What's Going Where Wednesday VII

Once again we venture just outside the borders of Port Tampa City to the surrounding area. The fences are finally up at Rembrandt Gardens, the Public Housing Authority's notoriously troubled complex across the street from Robinson High School, and demolition will begin soon. Replaced by mixed income apartments at the Gardens of South Bay on Lois just north of Interbay, the Rembrandt Gardens property was transferred to the school district and is slated to become athletic fields.

The disappearance of Rembrandt Gardens has been in the works for a long time. The land swaps that made the Gardens at South Bay possible were promoted long before funds became available. Then in 2003 a builder who had been awarded public money to develop the property at South Bay backed out and the PHA jumped on the opportunity to apply for the newly available funds.

Rembrandt Gardens will remain a painful part of Port Tampa's history for a long time. Residents believe annexation led to a higher concentration of poverty and crime as ill considered public housing was forced into an area that, while never rich, was full of owner occupied homes and generations of families who lived across the street or down the block from one another. More than one person has traced our current issues with the apartments around the library to "bad elements" from Rembrandt Gardens moving into the area as emptying of one public housing project invariably moves ahead of the next one being ready for occupancy.

Good bye, and good riddance Rembrandt!

The new community center at Gardens of South Bay