All-America City projects: Tampa redeveloped East Tampa neighborhoods, rebuilt 40th Street
June 18, 2009 at 11:03 am by Wayne Garcia
Tampa is competing in the National Civic League ’s 2009 All-America City Awards conference today, and judging of the various communities’ projects has already started. Tampa’s presentation featured a booming entrance, with the Middleton High School drum line, and civic activists and city employees side-by-side talking about their three projects.Tampa will find out tomorrow night at about 7 p.m. if it gets the title and the bragging rights that goes with it.
Here are the details, as summarized in the AAC conference program:
Tampa, Florida
Economic Development in East Tampa
As one of the older developed areas of the city, East Tampa declined during the 1960’s and 70’s period of Urban Development. In 2003, Tampa Mayor Iorio announced that one of her strategic initiatives would be the transformation of East Tampa to a community with flourishing recreational, social and culture activities. The City of Tampa staff focused on the assets of East Tampa with the idea of creating a model to use in other challenged areas of Tampa, reaching out to the residents and challenging them to create a vision for their neighborhood. The residents collaborated with the government, schools, universities, churches, sports organizations, businesses, and non-profit organizations. Responding to resident participation, the City of Tampa launched an aggressive campaign called Operation Commitment. The goals included rooting out crime, prostitution, drugs and code violations. At the same time, the City of Tampa created the East Tampa Development Division to focus exclusively on the economic and civic revitalization of the area. In doing so, it took the important step of designating East Tampa as a Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) eligible for Tax Increment Financing (TIF). To date, over $21 million dollars has been generated providing the necessary financial resources to upgrade aging infrastructure, resurface streets, add sidewalks and make corridor beautifications.[Shown in the photo gallery above are the new Fair Oaks Park renovations and the Cyrus Green Pool]
FIX 40th STREET NOW! Citizen Task Force
As early as 1948, residents of the Temple Crest Suburb realized that 40th Street would be a problem as the city of Tampa grew. As predicted, the neighborhood grew and the narrow, winding country road proved incapable of handling the increased population. When Pam Iorio was elected as Mayor of Tampa in 2003, she vowed to make the 40th Street Corridor Project her administration’s top transportation priority and formed the 40th Street Citizens Task Force, a group comprised of residents and business owners. In 2005, the Task Force asked the city to hold a contest to let the students of King High School design the new 40th Street bridge. The residents of all the neighborhoods along 40th Street joined together to view and vote on their favorite design, and a 17-year old student was named the winner. Today, that bridge is built, the culmination of engaging all the residents of the community. This almost completed five-phase $106 million project has improved 4.2 miles of 40th Street. The 40th Street project has brought government, citizens and neighborhoods together in a partnership that has restored community pride and confidence when it had been all but lost.[The bridge is pictured above in the photo gallery.]
The Annual Sulphur Springs Children’s Holiday Event
For the last six years the City of Tampa’s Police Department through its “Resources in Community Hope” (RI.C.H.) House Program has sponsored a Holiday Event for the children in Sulphur Springs. The purpose of the Holiday Event was to provide the children with a meal, a gift and a visit with Santa Claus. The event had grown from approximately 75 kids during the first year to over 400 for the 2007 Holiday Season. Having outgrown its existing facility, the Holiday Event moved in 2008 to Sulphur Springs Elementary School in the heart of the neighborhood. With the help of countless community partners, colorfully wrapped with love Holiday Gifts and light snacks were provided to 549 elementary school students and 98 teachers & staff members. To make this event special for these disadvantaged children, the volunteers work painstakingly hard to make the gifts special along with the time with the children through positive interaction. For most of these children, this is the only gift they will receive during the Holidays.[A Sulphur Springs youngster is pictured above at the holiday event.]
Thirty cities, towns, neighborhoods and communities are vying for recognition as an All-America City at the June 16-19 conference at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel. Each will give a short presentation on three public-private civic projects they undertook before a panel of judges names the best
Former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman is the president of the National Civic League this year and a big proponent of these kinds of partnership projects. During her tenure, in 1990, Tampa was named an All-America City. Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason is also involved, as a member of the Host Committee.
