Park Renewal Progressing

The pictures of what Port Tampa's Spanish American War Memorial Park could be that PT Women's Club members have held in their heads, and on paper, for years are soon going to be visible to all. Construction started this week.

Help the PTCWC make the vision complete, with all the landscaping and seating the master plan calls for, by sending your tax deductible contribution to Port Tampa City Woman's Club Inc., PO Box 19067, Tampa, FL 33686.

Petitions Circulate to Rename Port Tampa City Library

If you haven't had a personal visit from Tonya (Cookie) Wideman as she knocks on doors collecting signatures in support of naming the library for the late Ms. Ellen Green you can stop by any of these area businesses:

Larcom's Garage
7001 S. Trask St.
(813) 839-3215

Circle K, across from the Port Tampa Post Office

Advantage Transport Towing Company
5106 W, Ingraham St.

According to Cookie, " So many people want to support this cause in behalf of this honor for the Late Ms. Ellen Green... The support of this has been overwhelming. Which has been great from people of all colors, races, and nationalities. This proves that the life you live will speak for you when your gone. People are stopping me in the Street to sign the petition for fear that they will be missed... Until the evening of the 25th of October we're asking all those that live within the Port Tampa Charter, meaning if you vote within poll site 101. So far we have over 200 hundred Signatures in support and many more want to sign."


Cookie will be speaking before the Library Board, Audience Comments Section at the beginning of the October 26th meeting making the request for the Port Tampa Library to be renamed the Ellen H. Green Library. (4 p.m. at the John Germany Library Downtown Tampa.)

Letters of support should be mailed to Jim Johnson, Chairman of the Library Board at 900 North Ashley Street , Tampa , Fl. 33602

PTCWC Takes on Park Redevelopment

The Port Tampa City Woman's Club is close to being able to start redevelopment of the Spanish American War Memorial Park located at West Shore and Interbay(mentioned as a "tired little park" in one of this blog's very first posts). The PTCWC displayed the park's master plan at last year's Tree Lighting Celebration and it is wonderful. For info on contributing to the effort contact the club at ptcwc@porttampa.org, or skip that and send your check payable to Port Tampa City Woman's Club Inc., PO Box 19067, Tampa, FL 33686. This project has been a long time in the planning, as evidenced by this 2003 St. Pete Times article. Now is the time to add your tax deductible contribution to making this important part of Port Tampa City history shine as the gem it can be.

Transport Ships Loading at Port Tampa City, 1898
Often forgotten, though wrongly so considering its geo-political importance, the Spanish American War was still fresh in American minds in 1930 when Port Tampa City's Spanish American War Memorial Park was dedicated.

The following is a veteran's memoir written for one of the many annual veteran encampments held around the US.
East St. Louis Daily Journal - July 15, 1928
Written by Meyer Hurwitz

Tampa Overflows With Troops as Transport Docks

Tampa was choked with troops. It was a real military camp, and there we first glimpsed the khaki uniforms. The Rough Riders and many of the volunteer units had these on. And how cool they appeared alongside our heavy blue flannels! Wooden planks for side walks along the wharf, troops of all branches of the service promenading up and down, all day long. Some were on duty, hustling and bustling, some were merely sight-seeing, like our bunch. There were so many officers that the troops neglected to salute them anymore, we found out to our surprise after we got ashore. We had seen Gen. Shaftner, the commanding officer of the expeditionary forces in Cuba, who was a man of unusually large size, weighing about 350 pounds, so it looked like his horse was breaking under him.

While strolling along we saw the foreign attaches of the British, Russian, French and Japanese governments. We had also seen Gen. Miles, the commander-in-chief of the American army at the time, who was the most soldierly looking officer I have ever met. He was what is called every inch a soldier. We certainly saluted him. The wharf looked more like a circus ground. They were selling foam for a nickel a glass - lunch stands and fruit stands. There were exclusive restaurants also, where the charges were exorbitant for a good meal. More

That's Bicycle Bash, not Crash

The Port Tampa blog is a big fan of rail transportation alternatives. We have seen the benefits of using CSX track for commuter rail in Northern Virginia and would love to sell at least one of the family vehicles to get it out of our driveway and into someone else's. We can picture a tastefully designed, yet fiscally prudent, station stop across from the Port Tampa library. In our mind's eye it is surrounded by commercial/retail space and sidewalks, lots of well maintained, accessible, sidewalks and has a bike rack....

Sorry, got carried away. For now, alternatives to taking a car everywhere are few, but biking is an option and one some very fine people are pushing to make safer and more enjoyable in the Tampa Bay area.
These advocacy groups, will be at the October 29th Bicycle Bash by the Bay from 11:00AM-5:00PM at the Times Forum.

Don't forget the bus!
If you are a regular, or even infrequent, HART bus rider please contact the Port Tampa blog. HART has made some efforts at improvements in the bus service lately and we'd like to post a Port Tampa review of these efforts. We will ride the bus before posting, but a couple trips made by someone with no particular place to go or time to be there is not the best basis for evalutation.

Walking Around

The husband has been dodging mammoth pits where sidewalk should be, and a surprising number of racoons and opossums, on his morning run to work for some time. On Wednesday he startled a city public works employee by stopping to thank the work crew for this and 5 other sidewalk repairs done on Interbay just east of Manhattan this week.

Tired of wanting to walk to the library with the youngsters without having to walk in the street? Take a little civic action and give the city a call.

Directly from tampagov.net Dept. of Public Works a few sidewalk facts.

"The City funds annually a program of new sidewalk construction. The annual funding amounts to $680,000. The criteria considered for successful competition for these funds include:

Proximity to a school
Documented pedestrian activity
Major roadways and thoroughfares
Mass transit route
Neighborhood interest
The City also funds approximately $600,000 annually for the repair and replacement of existing sidewalks. The criteria considered for successful competition for these funds include:

The severity of the sidewalk damage or deflection
Neighborhood interest
Proximity to a large number of other sidewalks requiring repair
Requests for new sidewalks and sidewalk repair may be relayed directly to the department at (813) 274-8333."

Tampa/MacDill Joint Land Use Study

It's dry reading to be sure, but the JLUS is online at Tampagov Required by federal legislation passed in '04 the JLUS is supposed to help military installations and their neighboring communities develop compatible land use plans. The Tampa/MacDill study was just completed this summer and calls for some minor city zoning changes related to density and height, and a realty disclosure statement. Because the requirements are based on proximity to the runway, Port Tampa City will probably not feel any direct impact. You can check the maps to see if you are in one of the zones covered by the study.

One thing I found interesting was that survey data considered in the plan came from questionaires handed out at public information workshops. Of 55 respondents, 49 people lived in the area and 36 of them lived in mobile/modular homes. I'm no demographic or statistical genius, but I would think with the sale of the two mobile home parks nearest the runway having been announced well in advance of the study completion they could have sought more representative input.

In Cased You Missed It

Take a look at the St. Pete Times story on neighborhood blogs. Reporter Alexandra Zayas made mention of Seminole Heights (Granddaddy of Tampa's hyperlocal outlets), Port Tampa, and West Tampa. Do you have questions, comments, concerns, news, views? Don't just read and lurk. Post a comment. Or you can e-mail me directly at ToniDW@aol.com

Dining Out? Read FloridaFoodHound

Long time readers probably know I don't get out much so I have done one restaurant review, of Ghengiz Khan Meditteranean Grill (which I love even if the service is often inept to the point of hilarity). So check out transplanted New Orleans foodie Matt's blog at FloridaFoodHound

Ellen Haynes Allen-Green May 19, 1915-September 24, 2006

Excerpts of the obituary for Mrs. Green:

Ellen Haynes Allen-Green was born on May 19, 1915 in Port Tampa City. She was widowed twice and has three children from her marriage to Ernest D. Allen: Carl, Irma and Clyde. She devoted her life to being a loving mother, grandmother, great grandmother and great great grandmother. Mrs. Green lived in the same house in which she was born until her death on Sunday, September 24, 2006.

Mrs. Green was a devoted member of the Mt. Zion AME Church in Southwest Port Tampa City. She was an ardent Sunday School student, Assistant Superintendent and Superintendent for 25 years, Church Steward for more than 35 years, Church Secretary for 19 years, and served as an Usher for 54 years. She touched and taught many young people at the church, workplace and in the community.

She spent 47 years at Afro-American Life Insurance, Central Life Insurance for 29 years, and Progressive Pallbearers Grand Union where she ended her career as Financial Secretary after 11 years. Fraternally, she was a member of the Sunlight OES #26 for 42 years and Pallbearers Grand Union Lodge #23.

She was a champion of civil and equal rights for all. She was Vice President of the Tampa Branch NAACP as integration began to emerge out of its cocoon of racial hatred. After three years of the pressures of meetings and travel, she suffered a heart attack and had to let go. As soon as she was well enough, she returned to lend a hand to make "freedom" a reality. Mrs. Green was President of the Tampa Chapter National Council of Negro Women, the West Tampa Advisory Council, the Southwest Civic Club, and Young Women's Christian Association.

She contributed to two chapters of the book "Port Tampa City, A History of Change": Chapter 6 Churches, Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church; and Chapter 7 Education, Segregation. The Friday before her death, Jill Buford, President of the Civic Association of Port Tampa City, cooked dinner for Mrs. Green and told her of plans to name a park in her honor.

We have lost a lovely lady who left us suddenly, a woman who drove herself beyond normal limits, a petite figure who tackled giants, a fearless fighter for civil and human rights, and a champion for her beloved Port Tampa City. Her passing leaves us with memories of her love for everyone who befriended her and as a crusader for doing right by all. Let us not be sad for her passing and be glad that we had a moment in time with her.