👀 The cameras watching your car

Plus: Sea turtles are thriving | Friday, July 16, 2021

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Facebook   Axios Tampa Bay By Ben Montgomery and Selene San Felice ·Jul 16, 2021 Happy Friday, Tampa Bay. What a week. ⛅️ Partly cloudy today, with a stray thunderstorm or two possible. Rain chance at 15%. Highs in the low 90s. On this day in history: The world's first parking meter was installed in Oklahoma City on July 16, 1935. Indignant opponents considered paying for parking un-American, calling it a tax on their cars without due process. Today's newsletter is 908 words, a 3.5-minute read.     1 big thing: The future of policing is all around you Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios   Flock Safety, which has a team of employees in Tampa and is hiring more, wants to reduce crime nationwide by 25% in three years. State of play: That goal might seem extreme, but the upstart company says it typically sees a 25% drop in crime soon after partnering with a city, and it's operating in more than 1,200 nationwide. "It's very rare we don't see a 20 or 30% reduction," CEO Garrett Langley told Axios. The company just announced a $150 million Series D fundraise led by Andreessen Horowitz, one of the world's leading venture capital firms. Worth noting: The company features positive police reviews on its website, but journalists have verified both successes and challenges. What's happening here: It has partnerships with 50 neighborhoods and five police agencies in the Tampa Bay area, and roughly 250 neighborhoods and 30 police departments across Florida. Credit: Flock Safety How it works: Flock Safety makes surveillance cameras more affordable by using existing cellphone-camera technology to build cameras that read license plates and capture traffic data. Then Flock gives police the software to narrow and find suspect vehicles. In other words: Its roadside cameras catalog vehicles — model, color, make and any distinguishing features, as well as the date and time they pass by. If a crime is reported and the victim can describe the vehicle, police can narrow cars down in a few clicks alongside access to an owner's open warrants or criminal history. The cameras also ping law enforcement when a stolen vehicle or a vehicle related to an Amber or Silver Alert crosses their path. Yes, but: Doesn't that sound like Big Brother? Advances in surveillance tech have prompted debate about privacy, and whether trade-offs are justified in the name of public safety. Langley tells us that the company's products are ethically built and actually reduce bias because the focus is on the vehicle, not gender or race.     2. Ponte's new place is coming to Midtown Tampa Credit: Ponte Tampa   They're calling it "the second coming of Café Ponte." If you've eaten seriously in the Tampa Bay area in the past two decades, you know Café Ponte in Clearwater, even if you never got around to going before it closed for good during the pandemic. Driving the news: Café Ponte's Chris Ponte, who is also behind the popular On Swann and OLIVIA, will open Ponte Modern American at Midtown Tampa. Think steak and seafood. Interior construction is officially underway, per the Tampa Bay Business Journal, and the dining room will seat around 235. Plans to open by November.     3. Things to do this weekend Poster art for "Jaws" (1975). Photo: LMPC via Getty Images   Shark Week at Grindhaus Brew Lab in Clearwater features showings of "Jaws," "Sharknado," "Deep Blue Sea" and "The Meg," along with craft beers and a seafood lover's dream menu. Starting at 4pm tonight and 7pm Saturday. More info. Tampa MiniFEST will rock The Orpheum in Tampa tonight. Doors at 5:45pm for the 6pm show. $20. St. Pete Burger Fest takes over Albert Whitted Park with food trucks, craft beer, local vendors and live music on Saturday at 4pm. More info. "The Big Lebowski" is playing at The Tampa Theatre on Sunday. "The Dude abides" at 3pm. $10. Banding0, a two-hour game combining music, bingo, trivia and interactive entertainment, is being played at The North End Taphouse in Gulfport 7-9pm on Sunday. Free!     A message from Facebook The internet has changed a lot since 1996 - internet regulations should too     It's been 25 years since comprehensive internet regulations passed. See why we support updated regulations on key issues, including: Protecting people's privacy. Enabling safe and easy data portability between platforms. Preventing election interference. Reforming Section 230.     4. The Pulp: And I can't fight this peeling anymore Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios   🪧 Two men protesting in Tampa in support of anti-government demonstrations in Cuba were freed on bail after being held under Florida's new anti-riot law. (Tampa Bay Times) 🇨🇺 Beachgoers in South Florida watched as Cuban migrants in a wooden boat came ashore, kissed the ground, then immediately asked for directions to Miami Beach. (FOX13) 🤩 You can be an extra in Martin Kove's new rom-com filming in Pinellas County. (ABC Action News) 💸 Shuffle Tampa's COVID relief money was revoked after a judicial ruling against the federal program's gender prioritization. (Creative Loafing)     5. Pic du jour: Cuban protests in Ybor City Photo: Octavio Jones/Getty Images   Cuban Americans and sympathizers protested against the Cuban government near José Martí Park in Ybor City on Tuesday. Cubans migrated to Ybor City during the late 1800s to work alongside Spanish and Italian immigrants in the cigar factories. José Martí, a Cuban poet and journalist, penned letters from Ybor City to help orchestrate the fight for Cuba's independence from Spain in the Spanish-American War.     6. Degrees of Tampa Bay Photo illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios. Photo: Jeff Bottari via Getty Images   We're excited for the return of the New York Times' "Modern Love" show on Amazon Prime — and even more excited to see Kit Harrington in the preview. Let's see how the King of the North is connected to Tampa Bay: Harrington plays a tennis star in HBO's "7 Days in Hell," whose rival is played by ... Andy Samberg, who is in the NYU graduating class of 2000 with ... Perez Hilton, who was in a 2001 episode of "The Sopranos" starring ... Edie Falco, who starred in "American Crime Story: Impeachment" as ... Hillary Clinton, who — as we know from yesterday's Screen Time — chose her Florida campaign spokesperson and advisor to be ... Tampa First Lady (and political powerhouse) Ana Cruz.     7. 1 good thing to go: A banner year for sea turtles The loggerhead turtle is endangered. Photo: Mark Conlin/VW PICS/UIG via Getty Images   This year's sea turtle season, which runs from May 1 to Oct. 31, appears to be a banner year on our southern Gulf beaches, per the Englewood Sun. Along the stretch from Palm Island Resort to the Don Pedro State Park, volunteers have documented more than 400 nests. On Manasota Key, sea turtle patrols reported 3,533 loggerhead, 107 green and one Kemp's ridley sea turtle nests last week. From Venice to Longboat Key, patrols reported 2,894 loggerhead and 42 green sea turtle nests as of July 10. Keep crawlin', little fellas.     A message from Facebook Why Facebook supports updated internet regulations     2021 is the 25th anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the last major update to internet regulation. It's time for an update to set clear rules for addressing today's toughest challenges. See how we're taking action on key issues and why we support updated internet regulations.   🏍 Ben is ogling this 1974 Kawasaki H2 Mach IV and reading Suzanne Simard's "Finding the Mother Tree." 🌲 🎙 Selene is watching Lucy Dacus' Tiny Desk (Home) Concert and listening to new Soccer Mommy. 🎧 See y'all next week. Be well. Like this email style and format? Learn more about Axios HQ. It'll help you deliver employee communications more effectively.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 1300, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: