Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
At a brainstorming meeting, images of a revitalized community include parks and landscaped areas.
By ANNE LINDBERG
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 18, 2001
LEALMAN -- On a driving tour of some streets here, there are ever-present garbage cans and homes sorely in need of paint and landscaping.
But in 10 to 15 years, some residents say, the view could be that of houses and small businesses surrounding shady parks where children romp and adults chat or play checkers and chess.
Thus far, the revitalization effort has focused mostly on walking through Lealman neighborhoods to itemize problems, identify bright spots and solicit residents' ideas about what they want their community to be. The final walking tour was scheduled for Saturday.
On Thursday, the revitalization team members began taking the information they had gleaned thus far to develop a long-range plan for the community.
Then the hard part: making those dreams come true.
"Once that happens, people will start participating because they will either like it or not like it," said Ray Neri, head of the Lealman Community Association. "We have to help ourselves, or we're not going to get anything done."
Rebecca Harriman, a member of the Lealman Fire Commission and the revitalization team, agreed that people need to get involved.
If they don't, she said, "they're stuck with what we want."
Residents' interest in improving Lealman began gaining momentum last November during a community meeting with county representatives. They identified such problems as a lack of fire hydrants and streetlights and too few recreation opportunities for youngsters.
The Lealman Community Center and the Pinellas County departments of planning and community development decided to work together on a long-term solution.
Lealman is a portion of unincorporated Pinellas County roughly between Pinellas Park and St. Petersburg. Its eastern boundary begins around Interstate 275 and extends as far west as Park Street. Kenneth City splits the area into west Lealman and east Lealman.
Revitalization efforts will focus on the eastern area, and that section has been divided into three parts, Bowman said. The central portion of that tract is considered the neediest.
It is there that residents have been walking house by house to get a closer look.
Judging from Thursday's brainstorming meeting, residents have big dreams for their neighborhoods.
"By and large, it's open space, park areas, vistas, recreational trails," said Gordon Beardslee, general planning administrator with the county's planning department. "The theme is definitely open space, recreational areas, landscaped areas."
One group suggested a series of parks surrounded by small businesses and houses. Each of the areas could have an architectural identity of its own.
Another group suggested iron bridges across Joe's Creek so walkers and joggers could wander along the water.
Others suggested playing off the theme of the railroad that cuts through Lealman, using push carts to sell snacks and ice cream to visitors to the parks and having streetlights designed like 18th-century gas lamps.