The Official Unofficial Seminole Heights Blog

Talk about perfect timing. After many people have commented on the City of
Tampa’s Litter problem, now is your time to contribute. The city is seeking volunteers to help clean up the city! You can put your words into action and join a team on March 28th. It is fun, rewarding and a great opportunity to meet new friends.

During the Great American Clean Up, the City of Tampa is holding its Third Annual Clean City Day. The event will be on Saturday, March 28, 2009 at Al Lopez Park, located at 4810 North Himes Avenue. Registration that morning will be from 8 to 8:30 a.m. TV and Radio personality Jack Harris will kick-off the day at 8:45 a.m. The clean-up initiative is from 9 a.m. to noon. Following the clean up, a celebration with food and live entertainment will be held from noon to 2 p.m. at Al Lopez Park.

Volunteers are needed for all areas of the city to help make this event a success. There will be remote registration areas throughout the city and volunteers will be assigned to support one of the five districts (New Tampa, North Tampa, East Tampa, West Tampa and South Tampa). All volunteers will receive a Clean City Day t-shirt.

The City of Tampa Clean City Division, along with Friends of Clean City, is proud to initiate this effort during the Great American Clean Up, the nation’s largest community improvement program, held between March and May each year. This event is designed to support beautification projects, clean up efforts, adopt-a-street and trash receptacle programs and recycling awareness.

For more information regarding this event, or to become a volunteer, please visit our website at: http://www.tampagov.net/cleancityor contact Eva Hughes at (813) 307-5516 or via email at eva.hughes@tampagov.net.

This Thursday morning, the Tampa City Council will be reviewing for approval settlement agreements between the City of Tampa and Clear Channel and CBS, who, collectively, own nearly all of the billboards in the city. Under the proposed terms of these agreements, the billboard companies will retain the right to own a fixed amount of billboard footage in perpetuity. All current billboards subject to the agreement will become legal conforming “permitted” signs. If a billboard comes down for any reason, the square footage will be held in a “sign bank” until it can be used again or combined to create additional billboards. Additionally, the billboard companies will have the right to upgrade to digital billboards in exchange for four traditional billboards. Digital billboards are currently prohibited in the city. To see an example of the potential impact of digital billboards, drive along Dale Mabry between Hillsborough Avenue and Waters Avenue; there are several along that stretch.

 
While there are distance separation requirements between billboards and residential property (300′ standard, 500′ digital), the distances are measured linearly along the street, not back into the neighborhood. Digital billboards will also be subject to a 75’ rear yard setback (the average depth of commercial property in Seminole Heights is 125 feet). Additionally, provisions of the agreement allow a billboard to be transferred to any existing permitted sign. This would allow an existing billboard to be upgraded to digital and then transferred to another existing “grandfathered” location anywhere in the city, even on residential property.
 
The agreements do contain screening provisions to block the view of billboards from residential property with trees. However, the trees will have up to five years to screen 80% of the billboard, three years for a digital billboard. There are also provisions prohibiting new billboards on residential property, on properties with a historically designated structure, in overlay districts with existing billboard prohibitions (e.g. New Tampa) and certain view corridors in the city. Digital billboards will be prohibited within the Westshore business district.
 
To see one of the actual agreements, click on this link: http://docserver.tampagov.net/cache/00002/246/00000003.PDF, The agreement starts on page 6. Section 7 addresses replacement, reconstruction, rebuilding, relocation, upgrading and reconfiguration. Section 8 addresses banked credits and Section 12 addresses screening.
 
If you have questions on how this agreement can impact you, the neighborhood and the city as a whole or if you have an opinion on the introduction of digital billboards to the Tampa skyline, Thursday morning is your opportunity to address City Council during the public comment portion of the agenda (generally occurs around 9:15am), which will then be immediately followed by the billboard discussion.
 
If you cannot attend the City Council meeting, you may email City Council at tampacitycouncil@tampagov.net or call at 813-274-8131. Let your voice be heard!

From the Tampa Tribune:

Tampa - Got some old televisions and computers you want to dispose of? Then mark this date your calendar.

The City of Tampa will hold its first Electronics Collection Day from 9 a.m to 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 10 at 4010 W. Spruce St., according to a news release. The city is holding the event in anticipation of a large number of TVs being disposed of when all-digital broadcasting begins in February. Only electronics will be collected.

Also, the city announced Christmas trees will be collected beginning Jan. 5 as part of regularly scheduled yard waste collections. Trees must be bare — no ornaments, lights or tree stands. Areas not receiving yard waste pickup will have their trees picked up on Jan. 8-9. Residents also have the option of disposing of their trees at the Manhattan Brush site, or at the McKay Bay Waste-to-Energy facility.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/dec/27/city-pickup-old-tvs-computers/

 

Recently, on the discussion board, the topic of community courts was mentioned. This is a program in which violators of simple “quality of life” crimes are required to pay restitution directly to the neighborhood in which the crime was violated. These crimes are typically misdemeanors such as prostitution, dui, vandalism, etc. As I began researching similar situations with neighborhoods across the country, I quickly found several cases in cities/states across the
US where community courts have already been established. When you have time, I encourage you to read some of the articles linked below.

 

Within our neighborhood, I can envision these criminals either paying a monetary fine that will go directly to bettering our neighborhood. (i.e. decorative street lights, landscaping, signage, etc) For those unable to afford the financial restitution, a program of community service would be utilized in which the violator would be required to complete a set hours of service within the neighborhood. These services would be set by the neighborhood leaders. We could have them clean under the overpasses, a constant problem of our neighborhood. They could help landscape our thoroughfares. Remove litter, paint over graffiti, establish our own Senior Assistance program, mow vacant lots or abandoned homes, etc.  

 

Spend some time reading the articles below then share your thought. Do you think it could be a viable solution? The great thing about community courts is that it could free up valuable resources from the city to perform other tasks. On a strained Parks and Rec department, we can have these offenders assists with maintaining the parks, mowing, litter, etc.

 

New Community Courts to Target Minor Crimes

 

http://articles.latimes.com/2000/dec/25/local/me-4506

 

 Indy Community Court

 

http://www.indygov.org/eGov/County/Pros/Prevent/CommPros/CommCourt/home.htm

 

 Lesser Crimes & Offenses – Prostitution

 

http://social.jrank.org/pages/1293/Lesser-Crimes-Offenses-Prostitution.html

 

Recently, Janet Zink, one of my favorite St. Pete Times Staff Writers wrote a post for tampabay.com. Like myself, Janet is wondering who is heir to the throne to become
Tampa’s next Mayor. While Iorio has drawn much criticism for her laid back leadership style, who will be next in line and what challenges will they face? What Iorio policies will be left to clean up, complete or continue? While I must admit, some of her “could be” heirs scare the heck out of me, some are tolerable. Read her thoughts below.

Tampa Mayor Pam Ioriowill finish her second term in office in 2011. Who’s best-suited to assume the mantle when she moves on? That’s the question posed in a new robo-call. The potential candidates listed in the survey: Hillsborough County Tax Collector Doug Belden, Hillsborough County Commissioner Rose Ferlita, former Tampa City Council member and one-time mayoral candidate Bob Buckhorn, City Council members Tom Scott, Linda Saul-Senaand John Dingfelder; and developer Ed Turanchik. Let the speculation begin…

 

In tomorrow’s Saint Petersburg Times there will be an article regarding the prostitution problems facing greater SH. Read article below.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article825742.ece

SOUTHEAST SEMINOLE HEIGHTS — On a recent evening in Southeast Seminole Heights, Michael Ferlita drove by six prostitutes standing on the corner of Nebraska Avenue, about 1 1/2 blocks from his home. It’s nothing new in an area that for years has been known for such activity.

But for Ferlita, 45, this was different. The police had cleaned up the neighborhood for a while, but Ferlita says the number of prostitutes has increased dramatically over the past several months, and he’s getting sick of shooing them away.

“It’s come back like a swarm of bees, and we’re kind of getting short of patience,” he said.

A slew of residents have written their frustrations on neighborhood blogs and even sent a media release by e-mail Tuesday titled “Seminole Heights Neighbors are becoming outraged with TPD.” The police aren’t doing enough, and Mayor Pam Iorio had not responded to their complaint letters earlier this week, the e-mail said.

Neighbors were considering an organized protest at City Hall.

But Maj. Gerald Honeywell of the Tampa Police Department said the stretch of Nebraska in Southeast Seminole Heights has always been a problem, and he hasn’t noticed a drastic increase. In August, he said, police arrested 17 prostitutes.

Authorities see a lot of the same people on the streets, with some prostitutes and johns coming from as far as Clearwater, Lakeland, Sarasota and even Zephyrhills. Typically, when the police step up pressure, the prostitutes just move to surrounding neighborhoods.

“We’ve never been able to figure out why they pick this area,” Honeywell said.

In response to the complaints, police hope to augment their partnership with the Seminole Heights Neighborhood Watch Patrol program.

The neighborhood program was effective for its first five years, said Sherry Genovar-Simons, president of the Southeast Seminole Heights Civic Association. She thinks the downturn in the economy may have caused the resurgence of prostitutes.

Police and the neighborhood association will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Police Department’s District 3 office, 3808 N 22nd St., to discuss a plan of attack. Honeywell said the patrol program could involve officers riding along with residents in their vehicles, rather than marked cruisers, searching the area for violators.

“The best thing to do is just work together,” Honeywell said. “We’ve already stepped up the patrol, but we need to get the citizens involved.”

Ferlita said the plan is dangerous, and residents shouldn’t be asked to take the matter into their own hands.

“No tax-paying citizen should be responsible for cleaning up illegal acts on the streets,” he said.

Genovar-Simons disagrees: “We live on every street, and we see what goes on,” she said. “They could put a million TPD officers, and they wouldn’t see what we see on a day-in and day-out situation.”

This email came in from a neighbor in SH and may be a solution to the problem. I think the idea definitely has merit. Read On:

 ________

 

One of the commonalities among the writers in all the emails are the feeling that the city cleaned up Kennedy and also Dale Mabry. Many felt that the city has abandoned SH and does not care nor will listen to the issues that are facing our neighborhood.

 

I think it may be time that SH speaks out and is heard LOUD AND CLEAR. Each month, City Council has their late night meeting.  If SH were to organize en mass a very large group of protesters to orderly march on the sidewalks with picket signs and chants, this would not only embarrass the city and TPD, but could cause the light to shine on the severity of the problem and more importantly every media in town would clamor to downtown for the story. It would be more symbolic in nature in that the location is more important as we would be protesting at the Mayor’s office (though likely not there) and City Hall. What is more important is the fact that once brought to light, we would have avenues to explore as follow-up to ensure that the efforts do not fade in typical TPD style. Anyone up for an old fashion protest?

The letter below was sent by a resident in SESH to Mayor Iorio regarding the city’s lack of assistance with prostitution. Read on.

_________________________

Mayor Iorio, 
   I have lived in SE Seminole Heights for 3 years and have never seen the prostitution activity on Nebraska Ave as bad as it is now. They walk the streets Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights from midnight til dawn. Friday I watched two Hillsborough HS students walking to school have to wait at a corner where a prostitute was waiting for her next customer. I always report the presence of these women and men to the TPD non-emergency number. I live next to the DJJ building, a frequent turnaround spot for the cars, and I leave for work very early in the AM. There is even activity on the daylight hours.  Saturday night I was awakened at 3:30 by car horns as one of the frquent visitors to our neighborhood was standing actually in the  middle of Nebraska. Our neighborhood is under no less than assault by these criminals. This weekend both vehicles in my drive were vandalized. The men that accompany these women are hardly good citizens themselves.

  We desperately need your assistance. We have a very concerned and socially active neighborhood. We are attempting to renew this historic area of the city. The obnoxious presence of this activity is no less than a blight on the city’s name. They were driven off Kennedy. They were driven off Dale Mabry - all within the years I have lived in Tampa. Please lead the fight to drive them off Nebraska.
  Thank you,

Below are 7 emails that came from the SESH Email group regarding the increase in prostitution and TPD lack of response. Read On…

________________

EMAIL ONE
I spoke to some DJJ staff and the camera on their building films the parking lot at the corner of McBerry where there was hooker activity both Friday and Saturday nights. It is a convenient turnaround spot and is often used. I was awakened by it last night at 3:30, phoned TPD and drove around to see the extent of it. I love losing sleep so I waited a while to send out this email. There were two black females and two males between Shadowlawn and Caracas. One stood out in the bus lane ON Nebraska. When I returned home she was in the middle of the road. A black Hummer was also driving up and down the side streets. This is now every Friday and Saturday night, all night. It begins around 11 or 12 and continues on til dawn. On Friday I saw two Hillsborough HS kids walking to school and stood at the corner of Osborne and Nebraska with the same woman I saw out last night. There is also a white woman who works the sidewalk during the day. I have lived here for 3 years and this is the worse I have seen. If TPD could get the DJJ staff to not erase the tapes from their cameras every day, they could easily clean up the activity at McBerry and get some good evidence for court. I was told by my neighbor that there was a TPD cruiser stopped there for a while but not at 3:30.

EMAIL TWO
On Thursday evening around 9:30 p.m. I saw two “girls” working. One at Nebraska and New Orleans and the other at Emma. I called TPD non-emergency. The dispatcher was a bit “put off” by my call. I advised them that I would wait at the corner to see how long it would take for a patrol car to show up. I was told that it might be a good while since it was not an emergency. Friday night, Joel’s cousin, who is visting, was returning home after an evening out at around 2:30 a.m. and saw no fewer that 8 prostitutes working. There were 4 north of Osborne and 4 south of Osborne. There was no obvious police presence. We are obviously being completely and totally ignored by the police authorities.

EMAIL THREE
I’ve seen the self employed ladies on 15th too….although the drug dealers outnumber them. It is getting worse instead of better. I had a rude awakening the other day after talking with my neighbor. He let me know what has been happening on my block. On this block alone there has been no less than 4 air conditioners stolen and 1 set of washer and dryers which was hooked up in the garage. I don’t know if the police were called or not. The neighbor 2 houses down from me had his front door kicked in sometime between 8 am and 10 am. He called the police and they were supposed to send someone out. As of 1 pm when I spoke with him they still had not shown up. He also told me about coming home and there was a black truck backed up through my lot and the 2 males were attempting to hook up his trailer that had 2 jet skies on it. They took off when they saw him coming. For the first time in the 8 years that I have been living here I am becoming increasingly concerned about the safety of myself and my home. I have strengthened the locks on all my doors but I am still uneasy about leaving town for any length of time. My friend on the corner of New Orleans and Olny came home to find a rock thrown threw his window. This is a trick that thieves do to see if an alarm goes off or not. If it does they move on. If it doesn’t they go in. Have we as a neighborhood been abandoned by the TPD?

EMAIL FOUR
Thank you J for sharing your infor on the activity out near 15th St We, as a neighborhood, need to stop talking, emailing, and take some action. We need to get watch teams organized to patrol the streets with cameras all night if necessary. We need to report all criminal activity to TPD. I have written to the mayor because of the sheer volume of activity that has been going on this past several months. I am about to start filming it for the news stations.

EMAIL FIVE (Weekly Hooker Report)
I am glad to see that others on here are upset b/c the problem is getting worse. Sun - No hookers at 1am Mon - One pregnant white hooker next to Ybor pizza. I called it in, but didn’t get a case number. When I checked the city website, there was no record. It seems the dispatcher sent my call to the circular file. I did get “tailed” by a marked unit when I was calling in this hooker. At least the officers will try and scare off what they think is a customer. This hooker is staying at the motel at Osborne and Florida. I saw her coming out of there with her pimp on Wed afternoon. Tue - No hookers at 1am Wed - No hooker at 2am Thu - didn’t go out to check Friday Night - The hookers were out an hour early tonight. I called in a report of 8 hookers at 1:45 am and the call was again not logged on the city website. I went home and heard on my scanner that an officer called in that he was doing “crime prevention activity” at Osborne and Nebraska, at 2:50. I am wondering if one car is going out to do a sweep b/c this is the third time that a unit has come out at ten before three. I went back out at 3:40 and the road was full of hookers and the johns were circling on all the side streets. By the time I circled around to get descriptions to call in, again, the hookers were all gone. Saturday Night - Again, as others have reported, Nebraska had 8 to 10 hookers most of the night. I called in the report and asked for the case number. The dispatcher said hold on, which told me that he hadn’t recorded anything. They almost always give their operator number when they answer the phone. I make it a point now to record both the operator number and the case number. As others have said, there has been an increase, in the past few weeks, in drug dealer pimp types on foot near the hookers. The problem is just as bad north of Hillsborough. Even when south of Hillsborough has one or no hookers, Nebraska north of Hillsborough has a half dozen each of hookers and drug dealers. There was also a hooker at the Circle K at Florida and Hillsborough sitting next to the pay phone. Also, on Wed night the individual who was arrested in this story, was standing in front of the Circle K aggressively panhandling. I thought he was going to rob someone or rob the store. Looks like my instincts weren’t too far off http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/2008/09/drug-bust-at-ta.html I had my desktop scanner on at home both Friday and Saturday nights. Part of the problem is that we are sharing resources with some very high crimes areas to the south and east of us. If you are out on Nebraska and Hillsborough, you won’t see many patrol cars b/c they are over in these other areas. We are getting one or two units to stop and move the hookers along but they know that the unit will get a call and they can get right back to hooking. Until a commitment is made to stop cars driving on the streets off Nebraska and making u-turns on Nebraska, the customers will continue to come into our neighborhood. Until units are consistently stopping and interrogating the hookers, disrupting their business, the hookers will continue to operate in our neighborhood. I am all for turning up the heat downtown. Hookers are not tolerated on Kennedy or Dale Mabry. They should not be tolerated on Nebraska Ave.

EMAIL SIX
I Wonder if Tampa could borrow some officers from a less busy city to do “hooker patrol” on Nebraska, the way cities do after a natural disaster. It seems to me that having all of these criminals swarming freely through our neighborhood is a disaster, and TPD’s resources are already stretched thin right now. “Borrow” some officers to spend the whole night driving through the hood and driving off and arresting the criminals.

EMAIL SEVEN
Send any tapes you get to one of the online news sources…