Blurbex

I’m a little late on this post, but I can’t ignore it. Last night, at the St. Petersburg Council Of Neighborhood Associations monthly meeting, neighborhood leaders voted on an issue I first brought you back in December: the split of the Bartlett Park Neighborhood Association.

I’ve detailed the fractures in the neighborhood between new and old residents on several occasions. During the housing boom, Bartlett Park became very attractive to prospective buyers (and several first-time homeowners) due to its proximity to downtown, and most importantly, low home prices. As new people (mostly white) have moved into the predominantly African-American neighborhood, there’s been a push to focus on crime and code enforcement in the area. And this has inevitably led to disagreements on how to “make the neighborhood better.” Sometimes these clashes have led to some pretty nasty disputes, in the association meetings and out on the streets. It’s the same old tale of gentrification, for better or for worse.

Last December, I profiled a group of mostly white, new residents who decided to form their own neighborhood association to focus on issues like crime, code enforcement and youth programs. They called themselves the Buena Vista Neighborhood Association and wished to represent a wide swath of Bartlett Park. As expected, the original association wasn’t too keen on the idea of splitting the neighborhood. Accusations were hurled; friendships were disrupted; all in all, a pretty fractious split. (To get an idea of the level of anger associated with the split, head on over to the LEOaffairs forum — a messageboard for cops that neighborhood people have largely hijacked. It’s been so heated that they’ve taken to slamming me on reporting on the split. It’s quite entertaining.)

Well, the new Buena Vista Neighborhood Association went to CONA last night looking for some official recognition. Unfortunately, I couldn’t be there (Tom Petty or a raucous CONA meeting… hmm… hard choice), but Times writer Andrew Dunn did make it.

From his report:

About 150 residents attended the meeting, which also included a crowd of politicians running for Pinellas County offices. A sizeable contingent wore “Don’t take the heart out of Bartlett Park” stickers and factions bickered in the hallways of the Sunshine Center. …

Julie Richey, 27, presented on behalf of Buena Vista. She said her group had been more effective since it split ideologically from Bartlett Park, starting neighborhood cleanups and youth activities.

She also said the Bartlett Park association had not shown enough initiative in combating crime. She listed drug dealing, frequent gunfire, prostitution, vacant homes and dog fighting as some of its problems. …

This statement angered many in Bartlett Park, who said they have been working for decades to address those issues, and that the neighborhood has come a long way in recent years. Many called the statement a slap in the face.

“When I moved here in 2006, it was a scarier place than it is today,” said Andrea Hildebran, who presented on behalf of Bartlett Park. “Kids would not have been biking by enjoying a Saturday two years ago….We need to give enormous respect and appreciation to the people who have lived in Bartlett Park when the bullets were flying.”

The rift between the two groups is rife with he said, she said allegations, with the truth hard to divine. Buena Vista, whose president Scott Swift ran an unsuccessful bid for Bartlett Park president, claims some of its members were prevented from voting and that Bartlett Park members refused to incorporate their ideas.

Bartlett Park supporters said Buena Vista members did not attend meetings and they insisted the elections were fair. …

CONA membership ended up overwhelmingly denying membership to the new Buena Vista association. And, even more newsworthy, CONA plans to write a section in their bylaws outlawing this type of neighborhood split.

My take? Oh, I’ll get some more LEOaffairs slams for this one, but I’ve waited to add my two cents for a while now.

The real issue here is politics, bickering and ego created this situation. And the rest of Bartlett Park suffered for it.

This is not a condemnation of all the people involved, or even the leaders necessarily, but an underlining point that neither of these groups saw fit to compromise enough to allow the other to do what they all were supposed to do: help the freakin’ neighborhood.

In the news accounts of this neighborhood, you always read the same voices. There’s a reason for this: the people I talk to — single mothers (and fathers), renters, a lot of the elderly — don’t want to talk on record. They don’t want to be a part of the politics. They think both organizations are self-serving. Both groups have a very small membership compared with the larger community. A community that is largely distrustful of attempts to “help” them.

This is the real roadblock in Bartlett Park, and though active residents have made some real progress in the community, it’s not complete without the rest of the community buying into it.

One of my favorite quotes from the Times blog is the last one, from Buena Vista president Scott Swift (who used to be my landlord in Bartlett Park): “Nobody lost tonight,” he said. “The whole neighborhood is benefiting.”

I’m not sure what he meant, but I’m hoping he meant that now that this issue is behind the residents of Bartlett Park, both sides can find some sort of compromise and work toward making life better for all the residents of Bartlett Park. I think this is why CONA made their decision.

Neighborhoods are all about different types of people getting along to make things better. Lord knows it ain’t easy, but, hey, it’s like when we were all kids in the sandbox — you got to learn to get along or nobody gets to play with the toy truck. And, frankly, while you’re arguing about the toy truck, some other kid from the next sandbox over will steal it.

Bartlett Park, please don’t let that other kid steal your toy truck.

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