Neighborhood notebook

City builds on its vision of serene streets, parks galore

Also in the works is a plan to build a bike trail spanning the city, says Deputy Mayor Mike Dove at Eckerd College.

By ANDREW MEACHAM
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 16, 2003

ST. PETERSBURG -- Speaking to the Academy of Senior Professionals at Eckerd College, Deputy Mayor Mike Dove painted a picture Wednesday of a city with slower traffic, involved neighbors, frontier-pushing bicycle lanes and a park or playground near every school.

While listing the city's aspirations, Dove also referred to several goals already accomplished, including the creation of the Neighborhood Partnership office that led to his job.

Former mayor David Fischer created the position to monitor quality of life issues such as neighborhoods, libraries, code enforcement, housing and social services, Dove said.

Among Dove's highlights:

-- The number of boarded-up properties in Midtown, which runs from Second Avenue N to 30th Avenue S between Fourth and 34th streets, dropped from 893 in 1993 to 350 today.

-- Participation in a home buyer's program through Neighborhood Housing Services has jumped. The city will lend down payments and closing costs to qualified applicants or finance emergency repairs on some homes.

-- Between 75 and 80 homeowners have enrolled in a city-sponsored foreclosure prevention program. Of these, the city has foreclosed on two residents.

Dove described the Bicycle-Pedestrian Master Plan, which is still being hammered out by transportation officials and residents, as a groundbreaking concept meant to increase pedestrian and bicycle safety. Under the plan, the city would eventually build a trail to link the Pinellas Trail to downtown. It would then go north to the Friendship Trail Bridge and south and west to Fort DeSoto.

Dove said the number of parks also will increase. "One of our goals in the city is to provide some type of playground or park within a half-mile of everybody," he said. Four-lane highways don't count as falling within that ratio unless safer crossing can be established.

Edgemoor Neighborhood Association president Terese Hilliard wants to know how residents feel about a planned expansion by Faith Covenant Church. The church wants to add a worship center, educational building and parking, and it recently won approval by the Environmental Development Commission to close off Hampton Avenue N between First Street NE and Hobson Street NE. Edgemoor residents argued against the decision, saying that vacating part of Hampton would cut off an arterial roadway within the neighborhood.

Edgemoor's board was seeking opinions from residents over the weekend and would decide whether to appeal the EDC's decision before the deadline 10 days after the decision.

Edgemoor's membership meeting will start at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Mangrove Bay Golf Course clubhouse, 875 62nd Ave. NE -- a different date and location than the usual Tuesdays at Faith Covenant. Hilliard said the neighborhood was showing respect to the church by holding this meeting somewhere else. She asks residents to send her their thoughts on the proposed church expansion by e-mailing teresehilliard@aol.com.

Meetings

CENTRAL OAK PARK: 7 p.m. Tuesday. St. Luke's United Methodist Church, 4444 Fifth Ave. N. Police Chief Chuck Harmon.

COUNCIL OF NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATIONS: 7 p.m. Wednesday. The Sunshine Center, 330 Fifth St. N. Codes director Sally Eichler; County Commissioner Ken Welch.

CRESCENT HEIGHTS: 7 p.m. Tuesday. American Baptist Church, 2812 Eighth St. N. City Council member Virginia Littrell.

DISSTON HEIGHTS NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH: 7:30 p.m. Thursday (7:15 social). Main Library, 3745 Ninth Ave. N.

FOSSIL PARK: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Grace Healthcare, 521 69th Ave. N. Mayor Rick Baker.

FRUITLAND HEIGHTS/CASLER HEIGHTS: 7 p.m. Wednesday. 1837 20th Ave. S. Police Chief Chuck Harmon.

GREATER PINELLAS POINT: 7 p.m. Tuesday. Bay Vista Recreation Center, 7000 Fourth St. S. Traffic plan.

HARRIS PARK: 7:30 p.m. Monday. Vietnamese Alliance Church, 4344 21st St. N. Crime, codes, traffic calming.

HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST: 7 p.m. Monday. Westminster Presbyterian Church, 126 11th Ave. NE. City historic planner Rick Smith.

JUNGLE TERRACE: 7 p.m. Monday (6:45 social). Walter Fuller Recreation Center, 7891 26th Avenue N. County Commissioner Ken Welch.

LAKEWOOD ESTATES NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH: 7 p.m. Tuesday. St. Petersburg Country Club, 2000 Country Club Way S. Charles Carpenter, Animal Capture of Florida.

LAKEWOOD TERRACE: 7 p.m. Thursday. Covenant Presbyterian Church, 4201 Sixth St. S. Neighborhood plan.

MEADOWLAWN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Hope Lutheran Church, 1801 62nd Ave. N. Stephen Goldman, Holocaust Museum director; officer elections.

PERKINS: 7 p.m. Monday. Perkins Elementary School, 2400 Queensboro Ave. S. Making a better neighborhood; grant application. All residents encouraged to attend.

PERRY BAYVIEW: 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Bethel Metropolitan Baptist Church, 3455 26th Ave. S. Traffic calming.

TWIN BROOKS: 6:30 p.m. Monday. Childs Park United Methodist Church, 3940 18th Ave. S. Open forum.

WINSTON PARK: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. North Branch Library, 861 70th Ave. N. Jeff Bueg, state Department of Financial Affairs, on homeowner's and car insurance.

GRAND CENTRAL DISTRICT: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. Republic Bank, 100 34th St. N. Presentation by Hospice of the Florida Suncoast on plans to inhabit the former Plaza Theater and Puckett's Store Fixtures at 3050 First Ave. S.

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