Update on the Death Due to Sight Obstructions

There has been some action regarding the tragic death of Flora Revesz in the car accident at Florida and Powhattan. Tonight, I went back to the various intersections to see what has changed.

Mayor Pam Iorio responded to the email on this issue from Randy Baron by having Roy LaMotte, head of the City of Tampa Transportation Dept. look into this situation immediately. Mayor Iorio wrote "I am very sorry about this tragic accident".


Mr. LaMotte, Tom Snelling, Kevin Amose from Code Enforcement, Gloria Moreda made a personal inspection of the Florida & Powhatan intersection.

"The investigation clearly identified one of the possible causes to the fatality is limited sight line when departing Powhatan, due to the manner in which vehicles are being stored on private property continuous to the State's limited right-of-way.

The immediate countermeasure is for the private owner to remove & restrict vehicles from parking within the sight triangle. The City of Tampa already has a code on the books in Chapter 27 preventing the prevailing condition and code is reacting by citing the respective owners who fail to comply. This same condition exists at two other corners of this same intersection and all parties must be cited to improve public safety.

After riding the roadway corridor and seeing the problem, I'm certain it exists elsewhere along Florida Avenue and have instructed members of my staff to begin documenting and inventory the problem intersections so we can be proactive in preventing this problem in the future.

In closing, I have also asked the Florida Department of Transportation to investigate this accident and share their feedback with you & me since Florida Avenue is under their jurisdiction."

This picture above is what the corner looks like now. All the vehicles moved, except for the one pick up truck. I don't know if that vehicle is in the sight triangle or not.

Code Enforcement had more to say on the issue:

"At this time, temporary measures have been taken at several locations on Florida Ave, north of W Hillsborough. This is to insure that the sight line remains clear for drivers attempting to enter traffic from streets off of Florida Ave. Vehicles and related equipment from businesses on Florida Ave are suspected in contributing to sight line obstructions, thereby creating a potential hazzard. As a temporary safety measure, Code Enforcement Inspectors have ordered property owners relocate anything that may have been parked or located within 10 to 12 feet of the affected corner. Code Enforcement is standing by to take technical direction from Transportation and the Zoning Division to determine the appropriate action to take as a permanent measure in the form of notice of violation or other legal action. In recent weeks, similar notices of violation have been issued ordering the removal of unlawful signs and banners that may have also been causing a sight line obstruction."

The next two pictures below shows the views from the other corners at that intersection of Powhattan and Florida. I don't see any changes there.




The rest of the photos are new pictures of the other intersections I took photos of in the previous article. Henry, Idlewild, Jean and Pocahantas. I don't see any changes.









So what do we need ot do to continue to ensure action on the issue?

In one email on the subject it was said

"Even on this very narrow issue of sight obstructions making turns, there are probably a few hundred (if not more) violations throughout the city. However, ours was the street that finally caused a fatality and changed the priority of allocating resources. We are now the flavor of the week and we need to take advantage of it, because next week some other tragedy is going to happen in some other part of the city and the priorities will shift again. I encourage everyone to keep the heat on the city by continually emailing Code Enforcement (Curtis Lane), Zoning (Thom Snelling), Transportation (Roy LaMotte), city council and the mayor and asking for progress reports. I will make sure that the media follows up as well. In this case the squeaky wheel truly does get the oil, or, more to the point, the priority of resources.I encourage everyone to keep the heat on the city by continually emailing Code Enforcement (Curtis Lane), Zoning (Thom Snelling), Transportation (Roy LaMotte), city council and the mayor and asking for progress reports. . . . . In this case the squeaky wheel truly does get the oil, or, more to the point, the priority of resources.

Another email on the subject:

This was an issue that I brought up at a neighborhood watch meeting with Chief Hogue last year. I complained specifically about some of the sight obstructions of car lots on Nebraska and whether TPD would ticket cars parked on sidewalks or in the rights of way. Chief Hogue, who I support, said that it would be a waste of TPD resources and didn't think it was a big problem.

I think we should make sure that District 2 and other TPD districts hear about this and that they take a more proactive move toward enforcing this. They have non-police type personnel that they can send out to ticket and tow.

Code Enforcement is an avenue but it takes a very long time to get through the system and then the violator can always move the cars to get into compliance and then put them back.

Two places that are very bad are the tire place at the corner of Clifton and Nebraska and the Auto Repair/Car Lot just south of Tampa Bay Hardware on Nebraska.

Apparently there has been some communication with both TPD Major Teague and Assistant Chief Castor since this accident happened last week. "TPD District 2 is committed to ticketing those cars that block the line of sight."

2/22/06 12:10PM

Emails: Roy.LaMotte(at)tampagov.net, thomas.snelling(at)tampagov.net, tampacitycouncil(at)tampagov.net, curtis.lane(at)tampa.gov.net, pam.iorio(at)tampagov.net (Replace the at with@)