proceed today.

Um, you know, our ability to expand within Clearwater, our ability to invest in Clearwater, our ability to really be that economic driver, uh, create more jobs in North Greenwood, directly aligned with all of the CRA points.

So our first commitment is workforce development in North Greenwood.

Um, we've we've heard our community on the meeting last Wednesday specifically.

We're proposing some summer internships targeted towards the North Greenwood youth.

Uh we have full-time roles with first access hiring for local residents, um, training and placement uh through SPC and HEP, and this is really an opportunity uh for us to grow and expand within North Greenwood.

We'd actually be relocating a facility from Chicago to the North Greenwood area.

There's a tremendous amount of inventory that's currently sitting there for our business that we'd be looking to centralize and ultimately locate within the North Greenwood area.

Our company is really committed towards food scarcity, so expanded product donations both locally and throughout the Tampa Bay area.

We have an ongoing food partnership with 360 Each, who's also targeting the North Greenwood area as they're expanding.

And the armory space really enables us to facilitate a larger community footprint, which is what again we we heard on Wednesday.

So that deeper neighborhood investment is very important.

You know, we're not the savior of North Greenwood.

We we we want to be very much actively involved in the community, and we do that with the best of our ability.

We're a small team, so that deeper neighborhood investment is very important to us, and it always has been.

Once again, we've been in North Greenwood for six years, so I think that this is a really important piece of our story and our story to ultimately stay in Clearwater.

Um, so what this project ultimately delivers to Clearwater, I'll pass it back to Katie.

Sure, I know that you all are sitting as a CRA, but I think this project and this request uh speaks more broadly to the city's intentions from an economic development standpoint.

Um we speak often of the tourist and hospitality wins we have, recent wins in downtown, um, but I think everyone collectively in the community gets excited when you hear about employment opportunities with high-wage jobs from an economic development standpoint.

The acquisition of the armory by a small business like this provides specifically employment opportunities, increasing the tax base, and a better block.

Three huge things that every project you would hope in Clearwater from an economic development standpoint could reflect.

I wanted to touch on the fact that uh years ago when the federal government established opportunity zones, uh, the federal government did an analysis of certain census tracts throughout the country.

Uh, at the time, Governor Scott and then subsequently Governor DeSantis were extremely involved, intimately involved in ensuring that the state of Florida had some would say a disproportionate number of opportunity zones.

Uh but that said, uh Clearwater has several, including the North Greenwood area.

Opportunity zones were created to incentivize investment in underutilized areas and asking property owners or businesses to come in and either expand their footprint, operate economic development opportunities, or invest in real estate in these communities.

This project is a can be a wonderful example of how this opportunity zone process works to incentivize other investment into the community.

This is a rendering of the restored armory.

You'll see in the RFIT RFN response that this was the sketch that was included.

So this is just a color version of the sketch that was also online in today's agenda packet.

Um so this is it it is exciting to see something that's been in the community for so long.

So many of us have been there inside and out during our times growing up in Clearwater, and this is an opportunity to really see it be brought back to life, albeit for a different use, but something that certainly can be a pride of the community.

We obviously, as Mr.

Habib and I already both stated, there were some very specific asks on Wednesday night from the community, and I think that as he's very eloquently stated, this project is not intended to be a community service.

This is intended to be one piece of a very large puzzle to make the city of Clearwater and the community redevelopment area great and have and be able to contribute on a regular basis.

It provides permanent living wage employment for residents with an established small business, ongoing payroll that hopefully will flow to those employees who reside in the community, a tax-generating asset, those dollars through tax increment financing will be reinvested at your direction directly into the community, private capital being infused into this area.

This was a coordinated effort.

No secret here.

You know, years ago, Mr.

Habib said he wanted to make this his home.

He started his business in Clearwater.

He needed to expand, he wanted to expand.

He reached out to the city and asked if the armory was an option.

The city said no because the city didn't own it.

And so at which point, as any entrepreneur would do, he went to the state and said, is the armory an option?

Would you ever consider parting with it?

Through the coordinated effort with Representative Burfield and Senator Hooper, the state worked on an appropriate opportunity to either sublease the property or lease it directly from the state because of certain restrictions that the state had.

The end result was that the state would transfer this property to the city of Clearwater for economic development uses.

And so that was what generated the RFN that was issued in February, and where why we're here today.

Through this time, both in establishing his own business and an opportunity to expand.

Mr.

Habib has worked with Pinellas County Economic Development and has received small business dollars from it as well to support increased wages and increased hiring in Pinellas County.

City of Clearwater Economic Development obviously worked with him hand in hand back even when Ms.

Sanderson was here looking at how he can hire employees, how he can better grow his business in the City of Clearwater to keep a successful household name brand as a city of Clearwater business.

This is a plan in motion as evidenced by the response.

There's bank financing secured, there's already an operational campus that this would supplement.

This would facilitate the relocation of a portion of the business from Chicago to the city of Clearwater.

And Mr.

Habib is willing to obviously pay fair market value and fair market value, the two million purchase office offer.

I will discuss that.

So this is a national brand and community pride, and it is it's wonderful to see a business with such pride be located in a community that also has that same level of pride.

And the importance of this decision is not lost on Mr.

Habib or his team.

It's evidenced by the full room that was there on Wednesday night and here today.

This decision today is about the city of Clearwater, it's about the North Greenwood community redevelopment area, it's about economic development, it's about supporting small business, it's about the adaptive reuse of the armory plan, and most of all, it's about a first step in implementing a very thoughtful and very specific community redevelopment plan that the community and the city work together to establish.

This opportunity meets the goals of that plan, and we would respectfully request the opportunity to negotiate a contract with the staff and bring that back to you for further discussion.

Thank you.

All right.

So this time, is there anyone here from the public?

I believe there are who would like to speak to this agenda.

If you would when you come to the podium, uh, if you would uh identify yourself and then also fill out a comment card, comment cards and located here to the right of the dais and also in the back of the road.

Yeah, yeah, you can come on first, and then if you the others if you'd line up over here to the right side.

Good afternoon.

Councilman, mayor, and city uh employees.

I'm a Clearwater Beach resident.

I was born and raised here as a couple of years.

Ma'am, could you state your name, please?

Oh, Angelina Conkins.

Sorry about that.

Um, I do commercial real estate.

I've done that for over 20 years.

Um, I'm in full support of David Habib and your mama's newest head of quarters.

I've known David Habib, the founder, uh CEO and owner for four years plus now.

I'm honored to call him my friend.

He is a local humble philanthropist that is absolutely extremely generous, especially not in public.

He anonymously gives to schools, multiple homeless initiatives, speeds at risk residents, the homeless empowerment project.

Not only does he show up for all of these events, he shows up with his product, whatever you ask times too.

He serves the people, he cooks the food, he stands shoulder to shoulder with you.

Um he is definitely somebody that we want to keep in Clearwater, and I'm so proud to know him as a friend, and I hope everybody in this room chooses to try to be a friend to him.

Uh he's definitely our local success story, and we definitely want to keep him here.

Uh let's see what else.

Oh, if you call David Habib and you tell him your great aunt's sister's friend just got out of the hospital, he will drop off anonymously homemade food to the to them and take care of them.

So for regarding this, my vote is yes, and full agreement for your mama and David Habib, as well as our community.

He has given back and he's never given up on his dream for six years.

So, in order for us as a community to receive more tax dollars, more job opportunities, and most importantly, the socially responsible organization and founder of Yo Mamas.

I suggest that we keep him here, as well as uh Susan Perine.

She asked me to tell you that she's also in agreement as well.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

Um restart.

Or do I just take her time?

Okay.

All right.

Yes.

That's a good question.

Good afternoon, I should say.

I'm sorry.

Good afternoon.

My name is Kimberly Brown.

Um, I am a Clearwater resident.

Um, and in the North Greenwood area, I think we can all agree that is a special type of community.

Um, and so I'm here not against David Habib or even your mamas.

I'm actually here today because I'm super saddened and disappointed that the city refuses to work with the community.

The Coke was formed so we could revitalize the North Greenwood community, know what's going on with our community, and this was not communicated at all.

I understand they've been working on this for six years.

We had no idea till like three weeks ago, and I think that's very disappointing.

It's hurtful.

Um, we want our community to be revitalized.

Those of us who have lived literally in this community for 30, 40 years, me, 50, 60, 70, 80 years.

We do want this, but we do not want to be blindsided by the selling of our businesses in our community property.

It is very hurtful that community property is being sold without our knowledge.

Again, it's nothing personal against him or even your mama's expanding.

It's the fact we had no clue about it.

This is how gentrification happens.

Buildings and property get sold from under our nose, and we don't even know about it.

We don't even have the ability to get it for our own community, and that is hurtful.

Because, like I said, the cult was developed for that reason.

So we in the community who actually live there will have the ability to get this property and to use it and utilize it and build jobs for our community, our kids.

So again, I am just super disappointed for being blindsided by this.

Um, I just hope for the future.

We know, I know you all see it as just a building.

It is not just a building.

Not one piece of property in the North Greenwood area is just a building or just property.

It means something to us, and we do not want to see it just sold off without us knowing.

That's all we're asking.

Keep us in the loop.

That is all we're asking.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

My name is Pastor Carlson Childs with the Open Funds County Ministry Alliance and the World of Leadership Coalition.

How are you doing, Mayor?

Council to all of you.

Uh, yeah, we are very disappointed.

We gotta quit meeting like this.

Every time we come down here, we are disappointed about something that has happened without us not knowing about it.

Uh, nothing to do with Mr.

Habid, uh, nothing against his business.

I don't even know what your mama's is, so I'm not here against him, but I'm here representing the pastors and this community.

You say he's been there for six years.

I've been there 70 years.

So and the Army has been a place for us ever since we were kids.

And to hear about, I heard about, I first heard about it, Mayor.

I was at a uh dedication across the street at the Hit Start for my niece.

They was named in her honor.

And leaving there, I heard that this it was being sold.

And I remember when the hurricane cut one time, we had the viper with the kids over at the armory.

Now it won't be there for that purpose.

But to uh it's sort of like this affordable housing thing where all these buildings are being built, and nobody in North Greenwood can afford them.

It's like now, oh and the presentation was great.

Everything sounds great, the numbers sound great, Mr.

Jesus, but you know, it's hard for us to believe that it's ever going to come to the North Greenwood residents.

You know, we've been slapped two or three times, and and it's tired, like we're tired of being slapped.

Let us know about these things.

Uh I got a call from Mr.

Marino a couple weeks ago, month ago, and I appreciate the call.

But things like this, the pastors need to know about.

The pastors are really upset that this has happened and nobody knew about it.

And uh all we asked is let us be at the table, let us be involved when these things happen.

That's all we want to know.

This is our community.

We grew up there, we live there, and it'd be good if some of the jobs come, but who's gonna promise us that the job's gonna be available to the residents in North Greenwood?

Thank you, Patrick.

Next speaker, ma'am.

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council.

My name is Barbara Sorry Love, and this is not your first time seeing me.

I am the founder of Clearwater African American Foundation Inc., and our purpose and mission is to preserve and memorialize Clearwater's African American places, spaces, buildings, landmarks.

And we heard about the proposal at a city council meeting.

Well, no, take that back.

We heard about the proposal on the agenda.

I think it was part of the 6.1 item on the agenda.

So I followed up with Pastor Child's.

He didn't know anything about it.

We followed up with the coalition.

They didn't know anything about it.

As the pastor said, nothing but nothing uh taken away from Mr.

Abid.

I don't know the gentleman.

And according to what he presented in the community, in the community outcry, no one else knows him in the community.

North Greenwood does not need another warehouse.

North Greenwood was a hub of sophistication back in the day.

You see what's there now.

You see what has happened to the North to Clearwater Heights, formerly known as the Mac Dixon Subdivision.

All of that has a fingerprint of the city council not caring for African American communities here in Clearwater.

You see what happened to the cemetery.

You see what's happening to North Greenwood, uh North Garden Avenue, South Greenwood, South Garden Avenue, pardon me.

I'm a little choked up right now, but you understand what I'm saying.

South Garden Avenue, North Garden Avenue, Clearwater Heights, North Greenwood, Condon Gardens, all of those properties or communities are gone because of the decisions made here at City Council.

Mr.

Habib had six years to work on his plan.

We were only given 30 days.

You advertise through the I guess Tampa Bay Times.

We have a great communications department here with the coalition.

I have an online marketing uh paper that you could advertise with to let the community know.

No one knew about this until the day of this we met at the council meeting.

Okay, what can we do with the uh armory?

It can be a family center with AI interactive media.

We could have bowling there, we could have movies, we could have a micro pop-up as some of the people presenting here today.

We could have a similar thing like 70 shops, it could be a food court.

We have we could have something like Market Marie.

Um we have something uh once a year, family night.

We could have a family night once a month.

They do a great job of presenting family night, and it could be surrounded by the National Guard Armory.

So my position is do not accept his proposal, open it up for more proposals so we can get a fair chance to present a proposal to the Clearwater Council.

Thank you, Governor.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Thank you, and uh thank you for uh Brian for letting me move.

I was gonna get in line, and then I realized the line was way back there.

So my name is Gloria Campbell, and I am the executive director of the Clearwater Urban Leadership Coalition.

First of all, I want to thank those of you who did reach out to me as uh based on the information that I communicated.

A couple things.

One, I want you to hear the mission and vision of the coalition.

First, we believe our community can embrace who they are, can define their future, and can change the world.

The mission is to promote sustained economic growth in our community, develop business opportunities, preserve cultural history, and promote academic excellence.

Nobody here is against economic development.

Nobody's here is against Mr.

Habib and his project.

But what I do as I stand before you today to oppose this, not because of David, not because of what he's done, not because of his business, but because of the lack of transparency.

It's clear, based on the conversations I've had with everyone, that everyone here is going to vote for this.

You have sat at the table, you've eaten the spaghetti, and you drunk the Kool-Aid.

Now, in our community, that means that you disregard what we want with what we're saying.

You don't want to hear it.

You've already made your decision.

That's okay.

But when we look at transparency, I want to talk about two different historic properties.

North board.

In 2019, the city paid 1.6 million dollars to purchase that property from the school board.

It's been sitting there.

In 2005, the city decided to lease from the state, the armory.

On last month, I believe it was January and February, there was a call and tour for developers to come out, take a look, and come up with the recommendation.

What did we get on the armory?

We got a 30-day backdoor hidden agenda item on the for the on the agenda.

We can look back and we can look at the transparency, the lack of transparency.

Yes, you're right, it's been going on for six years.

We asked about the armory in 2021.

We were told it was a state asset and that parts and rug had nowhere else to go.

We've asked every administration about it.

We've been told the same thing.

All I'm saying is that you have to admit there was no transparency.

In June of last year, there were letters written by county commissioners in economic development, not talking about transferring the property.

It was talking about transferring the property to your mama.

Specifically, when the LOI came out, it was written for your mama.

Nothing against your mama, nothing against what they want to do, but the lack of transparency is evident.

And all I ask is you admit that and that you make it right.

That's the end of my comments.

Thank you, Ms.

Caleb.

Maybe next speaker, please.

For the neighborhood of North Greenwood, and open up the bid process for more opportunities from the community.

As your hearing today, and was expressed clearly last week at the CRA advisory meeting.

The process so far disenfranchise the North Greenwood neighborhood.

The evidence uncovered so far clearly shows not only a complete failure of engagement with the neighborhood and the CRA advisory.

It shows long behind the scenes actions that deliberately went around the neighborhood and created a situation where only one proposal could succeed.

To make matters worse, our local current elected leaders are at the center of it, including State Representative Burfield, Pinellas County leadership and city leadership.

Now to be clear, I understand Mr.

Habib's desire to expand his business and the desire of local officials to help businesses.

I support business development or community as well.

But our local elected leaders should know to involve the community, especially when it is public property within this new aspiring CRA.

Elected officials knew that neighborhood leaders have been interested in the same property.

They know the history here and how residents have been stepped over time and time again.

Yet, knowing all that, the only conversations they felt were important to have with city officials, state officials, and Mr.

Habib.

Neighborhood leaders had requested tours of the property and meeting multiple times over the last year, zero responses in return.

All while plotting a course for one preordained outcome.

This is not only bad governance, but a huge slap in the face to the community.

This looks like favoritism.

People are expecting a fair and equal opportunity, and they're not getting it.

It's incumbent upon you, the Clearwater Council to take a step back, talk to the neighborhood leaders, and give them a seat at the table for making decisions on this property.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Paperman.

Next speaker.

Hello and good afternoon.

My name is Mary Favorite.

I am a proud staff member of Yo Mama's Foods and formerly an elementary school teacher here in Pinellas County.

When I first started working at Yomama's, I started in the warehouse and was trained all the way up to where I am now, which is in the office.

When I first began, I went to Mr.

Habib and said, hey, there's this thing called the Great American Teach In, which if you have children, you probably know what that is.

And I would like the opportunity for us to go teach them about all the different departments here at Yo Mama's, and we were able to go to my old classroom together and teach the kids about marketing and finance, and it's just another clear example of how willing and it's it's not even willingness, it's just he loves doing it, going out into the community and giving back.

So of course that that meant a lot to me, but this is about all of us at Yomama's.

It will make getting the armory will make a lot of things much easier for our company.

So being in charge of all accounts receivable at Yomama's.

Having a third party logistics in Chicago is a bit tricky for us, and there's a lot of deductions that happen when you're not able to track the load all the way to the store.

Um by having it all on the campus here in Clearwater, we would be able to track exactly who signed off and who loaded it and who took the picture of it all the way to the store itself.

Um that's all I have to say, but I hope that you are considering in a positive way for us at Yobamas.

Thank you, Ms.

Mayor.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor Rector and Council members.

My name is Hannah Minard, and this is my husband, Rob Minard.

We are both residents and business owners here in Clearwater.

I am a proud member of the North Greenwood Citizens Advisory Committee.

However, I stand here today speaking as a resident and business owner and not on the behalf of the CAC.

We have all been following the proposed sale of the North Greenwood Armory.

As members of this community and as local business owners in North Greenwood, we would like to state that we stand with both the community and with Mr.

David Habib of Yomama's Food.

Both viewpoints are important and worthy of consideration.

Mr.

Habib is a Clearwater native who has worked hard to pursue this opportunity.

He followed the appropriate process, invested time and resources into navigating a complex situation, and remain committed throughout what has clearly been a lengthy journey.

His dedication to our city and his business is meaningful.

At the same time, North Greenwood is a historic community with more than 7,000 residents, many of whom feel surprised by how this process unfolded.

It seems there may have been some gaps in communication along the way.

That perception has understandably led to concern and frustration, and it has also placed a local business owner at the forefront of public scrutiny.

We should not pit business success against community voice.

Instead, let this be a learning moment.

The city needs to establish a more transparent, inclusive notification and proposal process for future public property dispositions so that this situation can be avoided in the future.

As local business owners and members of this community, we want to see positive development that moves in tandem with the community.

We truly appreciate the work that goes into these decisions.

Mr.

Habib's efforts and investment deserve a fair outcome.

At the same time, our residents deserve equal opportunity, clear communication, and trust in the process by addressing both Clearwater can support local businesses while strengthening community confidence.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Councilmembers, City Staff.

My name is Amanda Payne.

I'm the president and CEO of Amplified Clearwater.

I am here representing our business community and our entrepreneurs are a part of our organization.

Councilmember Tosheda, you said earlier that we're looking for a business with a proven track record.

You're looking for people to invest in this community and to come to the table and be partners with those that have a proven track record.

There is no one else in this room that has a better and a more proven track record than David Habib.

I'm here and I'm honored to stand in support of him and in support of the growth of his community, creating jobs in a community that needs the tax base that will create more opportunity for this community.

I think is imperative and a great next step.

He was born, as you know, we've we've heard his story, born in Clearwater, raised in Clearwater, homegrown, and is the exact kind of entrepreneur that we look to retain in our community.

This is the type of entrepreneur that we help every day at our organization.

Many of those that are in this room right now, and we're excited for his growth and the opportunity, and it's excited to stand beside him and his uh continued success.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon.

My name is Lodrilla Jenkins.

I've spoken several times before you all.

The presentation for Mr.

Habib, it was excellent.

And everybody else that spoke about Mr.

Habib.

I have nothing against Mr.

Habib and his business.

I also heard about the demographics of the armory where it sits.

I'm a homeowner.

And I'm going to tell you I pay taxes too.

When I first bought that house, it is like this quadruple.

So I pay tax dollars too.

Across from the armory is the Head Start Center.

Behind the Head Start Center, there's homeowners.

That area is over there where the Clearwater Country Club is.

I also grew up in that area.

I have a love and passion for it.

I hear everybody stand up here and they say our community.

No, it's a difference.

It's the business community.

It's the residential community.

And having a warehouse right there where I have to go when I want to go out to North Betty Lane.

Uh is right over there where the Phillies play baseball games and things that why do I need a warehouse in my area?

I'm all for him moving forward.

And it's for as some of the descriptions of the North Breed area.

It hurts me.

It's like we're a destituted area.

A blight.

We're not a blighted area.

We're a proud community.

I just shared with someone there was doctors and lawyers that came out of that community.

Right there on uh Pameta Street.

Let's go even further back on England Street.

Dr.

Telefair.

He moved the practice on Pameta.

Then he went to Southside St.

Petersburg.

Lawyers, there's professional athletes that have came out of our community.

Young man now, Nelson Taylor.

He's been out there at the Phillies.

Uh some of the children that have been going out there.

The community is supporting him out there.

So my area and my community is not destituted.

Back in the hands of the community so we can decide what we want to see.

And as far as that armory, I see it as being just like the Hale Center in Dunedin.

Thank you, Miss Jenkins.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon.

My name is Barbara Miller.

I was born and raised in the North Greenwood community, and I am still a resident there.

I am formerly I am retired from the city of Clearwater, worked 35 years.

I was employed in that Army.

I worked in the Army for several years.

And from one o'clock until 10 o'clock on Monday through Friday, it was full of kids.

And like everybody, you know, the other ladies before me say that it is personal.

Right now, I feel like I'm being pushed out of my own community.

I got my phone ringing.

People want to buy my house.

Buildings are going down that I was born and raised to see come up.

They are just tearing down.

But they are not asking us what we want in the community or giving us a chance to make a proposal.

We don't have a chance, and you know, I have grandkids, and I'm sorry to say that my grandkids would not know what North Greenwood was.

Only what I can tell them, they won't get a chance to experience that.

I have great grandkids that would not get a chance to experience what home is.

That area is home.

And I really, really feel like I'm getting pushed out with these factories, with these large houses that are coming up that are not for us to live in that community.

So I am asking that you do not, at least today, accept this proposal and give the businesses that are there, the community leaders, and our organizations a chance to do our proposal.

So please do not uh accept this proposal today.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Miller.

Next speaker.

Mayor, council members, uh, my name is Ryan Burge.

I live in Clearwater, I work in Clearwater.

Um I appreciate the time today.

I met David uh a few years back.

David's all over Clearwater.

I go to the pickleball courts, he's on the pickleball courts.

I see him driving on my way to Costco over the bridge from the beach, he's out the New Hall Kogan Trail.

So he's always at Clearwater, he's wearing the weighted vest, he's participating in the activities in the community.

I met him five years ago while I was with my family enjoying a sunset on Clearwater Beach, one of our you know, arguably best assets that we have.

Um today, David didn't ask me to come, he didn't know that I was gonna come.

My dad sent me an article about this meeting last night.

I read it and I said I have to come here to support him.

I think taking a long vacant building and breathing new life into it while creating jobs for local residents is ultimately the highest and best use for the armory.

Uh I looked through Google Maps as far back as I could go year after year.

I was back in 2007, the gates were locked, there's vehicles and storage there.

I think if this goes through, instead of housing equipment, it would house people, it would create jobs.

Um, what David and your mama's team have done to put Clearwater on the map is pretty remarkable given he's barely 30 years old.

Um, from the residential kitchen, like we saw earlier to the heart headquarters to now a full campus.

Everything he does is pretty careful and it's pretty planned out, and he spends a lot of time on it.

Uh, he's not just another small retailer trying to keep the lights on, he does have a big vision, and Clearwater is an integral part of the vision, and I think he hopes to keep investing in the community there.

I wanted to share a quick story because uh for those that don't know David, he shared some interesting stories that I think would be worth mentioning.

So uh, if you don't know, recently a few months ago, he was on Good Morning America, right?

That's a viewership in the millions.

Uh he was prepared, he had everything ready to go, he thought he might get hundreds of orders, they got thousands of orders.

Most entrepreneurs you know might give up or they might quit or they wouldn't know what to do, they might panic.

Instead, he went to work.

He hired a bunch more people, he scaled up his production, he literally worked until midnight, you know, all hours to get the job done.

And when they invited him to the view, which has a much larger viewership a few months later, he was ready.

They didn't have the same kind of issues again.

So he's always working to improve and to get better.

And this is uh what they plan to deliver when something unexpected happens, they learn from it, they gain from it, and they move forward.

He's grown up in Clearwater, you're earlier.

He could operate this anywhere, he could live anywhere, he lives in Clearwater, he was born here, he's raised here, and he wants to stay here.

Uh in the area where they go by, uh, a lot of their folks have been hired from the community there.

Um when he travels far and wide when he's meeting with Costco and Publix and Sam's Club at Walmart, he always tells me he's happy to come back home to Clearwater, and I you know tend to see him on the beach there.

And so it's uh it's good for me to represent a friend today.

I think, like I said, the armory purchase will allow your moms to continue to invest in the North Greenwood area to create more jobs and to continue to serve the community.

And I think people have very good comments today when they say they want to have their family there and have meals there.

I think you would be happy to do it.

Uh, I think those that don't know David, I think once they meet him, they'll be very happy that he is the person he is because he loves working with the community and doing those things.

So thank everybody.

Next speaker.

Uh hello, Mr.

Mayor, Council.

Thanks for having us today.

Uh, my name is Morgan Bradham, and prior to joining the team here at Yamama's Foods, uh, worked for my mom at a restaurant, 421, Cleveland here, uh, Carolyn's Kitchen.

We were there for 10 years before she retired.

Um, this is our home.

You know, we're all locals, we're all from the area, we're all just hardworking people from Clearwater.

Um, we have no intention of ever leaving Clearwater, of ever taking this business anywhere else.

And like uh was previously mentioned, uh, we're top 10 in our category now.

A couple years ago, we were like 17, 15, and it was really really hard past couple years.

We've had a lot of growth, which has just been a blessing.

Um, because of that that growth, and from just from someone growing up here and being here my whole life, to me, it's like people above us now are the giants like Campbell's multi-billion dollar you know companies.

The fact that we could even have a chance against them, and that headquarters is here in Clearwater, to me is just like the coolest thing ever, right?

Clearwater has something that could potentially be the next Campbell's, right?

Or reach that level, reach that status.

Um, in doing business and in our category, like you mentioned before, Costco buyers, right?

We have top high-level executives from all over the US flying in, coming to see the headquarters, coming to take tours, right?

Kind of getting the attention of these big retailers to come and check out Clearwater and get in touch with the local area.

Um, seven from that, we do certainly get back to the community.

Um Phoenix Santa Bay was mentioned in the past.

Uh, we have given over 50,000 meals to those in need, and we continue to amp that up as much as humanly possible.

And um, just like with the building that we're in now, we've completely restored it, made it nice again.

That's the intention with the the armory.

We're not going to change anything, we're not going to ruin anything.

If anything, it's going to be the best it's ever been.

And I can't speak on you know everyone's history history with the neighborhood in the area.

Um, but I will say that I do strongly believe that going with us as the owner of the new building or of the building would be its best possible outcome in keeping the history and keeping it restored as it should be and giving back to the community through the tax uh situation.

Thank you for hearing me out.

Thank you.

Thanks, Peter.

Good afternoon, council.

I think this is the first time I'm seeing you in 2026, and I'm not here about Clearwater Point, which is my neighborhood.

I'm here because I want to share uh, having worked with other neighborhoods, how much I support as you do.

I know the North Greenwood neighborhood.

However, a mistake has been made.

First of all, I would like to commend Mr.

Hadid.

No pun intended, if I was the old mama, I would be very proud of him because he's done beautiful work, and I appreciate all the young people that are speak for him because he's done well.

He did his homework, he prepared the proposal, he got supporters, and including at every level, state, county, city.

However, I think that we failed him.

Nowhere did we, and I consider myself also one of the community leaders.

Nowhere do we say to him, have you sat down with the North Greenwood community and asked them what they have in mind for the armory?

No one said to him, stop, son.

Let me share with you how important it is to get the understanding of what is needed in the community.

So today you've heard things like beyond that uh that uh the proposal went out and it went out only a month.

No one in North Greenwood knew about it.

You did get a very nice proposal uh from Mr.

Hadid.

However, you've heard words like there was no inclusion of anyone.

There was a constant misunderstanding of what the city of the county of North Wheel would wanted, and very other adjectives to say we did not listen to the people.

So I'm asking you, and with due respect to change the tide, and follow up on what the community has said, go back and ask for more proposals.

Because we the proposal went out, and we only got one project submitted.

I have in front of me a copy of this is what I really prepared before I heard all these good speakers have in front of me a list of what I call big buck developers versus cash poor neighborhoods.

This is a list since I became involved in Clearwater.

Starting with June 192012, where the Marriott Courtyard went forward to build a Marriott Courtyard, and they it was never placed on the consent agenda, approved.

The neighborhood was never asked.

Then of course we had majorly, and it's going on right now in 2018, in 2019, a decision for uh against the Edgewood neighborhood to build to build the Serena.

Now that same community is fighting that developer because they do not want the the uh uh Stevenson Creek damage and the manatees so again please listen go start for more proposals.

Thank you.

Next speaker speaker.

Good afternoon, Council Mayor.

I think all this has been said today, much I don't have to be redundant.

Um I want to say um I'm hearing all of the wonderful things that people have stated about Mr.

Habib, and I'm sure all of those things are great.

I'm sure he's done great things in the community.

Just wish he hadn't excluded ours.

Uh sounds like he walks on water and he's done great things.

Um I believe Katie said it was a collective effort, and with that collective effort, they gave him the opportunity to walk on water.

He didn't come and have conversation with us, not because he didn't know us or he couldn't.

He just chose not to, because he didn't really have to, because he had enough people that were there supporting him from start to finish.

Um again, um, nothing against David Habib.

I think he's a nice guy.

I'm sure he is.

Just wish I had more time talking with him and about how do we really make our vision for North Greenwood CRA to come to fruition, which would be inclusive of all of the the commun people that live in the community.

Um I am very hurt when I think about almost seven years now we have been working to create the CRA, and that came from a grassroots effort from the community, and we worked hard at with to make that come to fruition.

We created the North Greenwood Citizens Advisory Committee, so things concerning the CRA for North Greenwood were first come through the committee.

And if everything was so if it was so in alignment with what the CRA plan had, my question is why did it not come before us?

Why did it not come before the Citizens Advisory Committee before 30 days after we realized what was happening, right?

That's what we're just we're we're heard about that.

And um I would just say that as you ponder or you make your decisions today, which um I believe I already know how this is going to go, that you put some things in in place in that agreement that allows if he does um not do the things that he says he's going to do that will benefit the community when we talk about employment and jobs.

Um I know in a conversation prior to last Wednesday, we were told he had one employee from the community.

Maybe six, four, six, I can't remember exactly.

I think it was four.

So I'm not sure, and that came from a staff member that said he had one, and then all of a sudden he had four.

So I don't know if that was if there was embellishment.

I don't know.

But the point is if we're going to do that, let's let's just uh keep our word and let's put things in that agreement as you allowed the staff to negotiate with him to make sure that includes those things that he holds to them.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hello, Mr.

Mayor.

Hello, Council members.

Thank you for your time.

My name is Vanessa Pinkham.

I am a single mother.

I'm self-employed, and I'm a Clearwater resident.

In fact, I live on North Missouri Avenue, where I have for as of June of this year 10 years.

Before then, I lived at the corner of Jackson Road in Buddy Lane.

So I am deeply invested in my community.

I came to the meeting today.

I took time off of work because I feel so passionately about the improvement of our community, about the improvement of Greenwood, the time of between my living on Jackson Road and moving back to North Missouri.

I lived in Johannesburg, South Africa, where I saw disenfranchisement, racism, and inequality like we cannot fathom in this country.

And so listening to all of the concerns of the members of the Greenwood community and deeply empathizing with what they say and how they feel and how long they've been here, but also understanding that a rising tide truly lifts all ships by having such a strongly invested, clearwater-based small business, not only improving the beauty, the economic stimulus, the tax revenue, but then also the attention to North Greenwood.

What that will do for us as a community far outweighs any immediate protest or emotion that I could come up with.

I'm so impressed by all of those who've come up and spoken on Mr.

Habib's behalf, and then also those who have spoken to the history of the business, how much it has grown, and how passionately he has put back into Clearwater and the Homeless Empowerment Project, food outreach, the improvement that will come to the community will be incredible, and I very much am in support of a yes vote.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thanks, Speaker.

Hello.

My name is Kevin R.T.

Can we reset my clock?

My name is Kevin R.

T.

Lochland.

Some of you may know me because I sit in the mayor's seat for the Clearwater Marine Advisory Board.

Um, my second year as chairman, but my tenth year on the board.

Thank you for extending my term.

Uh you're usually only supposed to do two terms.

I'm also a candidate for seat five on your council as of a week ago.

I didn't expect to do it.

I felt it was something I needed to do.

And uh at the encouragement of the Beckmans and other people who I've supported for years, uh, I've been attending these meetings.

I went to the meeting for the landings presentation, and um I don't want to use any of the words that I would describe it.

I think I passed a note to somebody that says you can tell by the chance of success of a project by the quality of the presentation.

The fans you couldn't hear what they were saying, the screen you couldn't hear.

Some of them were very well spoken, some of them said um uh um they didn't cover the traffic, they didn't cover the crosswalk, they didn't uh address the name, they didn't get the same thing here.

Oh take up your time.

We're talking about this agenda item for the north.

Yeah, yes.

Well, this does relate it because I've been going to these meetings, and when I looked over the proposal from Mr.

Habib, who everybody speaks very highly of, and I'm very impressed with.

I've looked at it as a businessman.

I've run businesses since I moved to Clearwater 33 years ago.

I started a vending company out of that same storage unit that he started his out of on US 19.

I looked at the proposal, it looked great.

Let's expand there.

We know that's an area that needs expansion.

But then I went to the meeting, and I saw the passion that the people spoke with.

I saw near tears of what that building means to them.

But what I also really saw was no demonstration of what he's given back.

Sure, part of his taxes are automatically go into the CRA.

I believe the number estimated on there was $54,000 a year.

But he couldn't name one person from that community that he employed.

I believe it was 10% of his employees or people of color.

Maybe there were four, some uh slightly larger than that.

You heard them speak that they they hear that he's a nice guy, but they hear it.

They don't seem to know him.

They don't seem to know he hasn't been a part of Northwood.

He's been a business taking advantage of the CRA advantages, and I think he needs to do a little self-examination.

I do agree with Mr.

Babel, who conceded that maybe we need a little more time on this, but I also think that maybe he needs to sit down with this community, not just give a presentation, talk to these people.

I bet you they could bring him to tears too.

That's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Speaker Good afternoon, everyone.

Uh so for those of you that may not know me, my name is Kennard Robinson.

I am uh a business owner in Clearwater, I'm a lifelong Clearwater resident.

I also serve as chair as North Greenwood Citizens Advisory Committee.

So this is my first time standing in front of you, and this is a very impactful moment for us, but really for me, and let me explain why.

Around two or three years ago, I started to do some research into various things, and one of the things I found was uh Clearwater City Council meeting minutes from 1985.

And in that meeting, my great great-grandmother, Al Bryant, and her sister, Cherry Harris, were in that meeting extremely frustrated and disappointed with the city, and they were sure to express their disappointment and frustrations.

And as many of you may know, uh, through the efforts of a number of commit uh community members, uh our park in our community was later named after my aunt Cherry because of her hard work and her efforts in the community.

So the reason why this is so impactful for me is because here it is four generations later, and now I'm standing in front of you expressing the very same disappointment and frustration.

And I think that's very important to highlight because the decision today is gonna make a it's gonna make an impact one way or another.

So it comes down to what type of impact do you want to have made.

So four generations from now, when my great-great-grandkids are looking at this, are they going to be able to see a measurable change or are they gonna see the exact same thing?

All we're asking right now is A to be included in the conversation, and B to have time to really put forth maybe a proposal of our own.

And truthfully, if this is really you what you feel is the best offer for our community when it comes to David Habib and Yo Mama's Foods, what's another 30 days?

What's another 60 days?

It's something that can still happen if you truly feel that this is the best decision, but we don't know that because we were never given opportunity to put forth a proposal of our own.

So I say, let's table this, let's have more conversation, maybe let's give some opportunity for other individuals or other companies to maybe put forth a proposal, and honestly, even better, I think it's a phenomenal opportunity for David Habib to really ingrain himself in the community to maybe enhance his proposal, inclusive of all the thoughts, feelings, emotions, and everything that we all want to see from a community perspective.

Thank you very much for your time, and I appreciate looking forward to your decision.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

No other speakers?

Okay.

With that, we'll move to uh council.

Excuse me.

Trusting discussion.

So with that start, uh Vice Mayor.

Uh yes, sir.

I actually have a question from Mr.

Habib.

Okay.

Hey David, how are you?

Thank you for being here today.

Uh, my question is if this doesn't go through, what would happen to your mama's food and clear water?

What is that future look like?

I mean, for us, this has been a six-year coordinated effort, so uh our distribution would continue in Chicago.

The the plans to relocate and create more jobs here wouldn't happen.

And ultimately uh it would be a massive hindrance on our ability to grow and expand.

Uh I hope that's you've you've seen that we've been a good community member over the last nine years that that we've been here, and um I would uh really support that this proceeds today.

Another 30 days or 60 days is is a lot for us.

Um each each day is time, each day is money.

continue in Chicago the the plans to relocate and create more jobs here wouldn't happen and ultimately uh it would be a massive hindrance on our ability to grow and expand uh I hope that's you've you've seen that we've been a good community member over the last nine years that that we've been here and um I would uh really support that this proceeds today another 30 days or 60 days is is a lot for us um each each day is time each day is money we've spent a tremendous amount of that already on this project and um in order for us to to proceed we wouldn't we would uh very much hope for a yes today so does that look like you would still be able to have operations in clear water or does that mean you'd be focusing elsewhere in the county in the city we we wouldn't maintain our operations in clear water we're committed to that but the ability for us to relocate um another facility in clear water would would be hindered thank you I've got more but I'll let the the rest of the questions have thank you Dave I I don't know do you have questions I don't have questions I just wanted to have something I want to go this direction yeah I'm good thank you thank you for being here today I have um I have some stuff I want to say at the end but just for purposes I was I was at the meeting last week um as well on a personal level did you learn anything from that meeting absolutely I think um this is a very passionate community uh you know I was part of the North Greenwood um uh steering committee before the CRA was formed I was told I was told last week that I was only in one meeting I was in 17 meetings and I have receipts and and and records of that I think I appreciate the passion of the community to tremendously and our effort and the ability that we want to move forward as a partner and as a neighbor with them I welcome them I welcome all of them I I haven't seen any of them come to to us either and I say that in in a a true sense of you know I know everyone I know what their stance is here and I know that they're very passionate about the community and I very much respect that I respect our neighbors and I look forward to the opportunity to to build a bridge and to accomplish what all of us want in North Greenwood which is economic development job creation reduced poverty I think everything that this community has put together through the CRA plan is is very much why we are in North Greenwood and we want to be a part of that story.

So I welcome everyone from the the the neighborhood I welcome the opportunity to get to know everyone and I'd like to know what specific organizations they would like us to you know work with I would like to know what what specific people who we should be meeting and I've already had a lot of those conversations with with three of them so I look forward to continuing that as well.

Thank you that was a kind of rolling into my next question was there was a lot of discussion in that meeting not necessarily about your lack of community involvement because there's no question you're passionate about your community but the lack of community engagement in the North Greenwood community is there anything post that meeting that you are willing or plan to do different regarding community engagement in the North Greenwood community?

Absolutely so a workforce development was instilled into our plan and that's something to the creation of of summer internships and creating further opportunities for North Greenwood residents the ability to partner with a lot of the schools potentials that we would like to outline in in an actual agreement so going off of what what what Marilyn said those are already in works I have wonderful counsel with with with Katie and we're very much committed to partnering and making sure that the community is heard and that that's also included in our proposal moving forward specifically the um agreement or the RFN outlines the minimum that would be required in the agreement after the responses were due and there was the notice of intent to grant it we had a call with the team and then Mr Kohler and I also spoke about what some of those additional minimum requirements might be.

Obviously in light of Wednesday's ninth meeting and some of this reaction I would expect the council to ask for additional items things like a deed restriction for the use the renovation of the property to maintain it in its historic format whether some of the things that I think Mr Habib is willing to do in our appropriate like the internships or those things might be appropriate in a separate agreement or we've we bounced around a development type agreement that's independent of you know the conveyance that our expectation would be your authorization today to continue negotiations or to enter into negotiations would be exactly that an opportunity for you all to give input to staff for the community to give input for staff and for us to bring back a contract or a proposal that you know everybody can be proud of thank you just another if you don't mind thank you thank you for that um David a question um and I appreciate you answering these questions um commitments are one thing um and and they sound great um and they excuse me look great on a presentation what what kind of a assurances or safeguards can you give to the community that for instance my biggest fear is you your head's been down your grinding your business is crushing it there's no questions about it congratulations you just outgrew your footprint in a handful of years what happens in three years if you've won

Um, and I appreciate you answering these questions.

Um, commitments are one thing, um, and and they sound great, um, and they excuse me, look great on a presentation.

What kind of uh assurances or safeguards can you give to the community that for instance my biggest fear is you your head's been down, you're grinding, your business is crushing it.

There's no questions about it.

Congratulations.

You just outgrew your footprint in a handful of years.

What happens in three years if you've once again crushed it out through your footprint?

What type of assurances or guarantees are there for the community that this beautiful building you plan to restore and preserve today doesn't all of a sudden get knocked down in three years to the highest better?

Can you speak to that?

Sure.

So as Katie mentioned, there would be protective measures that would protect the community and both the city as well.

Uh we're a growing business.

Um, you know, we had one one head we used to came from my my parents' dining room to where we are today.

Uh there's additional space for us to expand at the armory.

Uh again, we're not looking to to demolish that.

We want to preserve it, but there is additional property adjacent to the existing building that we have plans for uh to ultimately uh create additional space if that's needed when that time comes.

Uh but once again, you know, we're we're committed to to Clearwater.

I want to stay here.

Our team is committed, and we're we're very much committed to to the North Greenwood uh corridor, and as you've you've heard today, we we we could have gone everywhere.

I mean, there's there's many other cities and other opportunities that we've explored, and I've made it very intentional that I want to stay here.

So that's my goal, and um you know, very much want to see that happen.

I appreciate that.

Uh the last thing, if you don't mind.

Um, in in going forward, is there are you willing to have I and I know there were some ideas thrown out in the meeting on Wednesday, and some were probably not feasible.

You're a small business, can you just create additional jobs for community development or involvement?

Probably not at the size of your business.

But are there discussions you're willing to have with the community, whether it's scholarship opportunities, certificate programs at Pinellas Technical Institution, maybe being an annual sponsor at one of their biggest community events down there to get more engaged in directly in that and in our Greenwood community.

Are those discussions you're willing to have?

Absolutely.

I I look forward to having them and I welcome all of them.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Yeah, like I've got a few things.

Dave, I've known you for now two or three years.

I know what kind of person you are.

Uh you're a man of your word.

Uh you know, my office was right across the street from where you are now.

I just happened to retire back in 2016, so I missed you coming in.

But um the neighbors around there told me about you as you started growing, and I've been very proud of your growth and what you've accomplished.

Um, here's what I do know about you.

I know that when you say something, you stick to it.

And I know you want to be you're like me, you're born in Clearwater.

I mean, you're here in Clearwater, you've lived in Clearwater all your life.

Um you want to be a good community leader.

Well, first of all, when I'm looking at this whole thing, um there was really nothing done back door on this at all.

I mean, you didn't even know that you could get the auditorium.

That was something that just came up.

I mean, for a couple of years, we were trying to get the state to do some kind of something with us.

We weren't even guaranteed that it was gonna happen.

Then it kind of happened real quick.

Um I think you're doing everything a business should do for a a uh a community because now an untaxed big piece of property in that area is gonna become on the tax rule.

And listen, you guys have been here.

I've worked with you for seven years on the CRA, and I'm very proud that we have a CRA there.

This is the kind of uh light industrial is perfect for a CRA.

It's perfect because they don't require, they don't require anything like parks, libraries or anything.

They don't require it, but they give you the money to for you to get that kind of stuff.

And I mean you already have a beautiful library, you only have a beautiful rec center there.

You things are happening there, and I I'd love to see the downtown be like it was when I was young growing up there.

I mean, and I think it's gonna happen with the CRA.

And you guys have worked real hard for that.

But this step here, this is gonna really help fund a lot of things that I mean you can maybe even get the kind of things you're talking about with him helping you.

In fact, he's got enough area, he might even, if he says he's gonna work with you, I think he'll open his doors and work with you on that.

I'm just making a statement, I'm not asking for a debate.

Trustees discussion.

So I think this is a good opportunity, and and again, I want to congratulate you for what all you've done, and um, and I know that you're going to do for the community.

Thank you.

That's it.

Thank you.

Okay, that's my introduction.

So, as you can imagine, this has been in the forefront of my mind for uh weeks now.

Um I'm trying to process everything that's been said to me and everything that I've read, and I'm trying to organize my thoughts.

So for the uh purpose of transparency, I wrote it down so that I can make sure I cover everything and explain clearly in a transparent uh fashion how I how I'm thinking and the my thought process.

So let me begin by saying that one of the most meaningful aspects of me serving on this council in the last four and a half years was the opportunity to witness support and champion an initiative that was literally started and finished by the community.

Um, and I enjoyed being part of it.

I've all I'm always saying I'm tired of the talkers, I want to see the walk, and you guys are walking.

Um, so truly a pleasure and an honor to see that.

I also had the privilege of going to several meetings where I saw firsthand how engaged the community was.

We did interactive exercises, so not only did we hear the voices, but we actually saw through actions what their vision was.

And that means a lot.

Participation means a lot, and so that speaks to the people who are involved, not only to the community, but the community leaders as well as the city.

So I want to kind of go through my thought process, and it starts with this.

The council, and I was happy about this.

We allocated the ARPA funds to help kick start the CRA.

Because I knew it was very important to be healthy right at the start.

Um, it was an intentional one-time investment to move momentum into action.

It is important to recognize that this type of funding will not be available in the future, which means it is more critical that these initial dollars are used to stop establish a strong foundation.

Since then, I have been very passionate about supporting its early stages, making sure that it's successful, including looking ahead to projects like the container initiative, container initiative.

And if you recall, the containers idea was originally for downtown, and when we couldn't do it and you guys took it over, I was like, you go, girl.

I was really happy that the community was so active in that in creating that environment.

Um, and I believe it's gonna be really important for the future of that community and the engagement.

We also made the decision where we purchased a debilitated property, which I, as a businesswoman, know it didn't make sense in the numbers, didn't it was above appraisal, it was about and it was debilitated.

But you guys needed that.

It was a strategic decision because we need you to kick start and be successful from the beginning.

And as we know, the CRA is still in its infancy.

It is critical that the TIFF revenue generating projects are prioritized versus the wonderful projects that may sound good, but will bleed the CRA.

These projects will effectively feed the CRA, helping to ensure its long-term sustainability and financial health as it grows.

At its core, this effort has been uh about responding to your vision, and I've enjoyed the process and taking tangible steps to bring your vision.

Now, here's the difficult part, and rightfully so.

What I'm gonna say is gonna be scrutinized, and I'm hoping that you will understand my thought process.

This part of the conversation is tough, um, especially the decision I have to make.

The fact that I have read and heard from various sources, including two conversations with Mr.

Robinson, who um I want to thank one of the rare um individuals that we can disagree and have a robust conversation and still feel safe.

We're still gonna have lunch next week.

Thank you for sharing your ideas because he actually did um enlighten me into to some aspects that I was not aware of, and we were able to do that because we were honest with each other and open.

So, Mr.

Robinson, thank you.

Um I understand and empathize with and respect all perspectives that I've been shared.

And there have been several different ones.

I want to be transparent about that.

What I'm afraid of, though, is that this conflict is going to set us back, and it shouldn't, because we've been working well together for years.

And so I'm hoping that this will be a learning opportunity to see where the errors happened.

Errors that I'm hearing are lack of transparency, uh, lack of communication, communication breakdown.

Let us work on that, but not use this as a reason to go backwards, because we've got a lot of work to do together.

But regarding this property, it is my opinion that context matters.

Nearly six years ago, Mr.

Habib, facing significant business growth and need for additional space, initiated the process of acquiring the armory.

It was hard, I don't think he was gonna be able to do it.

A lot of hurdles, a lot of challenges, um, but he was persistent.

As a direct result of those efforts, we ultimately, the city received an armory as a gifted asset.

Nothing to the taxpayers, we didn't pay for anything.

Then we followed the requirements, we put the public notice on um, and was issued in January, and then by March, Mr.

Habib was a sole responder.

From there, the city made the decision to move forward with selling him what we were gifted.

And this is not, I believe, just a transaction.

It is a project that is guaranteed to be successful, in my opinion.

It it is expected to generate 20 to 30 full-time jobs, with an average, and this is important, mean salary of 65,000.

This is not flipping burger salary, um, with meaningful exterior uh improvements, as well as upgrades to several other aspects of it.

It will strengthen the local economy, encourage long-term private reinvestment, and carries a high level of execution certainty.

It is also important to note that this building was previously city occupied, therefore tax exempt.

Nothing, nothing to give to the CRA.

You did not benefit from it.

Through this transaction, it will return to tax roles, directly benefiting the CRA and contributing to the long-term financial sustainability.

At its core, this opportunity exists because of Mr.

Habib's initiative.

We did not want it.

We did not initiate it, we were not actively going for it.

We were pretty comfortable over there.

But this was his work.

This was his challenge.

So, quite simply, um, we would not be having this conversation if not for him.

It would be a moot point.

This is where my principles come into play.

After years of work led by one individual to bring this opportunity forward, I could not, in good conscience, support receiving a gifted building, sale it, sell it back to him as a result of his efforts, and then actively redirecting it to another party.

I find that difficult.

I would never do it to you or anyone else.

Working so hard for an objective and then having it taken away.

And I'm sorry I disappointed my my decision has disappointed you.

But don't, but this shouldn't stop us.

I'm hoping this will be a learning opportunity.

Uh Vice Mr.

Cotton.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Um let me start with Miss Uh Gloria, Miss Marilyn, Mr.

Kennard, and other leaders that have spoken here today.

I want you to know that I I have heard you.

And when I'm when I say that, let me explain what I believe that you're saying, and this that you've been left out of the process that you weren't unaware, and um you were surprised by this.

So I want you all to know that I am going to take that back and see how we can make sure that that communication process is thoroughly sent out, especially to our CRA leaders, leaders of the community, um, because we can tell, we can I can tell, feel the passion.

It's your neighborhood, just like where I grew up in countryside.

I feel those same passions, the roots and what's happening around that area.

I understand it.

So my commitment to you is to follow back up and see in the future where things go when they come in, that you all are fully briefed and prepared and understand what's happening, making sure that it gets back to our churches through Pastor Childs and all of those things, because I know that you know church is definitely another area where the community goes and and word spreads.

So I want you to know I'm definitely gonna take that back, and that's what I've heard.

If there's anything else, please respond back to me and let me know that.

I hope that each of you understand I do reach back out and and we'll definitely do that.

Um to Mr.

Habib.

I think that that story of growing up in Clearwater, being born and raised here.

I think that that story of growing up in Clearwater, being born and raised here, wanting to start something and doing it in your mom's kitchen, founding your business here, wanting it to stay rooted in Clearwater is not only just a cool story, but it's something that I think that all of us could try to draw inspiration from.

The reason I asked what would happen if he if he didn't get the property is because I don't want to see a story like that leave, right?

And when you're forcing a company to start looking out into other regions, whether it's here in Pinellas, whether it's in the tri-county or tri-regional area, you know, even though his intent is to stay here, depending on what other building he might find in said area, it might just be smart to where he has to make the decision to now sell his property here in Clearwater and go there and move all operations to Pasco Hills Barrel Manatee, right?

And then what do we have?

We don't we don't have anything.

Um when it comes to the inspirational story that Mr.

Habib has for this area for this community, um, and what I know of Mr.

Habib too, I I do believe he's a man of his word.

I I know that it's hard to probably process that through what you're going through now and being blindsided with some of the words that I had heard to maybe try and start trust from that.

I I'm not faulting anybody, but I do believe the fruits of of his labors and and the and the meaning behind his words are going to be there.

Um this is the start of that negotiation process in my mind.

Um, and you know, I've talked to some other people since your meeting as well, and and I want to reassure you that we're gonna protect the community, we're gonna protect taxpayers and those of the community members that um if something were to go awry, that the city would definitely be able to take or or have the first bid to that property to get back, and and I think that he will have no problem agreeing to that, um, just knowing the man of Mr.

Habib that I know that you've heard others state and know.

So that's um what's gonna dictate my decision here, and I want the community here at large, so everybody that spoke that feels blindsided.

Um, I'm definitely taking that heart too, and and we'll try and I will try and definitely make sure that that doesn't happen again with future things.

Um I don't want to you know say what's already been stated, but um I I do think that that we do have to know that this did start from a state level and it just kind of started happing rapidly.

So that's where my decision is gonna be coming from.

I hope that I articulated that well enough.

Um, and and where we go from here.

So thank you there very much for your time for everybody, genuinely.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

Thank you to all you that got up and spoke.

Much appreciated.

I've had a lot of in-depth conversations with several of you.

Um heartfelt, genuine, real, um, and I appreciate that opportunity.

Uh I attended the meeting, as you know, last Wednesday, and as every single one of us that sat in there, you felt and you witnessed the passion and pride that exists in our North Greenwood community.

And I said earlier on the phone, I wasn't reminded of it because I never forgot.

Um, but you felt it, and you couldn't get away from it.

Um, and that that's powerful.

That's a powerful feeling in that community.

We heard stories of the armory's history.

We've heard stories of storm shelters, after school youth programs.

We heard stories of youth dances, pick up basketball games.

In fact, I have memories of playing basketballs and on the basketball on that court in the mid-90s.

I'd go back and have memories there as well.

I was touched by the expressed emotions.

There was a lot of emotions that were said.

I took notes on every single speaker, um, and it was hard to not be saddened.

Some people cried in there, um, and rightfully so.

Frustrated, disheartened, saddened, tired of broken promises.

Those are all powerful emotional words that uh any of us sit there and hear about any members of our community.

It's hard to not be touched.

Um, it meant a lot.

Additionally what stood out were the many conversations that focused on what's not being discussed so much here as and now, and that's the process, the process that brought that event together that night.

The process that brought 89 individuals from our community out.

It said, why do I keep having to come to these meetings to feel like I'm fighting for something, right?

Why can't we at some point have 89 of us gather in a meeting to celebrate, right?

And I hope we get there soon, and I pray we get there soon.

Ms.

Barbara Sorry Love, you I can quote you if you don't mind.

And you said the process fell short of communicating.

Ms.

Gloria Campbell, you said the idea sounds great, but it sucks the way it was presented.

I agree with you 100%.

I would be lying if I said I didn't.

The process did fall short.

The idea does sound and look great, but the process sucked.

I learned a lot from the process or lack thereof or the fractured process that it may be.

I think our staff did.

I think they've already had as a leadership team, probably pretty deep discussions on re-evaluating or evaluating our processes, because everything that staff did was legal.

It was by the book.

There was a precedent that set all throughout our community.

It wasn't treated any differently than some of the other projects that are in front of us now.

But there are deep discussions that need to be had on are we doing this right?

Are we handling these processes right?

And for me, this process did not feel right, and we need to reevaluate that.

I think it's important at this time we find a way as a community to try to shift away from the layer of emotional arguments because there's a lot there, and those are easy to have, and try to shift more into those practical areas in an effort to make not only the best business decision this council can for today, but for future generations to come, for four generations to come, Mr.

Kennard when your fourth generation grandchildren look back at the City of Clearwater notes and see you proudly and humbly stood before us and addressed us with strength and leadership.

I hope they look back and see a positive change.

I truly do.

Early revenue is how we can create that revenue in the CRA.

So that when that right opportunity does come before us, we're ready to act, we're able to act and move forward instead of watching it go somewhere else or go to a different neighborhood.

I think establishing a strong stable anchor project early in our CRA's life stage, which we are at.

We have to find ways to drive revenues.

We have to find early in that cycle a way to create those revenue streams so that we can make bigger successful possible down the road.

History also shows that there's a natural instinct to wait.

CRA so often all over the country, they wait and they hold out for that perfect community project, that perfect community partner, that perfect applicant.

We don't have that today.

We truly don't.

We don't have a perfect process.

Mr.

Habib would tell you he's not a perfect community partner, the perfect applicant.

It's probably not the perfect time.

But the truth is those type of projects don't just happen in a vacuum.

Those projects happen in places that already show signs of stability, signs of investment, and signs of progress and forward movement.

That's when those big moments become possible.

An anchor project is how we create that signal.

It's how we communicate not just to our community, but to developers, investors, and the rest of the region that we are moving forward.

An anchor has reliability, brings consistent use, consistent activity, and consistent revenues into the CRA and the North Greenwood community, without waiting years for permitting process of new construction projects, shovels to be thrown in the ground, and bricks to be laid.

Think you said last Wednesday that the day this property is handed over to you and the keys are handed, your group is immediately going to work in the building and working from day one.

It's turnkey and ready to roll.

Without a steady base, we're left just hoping, hoping for that perfect project, hoping for the perfect time, hoping we can act fast enough, hoping that we have the resources available when we need them.

We need to tell a story of change that's actually happening.

Not broken promises, not one time recurring dollars from a sale.

Revenue that can be reinvested, like we've talked about so often directly backed into the community.

And whatever those may be that our community decides, whether it's letting kids swim for free instead of putting a credit card down for a North Greenwood child that wants to swim during the summer.

Not sure how many of those seven-year-olds have credit cards when they show up to go swim.

Whether it's upgrades to infrastructure, sidewalks, safety, signage, historical preservation, monuments, whatever it is, projects like this are what enable us to get to that place to make those decisions.

We're building momentum instead of waiting for it.

I am sorry that you feel left out.

I'm sorry that I'm disappointing you today in this decision, like I told you on the phone, and I know I am.

I've prayed on it, I've made a lot of phone calls, I've dug deep, I've poked and bothered and prodded staff at all hours to push them to be better.

But I think this is a decision that I have to make and the council has to make going forward to ensure future generations in the Greenwood community.

Don't just stare at a historic, beautiful, dilapidated building that holds so many memories.

It's solely holding bleachers, garbage cans, and as a storage facility, but that that beautiful memorable building has the ability to pay it forward to raise taxes and revenues to truly help the community and provide resources where it's needed.

Thank you.

Okay.

Well, I will uh go last and I'll do my best not to repeat what's already been said by my colleagues up here, but uh did want to say a few things.

First thing I want to say is that uh this discussion today is not about one lot, one piece of property, it's about uh not and it's not even about one neighborhood, it's not even about one uh community redevelopment area, it's about our entire city and the importance of this area, this neighborhood to our entire city.

It uh it's not a discussion about Mr.

Habib, it's not a discussion about North Greenwood, it's not a discussion about the city, it's a discussion about us.

And uh the one thing that I think that I have taken away from the talking with members of the committee and folks over the last several days is I have learned a lot.

One thing I have learned is uh we need to do better as a city in communicating uh with this neighborhood and with the folks who live within the CRA.

Uh and one of one of the committee members gave me the a little bit of a pass.

She said, Well, you know, I know this has been going on six years, and you haven't been around for all the history and all.

Well, I appreciate that, but I won't take a pass.

I'm the mayor now, and I'm a council member now, one of the five folks who should be engaging the community and should be engaged in this neighborhood.

And uh we all staff, and I know Mr.

Battle apologized in the for communication the other day at the meeting, and uh but I want to apologize to you to because it's on me, just like it's on all of us.

Uh we need to do better, and we'll do better.

And Pastor Childs was here.

He pointed out that uh I've not met with the pastors recently, and I intend to do that, made a note to do that.

But uh I hope we will see this coming out that we have learned a lot.

And I know uh Mr.

Harbib's already uh uh acknowledged and Ms.

Cole that you know they they need to make some more intentional efforts to lean into the community too.

But I hope I hope that we all know that this discussion today, it's about us, and the city has of course invested, you know, quite a bit of money to seed money to start the CRA.

We all want this to be successful, and uh hopefully that's where it's all headed.

Um that we will continue to work together after today to to make this not just this neighborhood, the CRA, but the entire city thrive.

Uh I did want to point out somebody that came to the microphone uh talked about you know, to you it's just a building.

And I want to share, at least for me, that that's not true at all.

It's not I've I've been through that building several times, never had the opportunity to play basketball there, like council member Manino, but I see all the pictures on the wall.

I know the history.

I've also been through the armory in Tampa.

Um, that armory in Tampa is you know, Elvis performed there three times, I think, back in the day.

And I know there were other notable uh famous performers that performed over there.

I know it's been a focal point for uh the entire city uh over the years.

Uh and I also know it's across the street from Jack Russell Stadium, which was another focal point for the city for years with the Phillies.

And uh then, you know, we have Buccaneer Field just on the other side of that.

Why?

Well, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers used to have their uh their preseason practices over there, and of course we know the Ross Norton, North Greenwood Recreation Center is on the site of where the original Clearwater Athletic Field was at, where the Brooklyn Dodgers first started the spring training in Clearwater 110 years ago.

That entire area has incredible history, and I know there are many other activities going over there through uh North Greenwood that um that we we want as a city we want to protect.

And I hope that you know this we are simply approving uh accepting the proposal today.

I hope that we will engage Mr.

Happy in conversations about agreements to make sure that this history is preserved, and some of these other things that the community has shared with me are very important to them to helping the entire neighborhood and CRA thrive.

I hope that we will negotiate those in to the agreement to make sure that there are commitments as we go forward to making this property and the whole CRA successful.

A couple other things I wanted to uh just mention briefly.

One is um council uh Vice Mayor Cotton mentioned it earlier, and he asked the questions to Mr.

Habib.

Folks, um Mr.

Habib's business has been incredibly successful, so successful that there are surrounding communities, cities, uh just in this county, who would, in a heartbeat, love to have him and would incentivize him to come their way.

Uh I thank him for his efforts to stay in Clearwater and to stay in this CRA.

Uh he has an he has grown an internationally known business in the CRA.

And uh just across the street from the property that he wants to occupy.

He could go anywhere.

And I can tell you over uh Clearwater's history, many, many businesses have left.

They have gotten to a point where they're too big, can't find property available, they leave in a heartbeat.

So his efforts to try to stay not only in the city of Clearwater, but in this neighborhood, uh I I thank him for that, because I do recognize that it would be really easy for a lot of other businesses, and they have to move elsewhere.

And I hope that him staying here and growing here, that the CRA will be able to use it to be very proud that this is the headquarters and location for an internationally owned business, in that it will encourage others to come here and establish their their economic opportunity.

They'll bring jobs, they'll do these other things that we all want.

I think one of the funniest moments I've had in dealing with the CRA was one of the initial forums.

I think it was before we even officially became the CRA, was the residents came in and talked about the needs for the neighborhood and the CRA, and one of them was that it's a food desert.

There's people don't have transportation to go get groceries, and there's not a grocery store within an easy distance for them to get to.

And uh, and then a gentleman said, Well, I've got an idea, you know.

I have rel, you know, I have a relationship with this uh supermarket company, and and immediately everybody said, No, no, no, no, we don't want that one.

That's that's not the one they wanted.

But but unanimously, everybody recognized that we need economic inspiration into this area to get a supermarket in there, provide these essential services that we want.

So that's what I'm hoping that this will inspire more economic activity, and that we have other places, the growth and possible growth, to provide some of these things that the neighborhood has wanted for so many years, uh, that will only come by folks having confidence in businesses like this one, Yo Mamas, not only staying there but growing there.

They believe it's a great spot to be, and hopefully others will come and want to join them as well.

So with that, uh I just want to thank everybody that I spoke with that shared the thoughts with me.

Ms.

Sorry Love, I didn't get a chance to talk with you, but you gave me some time tomorrow.

I know the staff is committed to uh to leaning in listening to you more carefully and doing better, and uh in the way we communicate with you and those the folks that live in the neighborhood and the CRA going forward.

So with that, is there any further trustees discussion?

If not, is there a motion?

Move to approve agenda item 4.2.

Second.

All those in favor?

Opposed, unanimous.

Thank you all for attending, and and who came today to share your thoughts on that agenda.

This time we'll move to agenda item 4.3.

Downtown revitalization.

This is your item to discuss any anything you wish.

Any discussion from trustees?

Okay, yeah.

Thank you.

Uh this time we'll move to 5.1 director's report.

I'm going to keep this one short, but there is a few items on the PowerPoint that I do want to highlight.

If you could clear up, yeah, make sure it was actually was a CRA director report.

So some of the items that I do want to ladies and gentlemen, um ladies and gentlemen, appreciate it.

Mr.

Big if everyone can take the conversations outside, we're gonna continue the meeting.

Thank you.

Yeah, yeah.

Please continue.

Yes, sir.

Yeah, I just want to make sure that the community understands we're still having the monthly communication outreach meetings here in the library every month.

That's a good way for us to get to the stakeholders and get their feedback on any type of items that are happening, plus for us to give them information that we may have on construction or whatever else they may be.

And here, I'm sure all of you are aware.

If not, then there has been demolition permits pulled on basically the 600 block.

You see the PowerPoint here before you some of those addresses, and you also see some of the demo that's happening in addition to down the street on Cleveland Street where the old hacienda restaurant was located.

There's construction, there's demolition going on there as well.

This is the outreach meetings.

For the library, we still continue to move forward with our outreach to different entities and also give tours.

And we're also gonna send two staff members up north to Philadelphia to go to the American Alliance and Museums conference to have every year, and they're gonna be doing interviews with entities and just getting information back, and plus us giving them information on our beautiful community.

Grants, we continue to move grants forward in downtown.

So for North Greenwood, and this was I was hoping there was gonna be some residents still here, but uh they left.

That's why I was trying to get through it pretty quickly.

So the North Ward Elementary School, we're still in the pre-marketing phase for that particular um building.

So, what we want to do is we want to take it in June to the North Greenwood CAC so they can hear a presentation from staff as far as what we're doing right now, in addition, set up a tour maybe with the CAC at uh North Ward.

Of course, we would advertise it to make sure that we're complying with you know, as far as how in the sunshine for all this wonderful stuff, but it has been shrink wrapped.

I'm not sure if you wanted to add anything else on that.

Not quite not quite shrink wrapped, it is shrink being shrink wrapped.

The wrapping is going up as you see if you drive by you see it looks like a big shrink wrap being applied to uh a piece of property.

So a couple of things I just wanted to highlight, appreciate Jesus.

You put you pointing to me.

Um so we we had talked about advertising formally and like the June, July time frame.

I'm gonna uh ask that you give us some grace to maybe extend that to like the July time frame or August for a couple of reasons.

A um, and really prior to the conversation with the um uh North Greenwood Citizens Advisory Committee, we had always envisioned having some type of open house event, and we think that would be great to kind of coincide with the advertisement of the county properties.

So we're gonna try to do an event-driven um type of open house and really uh capture all of the folks who want to go through it, night it the north ward is kind of the idea, kind of like urban renaissance over the catch on, right?

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

So we're gonna work towards that more to come on it, but really uh we have while we receive interest, it hasn't been the type of interest that I would have expected, but at the same time, the commentary that we've gotten about some of the challenges, it's older property, not really a proven market for that type of project, even though we like a style that we'd like to see.

It's an older property, not really a proven market for that type of project, even though we like a style that we'd like to see.

So we just need to do more.

And we've gotten great coverage.

We just need to continue to market the property.

So just want to say those couple of things so that you would understand what our our steps are moving forward.

Thanks, Aesus.

Thank you.

And I also want to thank the economic development staff, CRA staff, and city manager's office for the North Forward.

It is a partnership.

Grants, we just we continue to move grants forward in the North Greenwood area.

We're going to continue to do that more aggressively, especially the commercial grants.

So the Citizens Advisory Committee, they're active and they're becoming more and more active, as you see there.

So usually they meet quarterly, but now they're starting to request special meetings on certain items.

So we're respecting that.

It was just us setting up four meetings per year with option for them.

If they needed additional meetings, they could always come to us.

So now they're starting to exercise that prerogative.

Their next meeting is step forward, June the 3rd at the North Greenwood Recreation Center.

One of the other reasons to push it out and give them an opportunity to talk about it at their meeting, as well as have that particular event.

So that was again not in response to what happened today or the conversation today, but we were already thinking projectfully about what that could look like.

Yeah, they're only about a year old, so now they basically basically have their feet wet.

They're understanding the process, they're understanding the rules as far as how CRAs operate, city policy, so you name it, so now they're they're they're getting they're getting their gears ramming up.

As far as property disposition, we do have a uh large section of property that's been advertised that's here in the downtown in the MLK, Martin Luther King Jr.

Avenue area and a seven parcels.

It's we have a technical review committee ready to review those five proposals that have been submitted.

It's gonna be tomorrow or April 21st, 2026.

We'll be reviewing those proposals, and if any of them have merit, either way, we're gonna bring all of them to you for your consideration.

There's an evaluation committee that operate you know as far as minutes and all this other wonderful stuff as well.

Uh 900 Palmetto, this is a property that's located in the North Greenwood area.

We're planning to also take that to the North Greenwood CAC for them to kind of see that property as a small commercial property, uh type of bay neighborhood housing services.

Uh they have uh the plans right now, preliminary plans for development of that site.

And there's other smaller properties that are outside of the CRA area.

For instance, Small Wood Circle 801, Howard Street, that's located outside of the CRA.

And I'm not gonna go over the armory again, so but it's there.

Other than that, we're continuing to move certain properties from the city into the ownership of the CRA, the ones that are located at least within the boundaries.

That concludes the presentation.

Any questions from Dreck?

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

That will adjourn the community redevelopment agency meeting of April 20, 2026.

And we will take a five-minute recess for Mr.

Pension Trustees quickly through that and we'll get into the next session.