Southpinellas: After a few meetings, he's a community activist

After a few meetings, he's a community activist

For Ray Neri, Lealman Community Association president, the desire to see his neighborhood cleaned up has propelled him into the annexation battle.

By ANNE LINDBERG

For Ray Neri, Lealman Community Association president, the desire to see his neighborhood cleaned up has propelled him into the annexation battle.

LEALMAN -- A year ago, Ray Neri paid scant attention to local news. These days, he is the local news.

"It was so nice a year ago when I was in ignorance," Neri said.

That was before fellow Lealman resident Tony Clark visited his home to talk about the need for street lights. Clark came back a few times, and Neri soon signed up for the neighborhood crime watch program. Then Clark told him about a community meeting the county's planning department had set up.

"I went and I listened and they're talking about (street) lighting and I thought, "Light it up? You need to clean it up first,' " Neri said.

His real involvement began when Frank Bowman, a senior community development specialist with the county planning department, challenged him to become involved because he had so many opinions. It was a kind of "put up or shut up" challenge.

"They perceived me as a loose cannon and rightly so," Neri said.

Thus began a year of learning and hard work that has included repeated meetings with appointed and elected officials at all government levels. The idea is to make people aware of Lealman's needs and see they are met rationally and quickly, said Neri, president of the Lealman Community Association.

Recently, much of Neri's time has been taken up with annexation. Annexations by surrounding cities -- St. Petersburg, Pinellas Park and Seminole -- have cut severely into Lealman's tax base. And, as the county readies to pour money into the area to improve it, Neri sees greedy cities ready to gobble the rejuvenated area.

If that happens, Neri said, "the people will lose their hearts. They will throw their hands up. They think Lealman's a city. It's not. It's not protected like a city."

Neri and others from the Lealman Community Association are exploring ways of protecting Lealman's borders, from talking to county commissioners to asking Kenneth City to annex the area, to studying the possibility of incorporating Lealman into a city.

But the idea that's dearest to Neri is the creation of a park on abandoned county land next to Joe's Creek. Where some see fences and construction equipment, Neri sees grassy fields and softball fields with families picnicking and kids playing pickup games.

"I think that would be a good thing," Neri said.

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Name: Ray Neri

Age: 64 Background: A native of New York, he moved to Lealman with his family in 1950. He worked as a Zales jeweler and now as a self-employed Quixtar distributor.

Accomplishments: Serves as the president of the Lealman Community Association, which is spearheading a revitalization effort in the Lealman area and has begun establishing street light districts. Under his leadership, the organization has sponsored a cleanup of 85 tons of garbage and debris. The group currently sees annexation as the primary threat to Lealman's future and is seeking a solution, including exploring the possibility of merger with Kenneth City or forming an independent city of Lealman.

Goal: Creating a park out of county land next to Joe's Creek.