A busy road in Midtown. Workers head home and drive right by the 113 Precinct located inside the Christ Gospel Church.
Poll workers say even though voter turnout is apparently low, it beats last year when a record low of only 26 voters showed throughout the entire day.
At around 5:30 p.m., the precinct had just about double their numbers with about 50 or so registered voters casting their votes.
Workers stated since the option to mail in ballots has arrived, it is no telling from year-to-year how many voters they might get.
Midtown resident Christian Haas came out to support Lisa Wheeler-Brown and Steve Kornell.
“Wheeler-Brown is all about bridging the gap between police and the rest of the city… Having someone who understands the struggle of the lower class in our city is a great asset to add to the conversation at city hall,” Haas said. “Kornell is a good guy, and will continue to do great things for this city,” he added.
ST. PETERSBURG- Residents get the chance to choose whether the City Council’s electronic voting system is an adequate way to measure votes on Election Day Tuesday, Nov. 3.
The referendum reads:
“Shall the City Charter be amended to generally clarify the voting process of City Council the main clarification being that a roll call vote can be accomplished by an electronic system that is used to tally, display and record City Council votes, without the City Clerk needing to orally recite what is visually displayed?”
While the referendum would mean council members either have to vote electronically as they have been doing, or verbally announce their votes, many voters in St. Petersburg seem uninterested with this particular question.
“I don’t care one way or the other, but if electronic voting has been working, then why would you change it?” said Janet Richardson, who lives in Midtown.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Oct. 23, 2015) – Award-winning journalist Cynthia Barnett talked about her interest in the environment and how she has turned that concern into compelling stories with student journalists from Neighborhood News Bureau at USFSP Wednesday, Oct. 21.
Barnett has a love for Florida’s environment and has spent a majority of her career writing about it for publications including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Salon and Politico. Barnett has also written three books about environmental issues; “Blue Revolution: Unmaking America’s Water Crisis;” “Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S.;” and “Rain: A Natural and Cultural History.”
“What I learned from the first two books and covering the environment in general… We are preaching to the choir,” said Barnett. “They are people who know all we wrote anyway.”
Barnett admits her first two books were geared to the more environmental scientist and activist audience. In her latest book, “Rain: A Natural and Cultural History,” Barnett takes a more lyrical approach to her prose and combines colorful language, hard facts, and science to create a balanced book that appeals to a more eclectic audience.
Barnett told the NNB journalists that now is a perfect time to get into the environmental beat. She mentions that a lot is changing in the environment and journalists are needed to tell those stories.
“For the first time since we passed those environmental protections, children are inheriting water that is dirtier and less abundant,” said Barnett. “This is a really crucial time to cover the environment.”
Cynthia Barnett teaching the importance of staying creative and lyrical when reporting about the environment. Photo courtesy of Eric Vaughan
Barnett feels that it is important to pay close attention to the facts when writing about the environment. It is also important to be creative and captivate the audience.
“Environmental stories can be localized and can even be made lyrical,” she said.
Neighborhood News Bureau is a working newsroom, staffed by University of South Florida St. Petersburg undergraduate and graduate students under the guidance of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies faculty members. The newsroom opened in Midtown, St. Petersburg March 2006. Its mission is to serve the Midtown and surrounding communities of St. Petersburg. For more information, visit http://www.nnbnews.com/ or email nnb@usfsp.edu.
ST. PETERSBURG –A look around Chago’s Barber Shop and it’s apparent owner Chago Diaz stands firmly behind his mission of acceptance in Midtown.
In a sofa near the entrance, awaiting haircuts, sits a gay couple chatting and laughing with one of the other barbers as if they were all old childhood friends.
“It is a safe place to come and be yourself,” said Andrew Winchell, a regular customer. “Everyone treats you with respect here, and it is good to have a place where they know your name.”
Diaz, 32, said when he first opened he was unsure if Midtown would welcome a Cuban-owned business into what he learned was a historically African-American neighborhood. Diaz soon realized that assumption could not have been further from the truth
“Midtown has embraced both my business and myself,” Diaz said as he wrapped a warm steamy towel around a client’s head.
What separates his salon from others in town?
“We accept everyone in here,” Diaz said. “It doesn’t matter if you are black, white, Hispanic, gay, or straight. Everyone gets an amazing haircut and five-star treatment.”
Barbers Shawn Oliveras, Derek Fraley, and Kevin Rix cutting hair at Chago’s Barber shop.
Acceptance spreading through a Barber shop may seem insignificant, but historically barber shops, specifically minority-owned, have been a place for heterosexual male bonding, where “guys could be guys” discussing topics such as sports, cars, and women. Chago’s Barber Shop offers the same ideology as those with the exception there is no restriction on the term “guys.”
Diaz, a Tampa Bay area native, said he was inspired to invest in Midtown because there were no other similar barber shops.
“We give the community a place to go, hang out, watch some TV, or just plain gossip,” Diaz said.
Looking into Chago’s Barbershop, Kevin Rix cutting hair.
The barber shop conversations ranged from local politics and sports to the Nicki Minaj/Miley Cyrus beef.
Kevin Rix, 31, a master barber, who towers over seated clients at 6’8, said the central location in Midtown offers a chance to meet and interact with people from all walks of life. Offering discounts to students helps Rix and the other barbers connect with the community.
Before the barber shop opened its doors in late 2013, a marketing and advertising firm, Revital Agency occupied the space.
Diaz said because of how Midtown functions as a community and the dependency of business to business relations, he still uses the firm for marketing and help with signage.
“It is very important to us to use local businesses. Midtown is a special place, the history of businesses that were here before me, is just as important as my shop,” Diaz said. “I don’t just feel like this is my shop. This is the community’s barber shop.”
Chago said that a few business had come and gone since the building has been erected, but he hopes his business will remain in Midtown.
“We have found a home in this community, and it means a lot that Midtown has accepted us.”
Chago Diaz (Shop owner) and master barber Shawn Oliveras stopped cutting hair to pose for a picture.
St. Petersburg, Fla. (Oct. 5, 2015) Tampa Bay Times investigative journalist, Michael LaForgia and data and digital director, Adam Playford shared some tips about finding stories, collecting useful data, and the importance of patience in regards to investigative journalism with Neighborhood News Bureau students Wednesday, Sept. 30.
“Find a body and discover why it’s there,” said LaForgia.
LaForgia and Playford admit that investigative journalism isn’t easy. It takes time, focus, and organization for the story to come together. While discussing Failure Factories, their current investigative project dealing with systemic deficiencies at some Pinellas County schools, LaForgia mentions finding and poring over records can be the most time-consuming element, but is also the most important. Getting the documents can also become expensive.
Tampa Bay Times Award Winning Journalists Adam Playford and Michael LaForgia. Photo by Eric Vaughan.
“We requested millions of records for this story. We have spent $8-$9,000 in records requests and will probably spend more,” said LaForgia.
When it came to gathering personal stories of affected students for the Failure Factories project, LaForgia and Playford admitted getting parental buy-in was tough. Parents weren’t as forthcoming as they had hoped, especially given the controversial topic of the schools their children attended being labeled as “failure factories.”
So how did they get the families to go on the record?
“We just kept showing up,” said LaForgia. “We appealed to their sense of justice and righteousness.”
Eventually their patience and persistence paid off as they were able to gather compelling stories from multiple families.
Investigative journalists must remain patient and thorough throughout working on any assignment. Understanding that some details require a bit of persistence and endurance is key to gathering important data, and eventually having a successful story to tell. There are a lot of stories that still need to be told, LaForgia said.
“All you have to do is think about what might exist in the world,” LaForgia said. “Everybody has to live someplace, everybody makes and spends money.”
LaForgia and Playford discuss the importance of data collecting to NNB students
About Neighborhood News Bureau
Neighborhood News Bureau is a working newsroom, staffed by University of South Florida St. Petersburg undergraduate and graduate students under the guidance of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies faculty members. The newsroom opened in Midtown, St. Petersburg March 2006. Its mission is to serve the Midtown and surrounding communities of St. Petersburg. For more information, visit http://www.nnbnews.com/ or email nnb@usfsp.edu.
