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The Metropolitan Planning Organization hosts workshops to get suggestions from the public on improving their ''main boulevard.''
By JANET ZINK
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 15, 2002
For 21 years, City Council member Linda Saul-Sena has dreamed of beautifying Kennedy Boulevard. She first presented her grand vision as a Tampa city planner.
Now, she thinks the time is right to turn that dream into a reality.
"People want their main boulevard to be wonderful," said Saul-Sena, who also is a member of the Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization's Livable Roadways committee.
The MPO recently hosted two workshops to get public input on plans to improve traffic flow, safety and the appearance of the 4.2-mile stretch of Kennedy from Ashley Drive to Memorial Highway.
The plans are the early results of an MPO-commissioned study, which will be finished in February.
The workshops gave people a chance to offer opinions on where to put bus service, bicycle facilities and sidewalks. They also voted on their favorite urban design elements, such as light posts, benches and trees.
The first workshop on Nov. 7 at the Mise En Place building near downtown attracted about 40 people.
Among them were Terrance and Trish Moore, who bought and renovated a building near downtown in February 2000. They support the plans but said they face other problems that aren't being addressed.
"They can put the Taj Mahal on Kennedy Boulevard, and it won't make a difference until they get rid of the prostitutes and the bums," Terrance Moore said.
"They can beautify all day long, but I can tell you they will have three inches of trash around the pretty trees every morning," Trish Moore said.
The Moores' building houses several businesses, including an art gallery, hair salon and accountant's office, and they still have space for a restaurant. It took almost a year to find their first tenant, but then four more quickly came on board.
"For whatever reason, Kennedy is a buzzword all of a sudden," Trish Moore said.
One year ago, Nelson and Debbie Blank, who weighed in at the Nov. 7 workshop, renovated a former boarding house on Edison Street just off Kennedy. They said their friends thought they were crazy when they bought the property and planned to rent the space.
In the end, the couple had so many offers to buy the building that they sold it. Now they are fixing up another house.
"It's a good area. It's really changed," Nelson Blank said. The proposed changes would take it to the next level, he said.
On Tuesday, the workshop moved to the WestShore Plaza.
Tony Wetherington, who lives just a few blocks off Kennedy in the SoHo area, was in the mall to get his hair cut but stopped to look at the proposals.
Hideous is how he described Kennedy. "They need to clean it up," he said.
Other comments included requests for trolley cars, more restaurants and cafes, a better-timed traffic light at MacDill Avenue and Kennedy, easier access to WestShore Plaza and bus service from downtown to the airport.
No money is budgeted for Kennedy improvements, which Saul-Sena said would cost "a fortune." Burying utility lines would top $1-million, she said.
But plenty of things can be done now for minimal or no cost, she said. The Florida Department of Transportation and MPO can do short-term, low-cost upgrades, such as change the timing of signals and improving the sidewalks.
Saul-Sena also wants to set design guidelines for the east end of Kennedy, similar to those on the west end, which were developed by the West Shore Alliance. They would include planting large trees, putting buildings closer to the street and parking in the back and encouraging mixed-use development with businesses on the ground floor and homes upstairs.
In the meantime, the MPO's study and the workshops will help set priorities for immediate improvements, said project manager Ronnie Blackshear.
"We've gotten some very good comments from the public and business owners," he said. "That will go a long way toward helping us formulate alternatives."