Fix it now

As of Wednesday, Aug. 20, all future Fix-It-Now posts will be folded into our new blog, The Daily Loaf.

A first step: Various chambers of commerce have instituted organizations to create a more hospitable environment for young professionals. But there’s no quick marketing fix to the youth drain problem. A good start would be for local governments and businesses to recommit themselves to funding the arts, which would provide a hipper Tampa Bay and keep creatives here instead of sending them fleeing to New York or Austin. Plus, the arts have a tremendous economic impact, one that generally stays in the area.

Resources

Emerge Tampa Bay, emergetampa.com; St. Pete Young Professionals; HYPE (Hispanic Young Professionals & Entrepreneurs), hypetampabay.org; HYPE (Helping Young Professionals Emerge) Pinellas, hypepinellas.org; download a copy of Creative Tampa Bay’s “Young & Restless” study of young professionals in the region.

A first step: Two organizations — Fairness for All Families and Florida Red & Blue — are leading the fight against Amendment 2 in Florida. Learn more at fairnessforallfamilies.org and floridaredandblue.com, both of which offer ample opportunities to donate and volunteer.

Resources

Equality Florida addresses issues of concern to the GLBT community, eqfl.org

A first step: Sign up for daily updates on the battle for a free, independent press at freepress.net, the leading media reform group. Locally, search out alternatives to the mainstream in media — ethnic newspapers, local weeklies and magazines, public access television shows — and patronize them and their advertisers.

Resources

Track the FCC’s plans to relax further media ownership rules, fcc.gov/ownership

A first step: Take one day (or night) where you have tickets to a pro sports event, donate the tickets to charity and instead attend a play performed by a local theater company, or listen to a concert by the locally owned Florida Orchestra, or take a soccer ball out to a nearby park and kick it around with the kids. Find new heroes in our community, or make yourself a hero.

Resources

St. Pete POWW, a civic group opposing the proposed Tampa Bay Rays ballpark, stpetepoww.com

A first step: Creative Loafing’s first step will be to include more stories that reflect the full diversity of Tampa Bay’s population. We would hope that other media outlets would take similar pledges. A wider first step would be for public and private schools in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties to include specific demographic and cultural information about Tampa Bay in high-school social studies courses, something that is not part of the larger history and civics curricula at this point.

Resources

The Hispanic Business Initiative Fund, hbiftampa.org

A first step: The fight over the environment is front and center in Hillsborough County, where a conservative Republican commission majority has undertaken a crusade to weaken its own Environmental Protection Commission’s wetlands regulations and regulators. A compromise last year saved the wetlands division, but it is being studied and modified over the course of this year. You can let Hillsborough County commissioners know how you feel about altering wetlands protections by e-mail via an online form or by telephone at 813-272-5660.

Resources:

The Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission’s Wetlands Division.

A first step: Carpool, dammit. Statistics from 2006 say that Tampa Bay has 1.25 million commuters: 81 percent drive alone; 9.5 percent use some form of ridesharing and 1.4 percent take public transportation. “If everyone did something other than drive to work alone one day a week, not only would it have a momentous impact on air quality and the environment, but each person would save 20 percent of their commuting cost,” says Sandy Moody, executive director of Bay Area Commuter Services, a nonprofit funded by the Florida Department of Transportation that promotes alternatives to driving single-occupant vehicles. Learn more about BACS at tampabayrideshare.org, 813-282-8200.

Resources:

Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority (TBARTA), tbarta.com

A first step: Changing city codes is no easy task — just ask St. Pete city planners who overhauled a large portion of St. Pete’s zoning codes last year — but it is possible. In fact, Tampa city officials have already heard residents’ calls for change. Last year, city planners selected Seminole Heights for a pilot project on “form-based codes” that will rely on community input for the future look of the area. A series of public meetings will be held nearly every month for the next year (check out the schedule here); interested citizens from other neighborhoods should attend.

Resources
The Urban Charrette, a group of young design and architecture professionals seeking a better design-driven urban area, urbancharrette.org or e-mail info@urbancharrette.org

A first step: Hillsborough’s planners and county attorneys need to start working now to examine how sustainable zoning and land use changes can be made without wrecking private property rights. The county’s Planning and Growth Management Department doesn’t list such an examination as a priority or current activity, but county commissioners could vote to make it a priority. You can reach the commission offices at 813-272-5660 and the Planning and Growth Management Department at 813-272-5920 to voice your support for sustainable land-use plans.

Resources

• Check out Sprawl City, a website about consumption and population growth, sprawlcity.org
• Download the 1000 Friends of Florida’s Florida 2060 study

A first step: The website energystar.gov has a wealth of information and practical steps for lowering your energy bills while also doing the environment a service. The section on “Products” shows how switching to items that carry the “Energy Star” rating can reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also saving you bucks. By navigating to “Home Improvement” you can find out what steps you can take to improve energy efficiency, from heating and cooling to insulation.

Resources:

Become part of The Sierra Club’s 2% Solution, cutting your energy consumption and carbon footprint by 2 percent a year to meet the challenge of global climate change. Visit their website for more info.