At last Wednesday's Transportation Planning Organization meeting, Hillsborough County Commissioner Josh Wostal proposed a substantial widening of I-275 between Bearss and Hillsborough. The item was not noticed nor on the published agenda, and it passed by an 8-7 vote.

The project would level dozens of city blocks, hundreds of homes, and a good chunk of the historic parts of Old Seminole Heights—including the Jackson House , the oldest home in the neighborhood, one of the oldest on the west coast of Florida, and a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

This is obviously an issue of immense importance to the neighborhood and is going to require an effort on the scale of our approach to TBX ten years ago or the widening of Hillsborough 35 years ago. More details about organizing efforts and direct action will almost certainly reach you soon, but for now OSHNA asks you to please reserve the following date and time on your calendars now:

Wednesday, August 14

10 a.m. — 12 p.m.

That's when the next TPO meeting will be happening at the county building downtown ( 601 E Kennedy Blvd, 26th floor, conference rooms A & B ). We need your presence there to communicate clearly to the members of the TPO how much damage they'll be doing to our neighborhood by voting to approve yet another highway-widening project.

Here's how members of the TPO voted:

YES

Hillsborough County Commissioner Josh Wostal (movant)

Hillsborough County school board member Patti Rendon

Temple Terrace mayor Andy Ross

Plant City mayor Nate Kilton

Port Tampa Bay principal counsel Charles Klug

Tampa International Airport director of government affairs Gina Dew

Expressway Authority director of planning Bob Frey

Planning Commissioner Nigel Joseph

NO

 Hillsborough County Commissioner Gwen Myers

Hillsborough County Commissioner Pat Kemp

Hillsborough County Commissioner Harry Cohen

Tampa City Council member Lynn Hurtak

Tampa City Council member Guido Maniscalco

Tampa City Council member Alan Clendenin

HART director of planning Justin Willits

Many of you remember the harms that come with these widening projects—ones that affect the neighborhood as a whole far beyond the blocks that will be demolished—and the interstate itself and the manner in which it splits our neighborhood in two has a luridly racist history. Adding more lanes to interstates does not result in any reduction in traffic congestion, as confirmed by literally dozens of studies.

What highway expansion does produce, however, is an increase in noise and pollution for those neighborhoods through which the highway passes. Our city is in a housing crisis; the answer is not to tear down more homes and replace them with asphalt.

We'll be talking about organizing against the I-275 expansion at our next quarterly general membership meeting, which will also be the return of the Eating Meeting! It's like porch party, but we get work done at the same time.

OSHNA board member Michael Guinn has generously offered the use of his facility for our meeting, and we look forward to seeing you there. Attendees with the last name A-S are encouraged to bring a side dish and T-Z a dessert to share. We'll provide the main dishes!

When: Tuesday, July 23, 6:30 p.m.

Where: Guinn Center, 6900 N Nebraska Ave, Tampa, FL 33604

For just $10 a year—or $25 for businesses—you help your neighborhood association represent neighbors' interests with the city, provide outreach to local businesses and organizations, and keep these newsletters flowing!

Hurricane Preparedness Event

We hope you'll never have to use the information the city will be providing on Saturday, but it's important to know anyway.

When: June 22, 10:00 a.m.

Where : City Center, 2555 E. Hanna Ave.

We (and by we, here, we mean Tim Burke, OSHNA president and the person who writes these newsletters) continue to get Good Neighbor notices nearly every day in the mailbox alerting us to variance requests, design exceptions, and rezoning hearings regarding permits applied for in the neighborhood. Meanwhile, we continue to find on a nearly weekly basis new issues that escaped the permitting process, including those involving the allowable amount of impervious land on a site plan.

New builds must feature an equal or greater amount of pervious (meaning, water can go into the ground) land to impervious (space where there is a roof or poured concrete and water cannot go into the ground). Ensuring this element of the code is adhered to is vital for ensuring our properties are not flooded due to a lack of drainable land. I, er, "we" do our best to monitor for outstanding building permits... But we can't do it alone! If you have an hour to spare a month, we'd love to have your help on the Land Use Committee. Please email Tim directly to get involved !

This Month In OSHNA History

Perhaps the news at the top of this newsletter has darkened your mood. So here's what your neighborhood association was up to this month in 1988. We were successful then in preventing a road widening—and with your help, we'll be successful this time too.

Are we fighting the same fights today? Sure. (Our former OSHNA president and now Hillsborough County Commissioner Pat Kemp, especially.) Is it worth it? Absolutely.

Free Property Fraud Alert

By signing up for the free Property Fraud Alerts provided by Hillsborough County, you will receive notification by email or phone whenever a document is recorded in Hillsborough County using your name or your business's name. Take advantage of this free service to protect yourself from mortgage, deed, and other forms of fraud.

Hosting the monthly OSHNA Porch Party is one of the easiest and most fun ways to get involved in the neighborhood. With the Neighborhood Involvement Committee volunteers handling most of the arrangements, they aren't much work, either! To sign up to host, check out the link to the form in the button below.

As always, check our events calendar on Facebook or OldSeminoleHeights.org .