Riverfront Park, which lies east of the river and north of Temple Terrace Highway is a beautiful piece of property that includes one hiking path and the recently completed pavillion that was constructed by students of USF.  Unfortunately, unless you are fairly adventurous, you'd never know that the unique pavillion existed because there is no easy way to get to it.  We need to finish work on this jewel of a park.

But rather than using City resources to clear and mark trails, I'd like to suggest a better idea.  When I was a Boy Scout, we were required to organize and perform service projects to advance in rank, with our most significant project being for the rank of Eagle Scout.  The unfinished Riverfront Park is a great opportunity to provide a series of service projects for our local Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops.

Using a teaming  approach, the City can provide guidelines for the work, but avoid significant labor costs.  And the young men and women have an opportunity to learn valuable skills by participating in projects that give back to their community.

I enthusiastically support the Bat Tower project that is proposed in Riverfront Park.  I have enjoyed seeing large bat populations in Austin, Texas and Gainesville, Florida, where residents and visitors venture out to watch the local bat population take off at dusk on their nightly hunt for mosquitos and other bugs.  In addition to being a natural (and low cost) method of controlling mosquitos and being a learning experience for children, the bat house will likely also attract residents from other parts of the County, who just might stick around and visit some of the shops and restaurants that we have to offer.

Paved multi-use trails provide recreational opportunities, as well as the ability to go from Point A to Point B on foot, bicycle, or, potentially, in a golf cart without having to get on busy roads.  The proposed path from Temple Terrace Highway near the Rolling Terrace and River Run subdivisions along an old railroad line will connect to Whiteway Drive and Riverhills Drive along a 2-mile route.  These neighborhoods will then be more directly connected to the Temple Terrace Recreation Center, athletic fields, and Lewis Elementary and Greco Middle Schools.  I will push for this project to get built as soon as possible and work with City staff to identify whether it can be moved along faster.

I will make it a priority to plan for additional multi-use trails that connect the Temple Terrace Trail to Hidden River Business Park and ultimately to the paved trail that runs along TECO right-of-way in New Tampa to provide our residents with miles of safe recreational paths that connect our neighborhoods and places of employment.

I will also encourage City Council to indicate our support to the Hillsborough Greenways Committee for a proposed trail along the Tampa Bypass Canal that could provide our residents with miles of additional recreation.