Arielle Stevenson

Pinellas County Commission’s July 30 vote is expected to be a rubber stamp.

Tampa City Council voted to continue the city’s contract with the controversial gunshot detection software SoundThinking—formerly known as ShotSpotter—this month. But the resolution to reconsider the $280,000 contract wasn’t listed on the June 20 agenda and the public was given no additional notice the contract would be taken up again.

It’s 2006-ish, and Star Booty Salon owner Mimi Reilly is standing outside her shop on the 600 Block of Central Avenue by the old State Theater. With a hot pink hand-shaped chair next to her, her thrifted Starbucks apron is on, her hair golden in the sun, her hands are on her hips. Her big bright smile is there too, electric. A clothing rack of cheap band t-shirts and old goth boots perched next to her, the shop window packed with incense and cheap glass pipes for sale. Her dog, Dex, sleeps…

After delaying a vote to bond $116 million for the city’s aging fire stations on Jan. 11, Tampa City Council is slated to vote on the item today (watch the meeting live below).

At the final Tampa City Council meeting of 2023, council members voted 4-2 to advance a proposed juvenile curfew ordinance to its second reading and final vote later this month.

Last week, Tampa City Council voted 5-2 to give a juvenile curfew ordinance its public first reading on Dec. 21. Councilmembers Bill Carlson and Lynn Hurtak voted against the motion, citing concerns over who might be targeted and a lack of data to support the curfew’s effectiveness.

With little fanfare, Tampa approved another year-long contract with the controversial gunshot detection software ShotSpotter, owned by the recently rebranded public safety technology company Sound Thinking.

St. Petersburg wants residents to give input on how redevelopment of the city’s historic Gas Plant District should move forward. As part of that effort, the city is accepting applications for a new Community Benefits Advisory Council (CBAC) to review the Historic Gas Plant Redevelopment Project.

A proposed 1 a.m. curfew in Ybor City appears to be off the table after dozens of residents and business owners spoke out last Thursday. Tampa City Council member Gwen Henderson, whose district includes Ybor City, suggested a 1 a.m. curfew for six months in response to last month’s shooting that killed two people.

After an almost two-year delay, the Tampa Police Department recently presented its long-awaited report to the City Council on what some residents say is a clustering of sex offenders in V.M. Ybor City. Kim Headland, V.M. Ybor Neighborhood Association president and longtime resident, has been asking the city to pay attention to the growing number of sex offenders for years now.