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Pipe dreams can come true
By CHASE SQUIRES © St. Petersburg Times, published March 15, 2001 DADE CITY -- Sometimes little things bring a town together. On Wednesday, it was toilets. More than two dozen of Dade City's movers and shakers took a few minutes out of their morning to cheer as Mayor Scott Black cut the ribbon on the community's first public restrooms. "It is done," City Commissioner Hutch Brock announced. "The water is hooked up and the doors are unlocked." There was plenty of applause, a few bathroom jokes and lots of thank yous. After the ribbon was cut, Chamber of Commerce Vice President Ralph Cumbee handed the deed to the property to the mayor. The city has agreed to maintain the single-story brick restrooms. "It is such a pleasure to see all of the organizations and people come together and achieve something," Black said. "I'm glad we were all able to work together." The public restrooms, while the frequent topic of jokes, were a serious issue around town for the past few years. Downtown surveys and development studies have identified the need for public facilities, but finding the cash and location was difficult. The solution was found in a private/public partnership. The chamber provided the lot, adjacent to its headquarters at the corner of Eighth Street and Church Avenue. Builders, companies and individuals donated cash, material and labor valued at more than $38,000. "We couldn't have pulled this together without all the private donations, all the people, and the organizations and the public coming together for something we really needed," Brock said. The drive was led by the Dade City Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Dade City Main Street and coordinated in the final stages by Nancy Johnson. Johnson said donors were the key to success, with the first large private donation from Mr. and Mrs. W.C. Webb and help from contractors Grady Cunningham, Carl Gude, Dan Hudson, Bob Larkin, Paul Schaper, Johnny Scharber and the East Pasco Builders Association. As a special thanks to the members of Rotary, the restrooms will be named for Paul Harris, founder of Rotary International. The ribbon cutting drew contractors and chamber boosters, as well as City Commissioners Bill Dennis, Lowell Harris, Brock and Mayor Black, as well as San Antonio City Clerk Barbara Sessa and former county commissioner Sylvia Young. With the facilities formally opened, Brock gave the honor of the first flush to Times columnist Jan Glidewell, who needled the community in his column over the issue until the project got under way. "That really brought a lot of this out, that this was a good project to get behind," Brock said. The public restrooms are open during business hours and special events Mondays through Saturdays and on holidays.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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