Tampa City Council: Stories Buried In Boredom

I decided to attend a Tampa City Council meeting on March 11 for my meeting assignment for a variety of reasons. One reason was because I had never attended a city council meeting, and I felt that the Tampa one would have the most important “newsworthy” topics to report on. Another reason being that I live in Tampa, and I felt that it would be beneficial for me to see what is going on in the council meeting that affects me the most, and the area that I live in.

I decided to attend the meeting to see what story ideas that I could take out of it. Once I found story ideas, then I could use the ideas to figure out which public records I would need to do the reporting.

At first, I thought the meeting would be hard to follow, and that I would not be able to take much out of the dry format of it. With all the motions and voting on every aspect of the meeting, it is a little hard to find out what is important. They were discussing the amendments to the Tampa Comprehensive Plan, which is a plan of upgrades and changes that need to be made in the city. There were a few proposals and ideas that were discussed, such as using land near Rocky point for Community use, even though it had previously been residential use.

There were some stories and discussions that I felt would make for good stories, such as where they should locate the train station once the high speed train is built, but there was one discussion that stood out to me.

They talked about a pedestrian that had been struck by a car and killed on the Courtney Campbell Causeway, and addressed reasons for why it happened. They said how there is no way for pedestrians, bicyclists or anyone not in an automobile to cross the Causeway, or to travel to the other side.

This is a major issue for many people who are not fortunate enough to have a car, and must travel by foot or by bike. I looked at this part of the meeting as I believe a journalist would… There is a problem that affects many residents in Tampa. There is a disaster (the person being struck to death), and there is strong support for change.

The changes suggested include building or incorporating a walkway, or a bicycle path that is shielded and protected for motorists. This would allow for easy travel across the causeway for automobiles and pedestrians as well as bicyclists. I feel as though the story is perfect for television news, because it has a background, as well as a proposal and a plan to change an area in which many Tampa residents use each day.