What kind of bird are you? It’s a question Mayor Rick Lott had for the members of Rise Plant City, the city’s group of civic-minded young professionals, during its Aug. 23 Lunch With the Mayor event.
Lott analogized the virtues of civic and business leadership using the attributes of chickens, crows and eagles in a packed and intimate discussion about the future of Plant City. Lott extolled the virtues of each avian, but encouraged the group to be most like eagles.
“Be a room full of eagles,” he told the crowd. “Build each other up, punch each other up, support one another and try to help all of you rise your business yourself personally and soar above the people that say we can’t accomplish our goals in Plant City.”
The event functioned as an interactive state-of-the-city address, with Lott updating the group on many of the city’s upcoming ambitious projects including the developments of midtown and downtown, new residential and business development, plans to bring a more than $100 million baseball university to Park Road and the proposed property tax increase to support road resurfacing and infrastructure.
The condition of Plant City’s roads, Lott said, is the number one complaint commissioners get from citizens and incoming businesses. Lott explained the city’s current proposal to raise the property tax rate by one mill to generate an additional $1.9 million in revenue, which, with the hopeful continuance of matching funds from Hillsborough County, could potentially support a 15-to-20 year resurfacing plan for the city’s 160 miles of roads. He also spoke about coming improvements to state roads, like the Alexander Street resurfacing set to begin in 2018.
“He recognizes the values of the future industry leaders of Plant City,” Erin Parke said. “So he addressed whats happening within Plant City. It’s going to be our generation that is the driving force. Not only among Plant City’s commerce, but its political force.”
Parke, 39, is the director of food safety for Parkesdale Farms and a Rise Plant City member. She said the mayor’s candid demeanor and willingness to answer questions is helpful to understanding decisions made in City Hall.
“Talking groups like that where you have one-on-ones with the mayor are very helpful,” she said. “Especially when you’re talking about the major changes and what Plant City is going to become.”
With a recently reported population of more than 40,000 people, according to the Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization, Lott said people coming into the city are getting younger.
“This is the place where people want to raise a family,” he said. “And it’s because of what’s in this room here.”
Looking to that growth, he said, is why bringing new housing developments to Plant City remains a priority.
All of the proposals and plans poising Plant City for growth have been in the works for more than a decade, Lott said. The idea to redevelop midtown, which could be well underway within the next five years, began in 2007. Commissioner Nate Kilton spoke briefly after Lott, reinforcing the idea that those in the room represented the future of Plant City and the need to see current projects through.
“You have to have a mayor and a commission and other civic leaders have a vision for what it could be and have the wherewithal to stick with it,” Kilton said. “What we’re talking about with that analogy is that a chicken on the ground doesn’t have the same perspective as an eagle that’s soaring. You’ve got to have that vision, you’ve got to have that ability to be able to think 10, 15, 20 years down the road and start taking those small steps one at a time, that accumulate over time to start building that framework to allow you to capitalize on those opportunities.”