A ride with a Tampa City Council Person

We took a quick flight from Tampa to Fort Lauderdale before the drive through the Keys last weekend, and I had the pleasure I having Tampa City Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena sit next to me on the short flight.(Open seating on Southwest).

I've seen her in action at the Council meetings, and of course have read about her many times, noting that Linda cares VERY MUCH for the environment, as she once exclaimed to me on the plane "Trees....are very important", she was discussing with me the chopping of mature Oaks throughout Tampa(especially South Tampa roadways), by TECO into a "V" shape that is very unnatural for the trees for the purpose of making sure the electric lines were clear from any tree branches. Councilwoman Linda noted there will soon be a push to have all the lines put underground with a cost sharing by the City and TECO(not sure how thats going to work out). I do agree as I have a large mature oak in my front lawn that looks awful due to the "V" shaped cut to clear the lines, and placing the lines underground would definitely boost property values, and there would be less "downed" power lines which could be dangerous and cost associated to be fixed in the numerous thunderstorms, and possibility of tropical storms in the area.

We continued some interesting discussions regarding the Trump Tower project(i'd like to see either another riverfront park, or maybe a hotel with retail and restaurants on the river there, the area north of there where Skypoint and Element are good for Condo towers, never really thought that corner of Ashley and Brorein was a good match), and also chatted about open Park space in the Channelside district, as the City of Tampa looks to open more park and open space in the downtown area similar to Curtis Hixon and Cotanchobee Park along the river. She is VERY concerned about the city and its growth and progress, I let her have it when I exclaimed DENSITY is the key in the Inner Core of the city, and although we should discuss height, it will be important for Tampa's future to look at further density close to downtown areas, and much less sprawl...IN MY OWN OPINION. Last but not least, we were both very happy to see Mass Transit and BRT/Light Rail on target for the future.