Gulfport on the Edge

Council Corner: April Thanos

By April Thanos

We had over 100 people and 20 tables with different topics at the January 30 town hall, Gulfport on the Edge: Trends and Forces Impacting Our Town. Many of the same trends/ questions/issues/comments were made at this event as at the first town hall and at many of the different tables – even though they had different topics. Many times the same trend affects many issues. We live in a complex environment and a solution to one problem can have unintended consequences in another area. Therefore, issues have to be looked at from many perspectives.

There were many trends discussed that evening. Here are a few that crossed over between tables:

1. People moving south for better weather and a nice environment

2. More employees working from home and can live anywhere

3. Gentrification

4. Cost of living in Florida increasing more than the national average

5. People looking for alternative transportation: walking, scooters, ebikes, golf carts

6. Walkability is becoming more important [and the] need for pedestrian safety

7. People wanting more festivals, art fairs and music – citywide entertainment

8. Short-term rentals as a means of vacationing instead of hotels/motels

9. RVs as an increasingly popular way to travel

10. More families moving into the area, which increases need for kid-friendly activities

11. Dissatisfaction with code enforcement

12. Loss of trees, plants, and green spaces

13. Water quality and the trend to more red tide and other water issues

14. Sea level rise and the problems that it will bring

15. Increasing bad/hot weather and more intense storms

16. There were many more discussions about lots of trends and topics. The data will continue to be assessed and more will be added after the next session.

Next actions

• The last Gulfport on the Edge community conversation on Monday, April 10 from 6-9 p.m. as we time travel to 2030 to Envision Possible Futures.