Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies

Group gung-ho to start neighborhood activities

The new Mangrove Bayou association plans to hold weekly gatherings and frequent street cleanups and parties.

ST. PETERSBURG - The city's 108th neighborhood association is not even 2 months old, but members are planning a host of regular activities for children, adults and families.

Mangrove Bayou encompasses the 120 homes in what had been the northeastern tip of Shore Acres. Boundaries run along Bayou Grande Boulevard NE from 62nd Avenue N to Venetian Boulevard NE and along Pennsylvania Avenue east of Venetian. It should not be confused with another association, Mangrove Bay, which also is bordered by 62nd Avenue NE but several blocks west.

Organizers considered the entire 2,700-home roster of Shore Acres too large to meet their needs, said Mangrove Bayou president Theresa Rae Gay, who two years ago led an unsuccessful fight for an extensive traffic-calming plan in Shore Acres.

"Traffic is in there, I'm not going to lie to you about that," Rae Gay, 38, said in describing the new group's aspirations.

The association also plans to use Denver Park at Tanglewood Drive and Ohio Avenue NE as a gathering spot for weekly play times for children and dogs; to publish a monthly newsletter and a Web site; and to hold monthly street cleanups, garage sales and street parties.

Rae Gay said the idea to seek a new association came from neighbor and six-year Shore Acres board member Anthony Witlin, who also was dissatisfied with the pace of change in a large association.

"It was always a struggle," Witlin, 54, a self-employed stock trader, said about such Shore Acres efforts as getting grants and putting out a newsletter. "It's like you have a huge blob of Jell-O on the street and not enough people to move it."

After getting instructions from Neighborhood Partnership director Susan Ajoc, Rae Gay organized a meeting of residents to gauge interest. Encouraged by the response, a dozen or so volunteers tracked down 102 signatures in support of the Mangrove Bayou neighborhood. The Shore Acres board approved the neighbors' request to separate, and the Neighborhood Partnership sent out postcards for a final vote.

Rae Gay said she sees signs that residents appreciate a more intimate community feeling.

"We are already noticing more waves, more smiles and genuine hellos when we drive or walk by our neighbors," she said. "It is a good feeling."

Mangrove Bayou meets the first Tuesday of each month (the next is July 1) at 7:30 p.m., with social time at 7, at the Shore Acres Recreation Center, 4230 Shore Acres Blvd. NE.

A city team met Wednesday with neighborhood leaders to continue a project originally begun by residents: cleaning up parts of 34th Street beset with recurrent drug sales, prostitution and code violations.

After reviewing progress on 11 priority nuisance residences and businesses, Neighborhood Planner Andy Garr rounded up impressions from police Officer Gene Richards and code inspector Linda Phillips, among others. Several properties on the list had received fewer police calls from the previous month, a possible indication that increased attention has reduced crime and codes violations.

Two innkeepers - whose adjacent properties on the 1600 block of 34th Street S, the Driftwood and the Sundaze, were added to the problem properties list because of police reports of drug and prostitution activities - attended the meeting last week.

Harriam Sarju, who has owned the Driftwood for 31/2 years and lives there, acknowledged that some motel owners look at their businesses as investments only.

"They see it only as money," said Sarju, 40. "But for me, this is all there is. I moved here from New York with my family."

The 34th Street City Team meets the first Wednesday of each month at 5 p.m. at the Main Library, 3745 Ninth Ave. N.

North Kenwood's annual picnic once again welcomes all comers. Festivities are from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday at Booker Creek Park, 22nd Street and 13th Avenue N. The rain date is June 21.

BROADWATER: Civic association 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, 3747 34th St S.

CAMPBELL PARK: City birthday celebration 2 p.m. today at Campbell Park Recreation Center, 601 14th St. S. Neighborhood association 7 p.m. Wednesday at headquarters, 1525 16th St. S.

CHILDS PARK: Open forum 7 p.m. Monday at Childs Park Recreation Center, 4301 13th Ave. S.

DISSTON HEIGHTS: Neighborhood association, with neighborhood watch to follow, 7 p.m. Tuesday at Community Covenant Church, 4501 30th Ave. N. Judge Richard Luce, Sixth Circuit Court. Last meeting until September.

HARBORDALE: Neighborhood association 6 p.m. Monday at Harbordale YMCA, 2421 Fourth St. S. YMCA director Shabazz Rogers.

HIGHLAND OAKS: Open forum 6 p.m. Thursday at Sanderlin Family Services Center, 2335 22nd Ave. S.

LAKE EUCLID: Open forum 7 p.m. Monday at Norwood Baptist Church, 1818 29th Ave. N.

MELROSE-MERCY/PINE ACRES: Neighborhood plan 7 p.m. Tuesday at 20th Street Church of Christ, 820 20th St. S.

MEL-TAN HEIGHTS: Open forum 6 p.m. Tuesday at Brister Temple Church, 2901 18th Ave. S.

NORTH KENWOOD: Neighborhood association 7:30 p.m. Monday at Edward White Hospital auditorium, 2323 Ninth Ave. N. Metro Crime Prevention of Florida.

OLD SOUTHEAST: Neighborhood association 7 p.m. Thursday at Society of Friends Hall, 130 19th Ave. SE. Gary Cook, Progress Energy spokesman, on efficient home energy use. Bicycle registration with police 5-7 p.m. Potluck dinner 6:30 p.m.

PALMETTO PARK: Open forum 7 p.m. Tuesday at YMCA administration office, 70 35th St. S.

THIRTEENTH STREET HEIGHTS: Picnic 3 p.m. Saturday at Enoch Davis Center, 1111 18th Ave. S. Members asked to bring covered dishes. Last meeting until September.