Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Mirror Lake revival may be at hand

An 11-member panel will be named to determine how to enliven a historic downtown area that includes the Coliseum, and the shuffleboard and lawn bowling clubs.

By JON WILSON
Published March 8, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - Mayor Rick Baker soon will appoint a task force to spruce up and perhaps energize one of the city's often overlooked leisure sites.

City Council members are compiling nominees for spots on the 11-member committee, which will look at ways to improve a few blocks around Mirror Lake in downtown's heart.

The list of nominees is due by March 17. Baker will make the appointments shortly afterward, Deputy Mayor Mike Dove said Tuesday.

The group will take a hard, creative look at city's oldest non-park recreation complex, then figure out ways to make it more appealing.

"The focus is, what do we want to design. What needs to be saved, what could be an adaptive re-use of existing space, of open buildings, (whether) something new could be introduced," said City Council member Jeff Danner.

No one is talking about getting rid of what already is present: the re-emerging St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club, the Lawn Bowling Club or the Chess Club, for example.

Rather, the idea is to make more appealing the entire area, which also includes the Sunshine Center and such city landmarks as the Coliseum, the Carnegie Library and Mirror Lake itself.

A makeover isn't a new idea. Preservationists have talked it up and held fundraisers. The city's Historic Preservation Commission has discussed the area. Budget officers have toured it, pad and sharp pencils in hand.

Chris Kelly is a community innovator who co-founded Pinellas Heritage, a group of neighborhood activists with a special interest in low-profile historic resources.

He said he would like to see a series of public meetings held, with the Mirror Lake task force filtering ideas and contemplating the area "as a unique opportunity for tourism, for economic development and intergenerational recreation."

The shuffleboard club is currently drawing an eclectic Friday night group that plays the game, listens to music, gabs and strolls. Up to 300 attend on any given Friday.

"I am amazed by the number of people who come out, and the diversity of people who come out. Young people, old people, people who have never played," Dove said.

Dove called the neighborhood another "key area downtown" with a striking historic background. The shuffleboard club was established in 1924, for example, and with its covered grandstand, once was considered the game's world headquarters.

The Carnegie Library's cornerstone was set in 1914.

"I think everyone realizes something is required out there: a heightened level of city direction, community involvement. We can come up with ideas all week long but that doesn't put them in the budget process," Kelly said.

The task force will include two City Council members, two representatives from surrounding neighborhoods, a representative from the preservation community, a representative from the current occupants of the site, a representative from the Sunshine Center, two representatives from the business community and a representative each from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg and St. Petersburg College.

[Last modified March 8, 2006, 01:42:19]