Showing posts with label City of Tampa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label City of Tampa. Show all posts
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Digital Billboards...who needs street lights!
Ditgital billboard could soon light up your homes. It is buried in a settlement agreement that would allow these energy monsters. This is not an ordinance that can be modified at a later date these are legally binding agreements between the City of Tampa and the billboard giants Clear Channel and CBS Outdoors. City Council will revisit the issue on March 5th but the only time to speak out is before Council starts on the agenda. For information from other communities and talking points
City Council took up the issue of the settlement agreements between the City of Tampa and Clear Channel and CBS Outdoors on February 5th. As was said during the public comments and echoed by some members of City Council, the original settlement agreement was awful and this one was merely bad. I guess that is improvement. It has now been delayed until March 5th. It was good to see this process slowed or delayed. Councilman John Dingfelder made a good connection in asking what was the initial reason for the litigation by Clear Channel and CBS Outdoors. For Clear Channel it was the view corridors (Kennedy, Swann, MacDill) identified in the original agreement. For CBS Outdoors it was the fact that the original agreement had expired.This agreement would have gone far beyond the initial Clear Channel litigation. It also was beyond the CBS Outdoors litigation. The challenge is that it has so far only been delayed in a motion made by Councilman Charlie Miranda.
The big issue is digital billboards that change the message every 6 to 10 seconds. A huge distraction to drivers already struggling to stay focused on the road conditions. For urban neighborhoods it is the potential for horrendous light pollution. As one Council member stated we are not Times Square. Amen. I think that between now and March 5th City Council members need to hear lots of opposition to digital billboards in Seminole Heights and other central Tampa neighborhoods. Go look at the digital billboard at Dale Mabry & Waters and envision those lighting up 275 and the major roads running through our neighborhood.
Swamp their offices with messages of "no digital billboards" in our neighborhoods. Drive past your "favorite" neighborhood billboard, now imaging it converted to digital and sucking up enough energy to light yours and 12 other neighbors homes, and now image it is bright enough to be seen for 2 or 3 miles and glows 24/7! How many of these monsters will it take to wreck our community?
Mayor's Office
Pam Iorio, Mayor
306 East Jackson Street , Tampa, Florida 33602
Phone: (813) 274-8251 Fax: (813) 274-7050
Contact Pam Iorio
Gwen Miller, District 1 At-Large
315 E Kennedy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33602
Olivia "Libby" Wilson, Legislative Aide
(813) 274-7072
Contact Gwen Miller
Mary Mulhern, District 2 At-Large
315 E Kennedy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33602
Christina Voehl, Legislative Aide
(813) 274-7071
Email Mary Mulhern
Linda Saul-Sena, District 3 At-Large
315 E Kennedy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33602
Rhonda Y. Smalls, Legislative Aide
(813) 274-8134
Contact Linda Saul-Sena
Councilman John Dingfelder, District 4
315 E Kennedy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33602
Cynthia Sarff and James Reese, Legislative Aides
(813) 274-8133
Email John Dingfelder
Councilman Thomas Scott, District 5
315 E Kennedy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33602
Belinda Allen, Legislative Aide
(813) 274-8189
Contact Thomas Scott
Charlie Miranda, District 6
315 E Kennedy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33602
Mary Bryan, Legislative Aide
(813) 274-7074
Contact Charlie Miranda
Councilman Joseph Caetano, District 7
315 E Kennedy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33602
Thomas Nguyen, Legislative Aide
(813) 274-7073
Contact Joseph Caetano
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Household Chemical and Electronics Collection Day
Take advantage of Tampa's Solid Waste Department’s upcoming Household Chemical and Electronics Collection Day on April 26, 2008 from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. at 4010 W. Spruce Street, to safely dispose of your old televisions and computers (in addition to many other materials – visit the web site at www.tampagov.net/dept_Solid_Waste for more information on materials accepted. (by the way...all those compact flourescent bulbs contain mercury and are toxic and should be recycled this way and not thrown in the trash)
Electronic waste accounts for 70 percent of the overall toxic waste currently found in landfills. In addition to valuable metals like aluminum, electronics often contain hazardous materials like lead and mercury. In just 2005, almost two million tons of e-waste ended up in landfills.
While toxic materials comprise only a small amount of this volume, it doesn’t take much lead or mercury to contaminate an area’s soil or water supply.
Televisions Back before there were plasma screen and liquid crystal display (LCD) tubes, we were all watching our Super Bowls and sitcoms on cathode ray tubes (CRT). The CRT model provided room for all your switches and wires in a box behind the screen, but it also stored a lot of lead. Approximately 20 percent of CRTs are comprised of lead, equivalent to between four and eight pounds per unit.
Combine this with the fact that the FCC is going to require all televisions to run a digital signal by February 19, 2009, and we could be looking at a lot of lead headed for landfills. Even the smallest amounts of lead can be a serious issue, and we’re talking about eight pounds per unit.
Computers Many laptops have a small fluorescent lamp in the screen that contains mercury, a toxic material when inhaled or digested. Mercury is also contained in computer circuit boards, which also include lead and cadmium. Circuit boards can also feature batteries made of mercury, as well as mercury switches*.
So please consider this information and be sure to dispose of your e-waste at a local Household Chemical and Electronics site. Call Nina Stokes, Recycling Coordinator at (813) 348-6515 for more information.
*Material adapted from EARTH911.
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