INTERBAY - Don't worry: The city isn't building a mud boggin' track at Bobby Hicks Park on Mango Avenue.
All the dirt piled and graded there in recent weeks - about 500 dump truck loads - is being used to smooth out dips in the terrain, said Jim Valentine with the city parks and recreation department. A similar amount has been deposited at Gadsden Park on S MacDill Avenue.
The material was trucked from the Tappan restoration site in Port Tampa, where the city and the Southwest Florida Water Management District are creating an artificial marsh.
Low spots formed at Bobby Hicks and Gadsden parks because parts of both were built on landfills, Valentine said. As the material in the landfills settled, depressions formed on the surface.
Neighborhood group ready to revive
BAYSHORE GARDENS - The Bayshore Gardens Neighborhood Association is attempting a comeback.
The neighborhood association, which has been inactive for almost two years, is holding a meeting next week to elect officers and vote on neighborhood bylaws.
The meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Bayshore Garden Club, 2629 Bayshore Blvd.
Bayshore Gardens includes the area between El Prado Boulevard and Howard Avenue, from the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway to Bayshore Boulevard.
For information, call Vicki Pollyea at 251-5512.
Soap box on a slope at Saturday's derby
TAMPA - Kids, start your engines! Or, well, just let gravity move you.
The South Tampa Chamber of Commerce's annual soap box derby is Saturday at the University of South Florida. No engines are needed; it's all downhill.
Sixteen drivers, ages 8 to 16, built their cars with help from parents or mentors. The winner and his or her family will compete for scholarships and other prizes in Akron, Ohio.
Last year's Tampa champ, Lavera Allen, finished third in the world.
Activities start at 8 a.m. on Sycamore Street, near the Sun Dome. Volunteers are needed to help set up and run the race. If you're interested, get there at 7:30 a.m.
In divide over ditch, man's neighbors win
BAYSHORE BEAUTIFUL - The City Council voted unanimously last week to deny a property owner's request to take over a sliver of city-owned right of way next to his home.
Citing overgrowth of foliage, Coachman Avenue resident David Levine wanted the city to give him a 20-foot-wide stretch that included a stormwater ditch.
City staff did not object, as long as the city maintained a drainage easement in what is considered a flood-prone area.
But neighbors worried that Levine wouldn't maintain the ditch. In March, they handed out more than 100 fliers objecting to his request. Nearly a dozen spoke against it at the May 8 council meeting.
Ministries volunteer honored for service
TAMPA - South Tampa resident Marsha Otte has been named volunteer of the year at Metropolitan Ministries, a nonprofit group that serves Tampa's homeless.
Otte began working at the organization 12 years ago. She has served meals, stuffed envelopes, worked in the thrift store and counseled at-risk families. She also served on the board of directors and raised money.
"Marsha's done everything imaginable around the Ministries except perhaps my job," said the group's president, Morris Hintzman, in a press release. She "epitomizes the high quality volunteers we are blessed to have."
Otte moved to Tampa 28 years ago. She lives in Beach Park.
