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

CONA- Neighborhoods Working Together

May 20, 2003

KUDOS TO C.O.N.A.!
Neighborhood Partnership 7th Annual Awards 2003

*Neighborly Neighborhood:
Recipient: Jason Sullivan, Historic Old Northeast
Honorable Mention:
Bill Reese & Barbara Sturtevant - Greater Woodlawn
Mildred Sawyer - Highland Oaks

*Newsletter of the Year:
Recipient: Historic Old Northeast (Old Northeast Neighborhood News)
Honorable Mention: Crescent Lake; Eagle Crest; Lakewood Terrace; North Downtown and Shore Acres

*Website of the Year:
Recipient: North Downtown
Honorable Mention: Eagle Crest; Euclid-St. Paul's and Historic Old Northeast

*Project of the Year:
Recipient: Historic Old Northeast - National Register Historic Survey
Honorable Mention: Jungle Terrace and Winston Park

*President of the Year:
Recipient: Ann Drakeford - Lakewood Terrace
Honorable Mention: Clifford Holensworth - Crescent Lake; Chris Eaton - Historic Old Northeast and Rosemary Grasso - Ponce de Leon.

*Special thanks to the judges: Mary Wyatt Allen - Fine Arts Museum; Bob Dorsey - Tropical Shores Board member; Tony LaColla - Hillsborough County Neighborhood Services

Neighborhood Partnership Longevity Awards:
Recipients:
Dorothy Gilliams - 13th Street Heights
Johnnie B. Mack - Fruitland Heights

Up & Coming Neighborhood Award:
Recipient: Cromwell Heights
Honorable Mention: TwinBrooks

Neighborhood Partnership
City Council District Awards:
District 1 (Rick Kriseman): Eagle Crest
District 2 (John Bryan): Meadowlawn
District 3 (Bill Foster): Fossil Park
District 4 (Virginia Littrell): Historic Old Northeast
District 5 (James S. Bennett): Lakewood Crime Watch
District 6 (Earnest Williams): Highland Oaks
District 7 (Rene Flowers): Central Oak Park
District 8 (Jay Lasita): Historic Kenwood

Notable Neighborhoods:
Recipients: Childs Park, Disston Heights, Greater Woodlawn, North Downtown, Snell Isle, Uptown, Winston Park

Mayor's Outstanding
Community Partnership Initiative Award:

Historic Greenwood Cemetery:
Chris Kelly, Historic Roser Park
St. Petersburg Genealogical Society
Verizon

Methodist Town Partnership:
AAA Auto Club South

Mayor's Neighborhood Partnership Outstanding Achievement Award:
Recipients: Len Johnsen & Tom Barrett
Bartlett Park & Historic Roser Park

Robert L. Gilder Award:
Recipient: David J. Fischer

Neighborhood of the Year:
Recipient: Fossil Park (perservance, initiative, long term impact, transferability, impact on greater community)



Neighborhood Partnership Grants Fiscal Year 2003
Recipients:
Bahama Shores
Bartlett Park & Historic Roser Park
Childs Park
Grand Central District
Jungle Prada
Lakewood Estates
Maximo Moorings
Old Pasadena
Patrician Point
Park Street
Perry Bayview
Greater Pinellas Point
Yacht Club Estates


The CONA meeting location for Wednesday, May 21st is: The Sunshine Center, 330 5th St. North, St. Petersburg. Doors Open at 6:00 p.m. Meeting starts at 7:00 p.m.


Dear Neighbors,

The Neighborhood Social Reception that the City sponsored was great! The projects that all our different neighborhoods accomplished over the past year are a tremendous asset to both the City and their respective communities. On one hand, every neighborhood has experienced unparalleled appreciation in value, and on the other hand, property taxes for the loyal long-time residents have stayed relatively stable. How to address this issue is one of the major focuses for the City in 2003/4; and CONA is looking for input. Please bring your ideas to the May meeting.

CONA Leadership completed another successful year. We started with 41 students from -25 St. Petersburg neighborhoods; we graduated 37. I want to thank Ingrid Comberg, Tom Killian, all the team leaders and all the speakers, for their dedication and devotion to this wonderful program. Over the last 12 years we have graduated over 300 community leaders. I would like to encourage each of you to stay involved or come back and help continue the leadership tradition. The City has grown from a few dedicated neighborhoods 15 to 25 years ago, but it wasn't until Mayor David Fischer committed to the neighborhoods over 10 years ago that we have really grown and now have 106 associations.

We have two speakers coming to the May meeting, the first is Catherine Heverly with the Pinellas County Schools to tell us about mentoring grants. These grants can help both the schools and the communities that house the schools. The second speaker is Dr. David McKalip who is going to bring us up to speed on the medical malpractice problems that Florida is experiencing. School will be out for the summer by the time we meet in June, but it?’s not too soon to help plan for next year. It?’s also a great time to remind you to have a fantastic summer and be careful.

Looking forward to seeing you this month at the meeting.

Your neighbor, Brent


MAY 21st C.O.N.A. MEETING AGENDA

Pledge
Approval of Minutes
Treasurer's Report
Committee Reports:
Codes Committee Update
New Business:
City Budget 2004
Proposed Changes for Councils and Boards
Guest Speakers:
Mentoring Grants; Pinellas County Schools:
Catherine Heverly
Medical Malpractice:
Dr. David McKalip


2003 CONA PAID MEMBERS

Thank you to 60 neighborhoods associations for paying your dues promptly. The new members this month are:

City Council, St. Petersburg
Holiday Park
Mobel Americana
Municipal Marina, St.Petersburg
34th St. Business Association
Tropical Shores

If your association needs a membership form, please call Paula Engel, newsletter editor, at 642-3134, and she will mail or FAX you a form. The January and February 2003 newsletters issues also have a printed form on page 6. Dues are $35 per year. If you wish to use the bulk mail permit, please add $15 to your dues.


CITY OF ST. PETERSBURG BOARD AND COMMISSION VACANCIES

ARTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE - 1 Regular member

CITY BEAUTIFUL COMMISSION - 6 Regular members

CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD - 1 Regular member (Subcontractor) & 1 Alternate member

COMMITTEE to ADVOCATE for PERSONS with IMPAIRMENTS - 1 Regular & 2 Alternate members

ENVIRONMENTAL DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION - 1 Regular member (ENGINEER CATEGORY)

HOUSING ROUNDTABLE - 6 Regular members: HOMEBUILDER/DEVELOPER, 1 AFFORDABLE HOUSING, 1 LOW INCOME HOUSING, 3 AT LARGE CATEGORIES

HUMAN RELATIONS REVIEW BOARD - 2 Alternate members

INVESTMENT OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE - 1 Regular member

SOCIAL SERVICES ALLOCATIONS COMMITTEE - 1 Regular member

IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN ANY OF THE ABOVE VACANCIES PLEASE CONTACT BRENT OR KARL FOR MORE DETAILS.


APRIL BOARD OF DIRECTOR'S MEETING MINUTES

The April C.O.N.A. meeting was held on April 16th, 2003, at The Sunshine Center, 330 5th Street North, St. Petersburg.

President Brent Fisher called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m., and then led the group in the pledge of allegiance to the flag.
?˜ Brent called for approval of the March Minutes as published in our March CONA Newsletter. [Approved]
?˜ We then heard Libby Steele's Treasurer's Report giving a bank balance of $6,147.00.
?˜ Our program then focused on a short video urging local organizations to consider funding drives to make Automatic External Defillibrator (AED) devices available in public places for emergency cardiac responses. Two representatives of the American Heart Association made the presentation.
?˜ Former Police Officer Capt. Ron Russell then made a presentation, supported by an educational video that urged all attendees to actively promote full implementation of the federally mandated Amber Alert System. He stressed the need for proactive police responses, (especially the F.D.L.E. in Florida), to child abduction situations that need to be publicized immediately to be achieve maximum public awareness and involvement.

Old Business:
?˜ We next heard an extensive discussion of the problems of our Police Department and listened to many suggested solutions in the contrast with the recommendations made by Police Chief Chuck Harmon.
?¨ Cathy Wilson, (Greater Woodlawn), read her proposed CONA resolution regarding the plans of Chief Harmon. [Her motion had been tabled at our March meeting.]
X Moved, (Nurse/Wilson), to delete the clauses of the proposed resolution which urge consideration of subcontracting our Police Department Operations with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department. [Approved]
X Moved, {Nurse/Wilson), Resolved, CONA supports the six proposals that Police Chief Chuck Harmon presented to Mayor Baker which are intended to overcome current staffing problems in the Department. CONA insists that two additional activities should be included in the chief's retention/recruiting program:
1. A management study and management training program should be implemented.
2. Exit interviews should be provided by non-police personnel. [Approved]
?˜ Brent called for a count of Devil Ray Baseball tickets needed by our association members to attend the September 20th New York Yankees game. [400]
?˜ Mention was made of a petition before the Planning Commission to afford dock builders much greater leeway in construction plans.
?˜ Susan Ajoc, (Neighborhood Partnership Office), solicited neighborhood's interest in the joint birthday celebration with St. Petersburg, Russia.
?¨ Susan urged carpooling for attendees at the 7th Annual Florida State Neighborhood's Conference in Sarasota, September 12th-13th.
?¨ Susan mentioned the City's Volunteer Appreciation Ice Cream Social.
?¨ Susan appealed for notification when new neighborhood association officers are elected.

New Business:
?˜ Bob Jeffrey, (City Development Services), reminded us of an April 30th LDR meeting, at the Coliseum, and urged greater neighborhood participation.
?˜ It was announced that organizers of the recently developed "Bicycle/Pedestrian Plan" will hold a final public hearing at Bayfront's Sun Pavilion room on May 14th from 4 to 6 p.m.
?˜ Drug March volunteers are needed for demonstrations on April 25th and May 2nd. Our contact will be Andy Garr at 893-4110.
?˜ We heard an interesting pro and con discussion of the plans to build a new Wal-Mart store in the Maximo area.

Our meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Conrad Weiser, Secretary


AMBER ALERT April 3, 2003
by Capt. Ron Russell, CM, CFI (Ret.)

Why can't we have the Amber Alert in the Tampa Bay area? We all know the entire purpose of an Amber Alert is to increase the speed and the accuracy of the facts to the general public. If anyone has the ability to initiate the alert, why doesn't anyone have knowledge of it or more so, why have we never heard it on the radio or TV? Further, why aren't the UPS, Fed Ex, Florida Power (a.k.a. Progress Energy) or the many other businesses including the County and State Wildlife that have multiple vehicles on the street know that such an alert has been issued? This would allow virtually thousands of eyes on the streets who, if properly notified, can be on the look out for the wanted vehicle and the missing child.

According to the Governor's office and the F. D. L. E., the Amber Alert is up and operating. If that is correct, why don't the majority of the police officers, citizens as well as the above mentioned work force know about the plan? We would like to ask the members of C. O. N. A. as well as all of the neighborhood associations to assist us in implementing a thorough and operable Amber Alert in the entire State of Florida. This can be done by calling the Governor's office at 850/488-4441 and informing him that we, the citizens and voters, want a real Amber Plan instead of a hit and miss version that is brought forth 12 to 24 hours after an abduction has occurred. We would also suggest that you make contact with not only your State Representatives (listed below) but also the St. Petersburg City Council by sending a copy of this letter with your name and address on the bottom stating that you are strongly in favor of the implementation of an operable Amber Alter. (We would request a copy of your letter or notification that you mailed one so we may keep track of the number of responses/supporters.)

We would also wish to ask each of the neighborhood associations to publish this article in your individual newsletters for the next few months. In addition to publishing the article, we are also in search of volunteers to make phone contacts. Phone contacts with not only the general citizenry to educate them of the program but also with the above mentioned business people who we hope will agree to notify the personnel in their vehicles should an Amber Alert be declared.

Please do not hesitate to reproduce this article and forward it to anyone you feel may be interested or able to assist us in educating the public regarding the Amber Alert, how it really works, and (the Amber Plan) has been found (if done properly) to be very successful in retrieving abducted children.

We wish to thank you for your interest and assistance in putting the Amber Plan into existence in the Tampa Bay area. Should you have any questions or comments please call me at Mediation Specialists between 11:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. at phone 727/345-7000, fax 727/345-4881, e-mail rrmediates@aol.com. I would be happy to hear from you!

Capt. Ron Russell, CM, CFI (Ret.)
Jungle Terrace Association
4859 Park Street North, #230
St Petersburg, FL 33709

Leslie Waters
State House of Representatives
5511 Park Street North
St. Petersburg, FL 33709

Dennis Jones
State Senate
8940 Seminole Blvd.
Seminole, FL 33772

P.S. The above article was written prior to President Bush's signing of the Amber Alert Bill on April 30, 2003. However, be advised that even though this Bill was signed, it is still (even more so) our intention to recruit citizens to education the public and to motivate our community leaders to put this plan into full operation before another tragedy occurs.


Perseverance pays off for Fossil Park residents
The neighborhood gets top honors from the city this year. Old Northeast, Roser Park and others also are recognized.
By ANDREW MEACHAM, Times Staff Writer
?© St. Petersburg Times published May 4, 2003

ST. PETERSBURG - The city honored more than two dozen neighborhoods Wednesday in an evening of accolades at the Mahaffey Theater.
Fossil Park took home Neighborhood of the Year recognition, which the city awards for initiative, perseverance, and long-term impact on the community.
Historic Old Northeast won two awards for its newsletter and for project of the year, capping a seven-year effort to get the neighborhood listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The city also recognized Historic Old Northeast resident Jason Sullivan, who chased a mugger who had assaulted and robbed several women, as Neighborly Neighbor of the Year. Bill Reese and Barbara Sturtevant of Greater Woodlawn and Mildred Sawyer of Highland Oaks received honorable mentions.
Mayor Rick Baker and Deputy Mayor Mike Dove also awarded plaques for community partnerships and outstanding achievement, with Historic Roser Park residents taking a share of both awards. Inspired by resident Len Johnson, president Chris Kelly started a successful $50,000 grant application for streetlights along 11th Avenue S by Greenwood Cemetery two weeks before deadline.
Kelly also initiated cleanups of the cemetery, which won the Mayor's Outstanding Community Partnership Initiative Award. Johnson and Tom Barrett won recognition for achievement for hiring tree trimmers and doing other landscaping along 11th Avenue S week after week.
North Downtown won for best Web site and received an honorable mention for its newsletter. "To me, communicating with the people who live in your neighborhood, whether they're members or not, is the single most important thing that a neighborhood association does," NoDo president Tim Baker said.
Ann Drakeford of Lakewood Terrace, honored as best president, spent much of last year with other volunteers supervising three bus stops for elementary and middle school youth. Residents had worried about unwelcome adults and also fighting. "It's a lot of work," Drakeford said. "You're constantly being called on."
Fossil Park president Karen Mullins credited neighbors for the group's victories since last year, which include suing two neighborhood motels as public nuisances. Attorney Darryl Rouson, representing Fossil Park, last year said he had reached agreement with owners of the Park Motel, 6638 Fourth St. N, which is still operating.
Representatives from a Best Western motel have approached neighbors about establishing a motel on the site. The neighborhood has initiated similar litigation against the Palm Motel, 6730 Fourth St. N.
"We have three or four motels down. We have three or four more to go," Mullins said.
The city also honored founding presidents Dorothy Gilliam of Thirteenth Street Heights and Johnnie B. Mack of Fruitland Heights with Neighborhood Partnership Longevity Awards. Gilliam retired recently, after 22 years of service. Mack is still president of the neighborhood association that she founded in 1980.
"I get tired, but I keep going," said Mack, who wants to restore the neighborhood to its former beauty, when most residents owned their homes. As for the award, she said, "I can't find enough words to say thank you."
Here are the other winners:
Best newsletter, honorable mention: Crescent Lake, Eagle Crest, Lakewood Terrace, North Downtown, Shore Acres.
Best Web site, honorable mention: Eagle Crest, Euclid-St. Paul's, Historic Old Northeast.
Project of the year, honorable mention: Jungle Terrace, Winston Park.
President of the Year, honorable mention: Clifford Holensworth, Crescent Lake; Chris Eaton, Historic Old Northeast; Rosemary Grasso, Ponce de Leon.
Up and coming neighborhood: Cromwell Heights; honorable mention, TwinBrooks.
Notable neighborhoods: Childs Park, Disston Heights, Greater Woodlawn, North Downtown, Snell Isle, Uptown, Winston Park.
Mayor's Outstanding Community Partnership Initiative Award: Methodist Town Partnership, AAA Auto Club South.
Mayor's Neighborhood Partnership Outstanding Achievement Award: Len Johnson, Tom Barrett; Bartlett Park and Historic Roser Park.
Robert L. Gilder Award: David Fischer.


PARTNERSHIP NOTES
Neighborhood Partnership Program of St. Petersburg

A Decade of Neighborhood Involvement:

On April 23, 2003, the City of St. Petersburg hosted a Decade of
Neighborhood Involvement in recognition of the volunteer efforts of
property/business owners and residents have provided to their
communities over the past 10 years through business & neighborhood
association, crime watches and other neighborhood based groups.
Representatives from various neighborhood based organizations were in
attendance as well as City Council members, Mayor Baker, the 3 Deputy
Mayors and various staff from those administrations and departments who
have the most direct contact with the community members. In addition to
various awards, the recipients for the FY 03 Neighborhood Partnership
Grants were presented with framed certificates. (Due to copy restraints we cannot publish the complete list in this issue. If you would like a copy of the list, please contact Paula Engel, Editor. We will publish the complete list in the June CONA newsletter.)

The evening ended with the presentation of several communitywide
awards: Community Partnership Initiative (recognition of business
partnerships); Mayor's Outstanding Achievement for individual
contributions to neighborhoods; Neighborhood of the Year (Fossil Park!)
and the Robert L. Gilder Award. The Robert L. Gilder Award was
presented to former Mayor David J. Fischer for his vision and creation
of the neighborhood effort in St. Petersburg. The award was named in
honor of Bob Gilder, one of the original N-Team members, who died in
February 2003.

CELEBRATE ST. PETERSBURG'S 100th BIRTHDAY:
June 6 - 8, 2003

Interested in celebrating our City's Centennial Birthday? Albertson's will
provide a cake for your birthday party ($10 - $15 to feed 50 people) to
be held during the weekend of June 6 - 8, 2003. Your neighborhood will
be included in an ad listing the location and participants in our city's
centennial celebrations. Please contact Marilyn Ulen at 551-3377 for
more information.

FLORIDA NEIGHBORHOODS CONFERENCE 2003
Registration to Begin

Watch your mailboxes for registration booklets for the 7th Annual
Florida Neighborhoods Conference in Sarasota, September 12 - 13, 2003.
The conference website will also be available in late May/early June for
more information.

NEIGHBORHOOD DAY AT THE TROP:
September 20, 2003

Tampa Bay Devil Rays vs. New York Yankees
Start making your lists and checking them twice for potential attendees
at the Rays - Yankees game on Saturday, September 20. Tickets are $5.00
and must be prepaid. Make checks payable to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays
and send them to the Neighborhood Partnership Department.


QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"You must do things you think you cannot do." Eleanor Roosevelt


NEIGHBORHOOD BRIEFS

The North Kenwood Neighborhood Association has started an "Adopt a Soldier" program and we currently have selected one of our own from the neighborhood. He is Marine Lance Corporal Chris Wulff. Chris is currently serving in an area of Iraq and we are sending packages to him to show that we all care and that we wish him the very best, and to PLEASE come home soon. We hope that all CONA members will, likewise, do something for our men and women in uniform and that through no fault of their own have been put in harm's way.

We are sending him a "care" package. We are also including: E-mails, a letter with all attending April 14th meeting signing, our newsletter and a Sunday issue of the St. Petersburg Times.


HOMELAND SECURITY SEMINAR
Allstate Center - St. Petersburg College
9 a.m., March 29, 2003

The following notes were prepared by Conrad Weiser, CONA Secretary, when attending the above-mentioned Homeland Security Seminar.

Dan Bates, 28-year veteran of the St. Petersburg Police Department, chaired the program.
" All terrorist attacks begin as a local emergency that must initially be addressed by local responders.
>We were urged to develop emergency response plans for our families and for our neighborhoods.
-We should have emergency evacuation plans for our home, (storm/fire) as well as an evacuation plan from the community. Do we know the evacuation plans of our children's schools and our working family member's employers?
-Everyone should memorize phone numbers of family members to contact in an emergency.
-An alternate emergency gathering site should be familiar to each family member.
-An inside room should be designated the family emergency shelter and stocked with basic items.
" Dan cited a number of familiar cases of terrorism in this country: Timothy McVeigh, the Unabomber, the first bombing of the World Trade Center, the poisoned Tylenol scare, the Anthrax mail threat, and the D.C. Belt Way sniper. He noted that it was not a federal agency, but a local truck driver, that brought about capture of the Belt Way sniper.
" The wisdom of acting on our intuitions when perceiving unusual situations was promoted.
" It was urged that children not view too much TV news coverage
" We watched a 30-minute video on defending against terrorist attacks.
>The recent history of terrorist attacks around the world was mentioned.
>A definition of terrorism given included "illegal acts of violence to promote political and social changes".
>The three basic weapons of terrorists: nuclear, biological, and chemical were reviewed, considering their relative ease of preparation and dissemination, as well as their various degrees of delayed and immediate impacts/symptoms.
-It was noted that 85% of personal decontamination may be achieved by removing outer clothing.
-"Dirty Bombs" can be assembled from local medical facilities.
>We were told that the Federal Department of Domestic Preparedness now has programs in 125 cities.
>There was a brief review/definition of the threat level color scheme, green through red.
>The Metropolitan Medical Response System has been established, linking case reports from hospital emergency rooms across the country to flag emerging patterns of health problems that could signal a terrorist attack.
>Crowded, closed gathering places were recognized as the most likely terrorist targets. It was noted that destruction of emergency responder personnel is a factor in terrorist planning, [e.g. 400 Firemen lost in WTC attack.]
>We were urged to schedule screenings of this video in our neighborhood/organization meetings.
" Dan Bates urged that the Florida Regional Community Policing Center, (our host today), offers a wide variety of courses dealing with crime and terrorism. All citizens are invited to enroll in these free programs that are entirely tax supported.
" The meeting closed with an injunction to be prepared locally....to know more and to fear less.



LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Dear CONA Representatives:

I need your help! Since I volunteered for the position of Editor for the CONA Newsletter in June of 2002, I have tried to improve the content and the consistency of this newsletter. At times, the material has been lengthy, but we do try to include timely and urgent information. At times, the material has been controversial, but we allow for CONA neighborhoods to have a voice. We also try to print almost all information that is submitted.

As Editor, I still need more contributions from more Associations. My time is limited in this volunteer effort, so please call me with your ideas or submit your neighborhood events.

Ideally, each month I would like to feature the following:

o A Monthly Update from the Neighborhood
Partnership Office (accomplished!)
o A Brief Comment from the Mayor's Office,
Police Department, and/or our Chamber of
Commerce
o A Feature Article about One Neighborhood
and Their Challenges and Progress
o Current City Events
o Facts and Figures about St. Petersburg
o News YOU Send Me!

I need volunteers to write and submit articles, and we always need assistance with mailing and distribution. Please help!

PLEASE PUT ME ON YOU NEWSLETTER MAILING LIST. I will publish relevant news in the CONA Newsletter. Mail your newsletters to:
Paula Engel, 7957 2nd Ave. South, St. Petersburg, FL 33707-1023.

My E-Mail is pkengel1@ aol.com. My cell phone # is: 642-3134 and my FAX is 345-2804.

This is your voice; make it heard.

Paula Engel,
CONA Newsletter Editor, 2002-3


FROM MY FRONT PORCH
by Chris Kelly, President, Roser Park Neighborhood Association

I stood on a neighbor's porch and moved like a magician, pulling $20 bills from thin air.

The occasion was Roser Park's inaugural "Tour of Homes", and I was selling. Selling the neighborhood, selling St. Petersburg, selling tickets, selling Midtown. For many of the folks who drove from Tampa, Sarasota and Pasco, the area south of Central Avenue doesn't have a stigma attached to it. Some 320-plus tour goers enjoyed their south St. Petersburg experience, walking through 70- and 85-year old homes and taking in the beauty of one of Midtown's finest neighborhoods. Most importantly, the tour-goers never once paused to dwell in the bottomless pool of negativity that seemingly prevents many St. Petersburg and Pinellas residents from seeing a brighter future for Midtown.

Some neighbors weren't sure that a tour was the best thing for the neighborhood. One absolutely refused to participate, and some found excuses. We even had one neighbor try to encourage nonparticipation by accusing the organizing committee of pressuring participants and making other similarly dispiriting comments. In the end though, the host homeowners each said that it was a most rewarding experience, that they enjoyed being complimented by 300+ strangers for their interior design, home restoration, and landscape work.

By the end of that long day, which only came after what my wife will quickly point out was a long week and longer month, our inaugural tour turned out to contain many individual successes, some of which I list below, in no particular order of importance.

-- The Historic Roser Park Neighborhood Association raised approximately $3,200 -- a great amount to an organization whose treasury has hovered at $1,000 for over three years. Increased revenue allows us to help neighbors with home painting or repairs, landscape common areas, enjoy a great summer block party, and stage a better tour next year -- one with perks that weren?’t possible on this tour's total budget of $300.
-- A home was sold on tour day that otherwise would not have sold, and at record pricing for either the Roser or Bartlett Park neighborhoods.
-- The homes on the tour were made showcase beautiful over the last quarter, beautifying the neighborhood and improving the streetscape. Increasing property values help homeowners to make retirements more secure, to put children and grandchildren through college, to refinance high interest debt, to become more secure and stable, to become neighbors and stakeholders instead of simply residents.
-- Disparate neighbors found an inherent yet recently unknown ability to work together towards a common goal, despite those few whom Spiro Agnew termed ?“nattering nabobs of negativity.?”
--We crossed an important psychological barrier, and now have a successful 'big' event under our belt.
--Over 300 people drove to St. Petersburg, spent an average of two hours on the near south side of Central Avenue, and left with a vividly positive image of Midtown.

With the limited hindsight available just 24 hours post-tour, I'd encourage every CONA neighborhood to consider mounting a "Tour of Homes". From a NA President's viewpoint, I honestly can say that I enjoyed the opportunity of shepherding my neighborhood through our first big event. We made some correct decisions early on, were lucky in many respects, but perhaps, most importantly, we approached the day with the optimism that comes from knowing that tomorrow can be better than yesterday. That may take a committed band of neighbors, but they need not be magicians.
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If you would be interested in a CONA workshop (or simply desire further information) on staging home tours and neighborhood fundraising, please contact Chris Kelly at Cpeterkelly@earthlink.net.