Is Port Tampa ghetto?

Was making the rounds on MacDill AFB this morning with Relay for Life coordinator, Heather Winberry of the American Cancer Society, and found myself having to rise in defense of our neighborhood. We were talking to people about the Interbay Relay for Life coming up in May at the Port Tampa Recreation Center when someone asked "Why are you having it there, it's so ghetto?" Which led me to wonder what hallmarks of ghettodom are present here in our neighborhood.

Crime? A review of stats shows we live in one of the safer neighborhoods in Tampa. I took the time to compare the 4 grids which lie either entirely, or partly, in Port Tampa with Davis Islands and the Beach Park/Culbreath Bayou area and find we have a few more problems with vandalism, they have more drunks behind the wheel. We run neck and neck for low score in all other areas.

Substandard housing? Ok, the rental units visible from Interbay and Westshore, our two main streets, certainly aren't "upscale" and could use some attention to landscaping so I'll give the speaker the benefit of the doubt. When seen from a car just passing through they do have a ghettoesque ambience, if one has never seen real blight. I would direct his attention to block upon block of abandoned row houses in Baltimore, a city in mid-renaisance.

Abandoned buildings? We do have more than our share. But the old city hall/library just came down and CAPT is active in identifying properties in need of attention from code enforcement. Think a property is getting a little long in the tooth? Blink and someone will tear it down to build something new. It won't be too long before over half the single family homes in Port Tampa will be over 2000sf and built since 2003.

Bad schools? Westshore Elementary and Monroe Middle are both A rated. It won't be long before the rising tide lifts Robinson High's boat. In the meantime, send my kid to an undercapacity school over an overcrowded one any day. As a teacher I know even the best schools leave many kids behind, and with the IB program and aeronautical academy Robinson has a lot to offer the motivated student.

Pervasive lack of safety? Not at all, and I sure wish we could get our money back from ADT. Our stay-at-home, retiree, neighbors who know right away when something is amiss are the world's best crime prevention network.

How about lack of civic involvement? Don't say that around the dedicated CAPT, Friends of the Library, or Port Tampa Women's Club members. They'll soon have you attending meetings and helping with a civic improvement project.

Ghetto?! I was so angry I could have...well then, that would have played into the violence stereotype.