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Letters to the EditorsContinued effort can revive Midtown© St. Petersburg Times published April 2, 2003 Re: Is grocery store in cards for Midtown? by Sharon L. Bond, March 23. It's difficult for retailers to make money in low-income areas. Such environments usually have high crime rates, which account for the paucity of progress in the Midtown area. Retailers prefer vibrant and progressive communities with more affluent residents. It's more profitable without the environment of fear. Restaurants, upscale stores, etc., have great success rates in safe neighborhoods of richer residents. Now, with the continuity of concern for Midtown, development initiatives are already occurring with great rapidity. Midtown can be reshaped for the better so long as the collective effort of the public and private sector continues unabated.
Good, clean fun at Ruth Eckerd Thank you to the St. Petersburg Times and WEDU for sponsoring the wonderful concert at Ruth Eckerd Hall by Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme. What a marvelous night we enjoyed on March 13. How sad is it that they are ending their tour. Even after 40 years, they are terrifically entertaining with their great voices, music and comedy. If some intelligent TV producer would bring their show to TV, the ratings would go through the roof. Not long ago, one of the networks did a reunion of the Carol Burnett Show and got the greatest ratings ever. That and the huge success of the musical Chicago should prove that the public is hungry for some good music and clean TV. They are currently scraping the bottom of the barrel with trash like the so-called reality shows and even worse, the Osbornes and Anna Nicole Smith. I know I can turn them off, but the teenagers are not turning them off, and I shudder to think what effect these shows will have on them. They think it is funny to hear that kind of language on TV when most of them have been taught never to use those words. Thank you again for a wonderful evening. It certainly was worth the trip for us.
St. Petersburg should follow Naples' lead I recently visited friends living in Naples. On Thursday night, they took my wife and me to downtown Naples. We were very pleased and surprised at what we saw. Downtown was jammed with people walking, sitting and eating in the restaurants (inside and on the sidewalks) and shopping. There were at least 10 entertainment stops along the way. In front of stores, people were being entertained. Singers, musicians, even a violin teacher with four of his young students playing solos and together. I even stopped at a deli and purchased imported cheeses for later that night. I look forward to going back to Naples with the idea of visiting its downtown area again. Why hasn't this type of idea caught on in Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Dunedin, Palm Harbor and Largo? This entertainment was out in the street and free to the public. I was told that the merchants help finance this and are enjoying their success. Has the Chamber of Commerce ever looked into this concept?
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