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Be there this coming Tuesday at First Baptist St. Petersburg 7pm. The tension already exists in the daily lives of 16,000 families who more than a 1/3 of their income goes to housing. We are lifting up this tension and calling on collaboration and make changes to effect a real difference.
Read the clergy response (attached) to a recent article (linked below). We need to clear the air about the real issues of affordable housing. (
This coming week, the Water Quality Committee had two back-to-back meetings with Clearwater city council members, CM Allbritton and CM Bunker. The meetings went well overall, with both sharing concerns for improving stormwater mitigation in the city and wanting to learn more about the solution we are proposing. If you would like to hear more about these meetings as well as future research meetings we are planning for the month of March, please plan to attend the Water Quality Committee meeting this upcoming Monday, March 4th at 5:30 PM at First Baptist in St. Pete (1900 Gandy Blvd N). If you plan to attend the committee, please let your organizer know. Additionally, if you are a board member or clergy, the FAST board meeting will start immediately following the Water Quality committee meeting at 6:45 PM at First Baptist. Reminder that the Affordable Housing committee will NOT be having a committee meetign on Monday 3/4 - only Water Quality. FAST has been invited to the Groundbreaking of the SkyWay Lofts II development on Wednesday, March 6 at 8:30 AM, which special guest Mayor Welch. SkyWay Lofts II will have 66 new units for families making 80% AMI. It is important to let the mayor know that this is exactly the sort of thing we want to see more of in the city of St. Pete! Please see the flyer below for location and other details. Plan to attend and wear your FAST Affordable Housing shirts!
Our research committees met last night to update members about the progress we've made in 2024 so far as well as upcoming research opportunities and next steps. At this time, the Criminal Justice committee will be in a monitoring phase until Jacqueline returns from maternity leave. If new developments arise or we schedule any meetings with officials before then, we will be sure to let you know. In the meantime, Carey and April will continue working with the Affordable Housing and Water Quality committees. We encourage criminal justice committee members to get involved in these committees because we have a lot to get done in the next few months and it will take all of us to win! The Water Quality committee will be meeting with Clearwater Assistant City Manager Dan Slaughter on Thursday, February 15th at 3:15 PM to discuss how our rain garden ordinance proposal aligns with the Clearwater 2045 comprehensive plan. Because Clearwater has a weak mayor system and city managers have a lot of influence in council agendas and decisions, we felt it was important to meet with him. The pre-meeting will be at 2:15 PM ahead of meeting with ACM Slaughter. If you want to attend this meeting, please reach out to your team leader or April to RSVP and get meeting location details. The Community Benefits Advisory Council is meeting on February 6th at 5:30 PM at City Hall, in room 100. This is a non-partisan board that advises the mayor, city council, and citizens of St. Pete. At this February 6th meeting, the focus will be on the community's feedback about the current Historic Gas Plant Redevelopment plan. This is a great opportunity for us to show up and speak out in favor of more affordable housing as a part of this plan. If you are interested in attending or speaking at this meeting, reach out to Carey to RSVP. As we discussed at the Affordable Housing Research Committee meeting, now is the time to put pressure on the leadership of the City of St. Pete. We are going to start attending City Council Meetings regularly to invite the council members to the Action, and to highlight the need for more affordable housing for our community. The next City Council meeting is this Thursday, February 8th at 3:00 PM. It is important for us to represent the organization to emphasize the seriousness of this crisis, so even if you are not planning to speak, attendance is a great way to demonstrate our power and support the speakers. If you have any questions, or plan attend, reach out to Carey in advance. On Friday, Feb. 9th, we have a Zoom meeting scheduled with Commissioner Kruse from Manatee County. We are meeting with him because Manatee County has had success in creating affordable housing for families making 80% AMI or less, which is our ask for the City of St. Pete. We are hoping to learn some concrete ways that they have met this benchmark that we could push for in St. Pete. The pre-meeting will be at 1:00 PM and the meeting will be at 2:00 PM, both via Zoom. Reach out to Carey to register for this meeting. Additionally, the FAST Affordable Housing t-shirts have arrived! They are blue with a FAST logo on the front and have the tagline "Affordable Housing: Affordable for Whom?" across the back. We have them in sizes S - 2XL and they cost $10. If you want to get one, please reach out to your team leader or organizer so we can coordinate pickup.
St. Raphael
Affiliated Community
Address
St. Petersburg, Florida
Be there this coming Tuesday at First Baptist St. Petersburg 7pm. The tension already exists in the daily lives of 16,000 families who more than a 1/3 of their income goes to housing. We are lifting up this tension and calling on collaboration and make changes to effect a real difference.
Read the clergy response (attached) to a recent article (linked below). We need to clear the air about the real issues of affordable housing. (
This coming week, the Water Quality Committee had two back-to-back meetings with Clearwater city council members, CM Allbritton and CM Bunker. The meetings went well overall, with both sharing concerns for improving stormwater mitigation in the city and wanting to learn more about the solution we are proposing. If you would like to hear more about these meetings as well as future research meetings we are planning for the month of March, please plan to attend the Water Quality Committee meeting this upcoming Monday, March 4th at 5:30 PM at First Baptist in St. Pete (1900 Gandy Blvd N). If you plan to attend the committee, please let your organizer know. Additionally, if you are a board member or clergy, the FAST board meeting will start immediately following the Water Quality committee meeting at 6:45 PM at First Baptist. Reminder that the Affordable Housing committee will NOT be having a committee meetign on Monday 3/4 - only Water Quality. FAST has been invited to the Groundbreaking of the SkyWay Lofts II development on Wednesday, March 6 at 8:30 AM, which special guest Mayor Welch. SkyWay Lofts II will have 66 new units for families making 80% AMI. It is important to let the mayor know that this is exactly the sort of thing we want to see more of in the city of St. Pete! Please see the flyer below for location and other details. Plan to attend and wear your FAST Affordable Housing shirts!
Our research committees met last night to update members about the progress we've made in 2024 so far as well as upcoming research opportunities and next steps. At this time, the Criminal Justice committee will be in a monitoring phase until Jacqueline returns from maternity leave. If new developments arise or we schedule any meetings with officials before then, we will be sure to let you know. In the meantime, Carey and April will continue working with the Affordable Housing and Water Quality committees. We encourage criminal justice committee members to get involved in these committees because we have a lot to get done in the next few months and it will take all of us to win! The Water Quality committee will be meeting with Clearwater Assistant City Manager Dan Slaughter on Thursday, February 15th at 3:15 PM to discuss how our rain garden ordinance proposal aligns with the Clearwater 2045 comprehensive plan. Because Clearwater has a weak mayor system and city managers have a lot of influence in council agendas and decisions, we felt it was important to meet with him. The pre-meeting will be at 2:15 PM ahead of meeting with ACM Slaughter. If you want to attend this meeting, please reach out to your team leader or April to RSVP and get meeting location details. The Community Benefits Advisory Council is meeting on February 6th at 5:30 PM at City Hall, in room 100. This is a non-partisan board that advises the mayor, city council, and citizens of St. Pete. At this February 6th meeting, the focus will be on the community's feedback about the current Historic Gas Plant Redevelopment plan. This is a great opportunity for us to show up and speak out in favor of more affordable housing as a part of this plan. If you are interested in attending or speaking at this meeting, reach out to Carey to RSVP. As we discussed at the Affordable Housing Research Committee meeting, now is the time to put pressure on the leadership of the City of St. Pete. We are going to start attending City Council Meetings regularly to invite the council members to the Action, and to highlight the need for more affordable housing for our community. The next City Council meeting is this Thursday, February 8th at 3:00 PM. It is important for us to represent the organization to emphasize the seriousness of this crisis, so even if you are not planning to speak, attendance is a great way to demonstrate our power and support the speakers. If you have any questions, or plan attend, reach out to Carey in advance. On Friday, Feb. 9th, we have a Zoom meeting scheduled with Commissioner Kruse from Manatee County. We are meeting with him because Manatee County has had success in creating affordable housing for families making 80% AMI or less, which is our ask for the City of St. Pete. We are hoping to learn some concrete ways that they have met this benchmark that we could push for in St. Pete. The pre-meeting will be at 1:00 PM and the meeting will be at 2:00 PM, both via Zoom. Reach out to Carey to register for this meeting. Additionally, the FAST Affordable Housing t-shirts have arrived! They are blue with a FAST logo on the front and have the tagline "Affordable Housing: Affordable for Whom?" across the back. We have them in sizes S - 2XL and they cost $10. If you want to get one, please reach out to your team leader or organizer so we can coordinate pickup.