Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Neighborhood Report

How about meetings at the firehouse?

To satisfy demand for meeting sites, renovating an old station is one idea.

By RICK GERSHMAN
Published May 19, 2006

South Tampa has plenty of neighborhood associations. But many of these groups lack a permanent - or in some cases, even a temporary - place to meet.

So City Council member John Dingfelder is championing an effort to renovate an old firehouse near MacDill Avenue and Bay to Bay Boulevard into a meeting place.

Built in 1944, the small, concrete block structure is at 3008 W Barcelona St., across from Features Costumes. The city owns it and for a while used the building to store parks and recreation equipment, Dingfelder said. But the building has been vacant for years.

The city's real estate department was considering selling the property "when I kind of jumped on it,'' Dingfelder said. "It's in a great place, and the city doesn't have much in the way of civic and community facilities.''

Dingfelder got the idea from Walter Horton, who has lived in Palma Ceia Park for 37 years. Horton said former Mayor Dick Greco had planned to convert the firehouse into a community center after the Parks and Recreation Department no longer needed it.

"I kept telling Dick that would make a good community center, that you could use it for multiple things,'' Horton said. "He kept telling me he would try to do it before he left office, but he didn't get to it.''

So Dingfelder has taken up the cause. He recalled scrambling for meeting places when he was vice president of the Palma Ceia Neighborhood Association.

That group meets at the Bay to Bay Starbucks coffee shop, which "does not accommodate more than five people comfortably,'' according to a letter Palma Ceia president Lori Jennis wrote to Mayor Pam Iorio.

Jennis wrote that her group has been without a permanent meeting place since a local Masons Lodge was sold in October 2003. It bounced around to a couple of churches before settling at Starbucks.

"Our association cannot grow without a dedicated space for general meetings, guest speakers and social functions to attract neighborhood participation,'' Jennis wrote.

Dingfelder is hopeful the firehouse would provide a space for several groups, including associations for Bayshore Beautiful, Parkland Estates and Virginia Park. It also could be a home to meetings of Boy Scouts and other civic groups, he said.

Giving these groups a regular home, he said, ensures that people who want to attend meetings "never have a doubt about where or when'' they should show up.

Dingfelder estimated it might take about $150,000 to renovate the firehouse, including installing a new roof. He plans to push to get the project onto the city's 2006-07 budget.

Bayshore Gardens president Vicki Pollyea said while her group is lucky enough to regularly meet at the Tampa Garden Center, the area definitely needs more community space.

"The idea of having a place for South Tampa neighborhoods is a really great idea,'' she said.

"They recently had two neighborhood associations meet at the Jan Kaminis Platt Library at the same time, which can be confusing. It's hard to find a public place for free.''

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

[Last modified May 18, 2006, 12:38:38]