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Creative police work deserves applause
© St. Petersburg Times, The Clearwater Police Department has proved that government doesn't always have to follow standard operating procedure to accomplish something. The agency, using partnerships and inventive approaches, took the road less traveled and -- voila! -- a new city park will be created. Sgt. Wilton Lee Jr. got the ball rolling more than a year ago. He takes seriously his responsibility for overseeing community policing in the Garden Avenue neighborhood, a low-income area north of downtown. He often felt bad for the children in that neighborhood, which is sandwiched between two busy thoroughfares, N Fort Harrison and Myrtle avenues. Yards are tiny because the lot sizes are substandard, and there are no parks in the community. The children have nowhere to play outside except in the streets. On his rounds, Lee often passed a vacant parcel of land on Garden Avenue that backs up to a Fort Harrison Avenue carpet business. He thought it would make a nice park for the neighborhood children. He asked a friend, Fredd Hinson of the city's Neighborhood Services Division, to help the Police Department figure out who owned the property. With two city departments now involved, the owner of the parcel, AmSouth Bank, was contacted and persuaded to donate the land for a park if the Police Department would pay back taxes of more than $5,000. The Police Department used seized drug money to pay the taxes, but then was confronted by the need for almost $57,000 to build the park. The department applied for grants, started beating the bushes for donations and cut costs by recruiting a class at St. Petersburg College to design the park. Jonathan Wade, president of the North Greenwood Association, directed a potential donor to the project who contributed more than $28,000. As a result of all this work, a park is scheduled to open on the quarter-acre property by mid December. Children will be able to play on new playground equipment there, and their families will be able to enjoy watching them from a picnic shelter. A property that is now an eyesore will turned into a benefit for the neighborhood. Obtaining property and building parks is not typical activity for a police department, but one could argue that this work by the Clearwater police will have more benefits over time than adding patrols or making more arrests. A neighborhood that had needs will receive an unexpected city amenity. And children growing up there will learn that police officers can be friends in ways they never before experienced. Congratulations to the Clearwater Police Department and everyone else involved in the Garden Avenue project.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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From the Times North Pinellas desks |
