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A cautious approach

Mayor Pam Iorio says she wants to continue to improve the city but is wary of new big projects.

By BILL VARIAN
Published March 27, 2005

TAMPA - Mayor Pam Iorio was fielding question from a gaggle of reporters, when a local lawyer and arts lover joined the fray.

Why, asked Bill Zewadski, are you placing so many hurdles before the people trying to build an art museum downtown? No other group has raised so much private money for such a good cause in Tampa. Yet no other group has faced so many demands for financial assurances from its mayor, he said.

Iorio hardly paused. Tampa taxpayers are now paying for "can't lose" big projects approved under past administrations, such as Centro Ybor and the Florida Aquarium, she said. She wants no repeats on her watch.

"I take responsibility for that change in philosophy," said Iorio, hands clasped loosely in her lap. "There is a change of philosophy. That is correct."

The exchange offered a brief glimpse Thursday into part of an ongoing saga over the museum that has consumed many months of Iorio's tenure. It also provided a crystalizing image of the mayor's outlook as she ponders the halfway mark of her first term.

In interviews last week, she outlined what she considers successes as she has sought to redirect city resources to basic government tasks, such as cleaning up parks and fighting crime and fires. The city is playing catch-up in areas such as dealing with storm water in south Tampa and building parks in New Tampa, she said.

The situation is exacerbated because of commitments made by prior mayors for big-ticket projects that now require long-term government subsidies, she said. Her unyielding position on the Tampa Museum of Art is in part a result.

"Big projects are important," Iorio said. "(But) I see a city with many needs and neighborhoods that have been neglected."

Iorio, 45, a former Hillsborough commissioner and supervisor of elections, gives her second State of the City address as mayor Tuesday at the Tampa Convention Center. There she will recount some of the city's accomplishments over the last two years, along with prospects and challenges ahead.

The plus side, spelled out in a 10-page report, is peppered with nuts and bolts changes to the workings of city government. It's salted with small-scale initiatives.

"I see a lot of parallels with what she's done as mayor and what she did as the (Hillsborough County) supervisor of elections," said Susan MacManus, a University of South Florida political science professor, referring to Iorio's prior job. "She's a top-notch manager. She focuses on streamlining processes. She's not a particularly headline-grabbing person."

Some of the accomplishments Iorio mentions in her State of the City report are projects that began before she arrived, such as the widening of 40th Street and creation of designated redevelopment areas such as one in east Tampa.

And she makes one notable omission by not mentioning the art museum, though one of her five stated goals is fostering a city of arts.

There's hardly a big-ticket item on the list.

"We're going to strike that balance," Iorio said. "That balance is probably tilted a little toward neighborhood improvement."

Completing the restoration of the old Sulphur Springs water tower gets a mention, a project already begun when she took office. She also cites creating a protocol office to deal with visiting dignitaries.

And a year into her term, she approved providing benefits to domestic partners of city employees. So far there have been 47 takers.

The crime rate fell by double digits last year. Code enforcement cases are up 13 percent in two years. Neighborhood spending for things like sidewalks, road resurfacing, speed humps and signs is up 89 percent in that time.

Her main heavy lift: The launch of design work for a new riverwalk downtown, land for which was secured under the prior administration of Mayor Dick Greco. It will be built as cash is available, Iorio said.

Iorio said her main frustration is the slow pace of government. She's not alone.

Hillsborough Commissioner Tom Scott, who represents much of east Tampa for the county, said the inertia is obvious in his district. Iorio may have made a commitment to revitalizing that area, but not much has changed, he said. Despite stepped up police efforts, open drug dealing is still rampant. "I haven't seen anything," he said.

City Councilman Kevin White was more charitable. New residential development appears to be coming, along with a police substation. Though he said he'd like to see the effort spread to other struggling areas of the community.

"It's not going to happen overnight," White said. "Many of the problems have plagued east Tampa for years.

The past year has seen other bumps as well.

Her first real controversy came after she demanded the resignation late last year of Aria Green, the city's first black fire chief, 15 months after she hired him. Iorio never gave a firm answer for the decision, though she recently said he lacked the temperament and communications skills for the job.

Four months later, she fired Al Suarez, a former fire union head, and disciplined four others for their roles in a firehouse photo shoot involving two strippers.

Within his first year in office, Greco, Iorio's immediate predecessor, was leading an unsuccessful push for a half-cent sales tax to pay for law enforcement, education and other needs. He was pitching the idea of a convention center hotel that ultimately went up near the St. Pete Times Forum.

He was grabbing headlines.

By year two, he was cheerleading for the half-cent community investment tax that voters approved, the one for Raymond James Stadium, schools, roads and other projects. Money from it will also help pay the city's share for art museum construction costs.

Greco said Iorio complains of inheriting budget obligations for big projects, but he faced his own financial challenges. Police needed new cars, and playground buildings were crumbling.

"I never complained about having to pay out of our budget for the (Florida) Aquarium and Performing Arts Center," projects he inherited, Greco said. "You never heard me say a word about that."

What does he make of Iorio so far? "I could say a lot of things, but I won't."

Iorio said she was directing none of her comments toward a particular mayor. But she said, despite rising property values of 7.5 percent last year, the city had just $6-million in extra money to spend from its general fund on things like parks and code enforcement compared to a year before.

Fitch Ratings, which evaluates the credit-worthiness of governments and institutions, has noted that the city of Tampa has a "moderately high" debt load.

Beyond those challenges, she inherited the aftermath of a corruption scandal within the city's affordable program that has forced the city to return federal grant money and all but shut down its efforts on that front.

"I think she's handled these situations well," said Scott Paine, an associate professor of government and communications at the University of Tampa and a former councilman. "She's made a good mark for being fiscally responsible without being a miser."

[Last modified March 27, 2005, 00:57:15]