One of the things I have really enjoyed about our Friday Morning Group is that it is not a very structured affair. People attend, or not, as the spirit moves them. There is no written agenda. It has just been a place where people could float ideas and get feedback from their peers.
That is not to say that nothing constructive has come out of the Friday Morning Group meetings. That is far, far from the truth. It has just sort of worked that individuals or small groups have taken ideas bounced around on Friday Morning and gone out and made something of them. You know who you are and what you have done.
The change started a couple of weeks ago. Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch and St. Petersburg City Council Member Leslie Curran joined us on the same day. Ken solicited our ideas for improving the community for artists. He got an ear load (or two). Fortunately for Ken, he couldn't stay long, he had a dentist appointment. But he did ask the Group to provide him something concrete that we would like to see happen.
This spawned a group of volunteers (a committee?) to do a little visioning to see what they might come up with in response to Ken's request. The response was a "concept paper" that included the Pinellas Prize as a major component. We talked a little about the Pinellas Prize last week ( http://localpoliticsisall.blogspot.com/2007/02/pinellas-prize.html ) . I don't have the position paper in front of me, and I don't want to do it an injustice by trying to paraphrase off the top of my weary head. Suffice it to say, it is an extremely intriguing idea.
Well, this past week, the Friday Morning Group subjected the "concept paper" to a more or less formal view. And the we did something really astounding - we took a vote! Those in attendance voted unanimously to support the "concept paper" and present it to Commissioner Welch. More than that, we agreed to go back to our various places in the world and try to get support for the provisions put forth in the "concept paper". Our hardy band of volunteers (our committee?) agreed to present the paper to Ken and to be available to him to respond to the questions he would surely have.
Now, I don't know about you, but all that sounds like we are getting awfully formal to me. It also sounds like progress.
Showing posts with label activists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label activists. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Pinellas Prize
Last week, the Friday Morning Group talked about keeping our eyes on the Prize. What prize, you ask? Why the Pinellas Prize of course!
The week before last. Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch and St. Petersburg City Council Memeber Leslie Curran asked us to provde them something they could talk about. something they could vote on. Last week, several Group members met at The Studio@620 to do just that. The result? Why the Pinellas Prize.
The Group members gave Ken Welch quite an earfull the prior week. But we had a very small window to address the commissioner. Poor Ken. He had to listen to us immediately prior to going to the dentist. I can't imagine that he had a very good morning that morning.
Ken's response to our laundry list of suggestions and complaints? Give me something I can talk to my colleagues on the Commission about. He must have made this request at least three times. After Ken departed for his rendezvous with the dentist, Leslie Curran made it as clear as it could get. Give Ken what he asked for if we want to move forward with anything concrete.
Sandy Tabor led the group's committee that met at 620. Bob Devin Jones graciously provided the venue before he had to hop on an airplane and head for the frozen north. Herb Snitzer was there as well. Sandy gave us her report last Friday, including a brief description of how the Pinellas Prize would work.
If you want to know more about this - stay tuned.
The week before last. Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch and St. Petersburg City Council Memeber Leslie Curran asked us to provde them something they could talk about. something they could vote on. Last week, several Group members met at The Studio@620 to do just that. The result? Why the Pinellas Prize.
The Group members gave Ken Welch quite an earfull the prior week. But we had a very small window to address the commissioner. Poor Ken. He had to listen to us immediately prior to going to the dentist. I can't imagine that he had a very good morning that morning.
Ken's response to our laundry list of suggestions and complaints? Give me something I can talk to my colleagues on the Commission about. He must have made this request at least three times. After Ken departed for his rendezvous with the dentist, Leslie Curran made it as clear as it could get. Give Ken what he asked for if we want to move forward with anything concrete.
Sandy Tabor led the group's committee that met at 620. Bob Devin Jones graciously provided the venue before he had to hop on an airplane and head for the frozen north. Herb Snitzer was there as well. Sandy gave us her report last Friday, including a brief description of how the Pinellas Prize would work.
If you want to know more about this - stay tuned.
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Friday Morning Mojo Moment
This past Friday, February 2nd, may have been a watershed mojo moment for the Friday Morning Group. Not only were we honored to be joined by Pinellas County Commisioner Ken Welch, we were also able to extend a Friday Morning Welcome to St. Petersburg City Council Member Leslie Curran.
The admonition to arrive promptly at 8 AM was adhered to by a hardy group of talented folks and Ken started right off by asking how we wanted to proceed. Herb Snitzer laid out for Ken the nut of the issue for the Friday Morning Group artists - respect and recognition. Ken was also exposed to the idea of getting tourist development dollars to promote the City and the County as an art buying destination. That will help to support our Community Based artists, but also meets the Tourist Development Council and Convention and Visitors Bureau's missions of heads in beds.
Herb and Bob Devin Jones also expressed their disappointment that the Pinellas County Cultural (nee Arts) Council's failure to extend honors to any Little a artists at their annual awards banquet. Bruce Kotchkey was asked by Ken for his take on that issue. Bruce replied that the criteria for an award to an artist was based on community participation in the furtherance of the arts. Surely we had artists at the table Friday morning who met that criteria. Stay tuned on that one.
Ken must have asked at least three times, if not more, for the group to tell him what it is we wanted him to do for us. Ken left us at 8:30 to go to his dentist's appointment. When asked to comment on which he thought was going to be more fun, Ken was unwilling to declare. He has declared that he is running for re-election to the County Commission in 2008. Thank you, Ken, for taking the time to meet with us. Please know that you have an open invitation to join us any time that your schedule permits.
After Ken left us, Leslie Curran took out her hammer and beat us over the head, gently. She admonished the group to make sure and follow through to deliver our wish list to Ken. It was clear to Leslie, and she made it clear to us that Ken wanted to help us, but he needed guidance on exactly what we wanted him to vote on.
Sandy Tabor volunteered to lead a mission statement and goal visioning session and or sessions. This is to be the first step in creating a strategic plan for the Friday Morning Group. (Scary, isn't it?) Bob stressed that the mission of the Friday Morning Group needed to be focused on Little a artists and how to support them. Group consensus seems to have formed generally around that premise. The first strategic visioning session for the Friday Morning Group will be this Monday afternoon at 2 PM at the Studio at 620.
Leslie Curran could not have been more supportive of the mission of the Friday Morning Group. Seated on her left was Ann Wykel . In the category of two degrees of separation, Ann's very presence in St. Petersburg was due to the efforts of Leslie Curran. In her former incarnation on the St. Pete City Council, Leslie pushed for the creation of a Cultural Plan. Ann Wykel's position at the City of St. Petersburg came out of that Cultural Plan. Leslie is currently asking that the Cultural Plan be reviewed and updated, since it is getting nearly a decade old.
All in all, this Friday had to be one of the best meetings ever held by the Friday Morning Group. If you were in attendance and either agree or disagree with that statment, please let me know. You can either email me at gatordem at verizon.net or you may post a comment at Local Politics is All.
Until next week, here's looking at your art kids.
The admonition to arrive promptly at 8 AM was adhered to by a hardy group of talented folks and Ken started right off by asking how we wanted to proceed. Herb Snitzer laid out for Ken the nut of the issue for the Friday Morning Group artists - respect and recognition. Ken was also exposed to the idea of getting tourist development dollars to promote the City and the County as an art buying destination. That will help to support our Community Based artists, but also meets the Tourist Development Council and Convention and Visitors Bureau's missions of heads in beds.
Herb and Bob Devin Jones also expressed their disappointment that the Pinellas County Cultural (nee Arts) Council's failure to extend honors to any Little a artists at their annual awards banquet. Bruce Kotchkey was asked by Ken for his take on that issue. Bruce replied that the criteria for an award to an artist was based on community participation in the furtherance of the arts. Surely we had artists at the table Friday morning who met that criteria. Stay tuned on that one.
Ken must have asked at least three times, if not more, for the group to tell him what it is we wanted him to do for us. Ken left us at 8:30 to go to his dentist's appointment. When asked to comment on which he thought was going to be more fun, Ken was unwilling to declare. He has declared that he is running for re-election to the County Commission in 2008. Thank you, Ken, for taking the time to meet with us. Please know that you have an open invitation to join us any time that your schedule permits.
After Ken left us, Leslie Curran took out her hammer and beat us over the head, gently. She admonished the group to make sure and follow through to deliver our wish list to Ken. It was clear to Leslie, and she made it clear to us that Ken wanted to help us, but he needed guidance on exactly what we wanted him to vote on.
Sandy Tabor volunteered to lead a mission statement and goal visioning session and or sessions. This is to be the first step in creating a strategic plan for the Friday Morning Group. (Scary, isn't it?) Bob stressed that the mission of the Friday Morning Group needed to be focused on Little a artists and how to support them. Group consensus seems to have formed generally around that premise. The first strategic visioning session for the Friday Morning Group will be this Monday afternoon at 2 PM at the Studio at 620.
Leslie Curran could not have been more supportive of the mission of the Friday Morning Group. Seated on her left was Ann Wykel . In the category of two degrees of separation, Ann's very presence in St. Petersburg was due to the efforts of Leslie Curran. In her former incarnation on the St. Pete City Council, Leslie pushed for the creation of a Cultural Plan. Ann Wykel's position at the City of St. Petersburg came out of that Cultural Plan. Leslie is currently asking that the Cultural Plan be reviewed and updated, since it is getting nearly a decade old.
All in all, this Friday had to be one of the best meetings ever held by the Friday Morning Group. If you were in attendance and either agree or disagree with that statment, please let me know. You can either email me at gatordem at verizon.net or you may post a comment at Local Politics is All.
Until next week, here's looking at your art kids.
Friday, January 5, 2007
First Friday of 2007
The Friday Moning Group resumed the weekly (Friday morning, imagine that) meetings at the Atlanta Bread Company in Downtown St. Pete this morning. About 10 of us gathered to talk about things of interest to us.
As is often the case, there was another meeting going on at the ABC at the same time. A City employee who has something to do with the Arts, a Downtown Business Booster, and a Florida Progress Employee were all huddled right outside our little meeting room in the back. No tellin what they were talking about (they wouldn't tell), but I'll bet we had more fun and will get more done. Takers?
Our main focus again was how to support artists in St. Petersburg. It was suggested that one way to do that would be to try and get the City and the County to market us as an art buyers destination. The tie ins with economic and tourist development became rapidly apparent.Michele Tuegel of the County Cultural Affairs Council suggested that for St. Petersburg, it would make sense to approach Mayor Rick Baker. Herb Snitzer indicated he would contact Pinellas County Commission Chair Ken Welch.
There was also a discussion about affordable and mixed use housing development for artists. There is a critical need for affordable housing and studio locations for artists in St. Petersburg. Artists are particularly feeling the twin sqeezes of rising property taxes and property insurance. We talked about various options currently available to assist first time home buyers and also using properties the City has purchased primarly as a land bank.
We then moved to a discussion of historic preservation in St. Petersburg. There was a discussion of a plan to purchase a large chunk of the Jannus Landing block to preserve the buildings and the concert venue. There was also a discussion about the transfer of development rights on historic properties within the CBD-3 area in downtown.
Before the group really got under weigh, there was a rather lively discussion about education, which is always a good thing. The talk centered around how to close the achievment gap between white and other students. Heb Snitzer suggested that for the first at least two years, that children are in the public school system, be spent entirely on reading. It was suggested that this might help level the playing field for disadvantaged students. Their main disadvantage at this point is that a good portion of these children are far behind their counterparts in time spent reading with their partents or other care givers.
First time attendees this morning included:
Bob and Amy Barancik. Bob is an artist, photographer and independent film maker.
Cndy McFerrin, a developer and art enthusiast.
And we welcomed back Lexey Covell who is the Tour Coordinator for the Raymond James art collection, the most extensive corporate collection in the Southeast US.
If you were not at the meeting this morning, we missed you. If you were at the meeting and want to include something I left out. please do so in the comments.
We look forwad to seeing you all next Friday morning.
As is often the case, there was another meeting going on at the ABC at the same time. A City employee who has something to do with the Arts, a Downtown Business Booster, and a Florida Progress Employee were all huddled right outside our little meeting room in the back. No tellin what they were talking about (they wouldn't tell), but I'll bet we had more fun and will get more done. Takers?
Our main focus again was how to support artists in St. Petersburg. It was suggested that one way to do that would be to try and get the City and the County to market us as an art buyers destination. The tie ins with economic and tourist development became rapidly apparent.Michele Tuegel of the County Cultural Affairs Council suggested that for St. Petersburg, it would make sense to approach Mayor Rick Baker. Herb Snitzer indicated he would contact Pinellas County Commission Chair Ken Welch.
There was also a discussion about affordable and mixed use housing development for artists. There is a critical need for affordable housing and studio locations for artists in St. Petersburg. Artists are particularly feeling the twin sqeezes of rising property taxes and property insurance. We talked about various options currently available to assist first time home buyers and also using properties the City has purchased primarly as a land bank.
We then moved to a discussion of historic preservation in St. Petersburg. There was a discussion of a plan to purchase a large chunk of the Jannus Landing block to preserve the buildings and the concert venue. There was also a discussion about the transfer of development rights on historic properties within the CBD-3 area in downtown.
Before the group really got under weigh, there was a rather lively discussion about education, which is always a good thing. The talk centered around how to close the achievment gap between white and other students. Heb Snitzer suggested that for the first at least two years, that children are in the public school system, be spent entirely on reading. It was suggested that this might help level the playing field for disadvantaged students. Their main disadvantage at this point is that a good portion of these children are far behind their counterparts in time spent reading with their partents or other care givers.
First time attendees this morning included:
Bob and Amy Barancik. Bob is an artist, photographer and independent film maker.
Cndy McFerrin, a developer and art enthusiast.
And we welcomed back Lexey Covell who is the Tour Coordinator for the Raymond James art collection, the most extensive corporate collection in the Southeast US.
If you were not at the meeting this morning, we missed you. If you were at the meeting and want to include something I left out. please do so in the comments.
We look forwad to seeing you all next Friday morning.
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