OSHNA Board Responds to Hamton Terrace Article in Tampa Tribune
By ERIC KRAUSE Special To The Tampa Tribune
The Tampa Tribune-Published: October 1, 2008
These comments are concerning the story, “Enclave Pursuing the Split From Old Seminole Heights Association,” by Kathy Steele, appearing in the Sept. 15 Tribune. As the Board of the Old Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association (OSHNA), we are writing to address the failure to include the many key accomplishments not mentioned within this article on neighborhood problems. Each year, numerous volunteer hours are spent on the many voiced concerns of the residents of Old Seminole Heights. These items are addressed through our various committees in which solutions are presented, developed and implemented. To highlight accomplishments on problems mentioned in this article, we offer the following:
- Illegal Dumping: A Hampton Terrace Resident chairs the Code Enforcement Committee. Through months of hard work, no illegal dumping violations have been brought to the Board.
- Speeding Motorists: OSHNA has worked with city transportation officials and the Tampa Police Department with much success. Police speed detection machines move throughout the neighborhood, as well as do officers ticketing offenders on Henry Avenue, cutting through Hampton Terrace. In addition, new stop signs have been placed in the neighborhood, to discourage the cut-through traffic.
- Inadequate Tree Trimming: Within the past six months, the board has spoken with TECO and the city about neighborhood tree trimming being too extreme. As a result, our Greenspace Committee is working with TECO, and an arborist, to make sure all trees are properly trimmed.
- Lake Roberta Clean Up: OSHNA’s Lake Roberta Committee is directly responsible for the $316,000 project which has cleaned up the lake, and implemented sediment traps to help control what pours into the lake. The duckweed bloom is an unfortunate side effect from projects stirring up nutrients collected over the years within the lake.
- Communication: Each year the association tries to reach the over 15,000 residents of Seminole Heights. Whether through our quarterly newsletter, which is honored as the “best in the county,” the best attended home tour, monthly porch parties, and bungalow e-mail alerts which announce our parades, concerts and other events. Our volunteers continue to strive to reach even more, with the creation of our Neighborhood Outreach Committee.
Those criticizing OSHNA for its shortcomings may not be aware of our efforts and the many accomplishments in our neighborhood. The OSHNA Board and Volunteers will continue working to maintain what is considered “The Best Neighborhood in Tampa”, as awarded by the magazine, Creative Loafing, in its September 2008 issue. Eric Krause is a trustee of the Board of Old Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association on whose behalf this was written.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/oct/01/na-making-progress-in-seminole-heights/
