Neighborhoods shape image with new signs

ST. PETERSBURG -- What's in a sign? Are they for neighborhood identification, or are they artistic statements as well?

For one neighborhood, the answers are yes and yes. Melrose-Mercy/Pine Acres unveiled two of four new monuments in a recent ceremony attended by Mayor Rick Baker. The neighborhood looked for a message that would blend the combined histories of Melrose-Mercy and Pine Acres, two longstanding neighborhoods which merged in the mid 1990s.

A dove perches atop the monument with a scroll in its mouth. To Chrisshun Cox, the association president, the symbolism means, "Our neighborhood has come together in a peaceful manner."

The old Mercy Hospital, now the site of a planned health care facility, also factored into the design, which features a blue-green tile background.

Two of the monuments, which cost $4,500 apiece, stand at the Interstate 275 overpass at 22nd Street and Eighth Avenue S, and at 16th Street and Ninth Avenue S. Another two monuments will be installed at 22nd Street S just north of Queensboro Avenue S, and at 16th Street and 18th Avenue S. Neighborhood residents Russell Buker and Robert Schott designed them.

"We wanted something that was going to be totally us," Cox said.

Another 16 wrought-iron signs will soon dot the neighborhood as well, at a cost of $8,720. Together, the monuments and signs will cost almost $27,000.

On the city's west side, Jungle Terrace residents have put in large wooden identification signs on 22nd Avenue N east of the Azalea Branch library, and another on Park Street just south of Tyrone Boulevard. A third will go at 30th Avenue N and 71st Street N. The signs feature gold lettering against a green background and cost $1,690 each.

The multiplicity of neighborhoods and subdivisions can make it hard for residents to know what neighborhood they live in, said Jungle Terrace president Steve Plice.

"It's very confusing," Plice said. "I may live in Sunny Shade subdivision, but I'm in the Crabby Apple Neighborhood Association."

That kind of confusion led the North Shore Neighborhood Association earlier this year to change its name to Historic Old Northeast. Part of the motivation for the change, said president Chris Eaton, lay in the signs that had for years identified the neighborhood as "Old Northeast."

"If the monuments had read 'North Shore,' that probably would have been a factor in that vote," Eaton said. There are no plans to add the word "Historic" to the signs, he said.

The beautification committee in the Greater Pinellas Point Civic Association later this month will propose a new logo to members. If adopted, the design would factor into the association's plans to add to its current sign total of one.

Committee member Martha Hersch called neighborhood signs a focus of community pride.

"(A sign) should connote the idiosyncrasies of that community and what distinguishes it from others," Hersch said. Since most signs are seen through the windows of passing cars, brevity is a plus.

"It's gotta give you a quick, clean and simple message," Hersch said.

Around the Neighborhoods

Lakewood Estates Neighborhood Watch will hold a candlelight ceremony Wednesday to honor rescue workers at the World Trade Center. The event starts at 7 p.m. at the St. Petersburg Country Club, 2000 Country Club Way S.

Also in recognition of Sept. 11, 2001, the Five Points Neighborhood Association will move its regularly scheduled Wednesday meeting to Sept. 18.

The Highland Oaks Neighborhood Association invites neighbors and friends to its Operation Commitment celebration, 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Sept. 28 at the Sanderlin Family Services Center, 2335 22nd Ave. S. The festivities mark the start of putting the neighborhood's plan into action.

Meetings

AZALEA: 7 p.m. Thursday. Azalea Recreation Center, 1600 72nd Ave. N. Writer Scott Hartzell on historic landmarks in Azalea, Jungle Prada.

BARTLETT PARK: 6 p.m. Thursday. Frank Pierce Recreation Center, 2000 Seventh St. S. Open forum.

CAMPBELL PARK: 7 p.m. Association office, 1525 16th St. S. Open forum.

EAGLE CREST: 7 p.m. Wednesday. St. Petersburg Catholic High School cafeteria, 6333 Ninth Ave. N. Tammy Vrana and Mike Crawford of the Tampa engineering firm Grimail-Crawford Inc., on the possibility of light rail in St. Petersburg.

HARBORDALE: 6 p.m. Monday. Trinity United Methodist Church, 2401 Fifth St. S. Representative from the police Volunteer Road Patrol.

HIGHLAND OAKS: 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Sanderlin Family Services Center, 2335 22nd Ave. S.

MELROSE-MERCY/PINE ACRES: 7 p.m. Tuesday. 20th Street Church of Christ, 820 20th St. S. Plans for health care facility on the old Mercy Hospital site.

NORTH KENWOOD: 7:30 p.m. Monday. Edward White Hospital auditorium, 2299 Ninth Ave. N. Mayor Rick Baker; Deputy Mayor Mike Dove.

OLD SOUTHEAST: 7 p.m. Thursday. Society of Friends Hall, 130 19th Ave. SE. Reclaimed water.

PALMETTO PARK: 7 p.m. Tuesday. Moore's AME Chapel, 3037 Fairfield Ave. S. Open forum.

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