Central Park Village by Terry Neal
Printed in the Tampa Tribune 11/20/2004
No one can disagree that Central Park Village is unfit for human habitation. But why was Amberwood Apartments vacated for code violations when residents of Central Park live among rats and squalor in this horrid place?
There is space at Belmont Heights, a federally subsidized housing complex. If the city and THA are so concerned about the residents, why do they not relocate them to this beautiful facility?
Because it is not the people the Mayor cares about….it is the land.
In Andy Reid’s interview, Mark Huey states “It (Central Park Village) is a critical piece of real estate.” Just like the Federal Courthouse, the dollar signs are what I see in their eyes; there’s not an altruistic statement I’ve yet to hear that is sincere…or true.
Sadly, Tampa is still discriminating. The city and THA need to keep those residents at Central Park Village until they achieve their goals. They must display this decrepit facility to the world so they can point to it and say “See how bad it is,” and most certainly we all shake our heads in agreement.
And why is it discrimination?
Because this city administration, Mayor Iorio, Mark Huey, Linda Saul-Sena and others seek gentrification of downtown. In other words they want a place where the well-to-do can live and play and not feel threatened by those less fortunate.
Just like South Tampa. Just like Tampa Palms.
The discrimination I speak of is about rich vs. poor. They simply want everyone who doesn’t fit their view of a perfect world out of Central Park and downtown.
Think I’m wrong.
Then ask the Mayor to build affordable or low-income housing in South Tampa or New Tampa or Westchase. That ought to get a rise out of her. Even better, ask Linda Saul-Sena or Mary Alvarez. I’d love to hear what kind of babbling response they have for that request.
Go back to the stories of Civitas, when just a year ago they touted, with the approval of Mayor Iorio, a vision of low-income housing next door to half-million dollar condos. At that time they said they hoped to displace no one. In fact, Mayor Iorio and THA said that the current residents of Central Park would have the first opportunity to live in the revitalized complex.
Even then, those promises were thinly veiled. Re-entry to the area would require meeting certain requirements, such as income levels, no criminal record (ever) and essentially nothing that would taint the new world created by the city.
Today, however, the city is at least more honest. The Mayor wants to sell the whole complex to a private developer…the residents be damned. That’s because her plan is all about money.
And neither the THA plan nor the Mayor’s speaks to re-settling residents back to this area.
Over the past 12 years, during the Greco administration and carried out by Chet Luney and Steve LaBrake, and now, during the Iorio administration, under Mark Huey (formerly of THA) and with the blessing of Mayor Iorio, the poor of this city have been quietly relocated out of Tampa Heights, College Hill and now, Central Park.
They have methodically driven the poor, black, white and other minorities to less-visible areas of the city, with barely the clothes on their backs, placing burdens upon other neighbors which the city continues to ignore.
It is said, give a man a fish and he eats for a day. But TEACH a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.
Is it not time that we stop the smoke and mirrors game and hold our officials accountable to actually treat people humanely? Is it not time that if individuals are relocated we don’t just dump them somewhere but we also invest in their lives and futures to ensure everyone comes out ahead?
The Tribune editorialized today that the city and THA need to have a better vision. I agree with an addendum. What our officials and developers need to do is to take off their rose-colored glasses, wipe the sleep and biased from their eyes, and seek a way to create a community. A community not just of downtown, but of Central Park, Ybor City, West Tampa, Westchase, Tampa Palms, South Tampa and my neighborhood, Temple Crest.
I would like to place a challenge before the citizens of Tampa as well as the media. As I said a year ago, we need a master plan for the entire city.
If the city will not do it, let us take on the task.
The current administrations' strategy, as in the past, only lines the pockets of developers while pushing decay to another area of the city.
But most importantly, the current plans, which I cannot fathom as visions, and not altruistic, but discriminatory in every conceivable way to human beings who simply have not fared well in life.
That is unacceptable and irresponsible government.
“There is a special place in hell for those who remain neutral.” - Dante