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East Ybor

Ambitious vision rests on two tiny bungalows

Activists visualize the homes as the heart of the community. They have backing, but it's far from a sure thing.

By SHERRI DAY
Published April 22, 2005

For two years, Jeraldine Williams-Smith has looked at a pair of dilapidated houses in East Ybor and seen opportunity.

The buildings, on the corner of 26th Street and 11th Avenue, could serve as a gathering place for a neighborhood without a community center, she said.

In one of the buildings, Williams-Smith envisions a satellite library modeled after the one in Carver City's Loretta Ingraham Center. The other would house East Ybor's archives and an enrichment center, where residents could get help filling out job applications, studying for standardized tests and learning how to read.

"We're blighted," said Williams-Smith, 59, former president of the community's neighborhood association. "I need to have this for these people. Many of them don't even know that they need it. But, if they had it, they would use it."

But the 80-year-old bungalows are not exactly available for public use.

The Florida Department of Transportation owns them. Transportation officials purchased them during the widening of Interstate 4 and moved the houses from 13th Avenue near 12th Street to city-owned plots at 2551 and 2553 E 11th Ave.

As part of the transportation department's agreement with the city of Tampa and state and national historic preservation officials, FDOT is rehabilitating and selling the houses, many of them to first-time buyers, state transportation consultant Elaine Illes said. The project involves about 35 relocated houses.

Although the two houses Williams-Smith wants are already under contract, she pleaded her case to the City Council last week. She argued that the city should take ownership of the houses and maintain them, citing a row of casitas next to Centennial Park that have been leased to small businesses.

Several council members expressed support for Williams-Smith's plan.

"This would be such an enhancement because we don't have a community center in this area," said council member Kevin White, who represents the district. "We'll do what we can on our end to make this come to fruition."

Council member Mary Alvarez, who was involved with the Ybor casita project, also pledged her support.

But Cynthia Miller, the city's director of the Department of Business and Housing Development, warned against declaring it a sure thing. FDOT officials said they are well along with the plans and need only permits to start renovations.

"We have done all the construction plans as residential units," Illes said. "There is no way that we can move backward at this point."

Even if the city decides to support the project and the transportation department agrees, changing the use of the houses would require city, state and federal approvals. If it doesn't work for these houses, it might work for other ones in the neighborhood, Miller said.

Council members asked Miller to explore the issue and report her findings in two months.

Williams-Smith doesn't mind a wait.

This community hasn't "had anything for 60 years, so another year or two is okay with me," she said.

Sherri Day can be reached at 226-3405 or sday@sptimes.com

[Last modified April 21, 2005, 08:33:10]