The city of St. Petersburg approved the CRA, a community redevelopment financing grant. Find out more about what this means for the Midtown community in the link below.
Read the full article in The Weekly Challenger: http://theweeklychallenger.com/community-grant-program-to-up-its-funding-in-2017/
“Even though the construction of Tropicana Field did, in some ways, bring new life to the city according to some, the stadium was a catalyst for a lot of the rebirth of downtown St. Petersburg, but to many in Midtown it remains a point of contention.”
Written by NNB student Erin Murphy, this article was published in The Weekly Challenger Newspaper. Other students that contribute to this report: Alana Long and Jessie Santero (research), Caitlin Clem and Shelby Brown (visuals).
Read this article:
http://theweeklychallenger.com/where-are-the-voices-of-midtown-in-the-tropicana-field-redevelopment/
“Going grocery shopping for the week is a chore within itself. Without any means of transportation, that errand often becomes an all-day affair. This situation is the reality for many Midtown residents, and as it stands, their fate rests in the hands of the City of St. Petersburg, and what will become of Tangerine Plaza, or as it is now known, the Midtown Plaza.”
Written by NNB student Anna Welch, this article was published in The Weekly Challenger Newspaper. Other students that contribute to this report: Kaitlyn Kelley (editor), Alana Long (research) and Mary Putulin (visuals).
Read the full story :
http://theweeklychallenger.com/midtown-plaza-struggles-to-stay-in-business/
Each slide represents a different political race that will be on the ballot. Follow the flow chart through each ‘Topic’ section. Tally up the stances you agree with (Candidate A or Candidate B). Once you reach ‘Results’, see whether you had ‘Mostly A’s’ or ‘Mostly B’s’ and discover which candidate you match with.
ST. PETERSBURG — As the unprecedented presidential election takes the nation by storm, coverage of local politics is suffering.
On Tuesday’s ballot, several races will have profound and immediate effects on St. Petersburg’s Midtown community. This year, Republican incumbent Marco Rubio, who fell out of favor with Florida in the presidential primary, is running against Democratic candidate Patrick Murphy for the U.S. Senate. Incumbent Rep. David Jolly and former Florida Governor Charlie Crist are battling for Florida’s 13th Congressional District. At the local level, Democratic candidate Darryl Rouson and Republican John Houman are campaigning for Florida’s District 19.
Based on a series of interviews with community members, candidates and information on local forums and events, the Neighborhood News Bureau condensed the most discussed issues into three categories: education, the high cost of living, and reform in law enforcement.
The right to a fair and unprejudiced education is not the reality for many children in Midtown, according to community members. Parents are concerned with the disappointing experiences in their children’s education and poor curriculum standards.
“How do we have a say in what is taught in our children’s schools?” Tonya Givens, an audience member at Midtown by Midtown, a discussion forum hosted by the Neighborhood News Bureau, described a disturbingly misleading narrative that has been introduced to her daughter at Campbell Park Elementary. “My daughter came home and was taught that Africans came to America as migrant workers.”
Among the candidates for the U.S. Senate, Rubio has voiced his support of education reform several times in the past, saying that education should be handled at a local level and “if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed”.
His opponent, Murphy, who did not respond to emails or calls requesting an interview, states on his campaign website that schools should have “additional support and services” from the government.
Watson L. Haynes, President and CEO of the Pinellas County Urban League, said “children of trauma” is a key term used when discussing obstacles students face as instability at home prevents successful learning. Parents and children experiencing issues such as drug and alcohol abuse, long-term imprisonment, unaddressed mental health problems, and unemployment in their families may affect the children’s development. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, can be detected not just in veterans returning from war but in children who endure one or more of those issues as well.
Jolly discussed the need to create a more accommodating environment for students who find themselves in these sorts of situations.
“Let’s move towards more individualized curriculums, recognizing not every student learns the same way. We can do that in the public school system. For a parent who is trying to save their kid from a failing school, let’s give them choice. Let’s keep our opportunity scholarships in place,” he said at a civic forum held at the Rock of Jesus Missionary Baptist Church on Oct. 13
“Every student is different; every community is different. The responsibility of government is to make sure that the resources are available in the communities that need them most.”
Crist echoes this sentiment and believes the answer lies in investigating failing schools in the area and investing in those schools, providing equal funds to every school in the district.
During the forum at the Rock of Jesus Missionary Baptist Church, Rouson spoke about a situation he found himself in, where he visited a local school and found a young girl in time-out because she “couldn’t think [that] day.” Her mother had been arrested for drugs the night before. “Education must become more creative… more responsive,” he said.
Maria Scruggs, President of the NAACP’s St. Petersburg branch, says that she constantly speaks on behalf of the importance behind quality early childhood education.
“The research clearly supports that when children receive a quality early childhood education, the better prepared they are to enter a public school. Many times it’s too late by the time they’re in first grade,” said Scruggs.
Rouson supports parent involvement and small class sizes, as well as fully funded education from the state. This includes early childhood education programs. In his statements on policy reform, he claims to fight for at-risk children by working with the legislature to increase funding for pre-kindergarten and full-day kindergarten programs for jeopardized children.
Houman’s stance on education remains vague. “Education is the backbone of our society. State and local communities have to work together to improve our educational system,” he said during a phone interview. He has primarily emphasized specialized and higher education, with not much mention of the early fundamental education Midtown is lacking. He supports implementing training grants in manufacturing, healthcare services, IT, and agriculture.
There has been established discomfort surrounding local law enforcement in the area, reflective of the same sentiments felt nationwide. The community has continued to demand amendments and reform throughout the police department.
The main concerns raised by the community are advanced police training to properly handle situations involving citizens with mental health issues; restorations of rights, and accelerating the process of released convicts of non-violent crimes; the cessation of racial profiling; fostering good community relations between police officers and residents; ending private prisons.
When asked about the state of relationships between local law enforcement and the community, Ashley Green, Labor Organizer at SEIU-FL and Movement Organizer with Dream Defenders, said, “The answer is no. The [current] policies do not foster good relationships with the community.”
The U.S. Senate race between Marco Rubio and Patrick Murphy has heated up on the topic of police reform. Their stances vary in multiple degrees.
Republican incumbent Rubio does not support the legalization of drugs in any capacity, and claims that doing so would be a “great mistake.” He also does not encourage the reduction of prison sentences for drug charges and discourages leniency in such situations. Rubio explicitly does not call for the end of privatized prisons.
Brother John Muhammad, president of the Childs Park Neighborhood Association, joined Scruggs and Haynes in the discussion surrounding Midtown and spoke to the current conflict surrounding privatized prisons.
“We have a whole generation of black people that are in prison for minimum mandatory sentences for petty drug crimes,” he said.
Democratic candidate Murphy calls for the automatic restoration of rights for nonviolent ex-felons. He claims to support reintegrating those who have responsibly served their time back into society. This support includes banning barriers on employment applications and credit checks to expand job opportunities to released nonviolent offenders.
Murphy authored the Tracking Reputations Upgrades Societal Trust (TRUST) Act to increase cooperation between police and the communities they serve by measuring community trust in the local police force.
The high cost of living in Midtown shows it’s face on many streets on the south side of St. Petersburg. Many can no longer afford increasing rent prices due to gentrification of the community. Access to jobs, healthcare, food sources, and housing have become increasingly difficult in the midst of the community renovations.
One of the largest Community Redevelopment Areas, or CRA’s, in the state of Florida, is sitting on the south side of St. Petersburg, beginning at its approval in 2015. Occupying 4,700 acres of land, including Greater Childs Park, more than twenty neighborhood and business associations, and most of Midtown, the CRA has been highly contested by residents.
CRA’s goals are typically associated with redevelopment of urban areas to promote new business and additional housing projects, various opportunities, and commercial revitalization,
The problem, according to Akile Anai, an audience member at Midtown by Midtown, is “the gentrification and building of Midtown is pushing out the African American community.”
These claims stem from accounts of housing and rental prices being raised as the CRA further develops in the community. Gentrification is the process by which middle and upper-class people take up residence in a traditionally working-class area of a city, changing the character of the city.
“The CRA is a development tool to suppress community,” said Scruggs, describing the lack of coordinated or strategic focus of how one single plan supports the work of the bigger picture: developing Midtown.
Rouson has said in his campaign strategies that he believes small businesses are the real engine of a community. His plan to grow small businesses into flourishing marketplaces includes providing incentives for creating new, good jobs.
“It is so difficult and so challenging [for small businesses to get a loan.]” Crist testifies to the hardship the Midtown community faces in the midst of attempting to produce small businesses and expand local job opportunities. Aside from the CRA, he believes there are alternate solutions.
“I believe that there are things that Washington can do, to free some of that capital up. And from what I hear, here in St. Petersburg, it needs to happen to get more minority owners.”
Republican opponent Jolly does not advocate for an arbitrary hike of minimum wage but believes that a gradual index in doing so is safer for jobs in the long-term.
“We need to index it [the minimum wage], create wage growth, but also protect jobs. [And] figure out in a bipartisan way how we do that.”
To find local sites visit votepinellas.com for more information. Polls are open 7:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. on Tuesday, Nov. 8.
Filmed by USFSP student, Tracy Darity, this video shows her concerns regarding “concerning gentrification, the Warehouse Arts District,” and the lack of entertainment options in Midtown, St. Petersburg. According to Darity, “as a person of color, I believe this is a very important topic, and it saddens me that black community has grown numb to what is taking place around them.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPTvoA2eAsw
REPORTING BY KATIE CALLIHAN AND MARLA KORENICH
PHOTOS BY KATIE CALLIHAN
NNB Reporters
MIDTOWN – On Saturday, February 27th, Midtown hosted St. Petersburg’s first Black Arts Festival. This event pulled various vendors from across the world into one vacant, grass lot at the corner of 9th Avenue South and 22nd Street South.
The owner of Gallerie 909, Carla Bristol, curated and hosted the community event.
“I decided to do this event as a culmination for black history month,” said Bristol.
The Southside Blues Brothers were playing live facing 22nd street south. You could hear the combination of the piano, guitar, and deep, soul-filled vocals from a mile away.
Bristol selected this particular band to attract and to remind the community members of the momentum that the Deuces could still carry once again.
“I wanted to see the energy on the corner again – to see what the corner would be like,” said Bristol.
The weather was cool, the sun was shining. By 11am, the layers of sweaters and jackets started to peel off and the venders were adding their final touches to their displays.
A stimulating energy was in the air and the community started to trickle in just as Bristol had hoped.
Across long, rectangular tables and under the roof of white, square tents, each artist displayed great spectrums of bold colors and textures; you knew that there was a story behind everything.
Handmade jewelry with large stones, paintings with texture, lotions imported from Africa, and other goods were all being sold at fair prices.
In the middle of all the vendors, three art stations catered a variety of crafts for children. You could catch them zipping through and winding between booths playing tag with decorated masks on their faces; colorful feathers falling from them.
A few artists, “Freddy Fred” and “Zulu Painter” from the Bloom Art Center participated in their first art show. “Zulu Painter” was painting live against his easel. He said that he finds inspiration by first looking at magazines. When he finds certain images that he likes, he then paints them together as one collective image.
Another contributor in the festival was traveling Folk Artist, Sandy Hall.
Hall, mother of six, stood in the middle of a small, shaded tent that stretched about as far as both of her fingers could point.
“This is my life,” she said as she directed her guest’s eyes across her display of paintings that varied in different rectangular shapes and sizes.
Hall shared that growing up, her family loved to tell stories.
“Our stories kept us together as a family. I can’t tell the stories, but I can paint them,” said Hall.
When asked how she learned to paint, Hall’s story began to unfold.
In 2001, TV show ‘Bob Ross’ was playing in the background of a hospital room.
Hall was diagnosed with cancer.
Her mobility and her creativity were limited to the stark walls of the hospital that seemed to be closing in.
One day, Hall’s nurse explained that she would soon be expecting a visitor, Hall’s mother. This was the last thing that Hall was emotionally prepared for.
Hall was faced with a deep trance that forced a paralyzing apathy that had taken over her mind and body. She had no desire to do anything.
“The nurse kept trying to get me to crochet or do puzzles,” Hall said.
To make her mother happy, Hall decided that she would try to look busy, try to look entertained and try to hide the pain.
“It wasn’t until my mother came and I had to be on my best behavior,” said Hall.
For the first time in her life, Hall picked up a paintbrush and an empty canvas.
Out of desperation, she began to paint.
Since that day, for Hall, everything changed. Hall succeeded in beating cancer and her newly discovered talent put all six of her children through school.
Traveling in a passenger van, Hall said, “I used to line up my kids in an assembly line and have them help me with picture framing.”
They say that if you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life.
Today, Hall still makes a living selling her paintings online and in various art festivals across the country.
Overall, St. Petersburg’s first Black Arts Festival was a great success and it inspired all ages to find and maintain their creativity.
Bristol plans on putting together more community events like this.
For more information about Bristol’s gallery, Gallerie 909, stop by at 909 22nd St. South.
Gallerie 909 is a stop on St. Petersburg’s Second Saturday Artwalk. The next art walk will be on March, 12th. There is free parking and entry into all participating galleries and studios.
For more information about the art walk, please contact the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance at 727.518.5142 or email them at info@stpeteartsalliance.org.
BY JASON SAAB
NNB Reporter
[Edited by Katie Callihan]
MIDTOWN – The Manhattan Casino opened its doors in 1927 and was the centerpiece of Midtown St. Petersburg.
It was founded by Elder Jordan, a Midtown community member and local entrepreneur. His ultimate goal for the casino was to create a space for the Midtown community to come as equals, let go of fear and dance off all tension during harsh segregated times.
It was the community’s go-to spot, also visited by some of the greatest jazz musicians of that time.
The Manhattan Casino thrived as a part of the “Chitlin’ Circuit.” This was a route traveled by performers including B.B. King, Ray Charles, and Duke Ellington.
Alvin Burns, the former trumpet player for The Manzy Harris Band, also played at the Midtown casino.
In the film “Remembering the Manhattan,” Burns said, “There were bars, pool rooms, drug stores, grocery stores, and the Manhattan Casino was the nerve-center for the black community.”
Al Williams, former trumpet player for the George Cooper Band, said in the film “Remembering the Manhattan,” “People wanted to go to New York, they were traveling there, some couldn’t go there, some did make it, and others never went, so the Manhattan Casino was named for that. It was the closest thing to New York they had.”
The Manhattan was a place that not only had a friendly atmosphere, but a structure that brought such rare access to such timely, famous musicians.
Since its golden era, the Manhattan Casino has become a shell of its former self. Its undoing was ironically because of the desegregation movement.
When desegregation went into effect, the black community in Midtown became more accepted in the downtown area where they were formerly banned.
“Blacks could now visit locations outside of their traditional boundaries of the segregated years, but few whites came to places such as the Manhattan,” said Shnur, the archivist in special collections at University of South Florida St. Petersburg.
Once the Midtown community members felt free to move outside of Midtown, they left.
With both the black and white communities of St. Petersburg frequenting only the downtown area, the abandoned Manhattan Casino closed its doors in 1966.
In 2013, as part of former Mayor Bill Foster’s ‘Foster’s Forty’ plan, the Manhattan Casino reopened its doors after being left vacant for almost 50 years.
Despite the efforts to remodel Midtown’s old treasure, it’s hard to say that the old, historic landmark will ever be the same centerpiece it once was.
The Manhattan Casino currently hosts Sylvia’s Restaurant on the bottom floor and an empty dance hall used exclusively for private events on the top floor.
The community’s once ‘go-to’ spot has now become an empty hall of vacant seats.
Norman Jones, a community consultant for the film “Remembering the Manhattan”, said: “It was the end of an era, end of segregation, beginning of integration, and our community went to sleep.”
The Historic Manhattan Casino comes to life at night with Jazz performances from local Jazz artists following in the footsteps of former greats.
Photo courtesy of Tim Arruda
Listen to live jazz as you delve into a soulful menu of upscale southern comfort at Sylvia’s St. Pete.
Experience southern staples and a new twist on old favorites.
BY LAURA MULROONEY AND JASON SAAB
NNB Reporters
Constructed by Elder Jordan Sr., one of the first African American businessmen in St. Petersburg, FL and his sons was and has remained a quintessential establishment in Midtown since 1925.
For 40 years, the Manhattan Casino played a significant role as a social hub for the community.
The Manhattan was once a venue on the renowned southern “Chitlin Circuit,” a string of venues throughout the eastern, southern, and upper mid-west areas of the United States that were safe for African American performers of all genres to perform uninhibited.
George Grogan served as the booking agent responsible for bringing in big acts, while simultaneously employed at Gibbs High School as a chemistry teacher.
Major jazz and blues performers, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, B.B. King, Fat Domino, Count Bassie, Otis Redding and local legendary icons Al Downing, LeRoy Flemmings Jr., Al Williams, and George ‘Buster’ Cooper played at the venue.
Al Downing, also a teacher at Gibbs High School inspired many students throughout the years with his passion and skill, some of the impressionable youth followed in his footsteps like Buster Cooper.
Cooper learned music from Downing during his formative years at Gibbs High School.
Buster would eventually go on to play throughout the country, but started off at the Manhattan where he would play with his cousin’s band and any swing bands that would allow him to sit in as they visited. Buster remembers the Manhattan being the “only place we could play at that time.”
The casino closed in 1966 due to effects of integration throughout the city, allowing African American musicians greater exposure by playing in once closed off parts of the city.
In 2005 The Manhattan was renovated under the initiative of former St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster.
After many years of debate and fiscal hardship, once just a dance hall and center for community events the space packs twice the punch.
On the first floor Sylvia’s Queen of Soul Food Restaurant opened in 2013 and is the first upscale soul food eatery in St. Petersburg.
Sylvia’s serves down home cooking with a swanky ambiance. Piping hot corn bread is served upon seating as a four-page menu is placed in front of you. The menu offers three styles of chicken and waffles, grilled, blackened, fried, and BBQ seafood options, and every southern side dish imaginable.
Upstairs stills serves it’s purpose as a dance and event hall.
The Al Downing Tampa Bay Jazz Association, Inc. continues to keep the music alive at the Manhattan with live Jazz Jams every second Sunday of the month. With major events such as Jazz Jams culminating conclusion of the St. Petersburg Jazz Festival
Jazz is offered every Saturday downstairs at Sylvia’s from 11-2. Sylvia’s also hosts a Gospel Brunch every Sunday.
Buster Cooper Quote and Interview courtesy of Jon Tallon- Florida Historian
King’s Dream Unite and Manhattan Casino night photos courtesy of Tim Arruda
Visit the King’s Dream Unite mural painted by artist Ya La’ford to recognize unity within the community.
Photo Courtesy of Tim Arruda
Internationally known artist Ya La’ford incorporates lights with her murals to remind residents that hope can be found in the darkest places.
Local musicians bring the old Jazz hall back to life every Saturday and the second Sunday of every month.
BY MIRANDA BORCHARDT AND BRIANNA ENDERS
NNB Reporters
MIDTOWN — Teresa Williams stood on the balcony of the historic Swain Apartments looking out onto The Deuces, 22nd Street South.
Before the interstate, the desolate street was a hub of activity.
“They say it used to be hopping back then,” she said.
The interstate was built through the community in the late 1960s, forcing residents to relocate, “it became a dead area,” Williams said.
Williams is the property manager of the business and apartments at the corner of 22nd Street and 15th Avenue South. She inherited this responsibility from her parents, William and Annette Howard, the current owners who are no longer able to maintain the buildings due to health conditions.
Annette, a member of the 22nd Street Redevelopment Corporation, suffered a stroke in 2010.
“(The community group’s) goal was to revitalize, make it functional, utilize it better,” Williams said.
The commercial building was originally constructed in 1954 by Dr. Robert James Swain, a progressive dentist. He established his practice in 1954 and continued to practice dentistry in St. Pete until his death in 1996, according to StPete.org.
Swain was an influential figure in the community, known for pressing for equal opportunity during the segregation era.
He challenged Section 3 of the City of St. Petersburg’s Charter, which established separate residential and commercial areas for whites and African Americans in 1931, according to StPete.org.
The state-of-the-art Swain Dental Office was built on the opposite side of 15th Avenue, impeding on the government allocated “white” territory, and was the first dental office for African Americans in the area at the time.
Two years later, in 1956, Swain appended the residential apartment building behind his office to house African American Major League baseball players who were denied the right to stay with their white teammates during spring training.
Annette Howard converted the Swain Dental Office building, which had previously been transformed into a doctor’s office years earlier, into the Golden Shears hair salon. Williams transitioned from her nursing career as an LPN at Bay Pines Medical after her divorce to being a hairstylist in order to “take advantage of what was here (her parent’s property),” she said. It also allowed her to have a more flexible schedule while she was raising her daughter.
Her parent’s health issues in recent years caused Williams to re-direct her focus from being a full time stylist to tending to the well-being of her family members as their primary caregiver and managing the residential property to generate income for the family.
Williams, along with her parents and 99-year-old grandmother, live in the three ground level apartment units and rent out the top three.
“Everything’s so scattered,” she said. “Everything’s like… My life’s like a tossed salad.”
The three one-bedroom units are rented for $600 a month and have original cabinetry with updated flooring, fans and appliances. Williams works to enhance each apartment as tenants cycle through.
William’s dream for the business is a boutique-style salon where stylists would rent their own stations and bring in their own customers.
Making that dream come true could help make this area come alive again.
