Our Mission is to provide Healthy Living spaces for Rent & be a Co-Op resource to make more places healthier for all of us.
Ideas for a better City of Gulfport, fl Yes we love Gulfport, but improvement starts at home. Some of what we love about it beside the brick streets & shade trees that were once plentiful can be found on GulfportFlorida.us Make Separated Bike lanes for safe bicycling. Look at what New York and others are doing. Or at least try Bicycle Boulevards
that put the emphasis on using bikes in a safe boulevard without cars. In Gulfport we have a very sad "bike route" that in most places is
nothing more than a small useless sign on a narrow street where cars
dominate without any room for bikes. Look at 52nd St "bike route" for
example. ck out Bicycle use in Other Places Link No need to drive to the gym when you can use a bike to go places. Missing Local Clean Energy? Blaming congress is just an easy way to duck Responsibility. Berkeley CA is providing all homeowners the capital to install clean energy in exchange for a monthly payment equal to electric payments until lien is paid off. The lien is transferable to next owner and is not included in assessments so taxes don't go up. Money can be from bond issues and sold as clean energy bonds. They also made a buyers coop to get parts cheaper for installs. Biking on 58th St from central ave south to the high school is very dangerous because the sidewalks are too narrow for bikes and don't have handicapped curbs and are missing in places. Please make a separated bike lane so bicycles can travel 58th St S safely.
Repeal mowing ordinance, its discriminatory and arbitrarily enforced. Why should a bureaucrat tell us that we can't grow one type of grass over 12" tall while they grow a similar grass as tall as they want? Why should they force us to mow down our plants because the inspector prefers short grass over my prairie grass? How we grow our yards & gardens should reflect our ideals of freedom and homeowners rights, not the arbitrary decisions of an "city inspector" who knows nothing of why people should NOT mow or use the chemicals he is forcing others to use. Yards that require no mowing at all can be more attractive, sell for more money and can be a healthier habitat for all. Encourage Xeriscaping, NatureScaping & wildlife habitat or at least a Florida Friendly yard (Don't put pesticides in your yard. Leave the bugs for the birds and lizards to eat). Pesticides Harm the Natural Balance. Get rid of sitting water that breeds mosquitoes instead of spraying is an example of working with nature rather than against Consolidate Trash Collection to 49th St location which was purchased for that purpose. & Completely automate service, its much cheaper & more efficient. Why is it only Pasadena yacht & cc gets the city to pay for their garbage cans & better service, while the art district has to put up with the city's garbage operations with the extra pollution. Why are we are not entitled to fresh air & free containers like them? * Move it to 49th St where zoning is appropriate for that use Or Privatize this city garbage business to get it done cheaper with Better service & we won't have to store any garbage in Gulfport. charging us to pickup appliances that others will pickup free for Scrap metals is just a tax. City run Garbage enterprise is just a Hidden tax on us. City Budget
Gulfport Slashed Library Hours then bought 3 more new police Cars same day. Give back library hours to stay open evenings and weekends for people who need to use the computers to find work or communicate better. Better Communication and more jobs = less crime. Make
more computers available by using sponsors of computer stations or
tables of computers that show who is sponsoring them with a sign and the home page of the sponsor show first. Police say they "want to protect the environment" so tell them to Ticket Tailpipe Polluters? (Vehicles driving through Gulfport leaving a trail of smoke behind them) Call your council persons and local leaders to encourage them to enforce the state law against smoking vehicles from exhaust pipes into the air we breathe. One smoking car equals the amount of pollution from 75 properly tuned cars! Get rid of one and its like taking 74 cars off the road. Also ask them to make the law stronger than its present weak form. Ticket people with oil dripping from cars as well. Give them a warning ticket first. If any more tickets are given to same car then ladder up the fines. Put up signs on Gulfport Blvd Reminding people that they will be ticketed for polluting vehicles to motivate them to clean up the polluting cars. - 2009 Florida Statutes(2) No person shall operate any gasoline-powered motor vehicle, except a motorcycle, moped, scooter, or an imported nonconforming motor vehicle which has received a one-time exemption from federal emission control requirements under 40 C.F.R. 85, subpart P, on the public roads and streets of this state which emits visible emissions from the exhaust pipe for more than a continuous period of 5 seconds, and no person shall operate on the public roads or streets of this state any motor vehicle that has been tampered with in violation of this section, as determined pursuant to subsection (7).(3) No person shall operate on the public roads or streets of this state any diesel-powered motor vehicle which emits visible emissions from the exhaust pipe for more than a continuous period of 5 seconds, except during engine acceleration, engine lugging, or engine deceleration. (4) This section shall be enforced by the Department of Environmental Protection and any law enforcement officer of this state... Gulfport Fire station should have a paint drop off area for reuse and safe disposal of paint, batteries & other toxic to put in trash but simple for them to store, reuse or recycle. This valuable trash otherwise ends up in the trash cans or in the streets, because the only other proper place is the county site - a 2 hour ordeal just to get rid of a few things that should be easy to dispose of close by. Make it easy to do right.
Close down 20% of streets & alleys. Give some to Pinellas trails to save maintenance & make it
easier to walk or bike. Use some of closed streets for parking areas & gardens. City Administration- Stop using colored expensive paper for water bills and other uses. Use the cheap copy paper. Excessive & wasteful mailing of water bills should stop. We should be able to pay online or automatic debit to not waste so much paper and postage.
Instead of the anti green chem lawns & mowing which is killing habitat and the environment. Let citizens take over maintenance for community gardens that cost the city little or
nothing and add to quality of life. Run "How to Xeriscape" videos on ch 615 how to xeriscape to save water, garbage collection costs and dump fees from silly raking and hauling away of beautiful leaves that should be left on the ground to build top soil. Plant more trees for our health, for the birds, protect us from the wind, provide us with shade in the summer and to Clean the Air. Many streets have lost their valuable shade trees from people cutting them down or they die out and not replaced by nature because of excessive mowing. Mowing kills tree seedlings. Let plants grow. Here is a short list of places lacking in trees: 1. Church on 54th St & 27th Av has lots of room along city easement for at least 8 live oaks. 2. Parks on Beach Blvd from 23rd av to Downtown Gulfport. 3. City easements all over the city 4. Let me know what else I should list on here. 5. Pinellas Trail needs lots of trees for shade 6. Gulfport City hall is missing trees on 3 sides. Our "Tree Ordinance" is very weak & not being enforced. *A major study said that in areas with a dense tree canopy the damage from hurricane winds is far less than areas without dense tree canopy. Where the trees are missing is where the wind comes in and does damage. otherwise the winds go over the tops of trees sparing the homes beneath of most of the damage. Look at this interactive Google map to find places that trees could be planted. Pasadena Yacht & Country Club is an example of a TOXIC DEVELOPMENT. They pour pesticides on the ground along with chemical fertilizers and herbicides that run off and pollute the bay and our ground waters. They cut down sustainable plantings in favor of high maintenance turf that takes lots of chemicals, water and machinery to maintain while polluting the air with exhaust fumes & noise pollution. Strong Mayor System of
city government. We could save money by hiring an
administrator to handle the workload as directed by Mayor and council.
St Petersburg changed to this form of Govt and has been very successful
with it. Our Codes are a mess of outdated & arbitrary laws and ordinances. A full time city attorney may be shared with another small city to clean up with fresh eyes our arbitrary laws and ordinances. An example is in our building dept they won't allow certain things like an extra exit from house to rear of yard on some houses and others its ok only based on the opinion of zoning person who is supposed to read the future possible use of a door and discriminate against it based on her opinion rather than a clear ordinance.
Lower Property Tax & Help the environment by doing nothing when it comes to many unnecessary projects like " The mooring fields" Polluting our Estuary with more boats will just be the nail in the coffin for life in the bay. All Estuaries should be declared Marine Sanctuaries and large areas should be off limits to boats so that the sea has its natural nurseries left alone for the baby fish to thrive and for the sea grass to grow and create more habitat. Take care of the Land and the Land will Take Care of You. - Old Hawaiian saying A conversation between GOD and St. Francis about SuburbanitesGOD: St. Francis, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the World is going on down there in the USA? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect, no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honeybees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But all I see are these green rectangles. ST. FRANCIS: It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers weeds and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass. GOD: Grass? But it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees, only grubs and sod worms. It's temperamental with temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there? ST. FRANCIS: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn. GOD: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy. ST. FRANCIS: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it, sometimes twice a week. GOD: They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay? ST. FRANCIS: Not exactly Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags. GOD: They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it? ST. FRANCIS: No, sir -- just the opposite. They pay to throw it away. GOD: Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away? ST. FRANCIS: Yes, sir. GOD: These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back On the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the gro wth and saves Them a lot of work. ST. FRANCIS: You aren't going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it. GOD: What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a Sheer stoke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. Plus, as they rot, the leaves form compost to enhance the soil. It's a natural circle of life. ST. FRANCIS: You'd better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away. GOD: No. What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the Winter and to keep the soil moist and loose? ST. FRANCIS: After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy Something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves. GOD: And where do they get this mulch? ST. FRANCIS: They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch. GOD: Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you're in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight? ST. CATHERINE: Dumb and Dumber, Lord. It's a real stupid movie about............. GOD: Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis. Legalize Medical Marijuana. Why should it be illegal for a sick person to smoke or eat an herb that helps the & hurts no one? The laws against marijuana are the real problem. All Politics are Local Means that you can change things for the better by improving the way you and your city do things. If it works well it will spread to other areas organic |
