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Million-dollar gift still unwrapped

The deadline nears to name representatives to talk with the city on the donation to Davis Islands.

By RICK GERSHMAN
Published May 26, 2006

And that's hardly the only interest this $1-million fund has generated.

But the seven-figure donation from Tampa General Hospital to Davis Islands, via the city's Parks and Recreation Department, hasn't done much else over the past year.

The money has been sitting in the parks fund since last May, originally held hostage to an unsuccessful legal challenge over the city's decision to allow the hospital to lease waterfront parkland for a parking garage.

That legal hurdle cleared, the City Council took up a discussion this month on how to move ahead with administering the money, called the Davis Islands Park Improvement Fund.

The donation stems from a city agreement that allows TGH to lease less than 0.4 acres of Marjorie Park for a 1,400-space parking garage.

As part of the lease, the city agreed to allow one representative each from the civic association, the Davis Islands Chamber of Commerce and the Davis Islands Neighborhood Planning Task Force to help decide how to use the money.

Each organization has until Thursday to name its representative to city parks director Karen Palus.

"What we'll do with those folks is meet with them internally, talk with them a little bit about the process and then begin to schedule a community meeting in which they'll take public input," Palus told City Council members.

After a series of community meetings to ensure "a pretty good consensus" from residents, Palus said, parks officials will put together an action plan.

But in the past, residents haven't even been able to agree whether to use the money for parks, as was stated in the city's lease with the hospital, or for projects in the Davis Islands vision plan, such as traffic calming.

Jeffrey Siewert, a member of the task force, said he is hopeful the council will consider changing the lease to include uses other than parks and recreation.

But that can't happen unless the city goes back and changes the lease with the hospital, city attorney David Smith said.

"We have to get TGH involved in making any changes to it," Smith said. "And then obviously the administration would need to agree to that as well."

Some residents have contended that Ron Hytoff, the hospital's chief executive officer, planned for the money to be used any way the community wished.

Before the council approved the lease, Hytoff sent an e-mail to hospital employees that said the donation would "help fund and implement the long-range vision plan adopted by the Neighborhood Task Force after input from more than 1,000 island residents."

But last fall, hospital officials said they never specified how the $1-million should be administered. Spokeswoman Ellen Fiss reiterated that this week, noting it was "all we have to say" about the donation.

The lease specifies the donation is to be used for "public park and recreation facilities owned by the city on Davis Islands."

However, Lee Medart, chair of the task force, remains concerned that the community does not have discretion to use the funds to control speeding and traffic.

"It's been a priority the last five years on Davis Island," she said. "We have looked everywhere to find funds to do traffic calming.

"The funds were a gift to the community of Davis Island. It was not gifted to the city, except by how the lease was written."

Civic association president Dean Akers, a 30-year Davis Islands resident, said this week the community needs to move on and work to ensure the money is well-spent.

Akers said he has a great relationship with the task force and the chamber, though he admitted "it hasn't always been that way" between the three organizations. He believes they can work together to do what's best for the community.

While the $1-million might not be able to be used directly for traffic calming, the civic association board has voted to build a linear park near the Peter O. Knight Airport, because "that also accomplishes some traffic calming" by encouraging more bicycle and less motorized vehicle use for commuting around the islands.

Another useful project, he said, is improving the Roy Jenkins Pool.

The community needs to think of this as something good, he said, like winning the lottery.

Ultimately, he said, "instead of arguing over $1-million, let's figure out what we all want, in the big picture.''

Times researchers Cathy Wos and Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Rick Gershman can be reached at rgershman@sptimes.com or 226-3431.

[Last modified May 25, 2006, 15:25:11]