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'Lobbyists' to hear verdict on Main Street in person
By JON WILSON
© St. Petersburg Times, ST. PETERSBURG -- If effort counts, two historic neighborhoods chasing state help ought to have an advantage. The Grand Central District and the 22nd Street S Redevelopment Corp. on Thursday are sending a combined 100 people to Eustis, where the state's next Main Street communities will be named. Each group has chartered a bus to make the 200-mile round trip to the Central Florida town, which is not far from Orlando. Usually just a handful of people show from communities seeking the Main Street designation. "We're pretty positive," said Linda Truslow, Grand Central's Main Street manager. "We think we have a pretty good application. We think 22nd Street does, too." Jean Claude Petit, 22nd Street's manager, said his group is equally optimistic. Both groups competed last year for the first time and were turned down. But both were encouraged to reapply for Main Street status, which brings state expertise and a small amount of money to aging business sections trying to re-energize. This time around, both are better prepared. Unlike last year, each has a manager on board. They prepared more complete applications. Grand Central has an office, and 22nd Street plans to open one soon in a building it is refurbishing. Win or lose, Truslow is resigning her position effective Aug. 31 to take a job with another non-profit organization, Volunteers of America in Tampa. "She's taken a new position at a salary we can't match," said Grand Central president David Gruskin. "Her commitment (to Grand Central) is one reason she stayed as long as she did." Truslow started in April. Suzanne La Berge, the new Main Street manager, will take over Sept. 1. She has been Gruskin's law partner and has been active with Grand Central since it began two years ago as Central Avenue Tomorrow. The Florida Main Street program began in 1985 to help small, rural communities. More recently, it has gone to work in metropolitan areas. Last year, for example, Tampa's Ybor City won a Main Street designation. Miami has two such communities. And in Pinellas County, Clearwater, Largo and Palm Harbor have projects. East coast city Melbourne and Jay, a town in the Panhandle, are the other two communities competing this year. Both are first-time applicants. It will be interesting to see whether two neighborhoods situated close to each other in the same city can be named Main Street projects. "One thing (the Main Street advisory committee) looks at is the geographic distribution. It's very unusual to have two in the same area, but it's a possibility that they can both be named," said Laura Lee Fisher, Florida Main Street coordinator. The 22nd Street district embraces the historic thoroughfare in the African-American community, particularly from Interstate 275 to 15th Avenue S. The Grand Central District takes in Central Avenue and First avenues N and S from I-275 to 31st Street, but the Main Street program focuses on Central Avenue only between I-275 and 28th Street.
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
