Photos: 'Be Floridian' Bus Wrap Roll-Out

Submitted by Nanette O’Hara:

Bright orange bus wraps heralded the roll-out of the “Be Floridian” awareness campaign Friday, May 4, in support of Tampa’s new fertilizer ordinance.

The bus wraps urge residents to skip the fertilizer in the summer to protect Tampa Bay and other waterways that are our major source of fun.

The campaign’s mascot is the iconic plastic pink yard flamingo.

“Be Floridian” is a regional education campaign developed by the Tampa Bay Estuary Program. It debuted last year in Pinellas County and expands this year to Tampa, which is joining Pinellas in enacting the strictest urban fertilizer regulations in Florida.

The city’s ordinance bans the use and sale of lawn and landscape fertilizers containing nitrogen from June to September to prevent summer rains from washing the fertilizer into waterways and causing algae blooms that can kill fish and close swimming beaches.

At Friday’s event, one of the HART buses bearing the colorful wrap was on display at the Marion Transit Center in downtown Tampa.

City Councilwomen Mary Mulhern, who sponsored the ordinance, was among several officials who spoke about how the ordinance will improve water quality and save taxpayers money by preventing pollution before it enters our rivers and bays.

To learn more about the campaign and to learn how to “Fertilize Like A Floridian," visit www.befloridian.org.