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The city-owned Fulton Street apartments get a $306,000 facelift. But residents say it's too late.
By KYLA K. WILSON
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 21, 2000
CLEARWATER -- Stacey Richardson has been keeping her distance from the electrical outlets in her two bedroom apartment ever since fire shot out of one of them when she plugged in an iron.
"I'm glad I didn't tell my son to do it," said Richardson, 24. "It's an accident waiting to happen."
Richardson lives in the Fulton Street apartments, which are owned by the city and managed by the Clearwater Housing Authority. She says nearly all the electrical outlets in her unit need repair. Her neighbors complain of leaky roofs, water-damaged cabinets in kitchens and bathrooms and loose and leaking faucets.
"There is no sense in my roof leaking the way it does," said Joann Zellner, 42, a nine-year resident. "When it rains, it sure does pour, right into my house."
Now, the city plans to spend $306,000 renovating the apartments, but for many residents of the 16-unit complex, especially those who have lived there for years, the repairs are coming too late.
The renovation will include landscaping, painting, redoing the parking lot, installing new kitchen and bathroom cabinets, new showers and toilets, fixing drywall, repairing the roof, replacing appliances and electrical wiring.
The complex also will get playground equipment because residents have complained their children have nowhere to play.
Zellner is one of the residents who is not excited. She and other longtime residents have been back and forth between the city and the city's Housing Authority over requests for repairs. She said she has asked for repairs to her roof, drywall, her old rusted stove and her kitchen and bathroom cabinets.
"What they talk about fixing should have been fixed a long time ago," Zellner said.
In April, the city got a federal grant to spend on the apartments, and talked then of converting the complex into a transitional housing facility for the downtown homeless shelter known as CHIP -- Clearwater Homeless Intervention Project.
However, after some neighborhood meetings, the city's Housing Division chose instead to renovate the apartments.
"They decided that since they already had a very strong transitional homeless service in their neighborhood that they would rather have the money go to revitalizing homes for the families," said Nina Bandoni, assistant housing director for the city.
"We're pretty excited we are going to make some significant repairs," Bandoni said.
The three-building complex gradually has deteriorated over the years, according to residents. The Housing Authority last year spent $30,000 on repairs. Housing Authority executive director Jacqueline Rivera said that because the city owns the property, the Housing Authority is not responsible for major improvements, such as roof work. Rivera said that once wiring is repaired and roof work completed, her agency would be able to do other work on the apartments such as installing central air conditioning.
"It would make life a lot easier for everyone. The electricity and the roof are the most important. The landscaping, that's nice, but we can't do anything until they fix those two things," Rivera said.
Residents have also been concerned about where they are going to stay during the repair work. Richardson doesn't see how the city can repair the building properly while residents still are living there.
"I want to know what they can do as far as working around us," Richardson said.
Bandoni said that during the renovations the contractors will first work on empty apartments. After the apartments are completed, residents will be able to move into the renovated apartments while their apartments are renovated. Construction is expected to begin in October.
Residents remain cynical
"I have been through everything with them, and they haven't done anything," Richardson said. "I got to see it to believe it."