Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

1969: Study stresses need for parkland

By Theresa Blackwell, Times Staff Writer
Published February 10, 2008

AMONG THE ASHES: Residents and others look at the debris left behind by a fire in downtown Tarpon Springs in 1908. The view here is looking up Safford Avenue toward Tarpon Avenue.
	[Special to the Times]

CLEARWATER - Pinellas County needs more parkland - and quickly.

This is the central theme of the Pinellas County Park Board's annual report.

"Our parks are crowded, and getting more so," the report notes. "The population is increasing rapidly. Land prices are climbing."

Attendance at county parks increased from 181,677 in 1962 to 2,929,571 last year.

"We have observed that as each new park is opened, there is no corresponding reduction in the attendance at the other parks," the report comments. "The attendance continues to rise in all of our parks. This annual increase is an omen of things to come."

As examples of overcrowding, the report cites the frequent closing of the arrowhead picnic area in Fort De Soto Park and of the entire A.L. Anderson Park during peak days.

Although park attendance is increasing rapidly, the park department's annual budget has remained relatively constant at about $1.3-million.

"We are nearing the end of our $1.3-million budget plateau," the report says, and "higher ground lies ahead."

The county park system provides only 2.9 acres of parkland per 1,000 permanent residents. This excludes tourists, who comprise 17.5 percent of park visitors.

National standards call for a minimum of 10 acres per 1,000 persons.

By the year 2000, unless more parkland is acquired, the ratio will be less than one acre per 1,000, the report said. That is more crowded than a cemetery.

Feb. 22, 1945

Tarpon Springs man claims war service

CLEARWATER - County officials were handed a tough question yesterday when George Gross, a wizened, legless and aged Tarpon Springs man, held for advertising an unlicensed medical practice, told County Judge Jack F. White that he lost both legs fighting for the South in the War Between the States.

That would make Gross 131 years old, and the man actually looks it.

Judge White probably will place Gross on probation if he can find Gross a job in an upholsterer's shop.

Insofar as Gross's story of serving under Gen. Robert E. Lee is concerned, deputy sheriffs suspect the man of imbibing too freely of his own "elixir of life."

Feb. 21, 1927

Slogan wins prize

CLEARWATER - The lucky winner of the $10 prize offered by Maurice B. Thayer for the best slogan for Clearwater Week, which began this morning, was G.W. Manwarren.

His slogan was "Clearwater is Putting Unity Into Community."

Feb. 21, 1927

Residents are out and about, mostly

Personal announcements from Clearwater residents this week include:

- Mr. and Mrs. Frank Delamater and Mr. and Mrs. L.B. Shay left Saturday night on a motor trip to Winter Haven to spend Sunday with friends.

- Mrs. Reed S. Tilley has as a guest Miss Velda Beck, recently arrived from Columbus, Ohio.

- Eugene Casler, son of City Commissioner E.B. Casler, is recovering from a severe attack of acute indigestion.

Headlines through the years

A look back at the events, people and places that made North Pinellas the unique place that it is. The information is compiled from past editions of the St. Petersburg Times.

[Last modified February 9, 2008, 21:11:18]