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Letter to the editor

Land issue puts youth program in unsure spot

PAL and YEA both serve deserving kids, but property rights have created a problem.

By JOSH ZIMMER
Published May 1, 2005

UNIVERSITY AREA - A lot has happened on this block since Marsha-Ann Strand arrived.

Back in 2003, she moved her youth group from a nearby church into a two-room building at the corner of N 20th Street and 137th Avenue, injecting life into a space abandoned by the cash-strapped Police Athletic League of Tampa. She crammed the main room with monitors and hard drives, a sign of her passion for teaching children computer skills.

She helped organize two neighborhood cleanups that transformed an adjacent 6.5-acre lot, once a trash-strewn eyesore, into a safe ballfield used by children and adults.

The field, which abuts a small lake, quickly became a source of neighborhood pride.

"We did a lot of work out there," said Willie Brooks, who lives across from the field in an apartment on 137th. "The Mexicans come use it, the blacks come use it, the whites come use it."

But things could be better along this stretch of low-rent apartments near the University of South Florida. People are worried about the future of the field and Strand's group - Youth Empowered to Achieve, or YEA.

The concern surrounds the Police Athletic League's efforts earlier this year to market the 6.5-acre parcel to developers. PAL's plans sparked a county study, which appears to show the land should remain in public hands. County commissioners expect to get a report on the matter from the County Attorney's Office next month.

Still, while the property is no longer for sale, Strand is not sure whether her group will be allowed to stay in its current building.

County Commissioner Tom Scott sounded an encouraging tone.

"I'd much rather see the community take advantage of the property," Scott said.

Hillsborough County purchased the land in the mid 1990s using at least $100,000 in federal funds targeting low- to moderate-income communities, county records show.

The deed on the corner building that Strand is using clearly says that if PAL stopped using it, the property would go back to the county. PAL dropped its ownership last summer while YEA stayed. The other deed on the adjacent 6.5-acre lot, however, doesn't include a provision for the county retaking control of it should PAL decide to cede its ownership.

In an agreement with PAL, YEA's board of directors paid utilities on the building during the first year. When PAL left, Strand said YEA's board members started using their personal money for the utility bills and an insurance policy. She estimates members spent close to $2,000.

Despite the personal expenses, the program seemed safe as 2005 approached. The program was teaching dozens of local youth how to build and use computers, as well as ethical conduct and entrepreneurship. With the first of two grants from the county's Office of Neighborhood Relations, Strand also had helped organize a local effort to clean up the 6.5-acre parcel.

Brooks and other neighborhood residents joined other volunteers in removing trash and cutting down brush. All of a sudden, criminals couldn't hide in the trees. People had a place to play without having to cross N 22nd Street, where two young boys leaving the University Area Community Complex were killed by a hit-and-run driver last year.

Dozens of local soccer aficionados, part of the ongoing influx of Latinos into the University area, began using the field to practice.

"You're talking 40 people," at a time on the weekends, soccer player Luis Trujello said on the field one recent evening.

But the high quickly turned to a low when Strand saw a "For Sale" sign on the lot about the first of the year.

PAL is a nonprofit sports-oriented group that aims to help at-risk youth by forging good relations between them and law enforcement. But the Tampa PAL nearly went bankrupt in 1997.

And for decades, the organization has watched its aging, 19-acre complex at 1924 W Diana St. near the Lowry Park Zoo undergo a slow but steady decline, said its new executive director, Tampa police Sgt. Phillip Ray.

By selling the University-area lot for a decent sum, the group saw an opportunity to upgrade its Diana Street complex for the hundreds of children who use it each year for after-school and sports programs.

The University-area property, with the open access to the lake, also represented a legal liability to PAL, Ray said.

The bidding started at $200,000. The response was promising.

"We asked people to make an offer," Ray said. "And we did have somebody come in over $300,000."

Strand went to the county with her concerns. Before long, Scott's office asked county staffers to look into the matter. The county Real Estate Department and County Attorney's Office started researching old documents. They raised questions about PAL's control over the parcel, which has a deed showing it was purchased with federal funds.

On April 18, the Real Estate Department penned a letter to Ray formally asking PAL to stop marketing the property.

Strand, a native of Barbados who obtained a master's degree in entrepreneurship at the University of South Florida, allows herself moments of optimism now. She said she'd like to see even more improvements to the field, such as sidewalks, more clearing and perhaps even a nature walk around the lake.

YEA doesn't have a formal agreement to stay in the corner building, she said, although she wrote the county describing her program. If the property reverts to the county, she hopes officials will let the group stay.

"What I'm hearing unofficially (from the county) is just keep serving the community," she said. "So we're kind of just there. I know they like what we're doing."

So does Brooks.

"Why can't they (the county) let us have it?" he said. "We've got a lot of little kids in here."

Ray seems resigned to losing the land, PAL's potential pot of gold. He thinks the group will have to look elsewhere for the funds.

"PAL doesn't have any animosity toward Marsha," Ray said. "We had to make a decision about the property. If it was a wonderful life, then we would use the proceeds to enhance our program here in Tampa. The impression I'm getting is none of this is going to be reality."

-- Josh Zimmer covers the County Commission and the communities of Citrus Park, Keystone and Odessa. He can be reached at 813 269-5314 or zimmer@sptimes.com

[Last modified April 30, 2005, 04:00:06]