The Official Unofficial Seminole Heights Blog

From the SESH email group:

It seems as though there are people out there who have no appreciation for all our efforts to improve the life style in SESH.  We are nearly at the end of our six year battle to get the fountain and the Gazebo ready to use, and it seems it has become an irresistible attraction to those who can’t stand anyone having anything nice!

In the past three weeks, since the Gazebo itself was finished, someone drew in the wet concrete of the Gazebo, someone broke the gate and stole the sod, and someone tagged the concrete with orange paint.  This was in spite of the fact that TPD has spent a great deal of time in this park kicking people out, and just watching over things.  In addition, at least one neighbor has noticed suspicious behavior and called TPD to investigate.

My point of this email is to let everyone know that we are under attack and to ask all of you to pay particular attention to the happenings in the park.  No one is to be in this park after dark.  If you see anyone, please call the non emergency number.  No one is to have a vehicle in the park beyond the fence, unless it is a city authorized  vehicle.  Please, please, everyone, help out and keep an eye on our park. 

Lets make these thugs as unwelcome as possible!  Thanks!

My neighbors, Kelly and Aaron, informed me this morning that additional arrest (I believe four in total) were made yesterday regarding the burglaries in our area.  Apparently the gentlemen confessed to many of the burglaries including Kelly and Aaron’s.  I also understand that TPD located the very expensive camera equipment stolen out of Kelly and Aaron’s house.  TPD did and amazing job!  And thank goodness for awesome neighbors like Bryant who keep and eye out for his neighbors. And last, thanks again to Officer Degagne and Bill Metler. Sweet.

By Kathy Steele| The
Tampa Tribune

Published: November 20, 2008

TAMPA - A taste of eclectic Americana is coming to Seminole Heights.

A new restaurant – Ella’s – is under construction at Shadowlawn and Nebraska avenues. Its tentative opening is in March.

Owners Melissa Deming and Ernie Locke this week served up side dishes for the annual “eatin’ ” meeting of the Southeast Seminole Heights Civic Association.

When the restaurant opens, the Tuesday-through-Saturday, dinner-only menu will be a melting pot of American, Middle Eastern and Asian. Lunches might be added later. On Sundays, there will be Kansas-style barbecue and live blues music for brunch.

The downturn in the economy doesn’t give the owners pause. It might be different if Seminole Heights was saturated with restaurants, Deming said.

The two-story restaurant will have seating for about 50, including an outdoor patio. A second-floor loft could be opened for dining in the future.

“We also want to have a strong art element,” Deming said. There will be a rotating art wall featuring American folk art. “I’ve been tapping into those kinds of resources.”

The restaurant is named for her grandmother, Ella Hull, who grew up on a Kansas farm during the Depression.

From Today’s TBT

TAMPA BAY
 16 nabbed in hooker sting on Nebraska
 We suspect a few of the guys have some explaining to do.

 By Alexandra Zayas
 azayas@tampabay.com
  Tampa police took on the city’s most notorious prostitution drag this week­end in a two-day sting that nabbed 17 men on charges including soliciting to commit prostitution and possession of drugs and stolen firearms.

  The Tampa Police Department’s street anti-crime squad targeted the area of N Nebraska Avenue and E Emily Street in Southeast Semi­nole Heights on Friday and Saturday nights.

  Lt. Diane Hobley-Burney said po­lice conduct these types of stings in re­sponse to complaints from neighbors.

  Residents of Southeast Seminole Heights have battled crime in the area for years, with “hooker patrols” that take to the streets at night with flash­lights, shooing prostitutes away.

  Illegal activity all but disappeared, until about three months ago, when neighbors started seeing more street walkers.

  They recently met with police to ad­dress the situation.

  “TPD was really quick to listen to us,” said neighborhood association president Sherry Genovar-Simons. “They have really been paying consis­tent attention to the area. It’s helped the problem enormously.”

  Police said the following men were charged with soliciting to commit prostitution: Joseph Phillips, 46, Tampa; Louis E. Texidor, 34, Tampa; Michael Jimerson, 18, Tampa; Donald V. Jones, 47, Tampa; Eduardo Garcia, 41, Orlando; Kesnel Joseph, 31, Tampa; Jerry A. Booker, 43, Tampa; Gregorio Velasco, 39, Tampa; Kenneth Yana, 42, Spring Hill; Cano Bernadin, 29, Temple Terrace; Bigen­son Lubin, 23, Tampa; Samuel Hines, 73, Washington; Robert Torrence, 44, Tampa; Ervin D. Sharpe, 39, St. Pete; Peter Sanchez, 50, Tampa; and Shaun A. Sanders, 29, Tampa.
  Daniel J. Klein, 42, Tampa, was ar­rested on a charge of soliciting to buy drugs.
 

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.”

Yesterday, an email came through the SESH regarding some foreclosures in their neighborhood. Can this be a sign of the times? The unfortunate thing is that you know the tenants in these boarding homes are unaware that the exorbitant amount of money they are paying is not being used to pay the mortgage payment. As a result, the homes are being foreclosed. See Below for email:

The sex offender houses at 1303 and 1307
New Orleans known as Clifford Hills are in the foreclosure process. Finally some good news! Papers were filed in July.

Recently, I have been watching the stats with our new blog. We are now averaging over 300 page views per day and a little over 200 unique visitors per day. (Weekends tend to drop to about 90-120 visitors). With this much traffic for a new site, I have noticed that many comments are being posted regarding each neighborhood, their problems, concerns, etc. Over time, I have seen that one thing is consistent. Each person is more concerned with their immediate area and become very passionate when it comes to “cleaning up” their own area.  With traffic continuing to gain momentum, this got me thinking… Let’s see if we can determine the area where most of our visitors reside and see if we can identify any problems/challenges that we can tackle as a group. For example, the residents from SESH have been very vocal about TPD and prostitution. As a result, TPD has stepped up efforts to help control the problem. If we can identify commonalities among our groups, we can become better organized to address any issues head-on. You have heard the saying, “The pen is mightier than the sword!” As a group we may be able to tackle one issue at a time to organize email campaigns, etc. (While I am not 100% sure about the effects of the Whaley’s campaign, my instinct tells me that it was effective!)

I live in:
OSH, SSH, SESH… or I have no idea!
My Challenge is:_______________
I think this problem could be solved by: _____________________

How long have your lived in SH? ________________

From the SESH Email Group: (To make the post easier to read, I did combine paragraphs and shorten letter)
_________________________________
Date for Southeast Seminole Heights Home Tour Announced

For the past 5 years, the Southeast Seminole Heights Civic Association has sponsored the SESH Holiday Home and Garden Tour. This year, the Holiday Home and Garden Tour will be Sunday, December 7th. The Holiday Home Tour is the largest fundraising event sponsored by the civic association. On average, the tour welcomes between 700-1000 guests to tour approximately 10-12 beautifully decorated homes and/or gardens. Each home is decorated in Holiday décor and will be opened to the public from 1pm-5:30pm. During the tour, the homeowners are present at each of their homes to greet visitors, provide information about the house and answer questions. At some homes, contractors, architects or other suppliers are present to provide information and answer questions as well.

As a first for the home tour, the theme will be “going green” for the Holidays!

Instead of the traditional trolley/bus service, this year’s transportation will be provided by Green-Go’s Tampa, Inc. (www.greengostampa.com). In addition, guests will have the opportunity to “check out” bicycles making this year’s tour a Bike Tour as well. As an additional component, the tour will also feature a “Taste of Seminole Heights.” Local restaurants will be serving small samplings of their favorite/specialty dishes to highlight the unique, and variety of foods that Seminole Heights offer. If you are interested in participating in the tour, you may contact Stan at 813-391-5855, or to learn more about SE Seminole Heights, you can visit their official website at www.seshca.com or to learn more about Green-Go, visit their website at www.greengostampa.com.