C.O.N.A. of South Pinellas County

Pushing For Progress

Jun 15, 2004

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Neighbors and Friends:

We have had strong meetings this Spring dealing with the issues of code enforcement and policing. The meetings always leave me keenly aware of the wide spread between what we are doing in these areas and what is possible.
President Bush has a phrase about the "bigotry of low expectations". I believe this applies to the government in St. Petersburg.

The City happily measures its crime rate, supplied from FBI stats, against the four highest crime rate cities in the State. They, then, cheer that ours is lower than three of the four. When CONA compares crime rates, using the same FBI stats, against the 350 largest cities in America, the police department cries foul and complains that we don't understand. Our crime rate is higher than 86% of these cities.

My only hope is that while the Police Department is publicly complaining about CONA using these comparisons, they are looking at their methods and comparing to more successful cities. Our goal in looking at crime rates across the country is to encourage the City to look into what are other cities doing to lower their crime rates so much more.

One of the methods other cities use is the broken window theory. That is, they enforce the law, INCLUDING PETTY CRIMES. The paper did a story about illegally tinted windows that are so dark that the police can not see in. I was working in the legislature a quarter century ago when these laws were passed. The police departments wanted to easily see in the front window while allowing the rear window to be very dark and the sides in between. That is the law. The St. Pete Police Department said, "it is not a priority with us". Kenneth City, empowers their police officers to test the tint level and REMOVE illegal tinting on the spot. Both St Pete and Kenneth City communicate acceptable behavior by their actions. When we state that it is not a priority, the effect is to remove the law from the books. I cite the window tinting simply to illustrate our policy of low expectations.

As neighborhood activists, we need to communicate to our governmental leaders, that we expect better! Without pressure from us, the policy of happy talk is all we get. We can do better on codes, policing and neighborhood renewal. Please speak up!

Sincerely,

Karl Nurse, President CONA


THE LDR DRAFT HAS BEEN COMPLETED
After many months, the City?’s consultant has finished the draft of the new land development regulations. Now, we must start the task of reviewing and editing the draft.

The committees that worked on each of the segments for the LDR have been asked to review the initial drafts for their segments. This initial review should be completed by mid June.

After each committee has met and made changes to the draft District Regulations, the document will be posted on the City of St. Petersburg web site, as well as being made available at the libraries, public buildings and community centers.

Public meeting will then be announced to public input on each of the District Regulations.

Additional meetings on specific topics including procedural issues, Boards and Commissions, et. al. will also be scheduled and notice will be provided in future newsletters for these meetings.


CONA?’s June Agenda Focuses on County-Wide Issues

This month we will be addressing three county related issues:

1) County Transportation Improvement Plans

2) PSTA - ?“public transit "

3) Use of Toytown landfill for recreation uses.

County Commissioner, Ken Welch has kindly agreed to discuss the County?’s Transportation Improvement Plans with us. He will talk about the choices the county is considering to improve our roads over the next ten years. All of the options are expensive and involve raising the gasoline tax.

At the low end, a countywide traffic light signalization co-ordination can allow traffic to flow more smoothly on the same roads. This requires the county and the cities to work together which they are not doing as well as they could.

On a larger scale, the County is considering spending about 1,000,000,000 dollars to connect I-275 to the Bayside Bridge to McMullen-Booth Rd.

St. Petersburg is in the enviable position of having done a good job planning it's grid road system so that we need rather little road expansion. By contrast, Mid & North Pinellas have steadily worsening traffic problems. The options are expensive.

The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, PSTA, has just adopted a five year improvement plan that calls for later evening service, more weekend service, greater frequencies on popular routes, 3 express bus routes. After years of no growth of service, this has considerable possibilities for us.

Maintaining our grid and improving public transportation opportunities have long been priority issues for CONA. The same issues are reflected in the City?’s VISION 2020

Finally, John Gaintonio, Director of Sports, for the St Pete/Clw Convention and Visitors Bureau, will outline a plan to turn the old Toytown landfill on I-275 into a sports complex with about 10 soccer/football fields, and a similar number of softball/baseball fields. By having a large cluster of fields in one location, the CVB can attract many sports tournaments to the area. It works well because it is near the airports and many Ulmerton Road area hotels. The community would have access to the fields the rest of the time. We would benefit by having a county park in northern St. Pete for our use most of the time.


SPEAKERS FOR NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGS

Don't forget when you begin planning future neighborhood meetings that someone is available to speak about Medicare/Medicaid waste, fraud, abuse and error awareness. Call Maureen Hatt @ 570-9696 x252 to reserve a date.
Thanks and Take care,

Shelly Schwartz


CODES COMMITTEE UPDATE

The Codes Committee was created at our March meeting to follow-up on the issues raised. Kai Warren was appointed chair of the committee and, since then, the has been developing its proposals. The following is a draft of recommendations and considerations currently under discussion.

Kai Warren can be reached at:
Kai8odin@aol.com


PROPOSED MISSION STATEMENT:

We are seeking to effect better efficiency within the Codes Department, stimulate neighborhood involvement to reduce violations, and strengthen the rights of the community against the abuses of "property rights."

Please accept my apologizes if this statement doesn?’t appeal to you. It isn?’t fixed in stone and the only suggestion to change it was made by Shelly, who I assume thought it was either too harsh or didn?’t stand much of a chance in being changed with regard to "property rights." Either way, he might be right. Give me your thoughts.

There are three points the statement addresses:

1. Better efficiency in the Codes Department
2. Stimulate neighborhood involvement
3. Community rights over property rights

Better efficiency
I think we agree that the City may be on to something with their attempt to revamp the practices of their Codes Enforcers by putting laptops and cell phones in their cars. This is all well and fine, and we understand that time will tell how well this works. While hiring more codes enforcers appears to be a simple solution it is premature to request it at this time. The question then is, are there other ways that the Codes Department can become more efficient that aren?’t related to what is being attempted in the cars?

A change in software might be needed. These problems seem to be:
- tracking time from issuing a citation and correcting it.
- identifying an individual who owns numerous properties with repeat violations and passing this on to the CEB.
- connecting the Police and Fire Departments to a Codes "bank" so that investigators can be made aware of existing problems.

There may be Management problems where new practices may be needed.
- in the way citations by investigators are reviewed by supervisors causing superfluous paperwork. Is every citation reviewed by someone else or are there specific issues that require review. What are the criteria for reviews and can they be streamlined?
- extensions may be granted when not deserved causing delays in bringing violations to a conclusion.
- There may be other "bottle necks" in the department that could be exposed through a meeting of investigators, or other Code Department representative, with non-city personnel (us?)

There is uncertainty about who has the responsibility to cite certain violations. The most obvious one deals with illegal parking in the front yard. Is it a codes or a police issue? There is discussion about a state statue being created to deal with it but that has been delayed. Will the county create a new ordinance? It has been suggested that until this is resolved there might be something the neighborhood association can do. This leads to our second point of our mission statement.

Neighborhood Involvement
There are a few things that neighborhoods can do to lessen codes violations.
- Through newsletters and flyers they can educate the community on corrective measures, like parking in unapproved places, leaving dumpsters out, or communicating that they would like to have a litter free area. A blurb with the telephone numbers for Sanitation Services would help. (It includes: Residential garbage collection: 893-7334; Free collection of old furniture and appliances: 893-7398; Free rodent control: 893-7898; Graffiti removal: 893-7894; Container repair: 893-7898; Building materials, brush and other collections: 893-7398 (available for a small fee); Report Illegal Dumping to the Police Tip Line: 892-5000
- Encourage reporting violations at www.stpete.org, Online Service or by calling 893-7373.
- Neighborhood associations can clean up as a project and apply that time to their share in Neighborhood Partnership Grants. This can have a positive effect of setting an example for others to follow.
- Find individuals in need of help and have your association take on helping those individuals as a project, or contact the City to ask "Paint St. Pete Proud" to get involved.
- Contact places of worship in your community to request that they get involved with helping clean up.
- Your suggestion ______________.

It is important that we, as neighborhood leaders, encourage citizen?’s to become more active in reducing violations within our own boarders with the aim that this will lighten the burden of City Codes Enforcement allowing them to focus on the greater problems.

Community Rights over Property Rights
There are too many abuses in our City by people who have no interest, nor intention to respect the values or quality of life in a community. They are invested in our neighborhoods for only one purpose: to make a profit. To this end they take advantage of any method that enables them to keep possession of their property by spending the least amount or no money to do it. They ask for extensions, they make poor quality repairs, they rent structurally, sanitary unsafe buildings, without care to the character of the tenant (criminals of all types), and they do this with impunity. They are rewarded while the community pays the price in lower real estate values, lower quality of life, and higher crime rates.

Shelly reported back to us about his friend with the NCSL informing him of the Neighborhood Preservation and Enhancement Program, Florida Statutes Title XI Chapter 163. Many thanks to Shelly for his follow through. From my reading of the law there are a number of areas that could qualify as "blighted." I just don?’t see how it is applicable to our overall goal. This law basically prepares the way for a community to form an association and create a plan to eliminate the negative conditions that cause the blight. While it seems like a good law, intended to help troubled areas help themselves, I think we are looking for ways to restrict the power of those individuals who cause many of the problems. If we are dealing with slumlords or individual (non-home) owners of "blighted" properties, then we should be looking at ways to force them to change their practice; which in turn will, with time, enable Codes Enforcement more time to deal with more common problems throughout the whole City.

I know of a number of properties in Historic Roser Park that are owned by three or more individuals who are taking advantage of loopholes in current laws. In some cases they have created blight. In other cases I know of, they are permitting the destruction of their rentals through neglect, which in effect is paving the way for future blight. This threat, you might think, is especially acute in a historic district because the loss of any structure lessens the historical integrity of that area. That would be true, but the issues we are dealing with here are applicable in any community. We don?’t want to just prevent these injustices from happening by investors of multiple properties, we want to prevent them from happening by the investor of a single property too.

The new ordinance, that just passed, that makes it harder for repeat violators of properties with 3 or more rental units is a step in the right direction. The City has expressed an interest in being allowed to have some room to see how well this works before they broaden the scope to include all rental properties. A trial period should be allowed. This may take a couple years; I?’m not sure; however, in either case, this ordinance won?’t do anything about boarded up structures.

The City has had great success in eliminating many boarded structures in the recent past but this requires the permission of the owner. When the owner of a boarded up structure desires to leave it in that condition the community bears the brunt of that blight in their neighborhood. It is my feeling, and I hope yours too, that the owner should be forced to make the structure livable, have it occupied, or sell it. If an ordinance is needed to make this happen we should start talking to the individuals who can facilitate it.


2004 CONA MEMBERS
The following neighborhoods are paid CONA Members for 2004

Albert Whitted Airport
Asian F.A.C.E
Bahama shores
Bayway Isles
Broad water
Causeway Isles
Crescent Hgts.
Crescent Lake
Disston Hgts.
Downtown
Driftwood
Euclid-St. Paul
Fossil Park
Greater Pinellas Point
Greater Woodlawn
Garden Manor
Harbordale
Harris Park
Historic Kenwood
Historic Roser Park
Isla del Sol
Jungle Prada
Jungle terrace
Lakewood Terrace
Lakewood Civic
Magnolia Hgts
Mangrove Bayou
Maximo Moorings
Meadowlawn
Mobel Americana
North Kenwood
Northeast Park
Placido Bayou
Ponce de Leon
Rivera Bay
Shore Acres
Snell Isle Prop, Owners
Tropical Shores
United Central
Wildwood
Winston Park


CONA BOARD OF DIRECTOR?’S MEETING MINUTES

The Sunshine Multi-Service Center May 19, 2003

President Karl Nurse opened our meeting with the pledge of allegiance 7:00 p.m.

?˜ Attending candidates for election were invited to briefly introduce themselves. [We were reminded there is no runoff election in races for only single party slates of candidates.]
> Moved, (Griffith), to accept the April Minutes as published in our Newsletter. [Approved]
?˜ Cathy Wilson, (Greater Woodlawn), reported that the CONA Leadership Class graduated 37 attendees and collected net revenues of $167. in this their twelfth year. She was awarded a trophy in appreciation for chairing this year?’s program.
?˜ Treasurer Libby Steele reported a current bank balance of $3,298. noting 41 paid members.
> Moved, (Whysong), to accept our Treasurer?’s report. [Approved]
?˜ The President offered a brief review of the work of our CONA Codes Committee evolving new ordinances, with city staff, that were submitted for City Council approval.
-- Vice Mayor Mike Dove, responding, explained that funding would be available in October to implement some of the hi-tech efficiencies planned for the Codes Department.
?˜ Karl Nurse also offered an update on the issue of a developer?’s request to the city to vacate a block of 62nd. Street South. Though this request has been withdrawn, Karl noted that at least five other vacancy requests are under city evaluation.
?˜ Moved, (Wilson), CONA urges that all subsequent vacancy requests be deferred pending submission and approval of the new LDR ordinances currently being developed. [Approved]
-- Jeff Danner, (Historic Kenwood), urged that all such traffic flow revisions should be approved by the County Planning Commission prior to submission/consideration by the EDC.

Focusing on our CONA Town Meeting Format, Karl introduced our three guest speakers, inviting each to provide brief introductory comments. They were: Police Chief Chuck Harmon, Police Benevolent Assoc. (PBA) President Mark Deasaro, and the President of the St. Petersburg NAACP, Darryl Rouson. The meeting was then opened for questions from the floor for the three panelists.
?˜ Asked if other cities are using different methods to combat crime, Chief Harmon responded that his staff continually searches for innovative and successful schemes of enforcement.
?˜ Darryl Rouson emphasized that crime is a collective community problem, not racially divided, calling for responsible involvement by all citizens.
?˜ Chief Harmon insisted that arresting all violators does not solve the problem though others argued the punishing small crimes has proven effective in reducing major crime activity as noted in the ?“Broken Window Strategy?”
?˜ Citing the long-term impacts of earlier problems, Mr. Rouson recalled the enduring hardships created in the Afro-American Community when the Tropicana Dome was built displacing the black community that had surrounded the gas works.
?˜ The Chief defended the size and efficiency of his department budget noting that increasing Police budgets necessarily detract from other social programs?…?…..which may be more cost-effective in reducing crime than law enforcement.
?˜ Mr. Rouson seconded that point noting the unprecedented growth of our prisons is not matched by the growth of our schools and Education budgets.
?˜ Responding to the complaint that neighborhood crime enforcement may simply lead to displacement of the criminal activity to other neighborhoods, Chief Harmon noted the many ?“Cracks?” in the prosecution and incarceration mechanisms that too often fail to protect our community from the criminal elements.
?˜ Though the Chief defended his staff, administration and budget, challenging the validity of some of the statistical comparisons discussed, there was a consensus more could and should be done, despite increased costs, to improve the quality of life in our city through a reduction of crime.

Our meeting adjourned, with thanks to our panelists, at 8:55 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Conrad Weiser, Secretary