If funding can be found, the antidrug program will come to the southwest St. Petersburg neighborhood.
By JON WILSON
Published June 9, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - The city's Weed and Seed drug-fighting program has taken another step toward expanding into Childs Park, where residents complain about street-corner dealing.
Initial application approval came through last week, but now the federal program must win funding before it can try to take on problems in the southwest St. Petersburg neighborhood, said Weed and Seed coordinator Janis Ford.
"Funding is not really guaranteed," Ford said. "It's very competitive."
As much as $225,000 is at stake. If approved, the program could start sometime next year in Childs Park, which Ford said has the city's highest concentration of people 18 years old or younger.
Weed and Seed has been a St. Petersburg presence since 1998. Its original area covers most of Midtown, designated a target area by former Mayor David Fischer after the 1996 civil disturbances. Childs Park is between Fifth and 18th avenues S, extending from 34th to 49th streets.
Some residents there say they wonder how much of a dent in neighborhood problems Weed and Seed can make.
"If Weed and Seed could come in and show some physical improvements for the community . . . and the other major issue is help with the policing, I think it could help support this community and help it become a better place to live," neighborhood president Armanda Lampley said.
She said she is taking a wait-and-see attitude about whether the program will help.
"That's hard to say. And I say that because I'm the kind of person who wants to see results from that kind of designation. I'm waiting," Lampley said.
There is concern that the "weed" part of the program - getting drugs off the streets - is not strong enough to do much good.
"It has been so watered down it is going to be totally ineffective," said Greg Pierce, a longtime Childs Park activist and a former president of the neighborhood association.
Weed and Seed critics in 1997 said the "weed" aspect unfairly targeted low-income neighborhoods with extra law enforcement. Officials reached a compromise before the program came to St. Petersburg by promising the "weed" effort would be spread over the city.
In its Midtown location, Weed and Seed has been successful in bringing "seed" elements to neighborhoods. Family Fun Day, neighborhood restoration grants and programs focusing on African-American mental health issues have been successful, Ford said.
"We're hoping to do the same for Childs Park," she said.
She also said the "weed" aspect will be present.
"Absolutely. We'll be doing some weeding," she said, citing antidrug marches as an example.
While keeping an open mind about Weed and Seed's potential, Lampley said she wishes the city in general would concentrate more on her neighborhood.
"There are services we are paying taxes for we just don't see," she said. Specifically, she would like to see more policing and tougher code enforcement.
"We have two new schools. We had a plan back in the early '90s saying we wanted to improve our infrastructure. We still have missing sidewalks. We have two dirt roads. That is absolutely shocking in a city that talks about the quality of life of its residents."
