Front Porch principles take shape with repairs

St. Petersburg's Front Porch will begin painting and fixing today on two blocks in the 13th Street Heights neighborhood.

By JAMES HARPER

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 22, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- Front Porch Florida is about to do something people can see.

Using $100,000 in state and private contributions, St. Petersburg's Front Porch committee has decided to spruce up two blocks in the 13th Street Heights neighborhood. Starting this morning, volunteers and paid workers will be painting and repairing houses, landscaping, installing new security lighting and taking care of other amenities, as required.

The hope, says local Front Porch coordinator L. Faye Jackson, is that the project will become a model for other blocks in the neighborhood, one of six that is included in Gov. Jeb Bush's community revitalization program.

Volunteers for painting and other tasks are being sought. Interested people can meet this morning at 12th Avenue and 16th Street S at 8 a.m. A kick-off celebration, with state and local officials, free food and refreshments, will be at 11 a.m.

Front Porch is Bush's idea for getting local neighborhoods involved in their own redevelopment. St. Petersburg is one of six Front Porch communities in the state.

A 24-member Community Revitalization Council, composed of neighborhood business people and residents, has been meeting since November to advance the program here. Last month, the council submitted a wish list of 30 projects that it wants Bush to support. State officials are still reviewing those plans.

In the meantime, the "model blocks beautification project" will give neighborhood residents a sign that something positive is happening, Front Porch leaders say.

Half the money is coming from the governor's office; the rest is coming from Neighborhood Housing Services, the Neighborhood Redevelopment Corp., and the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, Jackson said.

Two blocks of modest, one-story houses on 12th Avenue S, between 14th and 16th streets, were chosen because a majority of the residents are homeowners, many of them elderly, Jackson said.

"If you work with them first, the others catch on," she said.

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