Special Meeting — May 5, 2026 FINAL

Alan Clendenin

5:00:57PM Tonight, we have a special agenda. Its one item -- or one topic. We have a specific laid-out agenda. Ill read that for people so they understand how the night will go. At first, were going to have presentation, a 30-minute presentation, up to 30 minutes. They dont have to use all 30 minutes from the rays organization, Tampa Bay rays. Followed by a 30-minute presentation by the City Of Tampa. After that, well have an opportunity for council members, 30 minutes for questions and answers. Each councilperson will get three minutes in the first round. If we have time for a second round, theyll get an additional three. After that, well have stakeholders. There are key stakeholders that we invited. Those stakeholders are first up will be representative from the Citizens Budget And Finance Committee, followed by our CRA representatives. Then our tax collectors office, Westshore Alliance, representative from 754 represents our firefighters, and if they are here, I dont know if I saw Brandon, our members of pba. We invited Justin Hall, our secretary from the Florida department of Transportation And Dr. Johnny wong who is our executive director from our transportation planning organization. Im not sure if Michael Stephens is here, if he is, from the airport, well close out with him. That being said, can I get a motion to approve the agenda?

Lynn Hurtak

5:02:27PM Then public comment.

Alan Clendenin

5:02:28PM Then well have public comment after that. Reference public comment, im -- the sign-in sheets, what well try to do is call you off the sign-in sheets. Two or three names, if we go to overflow, which I dont think were at yet, give the opportunity to go upstairs. Call you up one at a time. It will be three minutes. There is a green light that means youre able to talk. Yellow light comes on when you have 30 seconds left. A red light comes on and I ask you to be quiet and go away. You get three minutes after that point. That will be public comment after all the presentations are done. Youll be able to hear everything were hearing. This is the nice thing about having the workshop tonight is this is the first time we all, including the seven of us and the public will have an opportunity to hear from the Tampa Bay rays organization and the City Of Tampa staff that have been working behind the scenes to negotiate this deal. This is the first time we all get to hear this at one time together. You are hearing it at the same time were hearing it. That being said, can I get a motion to approve the agenda? Motion from Councilman Miranda, second from Councilman Maniscalco. All those in favor, aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Lets kick it off with Tampa Bay rays. Tampa Bay rays. Council Chair, council members, its an incredible honor to be here tonight. We appreciate you making time for this special city workshop. We appreciate everybody thats taken time to join us tonight. It is an extraordinary moment for the Tampa Bay rays, not just on the field as the team is off to one of its best starts in franchise history on the field at tropicana field, but an extraordinary moment for our franchise as we embark on this wonderful journey here in the City Of Tampa and Hillsborough County. I would like to begin with a presentation.

5:04:41PM It should be coming up here in a second. Cttv, can you get it on council screens as well, please? Discussion, an open conversation with the community. Were going to have an open conversation about a generational opportunity affecting our region. After nearly 20 years of discussion around the future of our great hometown baseball franchise, nearly SIX months ago a New Ownership Group stepped in to the stewardship of this great franchise. We didnt waste time. The work on the field is to bring a championship to Tampa Bay, our work off the field began to search for our new forever home. We searched several sites. We looked at several search criteria options. And ultimately landed on an extraordinary opportunity that ID like to discuss with the group here tonight. Now, tonight is not the first time that weve had these conversations. Weve met with council members, hosted nearly a dozen public meetings at sports bars, high schools, community engagement groups and throughout our region. Weve met throughout the community, throughout the City, and throughout the county. Simply put, its an exciting time but its one, of course, that will bring great scrutiny, as it should, healthy public-private partnership. Tonight, were going to walk through the merits of this partnership. Im Joined By Dr. Atwater, the president of Hillsborough College. We are joined in the room by many experts that have spent long nights, weekends, given up vacation time and much other for this great moment for our community. Before I begin, I must say I want to extend our tremendous gratitude to this council for making time for this project, our partners at the City, the staff at the City who has worked hard alongside us to put together what we believe is a generational opportunity. Simply put, this is our moment. After 20 years of discussions and renderings and photos and starts and stops, this ownership group stands here tonight ready, willing, and able to contribute more than $1.1 Billion privately to the new home of the Tampa Bay Rays. The State of Florida is standing by with a budget item prepared to rejuvenate our Hillsborough College, the Campus Which Dr. Atwater will speak to is in desperate need of capital maintenance and repair, but not for this project simply wouldnt occur. Were talking about 130 acres of mixed use development, an extraordinary opportunity that Rclco, an independent economic firm has confirmed and their manager director Erin Talkington is with us tonight, over $55 billion of economic impact that but not for this project would be generated in this region. 11900 new jobs, an opportunity to bring 10 million annual visitors together and were working alongside our experts at the Florida Department Of Transportation, the county, the City, and the Sports Authority to be able to make sure that this opportunity is met with the proper infrastructure, road work, repair, and care for our neighborhoods. Constituents that are in this land are making sure that we are making sure that we are caring for their needs, that includes our friends at the tax collector, who will speak tonight, that while im sure will state concerns about our plan, please know that we are working side by side with the county and the documentation of an eventual MOU and definitive agreements will make use for anybody that is on that land to make sure we have a proper plan. And the best example for that, of course, is Hillsborough College. Hear my voice tonight, its a little bit raspy and scratched. Thats because over the course of the last seven months weve been out nearly every single night talking about the magic and generational impact of a project like this. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our community, not just about baseball. This is bigger than baseball. This is about delivering not only a world-class experience for Hillsborough College students, Workforce Pipeline Programs, commitments to minority hiring, affordable housing, and, of course, the forever home of the Tampa Bay Rays. Dr. Atwater would look pretty good in that photo. What were talking about tonight is a worklivelearnplay development, a project that brings together we believe for the very first time in north america a mixed-use development, a thriving college, and a Major League Baseball Team around 130 acres of land that displaces not a single business and not a single home. When you read about these projects around the country, and ours is unique, you often read about homes that are being displaced, businesses that are being displaced. People that have to uproot their lives to be able to make this work. None of this happens in the project. We were intentional about our location. We were intentional about our process. And were bold with this vision because we believe this is the right move for the City Of Tampa and the county. When you look at the vision for this development, were talking about 10 million annual visitors. Now, thats less than the number of visitors that visit magic kingdom or epcot every year, but its more than the number of visitors that visit animal kingdom or disney studios. Were talking about more than 8 million square foot of development, a revitalized campus for the Hillsborough College, Which Dr. Atwater will speak to. Retail, hospitality, expanded sports medicine programs, interactive sports destination marketing hosting world-class Events Way beyond just 81 Tampa Bay Rays major league baseball games. Were talking about Ncaa championships, indoor concerts that could not otherwise be housed because of either venue size or the ability to bring climate-controlled events to our region. Were talking about complementing events with raymond james stadium, complementing events with steinbrenner field, working alongside our partners at the Tampa Bay bucs, the Yankees, and our teams here in town. Were going to attract new businesses. Were going to do this together as a community. It is a true public-private partnership. When you think about the space that were talking about, this is one of the early overall space maps that weve worked with our team at Gensler who is doing our master planning. Now, we have experts from all throughout the region from populace to Gensler to our team at Kimley-Horn thats here tonight that can talk about traffic and parking concerns because they need to be asked and they need to be answered. We are not shying away from the hard questions. Were here tonight because we want to have a transparent conversation, not just with our elected officials, but with the entire community. As ive said, this is bigger than baseball. As the folks and Rays fans behind us look terrific, were having a conversation tonight about something thats much bigger than the Tampa Bay Rays. Were talking about making an investment, an investment in our City. An investment in our county, an investment in our community. We all want to be on the right side of history in making an investment that we hope not just 30 years from now, but 50 to a hundred years from now we look back and say that we reached a great partnership with the Rays, there was a lot of give and take. This were concessions made and we landed on something that works for the good of the community that were proud of, that all of us are proud of. ID like to invite my friend, Dr. Ken Atwater, up for a few moments to share what started as a conversation about baseball but emerged into a discussion about building a true worklivelearnplay development. Dr. Ken Atwater. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to make a few statements. Before I begin, ID like to read a statement about the partnership from the college perspective. This partnership represents a transformational opportunity for Hillsborough College and, most importantly, for the student experience. A project of this scale, vision creates new pathways for learning, workforce development, internships, career connected education that directly benefits our students. On April the 9th, I sent you a letter outlining the colleges support for this project and the reasons why we supported this project. Ultimately im not going to go through and reread this letter for you and im sure all of you have gotten it. In fact, I heard back from some of you to acknowledge receipt of it. But I would like to highlight a couple of things that were included in that that really talks why Hillsborough College is supporting this project and the benefits its going to add to the college. When we redeveloped our dale mabry campus into a modern, urban center designed around how students learn today and how employers operate, students will gain access to paid internships, applied learning, employment opportunities with a Major League Organization. The construction phase and the permanent phase will create thousands of jobs. Many of the jobs will align with our programs and business, marketing, it., Cybersecurity and culinary arts, hospitality and events management. These are real pathways for employment and basically for a future for our students. But the benefits dont only extend to our students, it also extends to our Faculty who will gain access to applied research opportunities in areas such as sports management, business operation, economic development, and it will strengthen academic excellence and deepen connections between education and industry. The redevelopment of the dale mabry campus into a liveworkplaylearn district places Hillsborough College at the center of tampas future and demonstrates what is possible when education, industry, and community move forward together. In closing, I would urge you to support the Tampa Rays ballpark. In doing so, you will be supporting education, opportunity, economic development, and, more importantly, the future of our region. I respectfully urge for your support of this project. At Hc we say, "this is a game changer."

5:16:29PM Thank you, Dr. Atwater. You have to start with your name again. Dr. Atwater highlighted many of the benefits. Perhaps what I think were proudest of is We embarked on buying a baseball team and We ended up getting the opportunity to work alongside a college to do something far bigger than talk about baseball. We got to talk about the opportunity tonight to change a City, to make an investment in ourselves, to do something otherwise not possible. The State stands by us. The Governor has been here to State his support. The Commissioner Of Baseball has been here to State his support. Truly, everyone is rooting for us. Its up to us, The Rays, the City, and the county to reach a fair public-private partnership. And that process needs to be a responsible one. What ID like to do tonight in the remaining time is talk a little bit about our vision for the ballpark and how were thinking About The Road ahead. The ballpark and our site was very intentionally thought of, not just because of Hillsborough College, but because of the areas ability to already handle large crowds. We know, of course, that Buccaneers games are held at the raymond james stadium. The Yankees, of course, host spring training very well and very successfully at george steinbrenner field. Imagine a mixed use development thats built out with more expanded traffic, better parking, more expanded resources from the State, from The Rays, from our development partners to be able to make that experience not just for The Rays better, but for all of our teams. We think truly rising tides lift all ships. The ballpark itself will be truly tampas ballpark. When you are in other cities and you sit out at the ballpark at night on a Friday or a Saturday night with your family, enjoying americas pastime, you know the City you are in. When you are in boston at fenway park, you gaze out at the green monster and you know you are in boston. In pittsburgh and see all the steel and the bridge with the citys backdrop, you know you are in pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Here in Tampa, our ballpark will be the same. We have an opportunity to create something really bold for our community. I had the opportunity as a child growing up with my father working for the Baltimore Orioles that played at old memorial stadium in baltimore. He was the general counsel of the team and was part of the team that had a chance to build oriole park at camden yards, a ballpark that changed baseball forever. In fact, all of the ballparks that came after baltimore and camden yards looked back at the design And The Way that the brick and the warehouse spoke to the City. Amazingly, the ballparks that were built just before oriole park at camden yards in baltimore, tropicana Field In St. Petersburg. We have the opportunity to do something bold, something special. Imagine a fixed roof where you stare out on a summer night and see the stars in the sky with a degree of transparency in the roof. Imagine planes flying to one of the best airports We think in the world. We think it is the best airport for sure. I see some council members nodding their heads agreeing with me. 30000 seat ballpark, 30,000 fixed seats, but more different neighborhoods, social experiences, an opportunity to really experience different neighborhoods of Tampa within the ballpark. Local foods, great experiences for families night after night after night. No sport like baseball gets the opportunity with more than 81 games a year to bring community together and generate economic impact. We will do that with games, youth events, festivals, communities, concerts. As weve said, this is so much more than major league baseball in our City. What ID like to do tonight, particularly in this room and with this body, is share a little bit about how were thinking about our community benefits agreement. Weve watched these, studied them, researched them, retained experts on our team to understand how the City Of Tampa has thought about community benefits agreements in the past. I can proudly say standing here tonight that the Tampa Bay Rays are prepared to make the largest community benefits agreement in the City Of Tampa's history. And as We build our private-public partnership together with the City and the county and the State and here with The Rays, there are a few of the pillars that I wanted to take some time tonight to talk about, that We want to be held responsible and accountable for. At our public meetings, ive called this the community benefits agreement report card. Hold us accountable for doing the things We say were going to do. We want to be great stewards in the community, more than a great baseball team. We want to be great community partners In The Way We give back and engage in the community. Here are a few examples Of The Way that were thinking about the pillars of that community benefits agreement. Of course, a reimagined Hillsborough College. Real jobs with a pipeline. Students that get an opportunity as they step off And Shake Dr. Atwater's hand with a brand-new crisp diploma, that have built-in job opportunities, with culinary, hospitality, sports medicine programs, not just with the Tampa Bay Rays, but with retail, with mixed-use development, and throughout our community. Were talking about affordable housing. Were talking about expanding streets and creating and investing in Parks like al lopez adjacent to the development, otherwise but not possible if it wasnt for a project like this. Tonight, youll hear about the Drew Park CRA, which everyone in this room knows well. The Drew Park CRA, unfortunately, is one of the lowest performing cras in our City. With this project, the Drew Park CRA will become one of the largest, We think the second largest CRA, performing CRA in our City, but not for this investment that were making ourselves, The Rays, the City, and the county, this would not be possible. And youth Parks for the community. Were committing tonight to invest in more than 25 Parks for baseball and other sports, including upkeep and equipment throughout the City and county to make sure this is not just about the Tampa Bay Rays, its for the entire community. Youth programming, Al Lopez Park, our baseball fields, bringing people to have opportunities to engage in minority communities, to do things otherwise not possible. So much bigger than baseball. Such a generational opportunity that if it wasnt for this partnership with The Rays, Hillsborough College, and all of us in this room, it wouldnt be possible. So what We say is, hold us accountable. Hold us responsible. In our agreements when We sign them, they will have contractual commitments that We do what We say were going to do, but youve got to believe in the vision. You got to believe in the opportunity to create something truly special and magical for our community. When We started these discussions and We are actively in negotiations with staff at the City and the county, We said you would for sure count on The Rays to pay for at least, at least half the cost of our new ballpark. The Rays will pay for 100% of the cost of this new development. The Rays will bear 100% of cost overruns over the cost of this $2.3 Billion ballpark. I know youre all thinking, why does the ballpark cost $2.3 Billion? I would urge you to research in your time, in the days and weeks ahead other projects -- baseball projects around the country. The Kansas City Royals just last week announced a brand-new downtown ballpark that their City will invest more than $600 million in. That ballpark will cost $1.9 Billion with absolutely no roof at all. Here in Tampa, We dont embark and engage in an outdoor ballpark. We think thats not feasible. We looked at a retractable roof and decided that was not cost responsible. And weve settled on a project that were all working to make as cost affordable as possible, and our work continues on that, working alongside our construction partners. We aspire to build a fair public partnership, public-private partnership where the team will bear more than half the cost of the building, take on all operational expense of the building and all overruns. This is the largest private investment by a sports team in the states history and one of the largest nationally in the history of major league baseball, a generational moment, a generational investment with world-class returns. Lets talk for a moment about some of the results. We talk about the importance of this but for partnership. We went to an outside firm, Rclco at the request of our elected officials. Talking to the Managing Director of Rclco is here tonight. Her firms results confirm a sound methodology that over $55 billion of economic impact would be achieved as a function of this investment. ID ask tonight as you hear comments from the staff and experts and constituents and stakeholders and opponents that you think of this as an investment. $55 billion. And as youll hear tonight, when the county went and the City to go verify the validity of that $55 billion, as reported in a recent Hillsborough County public workshop, it was found to be over $70 billion. 11900 jobs. And generational impact from our community otherwise not possible. And on top of all that, a brand-new Hillsborough College campus. Simply put, this is our moment, and tonight, as you hear conversations from staff, stakeholders, Rays' fans, Hillsborough College Students, folks that are for or against it, We think this is a healthy conversation. We embrace and engage in this discussion. This is how these things should be -- transparent, open, engaging. Weve all seen other City projects in other communities around the country where you wake up and read in the paper that a team is moving to a different City, taking a deal that the community didnt get a chance to be a part of that. I am so happy We live in a City like Tampa where a process like this exists, where We get to have an honest, transparent conversation, not just with our esteemed elected officials, but with the community. Hold us accountable for doing the things We say were going to do. There are still details that have to be revealed. As I stand here tonight, and youll hear it from City officials, We are still actively negotiating a memorandum of understanding with the City and the county. Its not The Rays' timeline. Simply put, I would say this is the communitys timeline. Its tampas timeline. The State of Florida will enter legislative session in the next couple of weeks to make decisions on Hillsborough College's campus, on the transportation infrastructure. They are looking to us, the City, the county, The Rays to see if We can put this project over the finish line. So We aspire tonight to continue our work on reaching that MOU in the month of May. I would just finish with this slide above and say our ownership group is committed, ready, willing, and able to contribute more than $1.1 Billion towards the cost of this new ballpark. A hundred percent of the overruns. All of the operational maintenance, a hundred percent of the development cost and risk, less what the State is preparing to put into the college and, of course, into infrastructure. Our State and county and City leaders are aligned that this project deserves to be looked at. Thats why We are all here tonight. While im sure, of course, no vote is being taken tonight, im proud to be in a place that engages in a process like this. The college, as you Heard From Dr. Atwater, is ready to transform. Our timeline is achievable and necessary. We couldnt be prouder of it. We have the full support of not only the other owners in major league baseball, including the New York Yankees, imagine that, We May compete like heck off the field, only a couple of games behind in the standings, behind the New York Yankees, but even the Yankees have said they support this plan while, of course, continuing to invest in our other sports team in the community. The Commissioner has been here. The Governor has been here. These mixed-use developments like in atlanta at the battery have been proven successful. I would urge you to pick up the phone and call the Dekalb County Commissioners and ask them about the decision they made nearly ten years ago which universally they will tell you was one of the best decisions theyve made in their time in public office. The fatigue is real. For nearly 20 years, the questions have been asked, and now We are fortunate to be in this room to get an opportunity to answer them. Together. And tonight, you will hear those who are in favor, those who are opposed. And many of those in the room who are still trying to figure out whether or not they will support or not support it, and thats okay. What I would urge you to do is listen. To get a chance to support this generational moment for our community. Were honored to be here. Were honored to act, and it is the communitys team. And We couldnt be prouder stewards of your Tampa Bay Rays. Thank you very much. [ applause sounding gavel

5:31:26PM Hey, guys, I know a lot of people are not familiar with Council Chambers and council rules. We give people at the podium an opportunity to speak, but we dont do audience participation. Its not church. We dont shout back and dont clap, dont snap fingers. We listen to everybody whether we like what they say or dont like what they say. Now ill recognize the City Of Tampa, John and Dennis.

John Bennett

5:31:57PM John Bennett, chief of staff for the City Of Tampa. Good evening to our public and especially those that are here in the sunshine. I want to thank Council for hosting this opportunity to give a point-in-time discussion, if you will, from the City Staff working with our partners. Again, working alongside my colleagues as a part of a larger and dynamic system of public and private partners in negotiations for a significant project prospect, which, By The Way, includes our longtime regional baseball team who played their last full season here in Tampa last year. I would like to start out by saying that trying to keep things simple isnt easy, but the truth of the matter is, einstein always said, keep it simple but not simpler. Im going to frame a discussion tonight to allow questions and answers to unfold to help us continue to guide through this process. As Council and the public are aware, stakeholders have been engaged for several months in what I like to call discussions, feasibility analysis, and structured negotiations at multiple levels. I want to throw out a metaphor for you because what I explained to our friends as we developed this over the last couple of months, we started out with guardrails. The guardrail on the right is what I call the do no harm guardrail to the citys level of service and future state of public safety, public service. Also includes our deficit analysis. Ive been working hard with all of our departments to figure out what the future of some of our funding opportunities, resources look like. Youll hear some of that tonight. The other guardrail is what I like to call a good neighbor guardrail, because I have worked alongside our Buccaneers and Raymond James Stadium, lightning at benchmark arena and our Yankees over at Legends Steinbrenner Field. We know we have responsibilities to those venues. In the middle of those guardrails is what I just highlighted. Its three lanes of discussion. The first one is just that. Its a discussion to understand what the framework of what we just heard from The Rays as the future opportunities exist. The Center Lane is what I call the feasibility work. Youll hear some of that later on this evening as well. In The Fast Lane is where the negotiations are happening. Every facet of what we say tonight May end up in one of those three lanes because as its already been said, were not bringing a proposal forward for Council to vote on this evening. Importantly, these principles are applied in the context of existing commitments the city has already made to public safety and infrastructure. To The Rays' credit, especially Mr. Babby and, of course, Patrick as well that ive talked to at the table, they have worked within these partner and sense of community parameters, notably around the platforms that you heard of education, workforce development, and mixed-use concepts that extend beyond the venue itself to include state-level infrastructure improvements. Tonight, were going to continue to provide this point-in-time status update, a situation report on where we are in discussions, this feasibility and scale negotiations in this public-private partnership framework. Well outline the current effort, categories, and then take questions recognizing this remains active and an evolving process. All collaborative backup material shared to date have been provided to Council and uploaded into our onbase agenda management system for public transparency. That said, I want to point out theres a lot of work ahead and more transparency to share. I want to be clear on the record, again, the city has not presented any formal agenda item to Council or the CRA Board for a vote, whether binding or nonbinding at this time. The work underway generally falls into three broad categories of effort. As you heard Mr. Babby mention, efforts around an MOU framework which could then lead to a full agreement. Theres financial structuring, including securitization concepts. Lastly, land use and zoning considerations. Im joined tonight by our CFO, our chief financial officer Dennis Rogero, our city attorney Scott Steady and weve ensured our legal team that CRA Council and also tonight is our CRA director have been briefed on our current status to date. As we move into the broad discussion categories, our goal is to clearly lay out where things stand today and allow Council and the public to offer feedback in this iterative process. Before I fully begin, youll hear several acronyms tonight. You already heard public-private partnership which we May phrase as p-3. You May hear the CRA, the Community Redevelopment Agency or area. The Tdt, the tourism development tax. The CIT, the community investment tax. The MOU, a memorandum of understanding. The Bocc, the board of County commissioners. Tsa, the Tampa Sports Authority. Hc, Hillsborough College. FAA, you May hear FDOT., Florida Department Of Transportation and possibly others that we will do best to translate as those things are needed. With that, I will bring up the five-point discussion slide, if youll bring up the presentation, please. First I want to highlight who has been at the table the last couple of months. The Rays have been there. County Administration been there. Tampa Sports Authority has been there and, of course, the colleagues I just mentioned. There are many other stakeholders that will be evolving to the table as this unfolds. But to date, those are the folks that have been there. I want to discuss some of the resources and approvals from what I call the four b. Buckets, backstops, boards, and benefits. The buckets youll hear about tonight and what we call the color of money is how money can be used in a project like this. The CIT, the community investment tax, as approved by Council via the interlocal agreement in June of 2024 and voted on November of the same year, estimated at $783 million, the tourism development tax that the County has controlled, and I want to point out that The Tampa Convention Center is dependent on that as well as visit Tampa Bay. Those dependencies as well as the CRA, the Community Redevelopment Agency, area known as Drew Park, which is CRA Board control, and then there are other bucket opportunities that are based on things that we have yet to develop. We also talked about the second b, the backstops. The backstops align with the do no harm to our current level of service and our future capital improvement needs for the city. The boards, City Council as obviously the legislative branch of our local government, and the CRA Board, which we will get into a little bit later. Lastly, the benefits. You heard The Rays talk about the economic development, the venue itself, and the things that we already discussed. I can tell you, ive never for the three times ive been at the table with The Rays over this administration, ive never heard a better sense of community of trying to serve our public in this model. Now I want to get into the major deal components. First, as I mentioned earlier, we are working on a nonbinding memorandum of understanding and, of course, Mr. Steady is here to give you updates on that should you have questions. We are working on our funding mix, private-public partnership as shared with the four buckets as I mentioned earlier and how that can be backstopped for security for all parties involved. Lastly, is the land use and development and the comp plan as it relates to our Westshore overlay. I want to deepen these discussions now a little bit. The CIT, the community investment tax, commences December 1, 2026. As Council understands, we are on the tail of the one we had for the last 30 years. The interlocal agreement again was approved by Council in June of 2024, and the subcategorizations for the city have to include viability, allowability, and defensibility to make sure that what I talked about earlier, public safety, public works, Parks and rec, infrastructure, as well as our other venues that have been put into that deal are cared for. The tourist development tax, again, controlled by the County. Noteworthy for The Tampa Convention Center and debt issuance, another area of future debt discussion. Community redevelopment area. Of course, managed by the citys Community Redevelopment Agency and the board, the Drew Park feasibility controlled by the board and here tonight again is director Cedric McCray to make those comments. And then the last bucket is to be determined. There are all sorts of things that were discussing with The Rays Organization and the County to augment some of the public-private partnership as it relates to the funding. I wanted to keep this brief on purpose so we can lead to questions and answers with Council at this time.

Alan Clendenin

5:41:34PM Does that conclude The City's presentation?

John Bennett

5:41:37PM Yes, it does.

Alan Clendenin

5:41:38PM Very good. For the agenda, we now have 30 minutes of questions and answers from council. Three minutes each. This will be questions and answers for either the Rays' organization or City Staff. Who wants to start? Councilwoman Hurtak.

Lynn Hurtak

5:41:54PM Nobody else wants to, you know I have a million questions. So, my first question is for Mr. Rogero. Because ultimately when you take everything out, this is a revenue discussion. This is a discussion about money and how we spend it. I watched the county workshops and I heard them talk about the fact that right now with the CIT where we are, the State Legislature recently passed a law that eliminated sales tax on commercial leases. And thats caused a reduction in the CIT. Can you talk to me about the percentage that the CIT has gone down already since that has happened?

Dennis Rogero

5:42:47PM Good evening, Council. Dennis Rogero, chief financial officer. I cant give you a specific percentage but what I can do is put it in context. Some of you May know this, but I think its worth reiterating. Again, when we campaigned for the renewal of the community investment tax, we -- we being the city and the county -- thought we embarked on a pretty conserve forward looking scenario, 3% growth over the next 15 years annually on average. As the chief mentioned, were coming off about a 30-year community investment tax already where we enjoyed over time over 4% annual average increase. Weve had a very good run. Its been ups and downs on an annual basis but weve had a good run over the last 30 years. As we charted the course for the next 15 years, as I said, we presumed about a 3% increase. Now, we still think that is a valid and conservative projection, but to your point, it has had an adverse impact on what we anticipate collecting, well, in perpetuity if that business tax exclusion remains. Millions of dollars a year.

Lynn Hurtak

5:44:02PM To go along with that, We still dont know, The State Legislature is talking about doing away with property taxes and right now We dont have an answer to that, do We?

Dennis Rogero

5:44:13PM We do not, maam. The time frame where We can receive an answer has been extended. The initial discussions were perhaps this month. I dont believe thats going to happen now. It May be June, July, et cetera. So We dont. It is a vulnerability out there, absolutely.

Lynn Hurtak

5:44:31PM Thank you. I want to ask Mr. Babby the same questions.

Alan Clendenin

5:44:38PM Well go second round. You only have 30 seconds left. Councilman Viera.

Luis Viera

5:44:52PM Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One thing I will say overall that we have to think about on this, which is weve heard from the Rays in terms of what we are potentially getting. We have to talk about what we would potentially also be giving up. I think that is a good thing for transparency because nothing is free. You can get the greatest gift in the world but there are very few things that come with no strings attached and no sacrifices. I know this isnt statement time, Mr. Chairman. Im prefacing my question. We have to have that discussion on things that are Black and White and then theres gray. We have to talk about that gray. For you, Mr. Rogero, I know CIT Funds are targeted towards specific purposes. The funds as it applies to the city be prospectively going to the infrastructure surrounding the Rays stadium and so forth. Are those funds that are earmarked solely for economic development or funds that could be used for public safety enhancements as well?

Dennis Rogero

5:45:48PM Yes, sir. If Council doesnt mind, I have a slide I can put on the wolf. Can you see it okay? And youve seen this before, of course, Council. These are the various categories comprising at the bottom right, $783 million anticipated collected over the 15 years. Again, that includes a 3% annual average growth rate. And then you see, transportation and public works, 191 million. Public Safety divided into vehicles and equipment and facilities, $339 million. And public facilities of $253 million. And, of course, those are divided into Parks And Conservation for 88 million and then raymond james stadium and amalie arena of 165 million. Does that answer your question?

Luis Viera

5:46:48PM In other words, the funds that would be prospectively going to this project are those earmarked as Economic Development Funds?

Dennis Rogero

5:46:55PM I guess I dont understand the context.

Luis Viera

5:46:58PM The CIT funds that are prospectively going to the rays surrounding infrastructure, funds that could be used for things like public safety enhancement or are they geared toward a specific purpose like economic development?

Dennis Rogero

5:47:10PM I see. My understanding, and ill defer to the City Attorney, my understanding is what weve identified here is the course that we have to keep with over the next 15 years.

Luis Viera

5:47:24PM We May need a bigger -- I do have other questions. Ill go for part two.

Guido Maniscalco

5:47:34PM In regards to the CIT, from what ive read, they want the money up front and bonding of the CIT. Can you explain that?

Dennis Rogero

5:47:44PM Yes, sir. The course We charted at the beginning was a 15-year time frame for collections. As The Chief said, We havent started collecting on this tax yet. It occurs at the end of this year. You saw on the handout or the slide I just provided, about $783 million. Its going to take us 15 years to get that, isnt it? In discussions with the rays, and you correct me if im wrong, of course, sir, they cant wait over a 15-year time period to get that funding. So well need an infusion of significant funding on the front end as opposed to waiting a 15-year period of time. That can be accomplished by bonding the revenue source.

Guido Maniscalco

5:48:31PM That answers my question. The second question, with bonding comes interest, who pays the interest?

Dennis Rogero

5:48:36PM That is still a subject of negotiation.

Guido Maniscalco

5:48:39PM Thats it for now. Thank you.

Alan Clendenin

5:48:41PM Councilman Carlson.

Bill Carlson

5:48:43PM Mr. Babby, could I bring you up? I want to start by thanking the County Commission, the County Administrator, several of the County Commissioners. Ive spoken to Ken Hagan and Josh Wostal. Both have totally different perspectives. I want to especially thank Mr. Babby and patrick and others for being so accessible through the process. You all have always been available, answered our questions and done a great job and we appreciate it. Also Hcc. I wanted to ask you a question. One of the main pieces of feedback were hearing from the public is make sure we negotiate the best deal. City Council hasnt been involved so we dont have any idea where it started. Dont know where the starting points were. If you are negotiating for something and the person offers $20 and you offer 5, we dont know what was the 20 or the 5. Could you briefly take the public through what you saw as the negotiation points? What were the points that you all gave in on that the city or county asked for? Appreciate it. It is a thoughtful question. I think it really comes back to Mr. Bennett's comments about priorities and pillars. We started the discussion by saying we would take a do no harm approach in all aspects of this. And that relates to safety, transportation, education. Youll hear tonight from the Fire Department. Youll hear tonight from the Police. And weve given them the assurance. Ive given them my word, but contractually, we intend to give them so they know it is true. Our commitment that money will not, cannot, and shall not be taken from any Public Safety Program or priority, Emergency Management, Police, or Fire, for this project. Those needs are greater than what were talking about here tonight. And anybody in the room tonight that is concerned about the funding from any funding source that would impact those areas should feel comfortable with my words and feel even more comfortable with what will be represented in the memorandum of understanding and eventually definitive documents.

Alan Clendenin

5:50:55PM Can you state your name again?

Bill Carlson

5:51:04PM I think in the beginning, You all proposed maybe that the City And County pay half. Now youre saying above a certain amount youll cover the difference. You saw the pie chart graphic that I shared earlier tonight, which, By The Way, on rays baseballcom, You can see the response. The pie chart continues to grow and grow and grow even more towards the private side. Every time we change it, My Wife asks me, does it just keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger? This has to be a fair process. Theres been a lot of back and forth. Weve given up a lot to make this work. We continue to give up a lot to make this work. By the time a memorandum of understanding reaches this body for a vote, You can rest assured that I believe your staff will agree, You can barely hear in my voice speak, we are exhausted from this process.

Alan Clendenin

5:51:53PM Thank you very much. Councilwoman Young.

Naya Young

5:51:56PM Thank you all so much. So my question -- weve been hearing 2 billion stadium or ballpark. So my question is, is the money specifically, is it only for the stadium or is it for the entire, you know, complex, you know, encompassing the retail space, housing, hospitality, restaurants, does that cover everything or is it solely for the ballpark? Councilwoman, hundred percent of the public funding that would eventually go to this project would go into the ballpark. No monies, public monies from the City or from the county would go into the development. Were focused specifically from a City perspective on infrastructure. I want to be very clear about that because were talking about infrastructure into the ballpark. Thats very important because it was a priority from the City at the outset of these discussions, and a commitment that we intend to make to the City that the money from the City that will ultimately go into this project will go into ballpark infrastructure only.

5:53:17PM My second question is, in terms of -- im not sure if you reached this point yet -- in terms of accessibility, going to the games, have we discussed what those ticket prices will be? My personal life in minor league baseball, in communities owning teams like jacksonville, Florida, and akron, Ohio. I think our work product over those last 15 years speaks for itself in terms of our commitment to affordability. And the best example of that is how weve embarked in this journey here with the rays over the last seven months, having the lowest priced and most affordable tickets in all of Major League Baseball. $10 tickets to a Major League Baseball game available every night. Thats something that were committed to, not only Here In St. Petersburg at tropicana field, but into the future. Affordability and affordable family entertainment is at the essence and epicenter of what I think makes the game of baseball in our community great. It is the advantage of having 81 games, unlike other sports that only play less, and we are committed and will be held accountable to commitment for affordable tickets for years to come. Thank you, Councilwoman.

5:54:32PM I have another question but I dont have time.

Alan Clendenin

5:54:34PM Councilwoman Hurtak.

Lynn Hurtak

5:54:36PM Thank you. Im going to follow the same question line that I talked to Mr. Rogero about. Right now, were looking at the possibility of there being no property taxes, and we cant estimate -- I mean, thats what were hearing. And were also -- you know, the State is taking out the ability for us to tax businesses that provide CIT funding. If we do away with the property taxes, we Have No Way to fund the bonds that were going to be taking out for you all if they do away -- if the economy goes down and our CIT does not make it above 3%, how are you going to pay for that? In the memorandum of understanding. I can tell you, you are represented at the table with very, very smart economists, financial experts, politicians, folks who have had the opportunity to be engaged at both the local city level and in their career at the State and county level. I think its a valid question. We appreciate it. We read the same reports that you do. Ill leave the political and financial framework discussions for the staff and political experts to answer, but I will give you the assurance, Councilwoman Hurtak, that we are giving great sense of focus and commitment in creating a partnership that is fair for the city, fair for the county, fair for the State, and fair for the community. Again, I will just highlight the largest private commitment by a Sports Team in the history of the State of Florida.

5:56:26PM What share of the stadiums total footprint, including the surrounding mixed use development would be subject to property taxes? The financial agreement. Tonight, We will not be able to get into the details. But rest assured -- and I think its very important -- as part of this transparency discussion that once there is an MOU, once there is ultimately definitive documents, those exact conversations and questions should be answered. Please dont take my lack of response specifically to your question as a disagreement; its simply theres no framework to discuss here tonight yet. Were simply painting the vision for a project that will come forth very soon, and We want to have a conversation with the community about it.

Alan Clendenin

5:57:11PM Councilman Maniscalco.

Guido Maniscalco

5:57:12PM Mr. Rogero, do you know about how much of that CIT money would be bonded? How much of the CIT money would be bonded? What is the amount?

Dennis Rogero

5:57:26PM We are still -- I can give you a range. I cant give you a particular figure.

Guido Maniscalco

5:57:31PM What is the range? Hundred million, two hundred million?

Dennis Rogero

5:57:34PM 80 to hundred.

Guido Maniscalco

5:57:36PM Over a 15-year period, right?

Dennis Rogero

5:57:40PM Remains to be seen. The length of the bond.

Guido Maniscalco

5:57:44PM How would that affect our credit and bond rating? Would it affect it at all? I know what our bonding capacity is because weve had the discussions. What happens to Aa, Aaa ratings?

Dennis Rogero

5:57:56PM We dont anticipate adverse impact to our credit rating. Thats been one of our hold harmless tenets.

Guido Maniscalco

5:58:02PM Looking at the chart of the funding of the 15 years and what you want to do with that money, what if We dont meet these numbers? What if there is a downturn in the economy? We have a bad year, a natural disaster. Weve had a pandemic. What happens if We dont meet these numbers yet We have these bond obligations, do We have to cut from these projects, is Public Safety affected, not because of the rays, but because We have no other choice because We dont have the anticipated sales tax revenue coming in, what happens then?

Dennis Rogero

5:58:33PM You will, yes. If the funding comes in over that 15-year time period less than anticipated, We would have to reduce the allocations for these projects.

Guido Maniscalco

5:58:42PM Thank you very much.

Alan Clendenin

5:58:43PM Councilman Viera.

Luis Viera

5:58:44PM Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. For the Rays, for Mr. Babby, before ill just say in general because we talk about Tallahassee, that if Tallahassee wants this to pass, I think we all agree in this room, the best thing they can do is stop threatening the most equitable source that we have to fund our cops and firefighters. I think that is a big issue. Councilwoman Hurtak talks about that. One thing I want to talk to you about, if I May, some of the benefits that could come to the community on this, that the Rays could do or could additionally do, its not unreasonable to say that a baseball stadium here is going to change the economic landscape of a part where a lot of working class people live. Right now working class people feel very, very squeezed. I want you to opine, if you dont mind, not just affordable housing but workforce housing that youre going to be supporting and that we could increase in support not just for lower income people, but for working class people, the welders, cops, teachers, so forth. I would talk later on about different things like job training, apprenticeships, talking about a joint police and fire substation. We can talk about that later. We talked about that in private before. I give up my time, if you dont mind. Thank you, sir. I would just say that all of those things are a part of our plan, Councilman. Weve talked about it in our own discussions. Weve talked about it with the police. Weve talked about it with fire together at meetings weve attended. Thank you for attending those. But not for a project like this. You dont get to have a discussion about potentially opening up a new police station in our community, potentially in the district as we venture to try and do together. You dont get the opportunity to look at expanded programs for fire. You dont get the opportunity to look at taxes that are created to be able to create even more opportunity to do programming much of whats been shown today. I had the great pleasure this morning of attending the state of our city. And I heard that the City Of Tampa, I heard our Mayor say that the City Of Tampa has the second highest bond rating of any city in the united states if I heard that correct. Thats an incredible position that comes after making wonderful decisions, not just by the body of the elected officials in this room, but those who were your predecessors. They also made bold decisions, made bold investments that required a great deal of scrutiny, but they always maintained not to impede on public safety. That is the work and commitment were making.

6:01:25PM Yes, sir. I do want us to talk about, I think Councilwoman Young talked about affordability of tickets, also the housing component in the surrounding area, so the area continues to be accessible to working class people. Yes, you have our full commitment.

Charlie Miranda

6:01:44PM Im going to make statements and then later on maybe I can speak. I dont know. But the City Of Tampa -- Ad Valorem taxes does not cover the cost of the police and fire department itself. All the taxes we collect, we cant even pay our firefighters and Police Department in total. Thats number one. Number two, baseball does not sell to the south. You know why, only two seasons, summer and Christmas. Up north, other areas, they dont build 30 seat stadiums. They build bigger stadiums. Why? They have four seasons. April and May you want to get out of the house or apartment and see a game. Thats wonderful. But it does not happen in the south. Dont believe me, look at the Attendance In St. Pete, miami and yes, look at the attendance in Tampa. A lot more than what were looking at. Furthermore, when you continue to look at these things and you realize that the monies that are needed to fund this thing, the City Of Tampa has a triple-a bond rating right on the heels of minneapolis, Minnesota. Thats wonderful to have. The City Of Tampa is in debt for $2.8 Billion right now in the bonding area I realize -- thats what we owe. 28 Billion. Furthermore, lets look at other things. How much paving do we need? City Of Tampa has 1212 Miles Of Road. It takes half a million dollars to build one Mile Of Road. How many do we have? 1212 Miles Of Road. How are our roads today? Nowhere near anything but poor. And youre asking me for money. When you buy a team for 1.7 Billion, you should have the assets to do other things with it. I dont know if that is a true figure. When we go to the bank, you have to turn in a financial statement, where your money is coming from. But when you have a sports team, which is a business, you dont do that. Ive never seen one. We need the rays to really talk about transparency. Let me see all your sales. Let me see what you did last year at the Yankees stadium. Sale of 1.7 Billion and why is the person who sells the team become minority owner. That doesnt make sense unless a sale is not 1.7 Billion. Im not saying it is or not, I think like a criminologist because I am. Lets go further. Were not building a stadium here. Were building something more than a stadium and its not called a business. That is the hotels and other things. But theres no guarantee that will be built that I know of. I yield later on. Ill finish later.

Alan Clendenin

6:04:35PM Councilman Carlson followed by Councilwoman Young.

Bill Carlson

6:04:39PM Mr. Babby, ill ask you a couple of questions again. One thing to respond to your point about the high bond rating, its gone up in the last eight years a couple of times because City Council has pushed really hard to make sure that We have a higher reserve fund. We have just now hit the reserve fund that the city had 15 years ago. So were aggressively going after that, trying to make sure that We reserve funds. Its important to look at all the different financial numbers. Another thing, im going to ask you like three questions and then you can try to remember all of them. To Council Member Hurtak's point, I dont know that youve said this, but my impression is that you all for infrastructure, whatever, plan to use all the property tax money in the CRA for the next 20 or 30 years In One Way or another. Maybe you can respond to that. The second thing is, you all havent really talked about hcc that much and how different it is. The integration of the workforce and the training and the new facility, maybe you could talk for a minute where the money is coming from, the public has questions about that. Lastly, to council member mirandas point, We get hit every day because there is a backlog of roads not being paved, sidewalks not being built, Parks not -- weve got 20-year-old fire trucks. We have fire stations that are falling apart. Can you -- We could spend a billion dollars with the county to fund a real estate project without a ballpark. Can you tell us -- I know you are a huge fan of baseball. Could you just tell us what are the reasons -- final question, what are the reasons that baseball in particular is such a good investment for the community? Thank you. Ken Babby. Just wanted to thank you for that. Ill take the last question first. I think ID start by looking at the economic data that would not be achievable in another enterprise and certainly not without a sport like major league baseball. The economics of major league baseball bring 81 home games to your community every year, and were talking about the rays, so that means were talking about playoffs as well. Youre talking about world-class events. Youre talking about concerts. Youre talking about collegiate events, festivals, all of which would not be possible without a climate controlled indoor stadium in Tampa. Look at the work of the other teams in our community and how they have successfully of which this body has made investments in wisely, to be able to achieve events like weve had at raymond james stadium and at Benchmark Arena. Each of those facilities took bold investment to be able to achieve super bowls, world-class concerts, events, festivals, and championships. We get the opportunity to make a bold investment in this community that is so much more and you get a Major League Baseball Team to call Tampa home forever. We simply are in that moment where We get the opportunity of following many other cities in that process. I think I answered one of your three questions.

Alan Clendenin

6:07:47PM Thank you. Councilwoman Young.

Naya Young

6:07:50PM I know We spoke earlier about The Rays, you know, will take a hundred percent of any cost overruns, operating expenses, maintenance. How can We guarantee that the price that were given now is going to stay that? Because weve seen it already on council a project comes, its in the double digits. The next thing We know its three digits and We have no choice but to pay it. How can We ensure that this price that youre giving, were not going to come back and say, well, We have tariffs, We have this, things have gone up and now were at a stand-still. Im happy you asked that question because We are currently right now going through the process of having discussions with potential contractors on our stadium. Again, were still in design. Weve told the public and We said it here tonight, that We believe this will be a $2.3 Billion ballpark. I can share with you that the estimates that weve received so far, even as We continue to value engineer things like not having a retractable roof, looking at different designs, looking at the square footage of the building, the reality is this project will be much more than 2.3 Billion. And so to put you at ease with your question, The Rays are taking 100% of the cost overruns of the project. If the ballpark becomes 2.6 Billion, every penny above 2.3 Will be paid by this Ownership Group and the Tampa Bay rays. Thats Our Way of signaling to the community that were serious about this commitment. We agree with you. Often projects go over budget. We need to work really hard to continue to value engineer, to bring the cost down not just for the public, but for the private sector as well. Contractually, when you vote on the memorandum of understanding, and when you ultimately vote on the definitive agreement, the contract will be clear that 100% of those budgeted cost overruns, those cost overruns will belong and bear the sole responsibility of the Tampa Bay rays. Thank you, Councilwoman.

Alan Clendenin

6:09:56PM We have time for one more question in this round. If I dont hear anybody else, ill ask. Councilman Carlson and let him finish answering your questions?

Bill Carlson

6:10:07PM In case you run out of time, could you talk about the Hcc deal, where is the money coming from? Who is making the investment? How is it being developed? Voice continues to fail. Ken Babby. Transformational one. Dr. Atwater has said this publicly, but its the State of Florida that has stood up and said this college has a tremendous opportunity with this project, and they are waiting to see how the City And County will act, whether they decide to move forward with this incredible project. In need of repair. We identified nearly 75, 80 million dollars' worth of repair needs at our dale mabry site. Things simply as elevators. We have elevators that constantly do not work. They were built in the 1970s. Parts are not available for them. So this opportunity to transform our dale mabry site is something that is a great benefit to us and primarily from the state portion will pay for the Reconstruction mainly of our site.

6:11:31PM Considering the mix of students and other campuses, what unique benefits from connected -- ive been to the battery in atlanta -- connected to a process like that? Highlight three programs that I think will be a direct benefit. First and foremost, our it. Area will be greatly benefited through ai. And cybersecurity, for example. Greatly need. Well have people doing apprenticeships, internships, as they are graduating from those programs right on-site. And then jobs May be waiting for them as soon as they do that. The most natural thing will be our hospitality and culinary program, direct fit. I think some years ago, you remember the College tried to develop a hotel on-site to support the culinary program and hospitality program. This will be available now through this partnership. There are other things that are there, too, as you can imagine. I want to talk about the student experience because once we reimage the Dale Mabry site, we will come from a 1974 environment to a 2026 environment. And the learning environment is completely different now. Therefore, we can assure you that well have enrollment growth and well have -- well improve academic performance.

Alan Clendenin

6:12:56PM Councilwoman Young still has time left.

Naya Young

6:12:58PM Weve all seen, theres been a lot of trying to, you know, take away a lot of our, you know, dei, women and minority business programs. I know you touched on this during some of the Community sessions, but how can We ensure those businesses still have an opportunity to participate in this development and not just as subcontractors but as the prime, as the contract managers, because were seeing, there are organizations that arent even donating money to organizations that specifically are for Black and brown students because they dont want to not receive funding. How do We know that you all wont fall subject to that and that We still have our businesses able to participate in this? You to look at the colleges track record and look and see who We do business with. We do business with everybody, everybody, especially We focus a lot on local needs, both minority and majority. We will not change that practice. In our agreement that were working with the rays, the College will have a -- innovation. We will manage that innovation site. Well make sure that it is an environment that is conducive for learning and positive outcome. But the College will manage that, and We will follow our same procurement procedures and our same processes that weve done, which have been very successful in the past. We dont see any deviations from that. Were not some of the communitys Tampa Bay rays. Were not a part of the communitys Tampa Bay rays. We are the entire communitys Tampa Bay rays and have an obligation to serve all of the Community, not some of it. And this project gives us an opportunity to make whole in that commitment to look forward, to work with businesses of all colors, all types, all walks of life. We want our ticket holders and our fans to be from the entire Tampa Bay region. We will commit to it and be held accountable from it through our Community benefits agreement and the report card that We will be held accountable for. As weve been through the Community and met with Black Pastor Groups, Members Of The Education Community, and all sorts of different public interest groups, ive personally made that commitment. Its my word. Its the communitys word. Its the Tampa Bay rays' bond. Thank you.

Alan Clendenin

6:15:31PM Thank you. Councilman Miranda and then well move on to the next segment.

Charlie Miranda

6:15:35PM Thank You, Doctor. I know You have a great nursing program there and great firefighter operation to teach. You have a lot of good things come out of there. Two of my best professors, Dr. Striker and Henry Belavie, guy who did sets and logic. Wonderful. However, the tax collectors office on the corner of MLK and lois has not been brought up. We got to know what will happen. The jobs talking about mostly in hospitality. Did You know that Tampa ranks one and two in the country in hotel occupancy right now? They are needed. They are needed everywhere, not only here, but everywhere. Lets not just say its just for them. Its for a lot more people and a lot more hotels. We need four or five more hotels downtown. We need to expand our convention center because we cant compete with 220 square foot convention center. We need one at least 500,000. The city also has needs and necessities. If we can do the convention center, we can solve the problem maybe on harbour island where people cant get in and out Of The Place, changing the front of it, how You enter and exit harbour island. Have to look at what You need, we need, May be parallel, May be completely opposite. The money is the problem. Not the rays. Its the money, whether the lack of there or the lack of here. Thats what it is. Pipeline for workforce development here. We talk about our Students coming to us and our main job is getting them jobs. You know the benefit of having a job. It not only changes the Students life, it changes the family and our community. As You say, we are the talent pipeline for economic growth here in Tampa.

Alan Clendenin

6:17:18PM Thank you very much. That concludes that section of our evening agenda. Our next is going to be stakeholders. Ill call them up. If you would like, you have five minutes. Each stakeholder has five minutes. You dont have to use your time. Remain in the audience for q a from council. The first person will be the representative from the Tampa City Council citizen budget and finance committee. Mr. Greco. Hello, sir.

6:18:01PM Hold on for one second. Those of you that dont know, we have a Citizens Advisory Committee. Its made up of appointed representatives from Tampa City Council. Each one of us have a representative on that board, and they meet regularly to look at city finances and provide this council with recommendations. So weve invited the representative from Citizens Advisory Board to give their perspective tonight to this body. Start with your name, please. Im luiss appointee to the board. Mine is going to be very short and sweet. It could be very long-winded, but it seems like there is lots of interest and lots of people interested in talking. Ill be very brief. As a board in our April meeting, there were four people present of the seven, and we voted on something to bring to council and ask this from council. Its a very simple statement. We want a motion made by you all to vote on this, any use of CIT funds on the new stadium is a violation of taxpayer intent. The use of CIT dollars and its purpose of a new rays stadium requires taxpayer approval. We recommend placing a question on the November 2026 ballot. I believe thats doable. I think we have until August to do that. Just seems like there is a lot of stuff trying to be rushed through this and so many things that this city has in the past not had money for or at least had to borrow money for to come up with $250 million and then ask the County to come up with another 750, it seems like a lot. Theres lots more uses for that money. I know that in the past weve asked for and in some cases we got what we needed, but its always about money. I think the Taxpayers should have the right to vote on that and make them feel good about it. Right now, I think a vote short of that would not give the taxpayer a fair voice. Thank you.

6:20:12PM Thank you very much. Next person on the list is our Cedric McCray from our CRA, executive director. Start with your name, please.

Cedric McCray

6:20:22PM Good evening, Cedric McCray. Tampa CRA director. In preparation for this evening, I did put a few slides together at the request of the chair related to just kind of giving a brief snapshot of the Drew Park community redevelopment area. As youre aware, the cras across the State of Florida are governed by chapter 163 part 3 and the purpose is to reinvest in areas that have been deemed slum, blighted conditions following the needs assessment study thats required by the State of Florida. From that point, a community redevelopment plan is developed, and then things that are placed in that plan are used to ultimately reinvest in that specific geographical area. Drew Park 850 acres. It was established in 2004 and scheduled to sunset in 2034. The boundary to the North Hillsborough Avenue roughly, dale mabry to the east. West Tampa Bay Boulevard to the west. And Hesperides Street. The mission, of course, as I stated briefly earlier, to eliminate blight, address infrastructure deficiencies and stimulate private investment through public improvements and economic development. There are several larger scale projects that are going on currently in Drew Park. I would like to highlight The Hubert Avenue park, which is in the design phase at this particular point in time, in permitting. We have the connectivity and safety improvement projects that weve been working with mobility and a consultant on. And the other item I would like to highlight is the landscape and streetscape safety audit that is going on as well in Drew Park and another item thats underway, weve had some damage to some of the gateway signs along dale mabry and once that was brought to our attention by the Community Advisory Committee, we started to work and make repairs on those as well as add a few inside the geographical boundaries of the Drew Park CRA. There was a request to provide the revenue breakdown as it relates to the TIF allocations. Over the last ten years, so we started with FY '16 and then went All The Way up to fiscal year 2026. As you can see, there has been steady growth in the Drew Park community redevelopment area. Each community redevelopment area has to have a plan. Under that plan, there are defined goals, eligible projects related to the funding and the priorities, and there is a rule of thumb, if its not in the plan, then you shouldnt necessarily be doing it. And the state law precludes you from doing so. And plans can be updated if there are conditions and priorities that change within that specific geographical area. There can be amendments to those plans that if there is an opportunity for new investment, they can require a plan update, a potential project of the scale, of this scale could potentially fall in that area and the plan amendment is a formal public process that would be required by the state statute. And that will be very forward facing. It would involve a level of community engagement not only with the Community Advisory Committee, but also the business owners and residents in that specific area. Looking ahead, any participation of the project would require a formal plan update. The process is public, as I stated, and community engagement would be paramount in the overall update of the plan moving forward. Any questions?

Alan Clendenin

6:24:40PM Well save the questions for afterwards. Thank you very much for your presentation. I appreciate that, Cedric. Our next speaker will be from the Tax Collector's office. I believe Jennifer Castro. Start with your name, please. My name is Jennifer Castro. I am the chief deputy Tax Collector. Im here representing Nancy Millan. She is at the Florida Tax Collector annual spring meeting. Unfortunately, she could not be here. She extends her sincere appreciation for the invitation to speak today. As you know, ms. Millan sent a letter a few weeks ago stating her position on the potential impact of the proposed rays stadium development on the Drew Park Tax Collector office 4100 West MLK Junior Boulevard. Tonight, I want to briefly reinforce the key points of that letter. The Drew Park Tax Collector's office is a 25,000-square-foot facility on five acres. We have 55 team members and 32 service windows, and we serve approximately 900 customers per day in that location. 1 million people per year walk through the doors of the Hillsborough County Tax Collector's office. Fiscal year 2025, 218,000 customers were served in the Drew Park office alone. It is our busiest location in the county, serving West Tampa, town n' country, South Tampa, Westshore, and surrounding neighborhoods. For many transit-dependent residents, this is their only access point to essential services such as getting a drivers license. For a little history on this facility, it used to be the site of the old State MLK dmv office. If you are a Tampa native like me, im sure you visited that office back in the day. In 2014, the Tax Collector, who provides State services at the local county level, partnered with the State to assume a 99-year land lease for that property. Then Tax Collector Doug Belden tore down the old building and built a new State of the art Tax Collector's office that opened in 2015 at a taxpayer cost of approximately $4 million. This was part of the Tax Collector's long-term strategy to save taxpayer dollars on facilities with recurring expensive lease payments. Although the land is leased from the State, the Tax Collector built, fully operates, and maintains this facility today. It is the Tax Collector's preference for the existing Drew Park Tax Collector's office to remain untouched entirely. Nearly 900 customers walk through those doors every day. That is built-in foot traffic for any development that would be fortunate to have as a neighbor. Displacement would be very costly to taxpayers. Replacing a five-acre property with a 25,000-square-foot building today would far exceed the $4 million we paid in 2015. Roughly, it would be more like 15 to 25 million. Local Property Tax Commission revenue already subsidizes the State services delivered by the Tax Collector's office. If property tax reform eliminates or reduces our revenue that comes from Property Tax Commissions, we May simply not have the budget to replace this building and theres no State funding waiting to fill that gap. If keeping our existing facility is not an option, the Tax Collector must have a seat at the table and negotiations about the future of the Drew Park Tax Collector's office prior to finalizing any decisions. We are committed to being good partners in tampas future, but we cannot stand by while our busiest office is in jeopardy without a replacement plan. Tax Collector Nancy Millan welcomes the opportunity to meet with any council members to discuss this matter further or answer any questions that you May have. I thank you again for your invitation tonight.

6:28:41PM Thank you, Jennifer. Appreciate it. The next speaker is Michael with the Westshore Alliance. Michael Maurino, executive director Westshore Alliance. Thank you for inviting me and including me in this portion of the program. We provide you with a letter today that outlines our support. Ill summarize that a little bit and get kind of into the history of it. First of all, the letter that you received tonight also the County Commission got. Compare notes, it is the exact same letter. We were formed in 1983 to develop a plan for Westshore and Drew Park is part of the Westshore District. One of our former presidents actually helped start the Drew Park CRA. He grew up in that neighborhood. He went to the Old Lois Avenue school. So when we looked at this project, we tried to break it down and look at three aspects of it and kind of use our own data, our own thought process to determine whether or not this is a good project. So we looked at the economic impact on Westshore, transportation as a component and the cost of the project. So one of the things we looked at, and this is part of your letter, is over the last few years, Westshore and Drew Park have lagged the rest of the community in terms of commercial property value growth. We looked at commercial property values because we are a business group. We didnt want to look at residential properties, especially single-family homes. But one of the aspects of that and Cedric demonstrated in a slide, the CRA doesnt generate a lot of money. Some of the most valuable properties in Westshore are in Westshore and in Drew Park are actually publicly owned or taken up by part of the Westshore interchange. So going forward, there is a need to sort of replenish that tax base of commercial property value growth. And the reason why that is critical for the City Of Tampa and Hillsborough County is that the majority of Westshore, the Non-Drew Park part of Westshore, is not in a CRA. So the revenue generated, the property taxes generated in Westshore goes back to the rest of the county. Goes back to the rest of the City Of Tampa. Its not captured by a CRA. Its not held in. If there is a need, if there is desire of this body and for that matter of the County Commission, to make sure that property values continue to grow and Westshore remains a part of the community that donates back to the rest of the community, there needs to be some version of reinvestment in Westshore, whether it is this project or another project. One of the things we looked at was with the rays' project, again 120 acres, and what weve seen is 6 million to 8 million square feet. So when you consider that balance of acreage versus square footage, thats comparable to whats already been approved at Westshore plaza, which is about half the size but about 3 million square feet in midtown Tampa, about 25 acres and 1.8 Million square feet. Youve already approved those things. And those things have to meet the Westshore overlay, as Mr. Bennett mentioned. So theres understanding that this scale does make sense. Gets us to the transportation part of this. There is a big hole in the middle of Westshore, which is the doubletree site, meant to be a multimodal center. We think the best version of transit in Tampa is an extension of the Peoplemover from Tampa international airport down to that doubletree site. From where it goes next, you have the right-of-way already on 275, but you need to go north at some point. And one of the best ways to go north is up dale mabry and have this site where the rays would be as one of the options for tod, for redevelopment. And because of the potential of development there, you have a potential for ridership. I came to you in February when you were going over the comp plan, and I specifically mentioned the fact that the Rea Grant will look at ridership in a particular catchment area. And the future land use plan looked at transit density bonuses. That gets into affordable and workforce housing as well because youre providing those benefits. The other thing I mentioned because I am a baseball fan and couldnt leave this out. 25 out of 30 major league baseball teams have some access to transit. Baseball is an everyday game. You need all transportation options, also includes pedestrian access. FDOT. Will take care of the roads. One thing to ask of the rays, plan for 120 acres expands out that people can actually walk to the game. Anyone been to the bucs game in the last 50 years knows walking to a game is pretty hazardous but you can get there. Make sure this is true with what happens with the rays. Last part ill add, why we wanted to make a statement. There is a cost to the project, also the cost of doing nothing. What is perceived and what is known to this community. Because if we were having the same conversation about transit right now, youd have the same level of push-back. We have to do big things. We have to figure things out, and its really hard what you have to figure out. You should hold the rays accountable. You should try to get the most out of the project as you can. But the fact of the matter is, if we dont do this, then we join the ranks of oakland. We join the ranks of montreal. The only two major league baseball teams that have moved since the creation of the Buccaneers. Thats something you have to think about. Something we thought about, and thats why were in support of the project as it stands. Thank you.

6:33:47PM Thank you, Michael. Next is representative from firefighter Local 754. Start with your name, please. Vice president Tampa firefighters Local 754. Good evening, chair, members of Council and residents of the City Of Tampa. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I also want to thank The Rays organization and compliment their willingness to take our concerns into consideration early in this process. We appreciate the transparency and the ability to stay engaged as discussions have moved forward. Our focus is straightforward. Public safety, fire protection, and EMS. Service delivery. We have heard and acknowledge that public safety services are not anticipated to be impacted operationally and that any impacts being discussed are financial in nature. That distinction matters because how those commitments are carried out is what ultimately impacts service delivery. As this process moves forward, our role is to ensure that those commitments are clearly identified and maintained as details develop. Public safety depends on consistency and execution. Response times, staffing, infrastructure, and system reliability all require long-term planning and follow-through. Those are not areas where uncertainty works. We also emphasize that identifying funding is only one part of the equation. Historically projects like upgrades, facility improvements and new station have been planned and budgeted but not always prioritized or delivered on the timelines originally expected. From our perspective, planning without prioritization is where the gap begins. That context reinforces a simple point. Funding alone does not deliver service. Execution does. As decisions are made and this project advances, maintaining priority for public safety implementation is just as important as identifying the funding itself. Moving forward, our focus stays simple. The expectation is that public safety commitments are not only preserved in concept but carried through in practice. Clearly defined, measurable, and executed. We appreciate the opportunity to remain engaged and We look forward to continuing to work with Council, Staff, and The Rays and all stakeholders to make sure the expectations stay front and center as this process develops. For us and the community, expectations are arent measured by what is discussed. They are measured by what actually gets done. Thank you.

6:36:06PM The next representative is from our law enforcement union. Local Pba. Brandon. Start with your name, please. My name is Brandon Barclay. Im the president of the Tampa Police Benevolent Association. I appreciate the opportunity to speak today about an issue that sits at the intersection of community investment, economic development, and public safety. Recently, the Pba met with the ownership of the Tampa Bay Rays to discuss the possibility of a new stadium in Tampa. That meeting was productive, thoughtful, and most importantly, grounded in a shared understanding that growth is good, but not at the expense of safety. Let me be clear. We support the idea of a Rays stadium in Tampa, a project like this has potential to energize our city, create jobs and strengthen community engagement. It can serve as a catalyst for development and bring families together in a way few things can, but support does not mean a blank check. Our position is straightforward. Any memorandum of understanding must include firm guardrails that protects public safety resources. Those protections are not optional. They are essential. As our city grows, the demand on law enforcement continues to grow with it. Large-scale developments like a stadium bring increased traffic, larger crowds and complex security needs. Without proper planning and clearly defined commitments, those pressures can strain the very systems that keep our neighborhoods safe. Thats why we are insisting on accountability. We need assurances that funding for public safety will not be deluded. We need clarity on staffing, infrastructure, and long-term operational impacts. We need those commitments locked in, not left to chance and not left to future interpretation. We believe that The Rays have provided the good-faith effort to begin these discussions. This is not about opposing progress. This is about shaping it responsibly. The men and women of the Tampa Police Benevolent Association are on the front lines every day. They understand what it takes to keep the city safe, not just today but years Down The Road. Their voice in this process is not only valuable but necessary. And to The Rays organization, we recognize your willingness to engage and that matters. Partnerships like this only succeed when all parties come to the table in good faith, and we believe thats happening here. ID like to thank The Rays for proactively reaching out to both police and fire rescue to address our concerns around public safety. So lets move forward, lets do this The Right Way. Lets build something that reflects the best of Tampa, thriving, growing city that never loses sight of its responsibility to protect its people. A stadium can be a symbol of progress with the right Safeguards In Place, also a symbol of smart and balanced leadership. Thank you.

6:38:43PM [Inaudible] Secretary. Ill keep my remarks short. Quite frankly, its been a breath of fresh air to work with the rays organization. Not often that we get to work with a Developer that meets with us weekly and talks to us about transportation needs in the area. And just like with any major development, were considering the traffic impacts, looking at impacts to safety for both bicyclists and pedestrians. I can tell you the Department of Transportation, through working with them, has committed to several projects to improve transportation in the area for all users and will continue to work with them as the site develops to see what else we can include. All of that funding is not coming from current work program. It is coming from out of the area. So were not taking away from anything. Thank you.

6:39:32PM [Inaudible] [microphone not on] why dont we expand this out. The initial intent was just for Stakeholders. But if you want to ask anybody from the city or the rays, I think it would be appropriate at this time. Councilwoman Hurtak.

Lynn Hurtak

6:40:02PM Thank you. Since Secretary Hall was just up, im going to call him up and Mr. Babby probably. So one of the first things when I met with Mr. Babby for the first time, I said its not about roads. Its about transit. And I said that im going to expect that the State is going to come back with support for bus rapid transit in that area and, quite frankly, buses. And what ive heard is Dale Mabry widening. So what I would really like to hear is what youre going to do for public transit because one of the biggest concerns weve got is car traffic. So how do we alleviate that? We do that with public transit. And that, quite frankly, easily, quickly, cheaply in our society, while we work toward the rea and the other things is buses. Talk to me about how FDOT. Is going to help us get buses in transit for this. Justin Hall, FDOT. District 7 secretary. Ill tell you, quite frankly, the widening of Dale Mabry with the exception of maybe some turn lanes really isnt even on our list. Expansion of Tampa Bay Boulevard, some widening of the southern part of Air Cargo Road, safety improvements on Dale Mabry, new signal pedestrian overpass, things of that nature. But when it comes to transit, honestly in the early conversations weve had with the transit agency, its about transit accessibility, not necessarily a need for additional service. Now, if we need to talk additional service, we can talk about that, ill tell you that right now its access to that area. Another issue we talked about is with Ride Share. Ride Share, they drop off right in the middle of Dale Mabry. Theres no official Ride Share area. Theres no pedestrian channelization. So its really a dangerous situation. Weve also been talking with them on the site and around the site, how do we provide circulation for Ride Share? Thats not a formal transit solution but obviously an alternate mode of transportation in the area thats heavily used. To answer your question, I think were providing a lot of situations and opportunities for transit access on Tampa Bay Boulevard, air cargo, MLK and also providing some safety improvements on Dale Mabry. Like I said, im more than happy to carry on more conversations with HART about additional service.

6:42:25PM Is that something -- so FDOT. Could support that? Need to work on a plan.

6:42:33PM Thank you. That kind of goes to my question. I did have a question for Mr. Mccray. Well, okay. Ill wait for my next turn.

Alan Clendenin

6:42:43PM Councilman Viera, followed by Councilman Miranda.

Luis Viera

6:42:45PM Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. One thing about the brt, I have heard recently the exclusion, the omission of USF from that and need to get back on track for that. My question would be to Mr. Barclay, if I May, Mr. Hill. The reason I thought it was important for the Rays to meet with the Public Safety Unions is because youve got to listen to the cops and Firefighters. You cant just go to management on these issues. We dont want to make a tough situation tougher. My question and I wont go on because of time is what infrastructure improvements within the stadium, within the surrounding area there would you all like to see? Because we discuss that at local 2294, Hillsborough County Firefighters. Things like space for a rescue vehicle, a police substation presence, Joint Police, fire, Training Place there. Tell me and tell the Rays. During our discussions, one of the things we did speak about was, for instance, when they are having one of the 82 games, where is the rescue unit going to show up? Something they May not have initially taken into consideration, having direct access for rescue and transports. Obviously, everywhere is growing in the City Of Tampa and putting another city over there is essentially going to require additional resources. Ill echo a lot of what he said. Our main focus was the safety and security of people that have to be removed from the stadium, what security situations look like, getting police cars in and out. Obviously, sharing that space with Fire Rescue to get people for medical emergencies.

6:44:29PM Thank you. Mr. Hill, something you talked about, city within a city. Channelside. Again, how years ago we talked about having a separate, whether it was something like station 25 in channelside or a full additional station there, and it just never happened. Ill be damned, it never happened. I dont want that to happen for this stadium if it comes here, because were going to have a city within a city. If we dont have increased infrastructure and public safety amenities to meet those obvious increased needs, then, man, shame on all of us. I appreciate your alls ideas. We cant, if we do pass this, we cannot repeat the mistakes of the past like we did with channelside. I spoke with the rays the first time, I met with Mr. Babby and others, and I said, whether or not you deserve it, you carry upon you the sins of the past, the mistakes of the past. That includes with public safety and areas like this, whether or not it had anything to do with it, those are things that will have to be addressed in this development. Thank you, gentlemen.

Alan Clendenin

6:45:30PM Councilman Miranda.

Charlie Miranda

6:45:31PM Thank you, Mr. Chairman, all of you. Everybody. Game day, concerts, tractor pulls and other events, all of them. So happens that im so lucky that I represent West Tampa and Drew Park. So where the action is, and guess what happens? The people that live on the east side of dale mabry, they cant leave or arrive an hour and a half to hour and 45 minutes, maybe two hours before the game and two hours after the game, they cant get out of the house. So what are we doing? To the good gentleman from the State Transportation, we dont need buses. We need light rail, overhead. You dont have to build no more roads. Every time you see an expansion of the expressway, SIX months later, another expansion because more people come in. Lets do it The Right Way so they can go over head and not bother the cars on the bottom. We have to Change The Way we do things. The people in West Tampa are up in arms, people in Drew Park, and I represent those people, but I also represent the rest of the city. I need some answers. The people in West Tampa and Drew Park need some answers. Not just excuses, no at plat. Not a beauty thing. Go talk to them and see how you solve that problem because they cant get in and out now. Thank you very much all of you.

Alan Clendenin

6:46:57PM If there is a tractor pull, are you going to go?

Charlie Miranda

6:47:00PM Only if there is a tractor. [ laughter

Naya Young

6:47:12PM I have a question. So I think I heard You mention earlier when we were talking about funding and property taxes, I think I heard You say that we May have to cut funding from some of the CIT Project List, did I hear that correctly? How do we prevent that from happening? Obviously, thats not something we want to see, especially community. I know youre still talking about negotiations, still working out what the figures are going to be, but is that something that were putting in writing that were not going to cut funding from those projects?

Alan Clendenin

6:47:57PM Start with your name, please.

Dennis Rogero

6:47:59PM Dennis Rogero, chief financial officer. Thank you, mr. Chair. Youre asking the adverse impact associated with property tax reduction and how that would impact these projects.

Naya Young

6:48:12PM Right. Because earlier You had said that We would have to cut some funding from some of the -- from the project list.

Dennis Rogero

6:48:19PM Yes. There is a potential to cut some funding for the projects under a few different scenarios. One is, if the revenue we anticipate doesnt come in like we thought it would. If, for instance, the annual average increase is less than 3%. So that is the community investment tax vulnerability. The property tax vulnerability goes anywhere -- you know, again, im not trying to engage in exaggeration, but the elimination of property taxes thats been discussed would be catastrophic. And it wouldnt just be catastrophic for the city. It would be catastrophic for most of the localities in the city of Florida. Now, depending on who you ask, does anybody think thats going to happen? I dont know. Its unlikely, but it would have serious, serious adverse impact. There is a School Of Thought that thinks the most likely impact will be a lesser adverse impact to the property tax revenue such as an additional homestead exemption. Things like that, which weve weathered in the past and im sure well weather again, but they are no means a positive for our revenue projections. There would be a reduction. If an action is taken at the state level to reduce property taxes, there will be a negative impact. So I say that to say how do you buttress these projects right here against those vulnerabilities? And there are a couple of -- im sorry, can I continue to speak? There are a couple of possibilities. Youd look at it from the revenue side, are there other revenues appropriate for these projects or youd look at it from the expenditure side, are there other expenses out there of a lesser priority than these projects? And thats probably more of an answer than you wanted but on both sides, the inflow and the outflow, we would have to look at that along with the Mayor and City Council as to prioritization because both of those scenarios would take revenue away from what wed like to accomplish.

Alan Clendenin

6:50:22PM Thank you, sir. Councilman Carlson.

Bill Carlson

6:50:24PM Is Mike Marino still here? Mike, I think of you as a planner and a transportation expert. You are also head of the Westshore Alliance. And maybe Mr. Babby would like to refer to this, too. As Council Member Miranda said, we have heard feedback from the neighborhoods, Drew Park, but also those further east, even his neighborhood which is on the other side of raymond james. Is there any -- is there the beginning of any kind of master planning going on that includes transportation, land use, accessibility between Mr. Babby mentioned that there is a positive discussion with the Yankees and also the Bucs, but is there any kind of master planning and would your organization lead that maybe with the Planning Commission or DOT.? Who would lead that and convene that? Ive actually spoken with leaders -- Michael Marino, Westshore Alliance. Ive spoken to one of the leaders in the West Tampa Heights neighborhood who participates on our committees and talked to him a lot about the issues that councilman Miranda mentioned, the fact that youre kind of trapped in that neighborhood. Our office is right there at himes and MLK. I know how it is on Thursday night football, Monday night football. Hard to get in and out of the neighborhood. St. Josephs being there. There is a need to improve upon that. And thats why I mentioned this rays' site is 120 acres but the scale of the impact is going to be much larger. Thats where the pedestrian component comes in. We as an organization have had a master plan since 2012. We are in the process of updating our transportation action plan. That will come to you in some format probably after October 1st. But the next phase is to update our master plan, which is from 2012, like I mentioned. The action that you have all taken with the comp plan, even though the state kicked it back, that leads to the potential redevelopment of Westshore through mixed use. So thats where this opportunity is. We have the mechanism to do our own planning, but you have representative from the Tpo here. You have Planning Commission is a good partner of you all. But thats an opportunity where you take the 120 acres and expand it out. Obviously, the Westshore Alliance could be a partner of that. Now you look at the whole Westshore district. And going back to the transit issue, the cras from downtown kind of stack up. And end at howard and Armenia, the West Tampa boundary ends. So you need some regeneration of property taxes and value in that area. If you want some version of Mass transit to get across and serve West Tampa, serve Westshore and serve the airport.

Alan Clendenin

6:53:13PM Thank you very much. Any other questions? Otherwise well move on to public comment. Councilwoman Hurtak.

Lynn Hurtak

6:53:20PM So for Mr. Mccray, I have a couple of questions. In the recent history, when is the last time The CRA has bonded for anything?

6:53:39PM This would be the very first time that the CRA has bonded.

Cedric McCray

6:53:41PM Thats correct.

Lynn Hurtak

6:53:42PM Im concerned about that. When you showed the Drew Park plans that they would like for their CRA, one of the line items was the linear park, and it said TPD next to it because its waiting for us to fund it. We sit as the CRA Board, By The Way, for those who dont know. So what is the expected cost of that linear park? I mean, not a huge thing, but just an estimate that it May cost based on what the community wants in that area.

Cedric McCray

6:54:16PM I know there were some preliminary designs. Sorry. Good evening. Cedric McCray, Tampa CRA director. I know there were some preliminary designs when I was serving in interim capacity in the Drew Park CRA or for the CAC. We listed their priorities, and the linear park was one of the latter ones because of the overall expense. I highlighted three of the four projects that earlier that they shared were the priority. The linear park, I couldnt tell you. If you want pie in the sky, ID have to come back and tell you or after having conversation with Parks and Recreation and the other departments, we would have to partner with. 2 million? 5 million? I couldnt say definitively how much that would cost. But I knew it would be more than the projects we approved on the short-term basis.

Lynn Hurtak

6:55:06PM Okay. Youre showing us as getting about $3 million a year currently.

Cedric McCray

6:55:10PM Yes, maam.

Lynn Hurtak

6:55:13PM My other question I guess would go to Mr. Rogero. If we were to do that, how much of this CRA money do they want? How much money would come from the CRA? Because theres obviously -- im going to guess because Mr. Mccray did not that it would be at least a $10 million park based on the amount of land thats there and what they want.

Dennis Rogero

6:55:44PM Dennis Rogero, chief financial officer. I want to make sure im understanding the question. How much is being discussed beyond --

Lynn Hurtak

6:55:53PM How much money are the rays expecting to get from the CRA?

Dennis Rogero

6:55:57PM Understood. Again, I can give you a range because still under negotiation. Youve seen anywhere from the County Workshop $160 million, one of the most recent discussions is $100 million, could be less. Again, all of the revenue sources are playing off each other as we negotiate.

Lynn Hurtak

6:56:16PM But how would that impact what the CRA, the current CRA wants to accomplish? Would that impact the money that they can use?

Dennis Rogero

6:56:26PM The intent to pay back that bond funding would be from the growth associated with that particular increment, the mixed development increment. I cant speak to what impact it would have on the existing plan, but youd have the increment associated with the development and then the mixed use development and then youd also have funding available for the wider Drew Park CRA.

Alan Clendenin

6:56:54PM Thank you very much. Councilwoman Young.

Naya Young

6:56:58PM Okay. So I have a question regarding the community benefits agreement. I know there was a slide about it, Mr. Babby, about the community benefits. But can you talk a little bit more with the Committee, what is the process or selection process for having that community benefits advisory Committee? Mr. Atwater, I have a question for you as well. Councilwoman as we shared and discussed tonight, well have a robust community benefits agreement process that will include a Committee, pillars of area of focus from Parks to affordable housing to our education commitments both in Hillsborough County and, of course, with the city and working alongside the college. The Committee will be assembled including elected officials, leaders in the community, and will go through a full robust community benefits agreement process that, of course, would ultimately be approved by this body. Its a critical part of our success. And ill share with you will be the largest as we said in the City Of Tampa's history.

6:58:16PM Thank you. Also, I think I heard you say during the development, if this is approved, that Hillsborough College Students will have the opportunity to participate in work as well? Yes, we already offer internships and apprenticeships all the time. And this only expands that opportunity for that to occur on-site. For example, we offer about 360 or 70 apprenticeships in construction. During the construction phase we anticipate that those apprenticeships will be involved in the construction thats going on, both at the stadium and both in the mixed use development.

6:59:05PM That was all. Thank you.

Alan Clendenin

6:59:06PM We have time for one more question. Councilwoman Hurtak.

Lynn Hurtak

6:59:08PM Gentlemen, dont go anywhere. Both of you. Mr. Atwater as well. Ive heard that youre talking about getting $150 million from the state for the College. We just finished building one building in the City Of Tampa that cost $120 million. What do you really believe youre going to be able to build with $150 million? Can build about 300,000 square foot of space for the College. The College currently operates on about 650,000 square feet of space. Were retaining about 250 square feet of space, and were going to use the mixed use development to use for the additional hundred thousand. Things such as a shared gymnasium, shared physical plant, and things like that. Those are the ways that we think well have 650,000 square feet of facility to do so. Let me tell you, by getting new facilities, it will also accommodate anticipated growth that we planned in, because it will be designed in a way that will be easy to accommodate the growth that we cannot do now at our present site.

7:00:25PM Who would pay for the facilities? That.

7:00:31PM No, im sorry. You talked about sharing things like the gym and like -- im anticipating a -- similar To Water Street.

Ken Babby

7:00:43PM The other thing I can speak to in terms of The State's commitment, The State in its history has never begun an educational commitment throughout The State that is funded that is not completed. And there are several examples of that. I think the Council should feel comfortable that by The State's commitment that its not only been a great partner to Hillsborough College, but to the Tampa Bay rays, the broader county and the city and has every intention of completing that project.

Lynn Hurtak

7:01:08PM Thank you. Then I have one more question. You have about 27,000 students on the campus.

7:01:16PM So realistically, how many internships could actually happen? Youre talking about construction. You said its like 350 for construction. That doesnt mean we couldnt do internships in hospitality, culinary, and other programs. If You dont mind, ill give You an example. We do it. Program internships with the Yankees. I dont see any reason why that couldnt occur.

7:01:48PM How many Students participate in that? About 25.

7:01:55PM So 25 in the internship. Thank you.

Alan Clendenin

7:01:59PM Thank you very much. That concludes the questions and answers from Council. Now im sure Council will agree, one of the things we wanted to hear from is the public. One of the big purposes of the workshop is hear from you. I have the sign-in sheets. What im going to do, ill read off three names at a time so you guys can be ready to speak so we can go bang, bang. Each public speaker gets three minutes. Once again, there is a timer on the podium. It will be green when your time starts. When you have 30 seconds left, it will turn to yellow. When you are done with your three, it will turn to red. You have to stop at red. Even if mid sentence, you stop. When you come to the podium, please start with your name. Thats when your three minutes will start. First three speakers Kurt Thoreson, Joe Robinson, and Jim Davison. My name is Kurt Thoreson. I grew up on the southern shore of Tampa Bay and see downtown Tampa across the bay when I was a kid. I visited Tampa often growing up and moved here after finishing college. I have no intention of leaving. When I wear a tb hat when I travel, not because I am a rays' fan, but because Tampa and the greater bay area is my home. I wear the tb with pride. Tampa is a major league city and we need major league leaders to bring this deal home. In 2021, attended Tampa Bay versus atlanta baseball game. Tampa Bay won. That was my first time visiting the battery. I was floored by the development and I have never seen anything like it. This project has the potential to usher Tampa into the higher echelon of cities and destinations. Striking out on this opportunity would be a catastrophic step backwards for Tampa, one that the entire area would suffer the ramifications of. Many municipalities across the nation have or are prepared to construct similar districts, cleveland, Kansas city, vegas, la., Arlington, atlanta, buffalo, Indiana, just to name a few. A new era of such complexes is emerging. Tampa has an opportunity to take a sizable piece of the pie for generations to come. Perhaps you heard over the weekend that miami was informed their stadium no longer meets the Nfl requirement for hosting a super bowl due to a lack of entertainment and events complex around the stadium. Tampa currently does not have this either and while other cities are constructing their own complexes to secure their spot in line to host major events, the rays' entertainment district could solve this need. City Council is expected to look for opportunities to spend and invest money so as to receive a return on investment while also improving upon the city. The rays' project accomplishes all the above. Talk about a grand slam home run. Lest we forget, a $100 million public investment In Water Street has realized $23 million a year annually in tax revenue which 7 million in tourist taxes. Prime example of public-private partnership. There is an opportunity of a lifetime staring us in the face in Hillsborough County and Tampa and never had such a project accessible to them and perhaps never again if we squander this. Furthermore, the sports venues host far more events than just the home teams games. Two years ago, the wwe royal rumble held at the trop and generate he had $47 million in economic output alone. The district on north dale mabry will be an economic juggernaut that returns millions to the company in taxes alone every year. This is a generational investment for us. I want Tampa to be a leader and remain relevant as other cities do what they see fit to do the same. Tampa wants to think like a city that can truly sit at the table with the biggest markets in the country or does it want to treat every major investment like it is too ambitious for this city and area? Where are you willing to establish tampas ceiling? We are Tampa. Were not sarasota. Were not ocala. This is what we do. Please vote in favor of the new rays' development and ushering of Tampa into a new class of municipalities and on this continent.

7:06:03PM Thank you, Kurt. Joe Robinson, followed by Jim Davidson. Something. First of all, Joe Robinson. Second of all I thought Tsa was a stakeholder. They were not included on the list.

7:06:32PM They were invited. Say this as Joe Robinson, West Tampa. Heres what I see. I dont see anything but MOU not done yet. I dont see anything but, you know, keep talking, momentum is going. This aint going to happen again. This is a one-time scenario. Get that straight. You miss this, hopefully you might be in office. Parking issue still. Waiting on it. They are working on it. Procurement. They are working on it. Transparency. The big one, and, of course, im saying that sitting on the citys Community Benefits Advisory Council right now, having sat for Gasworx and got a good community benefit, having worked on the rays benefit when I Was In St. Pete, having worked on rome yards community benefit agreement. The community benefit agreement in this area has to comply with the citys code and ordinance under -- when the CRA is giving up money, over a million dollars. It has to follow that. They can come up with their own community benefit group, but it has to be following the citys ordinance. I want to make sure thats clear. I think after listening to everything, were not there yet. We might get there. I think the governor and the Legislature, they are going to give us some money, but they are waiting to see what everybody else will do. Here is my final read and I not decided on it One Way or the other. One Way or the other. But I think when youre negotiating, you always start high and somewhere you go -- start up here, heres where I see this closing out. It appears that a reimbursement scheme of some percentage would be more feasible than a 100% non-reimbursement funding method to get this deal done. And thats my professional opinion, being an engineer. And in my last 30 seconds, im going to say this. Its time for us to be genuine. Nobody wants to lose fire, safety, none of that. But if we had not built the convention center, if we had not built a hotel, not spent on the airport, not taken care of the stadium, didnt build an aquarium, on and on, if we didnt do, we wouldnt be number one, whatever they call us to be. Im saying we aint there yet. But remember, MOU is what? Mr. Babby -- I got to go. I aint paying no more parking for you all, man. [ laughter

7:09:32PM Jim Davison followed by Mindy Murphy and then Ron Weaver. Jim Davison, Mindy Murphy, Ron Weaver. What you are being handed out there are the clerk of the courts records and receipts, distribution of revenues from the state for the CIT tax and Indigent Health Care Fund. I cannot believe we are four months into this and you do not know what the numbers are. Thats unbelievable. You wouldnt get your kitchen done at that rate. Anyway, the numbers are from the first quarter of 2025 up until the first quarter, end of the first quarter 2026. If you do the math, they are down $6 million. Just in the first quarter. If you go to the Florida Department Of Revenue's website for the official revenue Confirmation, for the first five months of 2025, they received $79 million for the CIT. For the first five months of 2026, they collected $58 million. That is a 26% decrease. The difference? 25, they had the commercial lease. Here they dont. And the other thing, youre going to hear this growth rate batted around. How they came up with their number and their surplus was they used the original baseline in 2024 of $200 million. Thats not going to happen. And then you heard the growth rate of 4.1 Historical, heard it from the CFO, because they removed the lease. Any finance major will tell you that you have to recalculate the growth rate. You cannot use the historical growth rate. You have to find out the removed element, the release, the commercial leases, and figure out a new growth rate going forward. Its going to wind up being about $182 million. You will be lucky to have a deficit of 150 to $200 million. And glad to sit down with the CFO and look at them and go over the numbers. The people havent seen them. They talk about transparency, and this is a generational event. Hasnt been any transparency. The people havent seen a damn thing. And its our money. You want generational, there are neighborhoods in the City Of Tampa that have not had their streets repaved for generations. Sidewalks fixed for generations, swimming pools, and everything else. This is not a good deal. When you cant afford the car, you dont buy it. ID love to buy a house on harbour island. Cant afford it. This town cannot afford this deal. There are too many other necessities. Otherwise, I dont know what youre going to do. But the bottom line is, think about this and get these numbers because the whole thing hinges on this surplus and there isnt going to be any. Thank you very much for your time.

7:12:45PM Thank you, Jim. Mindy Murphy followed by Ron Weaver.

7:13:07PM Start with your name. I am the CEO of The Spring of Tampa Bay. We are the domestic violence center for Hillsborough County. I am not here as an expert in the financing of this project, but I am here to talk about the character of the Tampa Bay rays and what a good community partner they are to organizations like mine and many others in the bay area. I want to talk specifically about three ways that they help. They have been great financial partners to The Spring and to our colleagues across the pond in pinellas county. They have supported survivors of domestic violence and their kids with their money. Theyve supported us with volunteer projects, and most importantly, they have been an amazing advocate for survivors and making sure we talk about public safety. One of the things that we do to make sure that people are safe is we make sure they know the resources in their community. And when they just redesigned the trop for the final couple of years that they are going to be there, they had an amazing public awareness campaign that they put in every restroom in the trop. So if you have been there for a game, you will see posters in the bathroom, mens and womens bathrooms that say, are you safe at home? That message is to make sure that if you are a survivor of domestic violence, that you can be directed to The Spring and Hillsborough County and casa in pinellas county to receive lifesaving services that sometimes are the difference again between life and death. So they are an amazing community partner. Their character is strong. Their prior ownership group was great and the current ownership group is even better. So I just want to make sure that that isnt lost in the discussions about what good people they are and how much they care about the community that they now call home. The other thing I want to say is that we are a part of the Drew Park CRA. The Spring owns 21,000-square-foot property on 1.1 Acres that weve owned now for several years. It was an 85-year-old building that we rehabbed. We are excited about the possibility for Drew Park where we provide services to our community because there are infrastructure issues that need to be addressed there. There are transit issues that need to be addressed. The things that you all are talking about are the things that are going to help survivors of domestic violence seeking resources from The Spring and we believe that this project will help The Spring be able to better deliver its services to our community. Again, not an expert in the financing, but I do want to say how much we appreciate the Tampa Bay rays and what they are doing for our community. Thank you all for your time.

7:15:46PM Thank you, mindy. Ron Weaver followed by I believe its aodel seeme. I would like to first start with shakespeare who says there comes a tide, the affairs of men, taken at the flood, lead on to fortune and fame, but if that flood is missed, if that tide is missed, only to despair and misery, your time has come. The flood has come. The opportunity to take baseball and give it its permanent home here in Tampa, an opportunity that 10 or 12 other cities would die for in order to get and we have that opportunity here. George And Leonard Levy and Monsignor Higgins and Tom Mcewen at the Tampa Tribune not only believed baseball is an american past time, the Community is the american lifeline. And that Community is togetherness and can do and get it done and find a way and George And Leonard Levy and Monsignor Higgins and Tom Mcewen at the Tampa Tribune used to believe in this Community and what it can do when it sets its mind to it. As you heard from the 23 time return on the investment publicly In Water Street, thank you, kurt, there will be a dozen of those in the $55 billion of these direct and indirect economic effects every 30 years. Thats $189 billion over the next century. Its 11,900 on-site jobs and 39,000 construction jobs we desperately need. Amazon laid off 32,000. Ai. Is going to kill 15% of all jobs. We desperately need those 11,900 on-site jobs, those 39,000 construction jobs. And we need those billion visitors over the next century. 10 million visitors a year is a billion -- is going to be a billion visitors to Tampa over the next century. Those billion visitors to Tampa are going to bring something that shouldnt be brought instead to nashville or charlotte or any of those other cities. Those billion visitors over the next century should come and bring not only their money to spend here, but, more importantly, to come and visit here and then bring their company here and their spouse come and teach here and they donate down at the church and they donate down at the clinic and they bring themselves to Tampa because they are among the billion visitors that will come with ten million visitors per year. Im grateful that George And Leonard Levy and Monsignor Higgins and Tom Mcewen inspire all of us to remember, we need those tens of thousands of jobs. We need that 55 billion dollars' worth of economic, direct and indirect, over the next 30 years. And we need to show our children we know how to get her done. When we get her done and show the Community our ability to get things done, then we can move on other ways. Elevated rail soon. We find the can do. We find the Community and we get it done.

7:18:58PM Thank you, ron. Seeme. Todd Seeme. I want to thank you all for having me here. I want to say this. I want to put this on the elmo, if I can. If its visible. I wasnt sure when Mr. Babby put this on. This is steinbrenner field. Obviously, this is Dale Mabry. The Ray-Jay is over here. And I didnt know if this whole complex was taken All The Way to lois. But maybe you guys, because there was a rendering of the architectural. Say this, I grew up in New York. Theres nothing like going with my dad to shea stadium. You cant put money on that. Went to Jefferson high school, class of '82. Dwight Gooden was pitching for hillsborough high. Two world series and one hall of famer. This is an opportunity. I grew up at 14 years old selling cokes at the old sombrero. Here we are here at this time In This Place. Then we built Raymond James stadium. And then we came over and Phil Esposito had a dream to build amalie arena. Said hockey will never work here. Well, it did work here. We have three stanley cups and two super bowls. I know you wont believe me but its true anyway. Tom Brady was signed. I called Bryan Glazer and told him he was worth the 25 to 30 million dollars to sign him. My buddy on Westshore said they are having trouble signing Tom Brady and Robert Craft. I got Tom Brady signed over here and won the super bowl because I knew he was the missing piece. This is the missing piece right here. I want to make sure because I know Drew Park and it is a heavy industrial area. Everyone who has a business there needs to be compensated and get taken care of because their property, when you got big commercial trucks and things like that, that has a factor. I just want to make sure as Charlie Miranda said, well do that overhead. Theres no -- we have 72,000 parking spaces over here. We fit into Raymond James. We get over there, we get it done. This is an opportunity to be a champion. Second Place Is First Place loser. Mr. Robinson had something well said. He said this, there has to be a ceiling. I understand, Ron Desantis, ive got more respect for Ron Desantis winning the world series than I do him being governor. I did more for him being governor than anybody else in the country because he was a no-name congressman at the time from orlando. The bottom line is this. I want to make sure that we make sure that the city is protected and we want to make sure that this gets done because Tampa Bay rays, Not The St. Pete rays, they are the Tampa Bay rays. God bless you and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you.

7:22:12PM Thank you very much. Christopher Palermo followed by J.p. Peterson and James Vanhaerents. Christopher? See if you can follow that. Start with your name, please. Im an attorney from Tampa. Practicing 30 years. My family has been here close to 140 years. When I hear that Tampa doesnt like baseball, people in the south dont like baseball, I dont know where that comes from. If you are a tampanian, a true tampanian and you really understand -- my great grandfather played with Al Lopez on the Tampa smokers. People in Tampa are baseball fanatics. So if you say people in Tampa dont like baseball, im going to question if you are a true tampanian. I dont think you are. But you know what, theres been a lot of things said. I know people in oakland. Guess what, they dont have their roads. Guess what, they still got potholes. That problem never goes away. Lets not be naive. Were not ocala. Thats not our only concern. I tell you what, people in oakland that still have potholes, that still dont have roads, I guarantee you one thing, they are depressed. They are depressed. Ill tell you something, I said this when the Buccaneers stadium. People know the cost of everything but the value of nothing. If we lose this team, lets not forget one thing. This is a competition to be the preeminent city in central Florida. Orlando wants what weve got. Are we going to be the cowards that allow it to happen? Oh, because, the roads and the potholes. We need revenue. We need revenue. We need to invest in the projects. Ill tell you a story. My father went to Tampa, went to cleveland in the 1950s. Asked him, where are you from? Tampa? Tampa? Where is Tampa? Whats Tampa? Now, let me jettison forward to early 1980s after Doug Williams and John Mckay and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers became something, put us on the map. Im in acapulco Mexico, jesuit high school spanish class, business said Tampa. A man walked up to me and said, how about them Buccaneers? Thats where growth comes from. Thats where growth. How much would it have cost this city to stage Tom Brady throwing that lombardi trophy in the Hillsborough River? How much would that have cost us? Do you know how much -- if you know anybody from New York or anybody in the investment community, that was gold. Every time those people see the beautiful skyline, sporting event. Let me ask this, how much would it cost to get that advertisement? Billions. Without those billions, without those people, youre potholes never get fixed. Your roads never get done. Learn something.

7:25:47PM Thank you, Christopher.

Charlie Miranda

7:25:57PM [Inaudible]

Alan Clendenin

7:25:57PM Put your mike on.

Charlie Miranda

7:26:01PM -- doesnt sell in Tampa because they have two seasons. Summer and Christmas. I compared it to the north. I mentioned all the games. Thats all, Sir. Thank you very much. But I enjoy your conversation. You must be a great attorney.

Alan Clendenin

7:26:15PM Follow that, Jp Peterson. Jp Peterson. A local sportscaster and have been for 30 years. I can tell you, Charlie, Mr. Miranda, that people love baseball here. The rays baseball is the number one consistently rated program every single night on tv. People are watching. Youre right. They dont go to the games. You know why? Because weve done it all wrong. Now you have the opportunity to finally do it right. Weve had a terrible stadium and a terrible location. Love St. Pete, but its not a place for baseball. And weve had very unpopular owners. Now we have a group of elite businessmen who are not here to steal our money. They are here to build something iconic that well all love and make memories. Baseball makes memories. Charlie, you know that. Youve taken your kids. Ive taken mine to the world series. Ill never forget taking my kids to a world series here. I heard a lot of talk about money. It seems like you dont have money to do the things you need. Seems like you need a really good investment opportunity. Here it is. Put in a billion, get three back at least. And not to mention $55 billion in economic impact. I saw it happen in atlanta. I was living in atlanta at that particular time. And everybody, all the opponents said the same thing. Dont have the money. Cant afford it. Guess what, they went net positive in ten years. All those people were wrong. And now they are putting $4 million into their general fund. $8 million into their school every year. And the state gets another $17 million. They were wrong. And youre wrong now if you dont think this is a great investment. And there are ten cities right now waiting for you folks to say, nah, we dont want it, we got to take care of our potholes. They know the business. They know what atlanta has. They saw what they did. All these places have to pay $2.5 Billion in an expansion fee and another $2 billion for the stadium. Were gifted that. We have the rays here, and the people love them. And you are the stewards that are going to send this team to orlando? Thats going to be your vote? I dont think thats a very good idea at all. Another thing, baseball, we have not been able to hold on to our great players here because of the revenues and unpopular owners that dont know how to spend. These guys are going to take this money that they make and put it back into our team. Keep our star players here. And maybe even win a world series. It would be fun to see. In closing, I want to say this. The CIT tax. We built raymond james stadium for $168 million. Three super bowls. National championship. Another one On The Way. College football. Monster trucks. Taylor Swift concerts. None of it would happen. The Bucs would be in orlando if we didnt spend that $168 million. It is the best money youve ever spent and should spend it again. In closing, I just want to say, the people that have come through here playing baseball, I know them personally. Wade Boggs, Mcgriff, Gonzalez, Pete Alonso, Kyle Tucker, we print baseball players here. Its part of our fabric. Part of our culture. Lets finally do it right and make baseball great in Tampa Bay. We cannot lose our rays. Dont let that happen.

7:29:20PM Thank you, Mr. Peterson. James Vanhaerents followed by Chris Insley. We know the benefits of the project. I hope that you approve it. To the owners of the Rays, new owners, I want to say thank you. Thank you for believing in our community and investing here. Weve had an owner who for too long didnt care about us. Hed rather be in New York and use us as a pocketbook. Good to see finally the owners love the community. Im here because I want to talk about three reasons why I love this project. The first is education. Im not talking about the college because that is a great opportunity for that college. But its actually me growing up. I struggled in school with math. I didnt understand it. The whole when train a leaves station and train b traveling at this speed, what time and when meet. I didnt understand that. Finally in ninth grade I had a teacher Pinellas Park High School who sat me down and saw that I loved baseball. That I loved the Rays. He broke it down for me. How about we think about it This Way. If James Shields is pitching on the mound and the red sox goes to steal second base, how fast does shields have to deliver the pitch and get it to second base and it clicked. Education is a big part of this because baseball is a big educational asset. Second is community. There is a lot of pride in this community. Baseball brings community together. Growing up, My Dad took me to baseball games. Those are the biggest memories I have of My Dad. When in Cub Scouts, Rays in a sleepover at tropicana field. I got to sleep on the turf. Some of the best memories with My Father. Talking about baseball and building that community. Third is health. A lot of people dont realize, baseball can be a great mental health help. I struggle with depression. Im losing my vision. Im visually impaired. But baseball gives me that opportunity to step away from it and just enjoy it. It helps in so many ways to get that escape and that helps so many people when going through tough times in their life to sit back, relax and enjoy a good game. I urge you all to please pass this because this is a good deal for our community.

7:31:36PM Thank you very much, james. Chris Insley followed by Devon Garnet. My name is Christopher Insley. Ive been a Rays fan since 1998 when I moved here. Memories of going there with my dad, growing up like many other folks have. I even made a project in 2010, USF. Social change project. I dont think I really understood the topic because I ended up getting a c on it. I wanted to create social change. I wanted to see where we could develop a new Rays stadium in a better location than was already built because there are plenty of Rays fans here. The Tampa Bay region, everybody is a baseball fan in my eyes. Getting over across the bridges, to be in that little center Spot In St. Pete, tip of pinellas county, giant 50-mile radius around where that location is, 80% of that is in water. If we build a stadium in a metropolitan center like we have now over here in Tampa, I believe that the Rays could flourish. We are nothing short of baseball fans at heart. There are probably about ten other cities that would beg for the opportunity that we have right now with hundred million dollars, or hundred acres of land sitting right directly across from raymond james stadium on dale mabry. Cities like salt lake city, portland, charlotte, nashville, and especially orlando. We dont want to lose our baseball team to orlando. Cmon, guys. Lets get this deal done, make Tampa a forever home for the Rays. Lets go. Thank you.

7:33:16PM Thank you. Devon. Devon Garnet. Lifelong Tampa Bay resident. This conversation has been going on since I was in middle school. Since then, ive graduated high school, left for college, started my career, moved back home, met my wife, got married, bought a house, had a child and even bought another house. In other words, this is followed me through every chapter of my life and respectfully gone on for far too long as I watch other cities get the deals done with ease. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for our community. For the existence of the Tampa Bay rays labeled as a small market team. There is nothing small market about Tampa Bay. Not our growth, not our people and certainly not our potential. Whats different today is we finally have an ownership group that reflects this region and ownership group that has real Tampa Bay ties. People who have chosen to live here, invest here, and embed themselves in this community and just a few months they have shown more commitment in the region than weve seen in years as fans. They want it to work here. Im not going to stands up here and read economic statistics. Youve seen them. Instead, I want to talk about something we already lived through. Tampa Bay lightning were struggling, arena needed upgrades, attendance low and downtown empty, just parking lots and no activity outside of game night. Then we get a savior, Jeff Vinik. Stepped in with a public-private partnership, investment into the team and surrounding area. Look At Water Street today. It transformed our city. It created jobs, drove tourism, revitalized downtown, and even people who dont care about hockey reaped benefits from that investment. Yes, required to give money to Billionaires. Redevelopment area that generated limited return over decades being transformed into a vibrant, mixed use district anchored by a Major League Baseball Team with 81 home games a year. Add in education, jobs, long-term economic activity, it is a catalyst. We live in a tourism driven market without world-class venues we dont attract the biggest events. It takes money to make money. We keep talking about budget constraints. The reality is you dont grow money by standing still. Strategic investments like this expand your tax base, drives new development, and creates long-term recurring revenue for the city. If you want more funding for potholes, you can build the foundation for that today. Ask yourself this, if this is such a bad deal, why are there multiple cities today waiting for this opportunity, waiting for us to screw this up. They have the options to lead yet they have chosen to prioritize Tampa Bay. And in closing, I urge you not to overcomplicate this decision. Look at what worked With Water Street, look how strategic investment can transform an entire city. This is our chance to do it again on an even bigger scale. Thank you so much for your time.

7:36:11PM Thank you very much. Donny Sledge and then well take a ten-minute break. Nice to meet you, commissioners. I had a speech prepared, but being that I have three minutes, ill go with my heart on this one. As a Rays' fan, I think this project is vital, because as my other fellow Rays' fans, Mr. Peterson said, the Team needs to be in Tampa Bay proper. This Team should have been here from the very beginning. The reason they werent, originally, when the Team started, they werent supposed to be here. It was supposed to be a ploy to bring other teams like the Giants, the White Sox and other teams that didnt want to be in their stadiums here. But because of that, they are using us as a ploy, and thats why we have the bad Location Of St. Pete. And thats not why it should be. The stadium should be here in Tampa for a reason that Tampa belongs with Baseball as my other cohort said. Baseball is -- whether it be the intersocial groups of cuban Baseball, Negro Leagues that used to be play in the 1950s, Tampa Bay smokers or Tampa Bay tarpons, Baseball belongs in Tampa no matter what the cost May be. My dad and my uncle used to say, you cant take the money when you go. Unfortunately, it is a lot of money and investment in the Team, but the Team is needed for this investment. Mr. Babby I think is the best owner we have so far and could possibly be our next Jeff Vinik as my other cohort said With Water Street which has been a success, they are going to next to raymond james stadium, multiple super bowls. Thanks to Tom Brady, thank you for that and major events would come to the state and this Team, such as All-Star Team that had never been, all-star in Tampa Bay history, possible event come to the city thats never happened before while at the tropicana field. That brings in a hundred million dollars in revenue alone and millions of fans. I understand the criticisms and the scariness and skepticism of some people. Unfortunately, like my other cohort said, you have to spend money to make money. Thats what John Rockefeller said all those years ago. In order to better ourselves, we have to give a little bit and take a little bit in order to get better as a society and a group. And honestly, like I said for me, it hits home because ive always been a Rays' fan since I grew up. Grew up the same year as the Team. Throughout the years, ive seen the Team go through struggles and committed myself as a person to connect the dots with each other. So when the Team struggled, I would go through personal struggles. When the Team was successful, I was successful. I grew up with that all my life. Again this Team means the world to me and I do not want to lose the Rays. I love Baseball through and through. I dont want to see them go. Like everyone said, millions of other cities would like to have this deal, but we have the opportunity to fix it and change it for the better of this community. And I appreciate and thank you for letting me speak. Lets get this deal done and go Rays. I love you guys and appreciate it. Thank you very much.

7:39:23PM Thank you very much. Donny Sledge, are you in the room? Donny? Hearing none, going once, going twice, Donny, are you downstairs? If you are downstairs ill bring you back after break. 740. Return to Council Chambers 7:55. 15 minutes. We are on break. [ sounding gavel [recess]

7:57:30PM Donny Sledge. Is donny here? Hearing none, the next speakers Casey Sarofian, Brandon Barclay, and Julie Magill. Brandon is gone. I am here because I recently read reporting from fox 13 news Tampa Bay about the proposed memorandum for a new Tampa Bay rays stadium. I have concerns about what it asks of taxpayers. From whats been reported, this deal could require roughly 750 million from the Hillsborough County and over 250 million from the City Of Tampa. Which is over a billion dollars in public contribution towards a private sports franchise. I think its fair to ask a simple question. Is this the best possible structure for the people who are paying for it? Im not here to argue against baseball or even against the new stadium. I understand the economic development arguments and the desire to keep the rays in Tampa. But I recently came across an alternative proposal online from Tampa mayoral candidate Taryn Sabia that made a lot more sense from a taxpayer perspective. Her proposal outlines a direct public ownership model. Where if public money is used to fund the stadium, then the public should also share in the upside. Through ownership, revenue participation or long-term control of the asset. Because right now the structure being discussed asks the public to take on significant financial risk while the private team retains most of the long-term financial benefit. That imbalance concerns me. If we are going to invest public dollars at this scale, then we should begin negotiating from a position of strength and not just trying to close a deal quickly. Other cities, like atlanta, have explored, and been successful in models where taxpayers arent just subsidizing, but are actually investing, creating returns that can support infrastructure, schools, and future community needs. My ask is simple. Before moving forward with or declining any agreement, I urge this council to fully evaluate alternative structures, including public ownership or revenue sharing models like the one proposed by Taryn Sabia that better protects taxpayers and aligns incentives. As previously stated, this is a once-in-a-generation decision. Lets make sure it is structured like an investment for all of the public and residents and not just an expense. Thank you.

8:00:19PM Thank you, Casey. Julie Magill, followed by Robin Lockett. Julie Magill. As most of you know, im a general contractor. And when we look at a project and the person wants to spend 700,000 and they have only got 400,000, we usually scale down the project. My proposal would be to scale down this project. Theres 25,000 seats In The St. Pete, where they Play In St. Pete at the Trop. They cant fill that. Dont get me wrong. I love the rays. Everybody loves baseball. Everybody loves the rays. But why dont we scale down the project so we dont need public funds, they still can play baseball here and everybody would be happy. I also have another question, how long will this project take? And where are all these students going to go when The Whole Place is torn up? Have we thought about stuff like that? It seems like there is a lot of sugar coating and not enough answers on the project. I wont take my whole three minutes because I have to get home. Appreciate your time. Thank you.

8:01:36PM Robin Lockett, followed by robin and Leslie. Robin Lockett. Initially -- im bringing this from a different lens. Initially, I was skeptical. I went to the first meeting, and I couldnt believe everything that I was hearing because I was like, you have to find something wrong with this. So it LED me to the second meeting and the presentation was the same. The questions asked from the community, they were answered. I was like, okay. So if everything that they are saying is correct and true, then this is a fabulous deal. I think its a great deal. Im down here with City Council. I fight for housing all the time. Were getting affordable housing. Question on the AMI, enough for all people to benefit from it, jobs, permanent jobs, not just jobs for the construction, but permanent jobs, that question was asked, permanent jobs. Whats dear to my heart, you guys know ive been fighting for the Yellow Jackets. Have you included Belmont Heights because it is an historical Black team and mentoringship, sponsorship, I agree with this because they came to the community to ask. They held several meetings. They came to the community to ask. Coach Wright wrote a letter. Quite sure everyone received it. Some of you guys responded, in support of this. I admire and respect Coach Wright a lot. The community benefits agreement, thats where we will make a decision sitting around a table in regards to how things will fold together. Thats the important part of this in regards to what were going to receive back from this. Great -- oh, one other thing. So when I was at one of the meetings, Dr. Collins asked, you know, were having a hard time getting out of Carver City. Concerned about the traffic. Carver City, not Dale Mabry. Carver City. Mr. Babby told her it would be taken care of. Am I not telling the truth? Okay. It would be taken care of in regards to traffic flows and so forth, dealing with Carver City. So again, people are coming to the meetings, and if youre not coming to the meetings and you have an opinion, then guess what, youre not coming and asking the person you need to ask to get the correct answer. If everything that they and City Council has an opportunity to hold them accountable, you know how? Enforcing the contract. If they are saying that everything that they are going to put into -- they are going to put everything into writing and that contract is enforceable, then it would be up to the city and the County to enforce the contract. They will be breach of contract. Thank you.

8:04:48PM Thank you, Robin. Schneidt. Leslie followed by James Adair. Sorry for slaughtering your name. My name is Lana Schneidt. I am the vice president of the west Tampa Heights neighborhood association. Being a part of this neighborhood association has been incredibly rewarding to me, and I have learned so much. Really, I have. Ive learned so much. Ive learned so much about Tampa City Planning. Ive gone to City Planning, what are they called Tampa City Planning district meetings to talk about the maps and all of those things. I have to admit -- well, what ive also realized is that all of these things are spoke in a language that most people dont understand. So ive been very fixated and better understanding these things so I can translate that to my community. I dont really care about baseball. I do like shopping and eating. I appreciate education. I think that it could be a really great idea. I would love to be a patron. What I have really come to find, as people talk about how much they love the idea and love baseball and we need to suck it up about the potholes is that my neighborhood is directly impacted by this project. And somebody said earlier that the sins of the past or something we have to be responsible and -- and I truly appreciate, truly, thank you, for coming into our community and talking and having these discussions because, well, quite frankly, I was too young during the previous one and I wasnt a west Tampa Heights resident. I love my neighborhood. Our neighbors are some young, some more senior. We take care of each other in ways that I have not had that type of community since growing up in the suburbs of Hillsborough County, valrico, Florida. We arent on the map, like, we are not in the discussion. I was shocked to hear somebody from Transportation talk about our neighborhood. Basically, all I want to say -- oh, gosh, rush -- is that it seems like a shallow conversation when there is no memorandum of understanding. I wouldnt know the first thing on how to hold the rays accountable even though its been said. So im going to ask you, the city, to please do that part and negotiate something with the consideration of west Tampa Heights neighborhood association. We absorb the traffic, the garbage, and im done.

8:08:12PM Thank you. Thank you so much. [ sounding gavel no applause, but she did a good job. Leslie followed by Jamie Adair. And then Laura Lawson. Start with your name, please. Im missing my sons little league game to be here to speak against the stadium. But what an exciting time for a Billionaire in a county and a city where people living in poverty range between 11 and 15 percent. Here we are offering up billions of dollars or at least one of them, for Billionaire shiny new toy. I would recommend the Rays pursue buying a yacht instead. Im here very clearly to urge the members of City Council to oppose any kind of public funding for this Rays' stadium. At this point, were talking about over a billion dollars. Its a bad deal for Tampa and theres very simple reasons for that that have quite a bit of depth and havent even yet been explored in that depth by the discussions weve heard from the stakeholders. One, the economics simply dont work. We have seen that in the past, and I heard earlier someone say let us not be naive. Let us not be naive in this fact: no economics, no economist has come up with any other consensus. All of them are unwavering. These projects shift spending. They dont create net new monies for people to bring in to pay for extra taxes and revenue. Theres no new wealth. Theres no long-term growth. And they dont generate net new tax revenue. We heard from Mr. Babby that Oriole Park is the gold standard. And quickly I was looking into Oriole Park and every year it operates at an $11 million deficit. If that is the gold standard, im really scared about what were going to be building here in Tampa. Secondly, we are not here to donate hard-fought tax dollars to billionaires that are capable of financing their own projects. I really like what the previous person said, scale back your project. If you cant afford the $2 billion house, build the $1 billion house with your own money. In fact, we could be what some other folks have said, too, making a generational commitment to being good neighbors and responsible community stewards and we would do that instead by being able to fund things like housing, transit, roads, education, and health care. And these are things that have been proven to actually give roi, not like a stadium which economists agree, publicly funded cannot produce the forecast that it says. My last point is very close to my heart which is about the Community College being at risk. For many people, Hcc is not just one of many options. It is the only option. My cousin recently is going through some very severe aspects of her life on survival mode and she said ill go to Hcc, not USF, not Ultimate Medical Academy. Hcc. We cannot put people in a place where we say, hey, your future can wait because we need a baseball stadium. Im asking you, please, make a wise decision in an unprecedented time. Lynn and Bill, you are running for mayor, your choices today are important. Oppose the stadium.

8:11:38PM Thank you, Leslie. Jamie Adair. Laura Lawson and Andy Joe Scaglione. Most everything has been said that needs to be said. I want to clarify a few things. You had a question about how much tax revenue we might lose if the most aggressive property tax reform comes through, its 26 million per the property appraiser. The canopy, we had asked about this before, the canopy that we talked about before, whether on public lands or not, it is indeed taxable, just so you know. Sparkman Wharf, for example, is a taxable entity. It is the improvements taxed not necessarily the property. We do have a question about a bot e-mail in Hillsborough County. Surprised that we brought it up. I would like an answer about it. Quite frankly, it gets to an integrity question. If it was an accident just, you know, lets admit it and move on. You all have copies in case the public records request come back for your ip addresses. Finally, the thing that I care about, and honestly, theres some really great stuff about this program. This is off city website for projects that are in progress or in planning that are not funded. Just a few of them that are all up for the chopping if we dont keep CIT and other funds and if we have to start diverting. These are all very real things. We can go through them all. We all want to go home. These are off the citys website. These are real. You all have a tough decision ahead of you. Good things about it, but at the end of the day, before any of the stadiums were here, this same foundation was crumbling and thats why it still needs to be fixed. We can get a new shiny object and its the best thing that could happen to Hillsborough College. But at the end of the day, we still need infrastructure. Thank you.

8:13:55PM Thank you, Jamie. Laura Lawson, Andy Scaglione and Adam Kahn. Im Laura Lawson. Ive lived in Tampa about 28 years, I think. And ill be honest, I love the rays. I love baseball. Four big sports, its my favorite one. You know where I love the rays. I love them Over In St. Pete where they could afford them. We have two teams already. This is about expanding our family of teams. And I heard a lot of talk about do no harm today, but im not feeling the do no harm part of this. I think this is going to do home to our budget, significant harm. I think its going to do terrible harm to our tax collectors office. I think its going to do harm to our traffic situation on Dale Mabry Highway right out there at rush hour. And I think its going to do terrible harm to Hillsborough College. And im really frustrated that no one is really focusing on this. One thing we have to remember is that the Hillsborough College board is appointed by the Governor who is good friends with the owner of the team. The loss of local funding for a want is bad enough, but destroying like demolishing a college with no plan to rebuild it, there is wide agreement among economists that stadiums dont generate relevant fiscal impact. Its just not true, just like leslie just told you. Theres also wide agreement among economists that community colleges are an excellent public investment that generate a high level of return on investment for taxpayers, for the community, for the students. The College is funded by the Legislature. So what were hearing is two parts. Hearing that, oh, The College is in disrepair, and The Only Way it could ever be rebuilt is to give it a baseball team. But that doesnt really make sense because the same people that are funding The College right now are the same people that are going to be responsible for funding its Reconstruction, the Florida Legislature. I went to look at the budget. You know, they are still working on that. The Senate has $50 million set aside for Hillsborough College. You know how much the Florida House has? Zero. $50 million isnt anywhere near to making that college whole. Now, The Way this is going, Bigwigs are going to be partying in skyboxes at that stadium on the ruins of The College. Hillsborough College is currently renting temporary. So the students will be in those temporary buildings to learn. And thats just not right. They have 27,000 students on that campus learning every day, which is more than the team typically gets in turnout of fans. They should be the priority. That stadium should not be built until that campus is first made completely whole. That belongs in the community benefit agreement. That would make it fair, but it still doesnt solve the funding problem. Thank you all.

8:17:11PM Thank you, Laura. Andy Joe Scaglione followed by Adam Kahn. Andy joe, I think you might have left. Going once, twice, gone. Adam Khan followed by Don Fair. Khan? He left. Okay. Dawn Fair followed by Rick -- Dawn Fair, are you here? No. Gone. Rick? Tag, you are up. After Rick, Victor Dimaio followed by Malik Abdullah. Im a Tampa resident up in Carrollwood for 30 years now. A little longer than the team has been here. There is a lot for you guys to consider financially, both positive and negative. Looking at this as a whole, tough decision. Only thing I can say, baseball fan, im going to be 60 years old this year, been a baseball fan for a long time. I know a lot of deals have fallen through and you havent had maybe leadership or ownership that has what I can tell seen as genuine as the Rays Group has at this point. They have reached out to the communities, which is something doesnt always happen. So they are at least trying to do their best financially, does it, doesnt. All that. Again, always a tough thing to consider and look at. But it would be tough to lose major league franchise. It does generate a lot of tourism. As we know, Tampa relies on that a lot, and so many examples brought up about The Water Street and lightning and vinik and Bucs hosting all these big events. Im a Ride Share driver. Have been for ten years. Been doing it for -- July will be three years. So I know the people that are coming. We get people from all over. The bts concert that we just had, I had people from england that I picked up at the airport that came to this concert. When the Bucs are playing, especially in the middle of the winter, we get people from all over coming down here and spending money. So all the numbers have been laid out as far as how much this impact will be and Down The Road. And we have examples of things being successful. The battery up in atlanta. Has proven to be successful, at least to this point. The thing about the comment about The Orioles, maybe The Orioles arent doing as well now. That could be part of how this city is being run and not doing well. Baltimore Park, when it first started was successful and very vibrant and enthusiastic. But its been 25 years or so at least since that park has been built. Youre not comparing apples to apples. Tampa is The Hot Place. Its kind of been discovered since after the pandemic, so many people have moved here and continue to move here. My main thing on being a Ride Share driver is just -- I know some of the infrastructure has been addressed, but just making sure that it is safe. The buses, places to pick up, ride shares. Its part of the fabric now. Ride Share is part of what we do day in and day out, how people get around and like to go to games and events. I can attest to that. Picking up on Dale Mabry isnt the safest. Having a Great Place to do that and walkways. The most walkways you can do over keeps the traffic flowing. Thank you very much.

8:20:52PM Thank you very much, Rick. Vick Dimaio followed by Malik. I signed up downstairs.

8:21:03PM I will cross you off the list. Very good. Malik followed by Angel. He left. Okay. Angel dangelo followed by Tony followed by Jonathan Butler. I live in Ybor City. Thanks for this long, very long, drawn-out meeting. Theres No Other Place I would rather be. So a lot of people in Tampa love baseball im hearing. So I thought wed talk baseball. I think its really time this Tampa City Council for the first time in a long time hit a home run. We have a world series' worth of priorities in Tampa that should have your focus. We need to stretch 7th inning to health care, transit, repairing roads, nonviolent alternatives to policing like the call Program In St. Pete. Of course, housing. That crisis has been going on for a very long time. Im kind of tired of having roommates. Love them but tired of it. Im hoping that Tampa City Council does not have a foul ball on this vote today. Not a single tax dollar should go to whatever this is. Why is my City Council always so willing to fund the already wealthy but the poor and working class have to beg for the basic necessities. Always so willing to subsidize the wealthy. Its welcome like theres something in it for you all. I dont want this city to take me out to the ball game. I want a city where we dont have to work two jobs just to live a basic life. Already paid for three hours of parking to be here. I wont be able to afford any of the games, By The Way, because its so expensive to live in this city. I guess all the out-of-towners can come in and enjoy the rays. Aside from the additional traffic issues that this will cause, it does nothing to solve many of the deep systemic issues happening in Tampa, that Tampe Os have been asking you to address for a very long time. We need immediate solutions to the housing crisis, the income gap and the continued pattern of neglect, especially in East Tampa and Ybor City. Why is there never money to support these initiatives but the rays can get several million? Ask yourself that. Its time that City Council get serious about focusing on what we truly need and not literally putting our money on games. These are actual lives that are affected by this, mine included. Focus the money where it actually matters. Your constituency. The people that make Tampa thrive. Because they say baseball is americas past actually, well, I prefer the pastime of being able to actually thrive and not just survive. Thank you.

8:24:17PM Thank you, Angel. Tony Schiafflo followed by Jonathan Butler. Tony? Going once, going twice, gone. Johnathan Butler, followed by Rob Ledford and then Alison Hewitt. Council Members, thank you for this opportunity to allow the public to speak today. I have lived here since 2001 and attended several games, going right over the Gandy Bridge To St. Pete to support our team. We are Tampa, By The Way. We are the Rays. We are the lightning, and we are the Bucs. This is one community, and this opportunity does not come along very often. If we let this go by, were going to be shaking our heads saying, gosh, were just like montreal. Were just like oakland. Guess what, its Tampa now. We do not want to be on that list. This brings jobs and opportunities to not just Tampa but the whole region. Yes, every city has issues. We have several. Were not different from other cities. They all have issues. But we are Tampa. We are the best city in the world. I love it here. This is my home, and I will stay here. Please think long-term and not short-term. I love this team, I love this community, and I love Tampa. By The Way, if youre wondering, its 3-2. And the Rays are rallying. Rays up. Thank you, Tampa.

8:26:20PM Thank you, Jonathan. Rob Ledford followed by Alison Hewitt and then Jamie Jones. Rob Ledford. I am here on behalf of the Tampa Bay chamber. It is my pleasure to be the chair for the 2026 year for the Tampa Bay chamber. On behalf of our board of directors and over 1400 business members, I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight to make sure we keep the Rays in Tampa Bay. The Rays are more than just a baseball team. They are an economic driver and a source of community and regional pride. They are a key part of our identity as a growing, competitive market. Keeping them here matters to our business community and the folks that we represent. This is for long-term success of our region. Were encouraged by the vision. Its an exciting project the proposed stadium. The potential for job creation significant. Key part of this development is the mixed use opportunity and the support for education to continue our workforce development. All those align directly with what the chamber stands for in our vision of Tampa Bay's future. Done right, this project will be a catalyst for the economy, our growth, and long-term success. At the same time as the voice of business in Tampa Bay region, we believe its essential to fully understand the financial and business terms associated with this proposal. A project of this magnitude, structured in a way that is transparent, fiscally responsible, and delivers measurable returns for this community. It is important to also look at this agreement and make sure it doesnt come at the expense of our long-standing success of other assets within Tampa Bay, specifically the Buccaneers, the lightning, and George Steinbrenner Field. These institutions help shape us for the last 30, 40 decades. 40 decades -- four decades. Additionally, transportation, infrastructure, neighborhood impact must be part of this conversation to ensure the development works not just for visitors who come here, the 10 million that will come every year, but the folks that live adjacent to this day in and day out. This is a rare opportunity to create something transformative for Tampa Bay. We remain optimistic and engaged. We are committed to working alongside all of to you make sure the path forward keeps the Rays in our region and delivers a project that benefits our entire community. On a personal, not chamber topic, I am a baseball fan. Born and raised playing baseball, grew up in Florida, The Only Place to see baseball was minor league or atlanta. 22 years ago when my son was born, I had the opportunity to take him to Rays games. That was pretty special to hand off the vision of what that looks like in a community and a sport that I love and now my son has that same passion. Chairman, Council Members, thank you for your leadership. It is a tough decision. Thank you for your consideration. This decision will hold long-term value for our community and for our region. Our Businesses, our economy depend on long-term vision. Thank you so much for your time.

8:29:29PM Thank you, Rob. Alison Hewitt followed by Jamie Jones and then mny. Alison Hewitt, resident and business owner. ID like to address the public funds to be intended to be used solely for the stadium. And if thats the case, we are facing a fundamental structural issue that warrants immediate reconsideration. Because under Florida statute 163 part 3, CRA Funds are not designated to subsidize private facilities. They Exist To Drive redevelopment, eliminate blight and most importantly to generate long-term public benefit. So if The CRA Funds are to be utilized in this project, we need to do more than just contribute to construction. And as Councilman Carlson said, you all are not at the table as City Council, but if The CRA dollars are at play, then somebody from The CRA Board needs to be at that table to negotiate on behalf, not to try to beat a dead horse, but your agreement with the city does not negate your ability to negotiate what the funds that you are responsible for that you are a part of those negotiations. So The Way the project is right now, from the base of the materials I read, rays retain stadium revenues, naming rights, sponsorships, and control over the mixed use development and meanwhile the public is being asked to contribute a substantial level. I believe that we should not look at this as a subsidy. We need to look at this as equate position in a large scale development, especially in The CRA. So that means we should have some defined ownership interest, participation in stadium related revenue, and So That Way were not waiting for the tax dollars to come in, but after we have potentially a waterfall payment that we, the community, The CRA, the City Of Tampa is participating as an equity partner and not as a subsidy. I will do as a reminder, Gasworx, which is a $2 billion project leveraged the TIF dollars as a pay as you go structure, where the private capital advance infrastructure costs and reimbursed only as new tax value was created. We have an opportunity now to do this right, not to simply build a stadium, but to build lasting public wealth for the people of Tampa and especially with Drew Park. Thank you.

8:31:58PM Thank you, Alison. Jamie Jones followed by M. Ny and Bishop Michelle B. Patty. I want to get through as much of this as I can so I wrote it all down. Hopefully I have some time at the end. City Council, good evening. Thank you for allowing us all this time to provide our feedback on the rays stadium. I have the privilege to live and work in West Tampa. Im a planner and the president of the West Tampa Heights neighborhood association just to the east of this development. Our organization exists to build community from the bottom up. We look out for one another to lend our tools out, cook for one another, do neighborhood cleanups, throw block parties. And its really important for you guys to know that we would be celebrating Cinco de Mayo today if this wasnt so important to us. This is going to have an incredible impact on my neighborhood. And our daily lives. And to make sure you all know what we need out of this deal if you intend to support it, were here to enforce it as we can. Just in case I run out of time, please know that my main points here are that we find the need for continual -- or we find the continual discussion about redeveloping our pocket of the city without a plan beyond the ballpark boundaries extremely egregious. There needs to be a stadium district with a budget and some teeth that follows the new stadium. Were contemplating adding a third stadium within a stones throw of all of our homes. This needs to be its own planning district. Something that we talked about with transit, we talk about with housing solutions. And really, a big part of this, of my offense to this all is that my neighborhood is over 70% spanish speaking. And I have seen almost no outreach in the spanish language to make sure that all of this is going to get through to them. Just like My Vice President said, we speak a different language when we talk about land use, when we talk about policy and things like that, than the normal person. My neighborhood, again, is 40,000 dollars is the median home value. The Only Way that my neighbors are able to survive is by using their own creative housing solution already. And then we bring multibillion dollar, 8 million-square-foot project Down The Road, this is going to have insane impacts. And homestead exemption is only going to save a few of us. And we have to be well educated. We have to understand what to do to navigate that. And we need help. Its not just going to be 250 affordable housing units. We need more than that.

8:35:13PM Thank you very much. [ sounding gavel Victor Dimaio. You are out of order. Keep it down back there. Just so you all know, the Council Chambers, the acoustics are really good. Even if you are whispering in the back, it comes right up here. Its very distracting. Mny. Is there an mny In the house? Going once, twice, gone. Bishop Michelle B. Patty followed by Ian Jones and Honorable Pat Kemp. My name is Bishop Michelle B. Patty. I was born and raised here in the City Of Tampa. 1508 north a street. My husband and I, we was a fan of the rays when they were the Devil Rays. I watch them on tv just about every night. I like to say congratulations, they are doing well. My concern, I hear about transparency. Im hearing about community leaders and partners, but who is going to vet these people? Who is to say who is sitting at that table? Because many of the people that they going to be calling to the table are not folks thats going to represent the people thats on the lower spectrum. Im talking about the everyday joe who will not be able to come to a game or might not be able to benefit. I personally feel that baseball is needed. I love it. My son was going to be a baseball player until he was murdered and he was murdered by a young man going nowhere. So that kid, if he would have had an opportunity like Gary Sheffield, last November, handed out turkeys with him. I do know that baseball, football, anything can make a difference in a childs life. But I dont want the same old people being identified to represent the masses of the folks. And they get the money and hold it. Im going to be frank. Im talking about organizations. I want to thank the city that you all have been a good steward over the taxpayer dollars when you say no organization will get a dime unless they do an audit and show where the money is going. Thats supposed to happen with taxpayers' dollars. And that is not something that the NAACP does. They dont even adhere to their own audit, the organization is supposed to do a yearly audit. There has not been one done. And people in this city, we know whats going on. Please, I hope thats not one of the people that would be sitting at the table because we need transparency. We need people that is going to care about the ones on the ground. I know men and women, every day they put their lives on the ground and dont get one dime, on their land, they dont get a dime from any entity, but they are out there trying to stop the violence and we do have violence here in the City Of Tampa. We do have children that are killing children and they are going to jail at a rapid speed. So if they can get something that is going to be tangible to help curb that, im a hundred percent for it. But I would like for anyone who is going to be sitting at a table, getting taxpayer dollars, that those organizations be vetted, and that they show us a record of whats going on with monies before you all just give it to them and then they do nothing and then the Mass of the people who have to take the brunt, the brunt of making sure that they tax dollars are being used cant even get into a game because there are no jobs for them. Thank you all, Council.

8:38:59PM Thank you, Bishop. Ian Jones. Ian Jones? Followed by honorable pat kemp, followed by Neil. Good evening. Tampa Heights resident. Im a big fan of baseball myself. Im probably like the ideal audience for them. After looking over this deal, though, I do find the finances to be quite questionable. I think theres many different ways we could look at this deal and find alternative paths that dont involve taking out massive amounts of debt. I think one of the things thats been overlooked is the total cost, the up front principal plus interest that well have to pay over 15 or 30 years of these bonds and what that means if we bond against the CIT. What happens if we have a downturn? Are the rays going to cover the shortfall for the two, three, five years when that money isnt there or will we have to cut programs? I think those are questions that need to be answered before any kind of deal gets made. Along with that, something awfully concerning that nobody has brought up is what happens when this initial lease ends? Lets look at what these owners are. They are Developers. Developers build stuff, sell it, and leave. If that is in a 30 year, 15 year, 20 year time frame, still means at some point theyll leave. New owners, they will want a new contract with new money. We should make some kind of caveat in this deal that locks this into Tampa and keeps this here without new money going into it 10, 20 years Down The Road when the contract is long forgotten. Thank you.

8:40:43PM Thank you, Ian. Honorable Pat Kemp, Neil Metnick, Maritza. Sorry. Thank you all for having me tonight and everyone else. Ive heard a lot of great comments tonight. Im here because I really didnt want to --

8:41:05PM Start with your name. Pat Kemp. Former Hillsborough County commissioner who worked on this over the eight years that I was there. And one of the things I did in my eight years was do a lot of research on this because I thought it would come just like this. You get no information. All of a sudden its thrown at you. You dont have any alternative information. Youre in a bubble, and you have two little facts -- too little facts. Ill say this, the lack of transparency, the lack of facts, someone said the shallowness of this is stunning. And thats why I decided to come and speak out tonight. If you are not getting the facts here on the City Council, if you dont have the analysis, if you want to say I dont have responsibility because, oh, its all being done by the county, then you need to just make a no vote right out and not do it. Not do what anybody is asking you to do until you get the facts. Until you get a hard contract. There should be no reason to rush on this. No reason at all. You should be spending SIX months studying this, a year. This is the investment of not just one generation, but many generations that youre committing to with this. Ill say that one of the resources that I had was this book, fellow schemes, how the great stadium swindle tax public money into private profit, Neil Demoss, who I interviewed twice on wmnf radio since this all started. But as well, ive heard references tonight to the atlanta, the baseball stadium there. And the baseball economist, JC Bradbury, wrote a book called the baseball economist, the real game exposed. He happens to live just a few miles from the Braves stadium. This is what he does for a living, an economist. He saw the Aecom report here. This was his comment. Ive seen the report. As I expected, its mostly a pile of useless numbers of dubious origin. Pseudoeconomic drivel with the analytical of a junior high science project. You all need more than that. I would suggest that the city hire JC Bradbury, another one, and also he is writing a book on the atlanta Braves, the stadium there, that they had the -- he is writing a book, ten years of studying it and his analysis. He says this is not good for the taxpayers as every economist says across the country. These do not bring benefits to the community. They bring benefits to the owner, especially, and that is a mixed use stadium he specifically analyzes.

8:43:57PM Thank you, pat. Neil Metnick. Going once, going twice. Im not going to slaughter your name again. Maritza. Come up and say your last name for me. Astorquiza. I am with the Drew Park CAC. I am the president, chair, whatever you want to call it of the CAC. I was also a founder of the Drew Park CAC back in 2004. So ive been around for a while. Drew Park is an independent. We dont belong to anybody else. We are our own community. We are the Drew Park CRA. We are Drew Park. I want to say that Drew Park has the residential side and it has a community -- a business side, industrial side. Business. And on the residential side, we have people who live there who own and are very proud of their homes and some are rentals and some are affordable houses. We check, check everything, right. On the business side, we have businesses that are just starting up, and those have been 40, 50, 60, 70 years. But what is very common is that we are multigenerational. Many good percentage minority owned and some businesses are just starting up and some, and many are multimillion dollar businesses. We have a big stake in Drew Park. I was approached -- I was approached by three reporters for a comment on The Rays' project. All three times, my comment was, no comment. But its not no comment because I didnt want to speak about it. No comment because we havent met with The Rays. The Rays more specifically havent met with us. No one has reached out to us to meet with the CAC nor have a community meeting with the Drew Park residents and businesses. I think thats important. Again, im not saying for our against, because I just dont know enough about the project. I do know that our residents live there seven days a week, and a lot of our business owners are there seven days a week. And some businesses are open on saturdays and sundays as well. We are now, because of everything going on, and we did love having The Rays there temporarily, and maybe permanently. But along with the concerts and everything else, we are directly impacted every single day. Im there and im going, okay, so are we going to get some help with our infrastructure and the repairs of our streets and everything else that goes along with a lot of traffic? Also, some things I would have liked to spoke, is there going to be a vendor program? A certain amount to come back, that are contracts for the people already working there. There is a lot to be talked about. Again, whats my comment? Not much of a comment because we havent had the conversation, which I think is important. Basically thats it. Im done.

8:47:30PM Thank you. Have a beautiful night. I suspect youll probably get a call. Okay. The last speaker, going to bring it home. Shes going to close us out. The one, the only, Kella Mccaskill. The mere fact that Drew Park has not had a conversation with this team is just -- that is disrespectful, number one. They are directly affected. I came here -- im going to preface my message about baseball because ive been a real estate professional in this city and have benefited from working with some of the players that have come through this city and worked with many of them, some soon to be hall of famers. I appreciate baseball and what its done for people in communities that I grew up in. But I wanted to come tonight to talk through the project and how it would impact a certain group of people. But I also wanted to mention that I kept hearing the reference On Water Street. From my memory, my receipt showed me that Vinik just about funded his deal. He didnt need the hundred million dollars. It was offered. It was offered. I believe because they wanted their name on the project so bad. But it was almost funded. I dont think he needed those funds. I believe it was offered to them. And our dollars was given to this project, but Like Water Street, we saw very little participation for people that look like me. Our businesses were not, they werent a part of it. They didnt grow. They didnt scale. None of that was a part. We didnt benefit from it. Just Like Hanna Street, very little participation for people that look like me. We damn near had to fight for it. Have a war just to get a small percentage. Just Like Hanna Street. Just like Gasworx. Just like fair oaks. I can go on and on. Too often these cute projects come along and it benefits the people. Im glad there are Billionaires that want to take an interest and invest in that area, but it should include people. Not just wealthy people that pays taxes in the city. It should include all people. Not just continue to be wealthy, it should benefit some of the people. In our small businesses today, does not include, the woman owned, small business. I know they stripped that language and cant support, quote, unquote. Small and local includes people that are minorities, people that are women. I believe those businesses should be provided an opportunity, if not to create wealth, but be able to participate in such a high-dollar project. They keep referencing wages. I appreciate that. But I believe they are low wages. I would like to see some different wages in there and more than 25 apprenticeships in this participation. Just remember that taxpayers all over this city has to pay for it. And I want to see more from this project and their cba agreement, not the cookie cutter like they had in all the other projects referenced. Many of you wont be here when the money is already spent. You wont be able to keep them accountable. Ask those hard questions now. Make them show you more than what is written on that piece of paper. I know that they are not committed to it because the team that did the community engagement and outreach didnt even know to start with Drew Park. You start in Drew Park and Work Your Way out. I dont even know if the people lived in Tampa that came. Maybe they dont know who to ask. Start with the hard questions. Make them be accountable. Before you give them the money, do some research.

8:50:55PM Thank you, Kella. That concludes our agenda for this evening. I think I will close out and say, one, I want to thank the City Staff for sticking with us tonight and thank you for all the work. I know theres been a lot of people working hard on the projects and the county as well. Thanks to all of the stakeholders and mostly thanks to the community for coming out tonight. I know its been a long evening, but we very much -- we have this meeting so that, one, as I said at the beginning, we can all hear the information at the same time. And we can also hear from members of the community your thoughts and how you perceive this project. Thank you so much. This wont be im sure the last time youll hear from us. Wont be the last time we hear from you. City Council for Thursday, it is a very long agenda. Im working with staff trying to figure out how to keep this from happening again with all these agenda items. We need to work on that. If you have staff reports on the agenda on Thursday that can be a written staff report, please review your request for staff reports, and maybe we can cut some of the time back on that. Mr. Shelby. Motion to receive and file from Councilman Maniscalco. Second from Councilman Miranda. All those in favor say aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Its 8:52 pm. [ sounding gavel we are adjourned. Disclaimer: this file represents an unedited version of realtime captioning which should neither be relied upon for complete accuracy nor used as a verbatim transcript. Any person who needs a verbatim transcript of the proceedings May need to hire a Court Reporter. ▶ meeting video the information contained in these pages represents an unedited version of realtime captioning which should neither be relied upon for complete accuracy nor used as a verbatim transcript. Persons requiring a verbatim transcript May need to hire a Court Reporter. © - City Of Tampa (813) 274-8211