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Land purchases raise anxieties
By AMY WIMMER © St. Petersburg Times, published August 16, 2000 GULFPORT -- The neighborhood surrounding Gulfport Elementary School is in transition. In one house, a single mother and her son work and go to school, then return to their small home as always. In another, a family packs for a move. In the front yard of another, debris left from a move has sat on the curb for two months, and the lawn is overgrown and unkempt. Three more homes already have been demolished to make way for a new Gulfport Elementary. The school district is gobbling up 37 properties, including 28 homes and nine vacant lots, belonging to a total of 30 property owners. So far, all but five of the owners involved have sold or made deals to sell to the School Board. "We've been purchasing and working on land contracts with a multitude of residents without a hitch," said Tony Rivas, director of facilities for Pinellas schools. "It's been going on for probably close to a year. I'm not aware that we've run into any obstacles." Now, as the demolition of the historic Gulfport Elementary building draws closer, as landlords who have sold to the district ask renters to move out and other homeowners who haven't yet sold try to continue normal life in their neighborhood, some anxieties are surfacing. Gloria Williams, for example, a single mother who has lived in her home for 12 years, thinks the district's offer of $68,000 for her house is unfair. She still owes $27,000 on her mortgage, and she doesn't believe she can relocate to a similar home with what the board has offered her. And Barbara Pickett's landlord, who already has sold to the School Board, instructed Pickett she must be out of the house she rents by the end of this month. Pickett, who has two children, says she has looked all over town for a new place, but has had no luck. "It's making it really hard, and I can't find anything," Pickett said. "So now, at the beginning of the month, I'm feeling really desperate. It leaves us in a bad situation." District officials made special arrangements for property owners who wanted to continue living in their homes after selling their properties, but not for renters, Rivas said. "Some people may not be happy, some of the renters who were either uninformed or didn't necessarily believe it was going to happen," Rivas said. Construction is expected to begin in 2001. The new school is expected to open in 2003. The district also has tried to act quickly to raze homes once they are purchased and vacated. That way, Rivas said, the area will not turn into a neighborhood of vacant houses, ripe for crime. Yet not everyone is pleased with the school district's effect on the neighborhood. Gloria Williams, among the homeowners holding out on selling, became frustrated when the house next door to hers became overgrown with weeds. She said she has even seen snakes lurking in the 14-inch-high grass. The School Board has a contract to buy the property, formerly owned by a woman who died recently. Her heirs live out of state and, so far, the parties have not closed on the house. Still, Williams points out that she must live in the neighborhood while the School Board prepares to move in, and she wants it to take care of what it purchases. "I am frustrated with the School Board because the School Board bought this property, and they know that no one's living in it," she said. "The city, they aren't doing anything. They just keep giving me a song and dance." At first, the city of Gulfport accidentally sent Williams a warning letter, asking her to clean up the debris in her neighbor's yard. After Williams clarified for the city that the trash was not hers, she expected city officials to ask the true owner to comply. Six weeks later, however, the grass is still growing, and the trash is still in the yard. Gulfport Fire Chief Brian Brooks said a letter sent to the owner, the woman who had passed away, was returned in the mail to the city. Both the city and the school district say they will take steps to make sure the yard is mowed, even though the School Board doesn't officially own it yet. "We don't treat it any differently because the School Board owns it," Brooks said. The School Board hoped to acquire the properties for Gulfport Elementary and other new elementary schools without condemning properties and forcing owners to sell. So far, things have gone so speedily that district officials believe they can meet that goal. In Gulfport, they have only five more contracts to negotiate, though some of those homeowners have hired attorneys. "I think we try to make it as reasonable as possible for everybody," Rivas said. "I really believe that we've been treating them extremely fair. It's going much faster than expected."
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