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Vision for Kennedy makes strides

Imagine the boulevard beautiful, safe and inviting. One city official always has been able to.

By RICK GERSHMAN
Published May 5, 2006

The place of her dreams?

Kennedy Boulevard.

It might not seem like anyone's vision of paradise, but for more than two decades, the City Council member has focused on seeing that Tampa's main thoroughfare has the look a great city deserves.

"I believe Kennedy is the premier boulevard in our community," she said. "I want it to be beautiful and full of life."

It has taken a long time, but Saul-Sena's dream of Kennedy - once named Grand Central - is moving closer toward reality.

Next week, the City Council plans to act on an ordinance to create the Kennedy Boulevard Corridor District, with rules to improve the thoroughfare's appearance from the Hillsborough River to Himes Avenue. The meeting starts at 9 a.m. Thursday at City Hall, 315 E Kennedy Blvd.

Those improvements include adding trees along the right of way, landscaped medians and brick crosswalks. "Transparency" for new buildings along the corridor would mean that at least 30 percent of the materials must be transparent.

"I would like to locate the trees right onto the edge of the street, to provide shade and safety for pedestrians," Saul-Sena said. "But we need to figure out if we can do that, logistically, with oak trees because you have pipes and sewer lines under there."

Tampa architect Joe Toph drew extensive plans as a private endeavor. Some of those ideas were adopted in a Metropolitan Planning Organization report in 2003.

The city picked up writing the overlay plan in 2004, said city zoning administrator Catherine Coyle, and in 2005 held public workshops to gather opinions.

"The three things people focused on were street lighting, trees and sidewalk improvements," Coyle said.

A key factor in the plan is a philosophy called Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, which proposes adopting environmental elements that deter criminal behavior. That includes adding lighting and improving the ability of people within buildings to identify criminal behavior.

The Florida Department of Transportation has planned upgrades of Kennedy intersections at Dale Mabry Highway and MacDill Avenue. Also, a major resurfacing will include medians with palm trees along Kennedy.

No timetable has been set for the improvements, some of which will be paid for by new development along the corridor and city tax dollars.

Saul-Sena, who used to be an urban planner, noted that Kennedy is the main commercial corridor connecting the city's two commercial districts, downtown and Westshore.

"So it's important as an identity for the city," Saul-Sena said. "I think we need to turn this into a grand boulevard again.''

Over the next 10 years, Saul-Sena hopes to see improvements in the commercial structures that line Kennedy: three- or four-story buildings with retail on the bottom and offices above, or offices on the bottom and residential above.

"Our lives are really impacted by the beauty of our surroundings," Saul-Sena said. "If we can transform Kennedy Boulevard into a tree-lined street filled with cafes, beautiful buildings and vibrant culture, we'll improve our lives.''

Because Kennedy is a state road, Toph said, aesthetics never have been a major concern. But now the city and state are talking about how Kennedy can be "beautiful and safe at the same time."

"The Kennedy redevelopment plan, to me, is the core of our community,'' Toph said. "It's the spine of our community, and I think it's really important we do something very exciting and special here."

That includes putting trees as close as possible to the street to create a division between cars and pedestrians on the sidewalk. "You are not going to be comfortable walking there unless you have some kind of buffer between you and them," he said.

Toph said he thinks the Kennedy project is "more important than the Riverwalk. I support the Riverwalk, I think it's great, but I think this will impact more lives, more businesses on a daily basis.''

Rick Gershman can be reached at rgershman@sptimes.com or 226-3431.

[Last modified May 5, 2006, 09:05:37]