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By SHARON GINN
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 6, 2001
NEW YORK -- Gov. Jeb Bush and the U.S. Tennis Association want to give a financial boost to 12 inner-city tennis centers in Florida, including the endangered St. Petersburg Tennis Center. But the money they have to offer may not fill the center's immediate needs.
And because of grant restrictions, much of the state funding for the new effort likely won't be available to the center.
Called First Serve, the program proposed by Bush and the USTA at the U.S. Open on Wednesday is meant to attract disadvantaged youths to 12 targeted inner-city centers throughout the state. The idea is to provide them with tennis instruction and mentoring along with a supportive after-school environment.
State grants from a $27-million recreation and parks program would go toward improving or adding to the centers' grounds or buildings, Bush said. Additional state grants under a different program would be used to purchase computer equipment. Finally, funds from the USTA and private corporations involved in First Serve would get the youth programs started and keep them running.
USTA officials admitted that the details had not been hammered out, and that quickly became obvious.
The St. Petersburg Tennis Center was a last-minute addition to the list, and the only one in the Tampa Bay area. As it turns out, the center would not be eligible for a parks and recreation grant because the city would have to apply -- and it already has three projects under the grant program, the limit for any city.
John Green, the city's leisure services capital improvements director, said St. Petersburg has a "prioritization list" for the state program, and the center may not be able to apply for five or six years.
What the tennis center needs most is money to keep it operating, and none of the First Serve money is earmarked for basic yearly expenses.
The city has been running the history-laden clay court center at 650 18th Ave. S in Bartlett Park, and estimated it would cost taxpayers $120,000 to keep it open this fiscal year and $150,000 the next. As part of an effort to cut the city budget, Mayor Rick Baker's administration had recommended closing the center and turning it into grass parkland.
But in the past two months, about 40 people calling themselves the Tennis Foundation of St. Petersburg have banded together to save the center. For now, their efforts appear to be working.
At its Sept. 13 meeting, the City Council is expected to add up to $72,000 to this year's budget for the center's operating expenses, said Andy Houston, the city's fiscal services administrator. The council also will allow the nonprofit foundation to run the center beginning Oct. 1, Houston said.