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Champion for Ponce de Leon steps down
By ANDREW MEACHAM ST. PETERSBURG -- Rose Mary Grasso, founding president of the Ponce de Leon Neighborhood Association, has stepped down after 10 years. Grasso, 47, suffered a stroke in January that partly affected her vision and walking. She is recovering. A 21-year resident, Grasso became alarmed after a string of armed robberies in the late 1980s. Her mother-in-law was one of the victims. She founded the association in 1992. She wrote newsletters on a typewriter, then circulated them on foot with her husband, firefighter Pete Grasso, in the commercial and residential neighborhood from 25th to 34th Street N, from 22nd to 30th Avenue. According to the 2000 census, the area's 450 homes included residents with six-figure incomes and others below the poverty level. Most of Ponce de Leon that is not residential is zoned industrial general, which imposes fewer restrictions on businesses than commercial zoning. When a business needs a variance from the zoning codes, Ponce De Leon neighbors have negotiated improvements. Blocker Transfer and Storage put up wooden fencing, sprinklers and trees. King Pharmaceuticals and AutoWay Ford underwent multimillion-dollar upgrades with landscaping and other amenities that neighbors had requested, including a new service building for AutoWay. Lester's Auto Salvage lowered the height of stacked car bodies and also its fence height. Wholesale Tile added landscaping and a fence after long negotiations. "We are very tough," Grasso said. "But we're increasing property values for ourselves and them." Vice president Tim Lewis said he thinks Grasso is unfairly portrayed by some as being too aggressive. "To say it truthfully, it's very sexist," said Lewis, 57. "A man could have her personality and people wouldn't give it a second thought." Grasso said the real problem is that too many neighborhoods accept site plans from incoming businesses without comparing those plans against the zoning code. "A lot of times, no one realizes what variances they are granting," she said. Except for one grant for signs early in the association's history, the neighborhood has eschewed city grants. Pam Meador is the association's new president, but she and other board members say the association's strategy will not change. "We are a working-class neighborhood," Grasso said. "We have one crack to do it right. And, as redevelopment occurs, that's the time to do it." Grasso had announced her intention to retire before her stroke, which doctors now say was caused by bacteria. The symptoms are lessening. She expects to return to work soon as a trauma nurse.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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