Latest news with #CharlieMiranda
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Tampa City Council Member Gwen Henderson dies
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Tampa City Council Member Gwen Henderson died of natural causes Monday night. She was 60 years old. Henderson was elected to the city council in 2023 and represented District 5, which stretches from Armenia Ave. to the Tampa Bypass Canal to the east. It includes downtown Tampa, Ybor City and neighborhoods east of I-275 and south of Busch Blvd. Tampa city leader opens 'Black English Bookstore' to honor Black history and culture She was a Tampa native, growing up in the Carver City neighborhood and graduating from Jefferson High School. She holds a degree in education from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University and a Master of Education and Education Specialist degree in educational leadership and higher education administration from Saint Leo University. 'Gwen was always talking about her family journey: she talked with adoration about her late mother; her heroic late father who she always proudly said served in the Korean War and raised a family in Carver City; her loving sister; and her daughter who she had so much beaming pride in,' Tampa City Council Member Luis Viera said. Council member Charlie Miranda said she was a strong willed and noble person. 'She had a way of doing things and it wasn't about her way or the highway, but by doing things the right way, without going to the highway,' Miranda said. Councilwoman Lynn Hurtak said Henderson brought a lot to the table. 'I really enjoyed working with her, I loved her spirit and her energy when it came to discussion and debate and I appreciated the way she told it the way it was,' Hurtak said. Hillsborough County NAACP President Yvette Lewis said she is shocked by the loss. 'I was completely shocked… I just sat beside her at Miss Teenage Tampa pageant, and she didn't say anything,' Lewis said. In addition to her work as an educator and city council member, Henderson owned the Black English Bookstore in Tampa Heights. 'Gwen had a passion for Black History – from 1619 to today. If you wanted to see the beauty of Gwen's heart, you should stop by her dream realized – her Black English bookstore,' Viera said. 'That bookstore was about the pride she had in the journey of her family and families like hers. Gwen's life and values were intertwined in the journey of Black Tampenos.' Henderson's death will trigger a special election to fill the city council seat for the remainder of her term, which ends in 2027. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tampa City Council blocks Rodeph Sholom condo proposal a third time
A third attempt to build a condominium on the site of the Rodeph Sholom synagogue on Bayshore Blvd was shot down by Tampa City Council Tuesday night after hours of public comments and a heated back and forth between council members. For nearly three years, The Related Group has tried and failed to rezone a portion of the synagogue's land to build a high-rise condo tower. Two earlier iterations of the plan presented in May 2023 and February this year were rejected by the city council for being too tall and out of place in the neighborhood. The first proposal called for 29 stories and the second called for 26. The third time around, the developer and synagogue took a different approach. Last year, Related and Rodeph Sholom filed a request for relief under Florida's land use laws. They claimed the synagogue's property value was diminished by the city's attempts to block rezoning. All three parties entered mediation in June. They agreed that the synagogue and developer should present an amended proposal and let council decide whether to accept or reject the plan as a form of settlement. That's what Tuesday's meeting was about. Council members Charlie Miranda, Bill Carlson, Lynn Hurtak and Guido Maniscalco voted to reject the settlement while Alan Clendenin, Gwendolyn Henderson and Luis Viera voted in favor of it. The updated plan called for a 16-story tower with 38-condo units. It also included additional sidewalks, an enhanced crosswalk and more trees than prior proposals. Members of the neighboring Tampa Garden Club and several nearby condo owners who turned out to oppose the measure said this wasn't an adequate compromise. 'If you start with a project that is absurdly incompatible, that doesn't make it compatible, it just makes it less absurdly incompatible,' said Richard Harrison, an attorney representing the Garden Club. He compared the plan to putting 'lipstick on a pig.' Rodeph Sholom congregation members and other supporters said the land deal would make it possible for them to pay for necessary building upgrades and remain on Bayshore, which has been their home for more than 100 years. They pointed to nearby buildings like the 24-story Altura Bayshore condo and the 15-story Presbyterian apartments to show the prevalence of high-rise development in the area. 'This is bigger than one building,' Lloyd Stern, president of Rodeph Sholom said. 'This is about Tampa's future. Will we be a city that embraces responsible sustainable growth, or one that caves to a small vocal opposition at the expense of progress?' Though the proposal is stalled for now, the fight may not be over. The developer and synagogue already laid the groundwork for a potential lawsuit when they filed a petition in court last year. In an interview ahead of Tuesday's meeting, Nicole MacInnes from Stearns Miller Weaver, the law firm representing Rodeph Sholom and Related, told the Tampa Bay Times that they would 'certainly be looking at all legal opportunities that they have to continue with this site.' Council members Viera and Clendenin, who voted in favor of the settlement, questioned whether this was a battle worth waging considering the potential legal implications and the possibility that a future council may vote to approve an even bigger development on the site. Hurtak, who opposed the measure, argued that voting in favor of the plan just to avoid litigation would set a dangerous precedent. 'This is exactly what developers are going to do,' she said. 'If they can get on this they are going to start high and they're going to end a little bit higher than they are allowed. We are opening the floodgates to this.'
