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Harbour Island demands attention

Residents ask the mayor to do something about streetcar complaints and traffic blocking bridges to and from the island.

By JANET ZINK
Published August 12, 2005

HARBOUR ISLAND - This downtown island community is home to some of Tampa's most well-known and influential residents.

Bucs vice presidents Bryan and Joel Glazer. Lightning players Vinny Lecavalier and Brad Richards. Attorney Fred Karl. Former Mayor Dick Greco. Restaurant owners Malio and Shirley Iavarone.

All are represented by neighborhood associations that are pushing city officials to pay more attention to their needs.

Association leaders and residents met with Mayor Pam Iorio on Aug. 1 to express their concerns about downtown traffic blocking the bridges leading on and off Harbour Island.

The group included Hillsborough County Tax Collector Doug Belden and attorney John Fitzgibbons, who spoke about traffic jams during events, transportation problems posed by the streetcar and scant use of the Riverwalk.

"We vote and pay significant taxes, and I believe it is long past the time for the city to pay some attention to those of us who reside here and are not tourists," wrote Fitzgibbons in a six-page letter to the mayor July 14.

Based on the meeting, Belden described the mayor as "very receptive." She said her staff would report back in 30 days on ways to address their problems.

A few days later, signs went up outside the Tampa Convention Center advising motorists not to drop off people along Franklin Street. Residents had complained cars, taxis and buses often stop there, impeding access to the bridge leading to their homes.

"They have many legitimate concerns," Iorio said. "We need to be sensitive to that whole transportation issue there."

While sympathetic, Iorio stressed that the sources of their complaints - the Convention Center, St. Pete Times Forum, Marriott Waterside Hotel and the streetcar - aren't going away.

But some steps might be taken to ease the traffic problems, she said.

In fact, the city already has responded.

Last year, the city halted plans to install a traffic light at the base of the Franklin Street bridge next to the Marriott after island residents said it would disrupt traffic flow.

Then this year, the city spent $90,000 replanting the medians on Knights Run Circle and Beneficial Drive with palm trees and bushes.

Harbour Island's neighborhood associations have become increasingly vocal in the past year since the developer turned the community over to residents. The Harbour Island Community Services Association is the master association and three service districts represent specific areas of the island.

The groups' biggest concern is the influx of traffic for events at the Convention Center and the Forum.

Belden recalled one night when it took him 30 minutes to get to the Publix at Bayshore Boulevard and Platt Street.

"There was no way an emergency vehicle could get on or off the island," he said. "Someone's going to get hurt."

The problems will only get worse once the proposed condominiums go up in the Channel District, he said. An exit from the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway also is opening on Meridian Avenue.

"It's going to have a tremendous impact. You've got to look at the existing infrastructure," Belden said. "One of the concerns that the longtime residents have is that they weren't involved in the process of what is being proposed and designed."

Harbour Island resident Joyce Schauer, who also attended the meeting with the mayor, said she'd like the city to work harder to promote the existing Riverwalk.

"One of our major complaints is: Why are you talking about spending more money on the Riverwalk when you're not optimizing the walk we've got?" she said.

Schauer, spokeswoman for the South Service District who lives in Seddon Cove, said few people use the Riverwalk behind the Marriott hotel to get to the Convention Center. Instead, they cross Franklin Street, causing traffic delays.

In addition, the construction of the streetcar, she said, reduced the number of lanes on Franklin Street in front of the Convention Center. A proposed extension to Whiting Street will make the problem even worse, she said.

The streetcar is particularly frustrating, she said, because Harbour Island developers contributed $4-million to support something that now causes problems for residents. The money was used to establish a trust fund for streetcar operations.

Schauer said the group that met with the mayor represents a "unified Harbour Island."

But not everyone shares the complaints made to the mayor, especially concerns about the streetcar extension.

Drew Roark sent an e-mail to his neighbors Aug. 5 defending the streetcar and saying he has never waited 30 minutes to get off the island.

"I am a traffic engineer by profession," he wrote. "I agree with the trolley, and I think it provides more of a benefit to (Harbour Island) than a disbenefit. We are lucky to have it. . . . The opinions presented to the city officials are not representative of all of us on the island."

Schauer maintains that Harbour Island's 4,000 residents make few requests from the city and pay a lot of money in property taxes.

Harbour Island residents paid more than $12-million in property taxes in 2004, according to information provided by the Tax Collector's Office. About $3.1-million of that went directly to the city.

"It's not an insignificant group of people," Schauer said. "The stark contrast is the demands of all these other neighborhoods for public assistance. We don't have code violations. We don't have crime. We don't have any issues for the city to handle."

Jim Wood, a former Tampa Port Authority chairman who lives in ParkCrest and attended the meeting with the mayor, said residents aren't asking the city to spend a lot of money on improvements.

Promoting the Riverwalk behind the Marriott and having on-duty police officers directing traffic during special events would make a big difference, he said.

"It's a matter of planning. Our problems would be solved with very little financial outlay from the city," he said. "Just make better decisions and listen to us."

Janet Zink can be reached at 226-3401 or jzink@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 11, 2005, 09:00:07]