St. Petersburg committee hopes to end divisiveness

By BRYAN GILMER

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 14, 2001

ST. PETERSBURG -- Gov. Jeb Bush's Front Porch Florida program is having to start nearly from scratch again in St. Petersburg, but the governor's new statewide program director says she already sees signs that things will go better this time.

"This has been a difficult (city) to get off the ground, but the governor has never wavered," Alison Hewitt, director of the Office of Urban Opportunity, said Thursday. "I do feel we have reached a turning point."

The program's success is important to St. Petersburg -- Bush is funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars of state money into Front Porch cities, and if the local board cannot succeed, the city will lose out.

In October, Bush named Hewitt to lead the effort to improve urban, mostly minority neighborhoods across the state.

Her predecessor, Patrick Hadley, had resigned after the program's first year, which was punctuated by controversy, inefficiency and divisiveness in some of Front Porch cities -- especially St. Petersburg.

A month into her new job, Hewitt came to St. Petersburg to mediate a meeting of the local volunteer council that ran the city's effort. As the meeting turned into just another shouting match, Hewitt suddenly dissolved the board and announced that she would let the community pick a new one in December.

That 25-member board is now in place, elected by residents from the target area south of downtown St. Petersburg.

The community gave about half of the new board's seats to people who were on the old board, including Rodney Bennett and Chrisshun Cox, the most prominent members of the two factions that divided the previous board.

But Bennett is not chairman this time. In the interim, new board member Tyna Middleton has that role. She also serves as director of Mayor David Fischer's Challenge revitalization effort, the city's program to revitalize many of the same neighborhoods Front Porch targets.

Also, Faye Jackson, the former local Front Porch staff person who clashed repeatedly with Bennett and enjoyed strong support from Cox, lost that "community liaison" job when her one-year contract expired last month.

Hewitt named Lolita Dash, a St. Petersburg postal supervisor, to assume the contract position.

Under Hadley, the community liaison reported to the local council. But now, she will work for Hewitt, also helping the board sometimes with clerical tasks.

Because Hewitt believes a lack of structure led the previous Revitalization Council into its constant bickering, she has laid some ground rules for the new board.

At the Jan. 4 Revitalization Council meeting, she flew down from Tallahassee to serve as moderator. As acting chair, Middleton is expected to run the next meeting on Thursday, when the council hopes to elect a set of officers.

Hewitt distributed white binders containing the Revitalization Council's contract with the state of Florida, a phone list, the current budget and information about chances for the council to apply for other state funding.

"Before, there was a lot of distrust because they thought only one or two people had the information," Hewitt said.

Members of the old factions made veiled references to old disputes a few times at the Jan. 4 meeting. There was discussion about a lack of trust. But several other members spoke up as consensus-builders.

Although she kept a strong hand on the rudder of the meeting, Hewitt made a point several times to tell the board she was only suggesting certain courses of action as a starting point for discussion. The board was free to -- and often did -- tweak her suggestions.

"How I work, and my standard method of operation is, I need the structure," Hewitt said. "I see a lot of fire and enthusiasm and eagerness to revitalize their community. I want to give them the tools."

RECENT COVERAGE:

Front Porch council ousted (November 18, 2000)

Poor areas need steady commitment (November 5, 2000)

Front Porch group spars with critics (August 2, 2000)

Program gave some questionable grants (July 23, 2000)

Front Porch principles take shape with repairs (April 22, 2000)

St. Petersburg chosen for revitalization project (October 8, 1999)

Bush seeks to improve urban areas (August 12, 1998)

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