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Focusing On Quality-Of-Life Issues

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By PAUL CATALA

Tribune correspondent

Published: May 28, 2008

UNIVERSITY AREA - A lot has changed since Peter Edwards first attended meetings addressing problems in his neighborhood near the University of South Florida in the late 1980s.

Parks were poorly maintained, shootings and drug dealing rampant, and there was a host of unpaved roads and vacant buildings. There was no community center.

A lifetime resident of the University Area, Edwards, 58, was one of the first guests to arrive at Thursday's A Report to the Community.

About 80 presenters and guests gathered at the University Area Community Center on North 22nd Street for the symposium, which focused on ways to reduce crime in the area and improve the overall quality of life through residents, businesses and law enforcement agencies.

"I think this is good," Edwards, a retired drug court counselor, said during a break. "It produces a concise and understandable progress report of what's been accomplished and about what needs to be done."

The forum covered the community environment, research, review of an online community atlas, partnerships, leadership programs and an overview of a "sustainable community" handbook.

The keynote speaker was state Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa, chairman and chief executive officer of the University Area Community Development Corp., the event's sponsor.

Crist, who lived in the community as a student at USF, said that although there is less of a criminal element in the area, there is a lot of work to be done. Crist credited the Weed and Seed program - funded by the U.S. Justice Department for three years beginning in 1994 to increase community-based policing - for helping curb crime.

"It's come a long way from the hookers that used to be seen on every street corner," he said, "Are we to the point of a crime-free neighborhood yet? No. We're struggling to get there, and sometime in the future, we'll be to the point we have totally recovered."

Terry Johnson, a research faculty associate at USF's Florida Center of Community Design and Research, showed the Community Atlas Web site for the area, www.hillsborough .communityatlas.org, which presents data and information concerning various community conditions through maps, tables and charts.

Chris Gibson, assistant professor of the department of criminology, law and society at the University of Florida; Anne Williamson, director of the Shimberg Center for Affordable Housing; and Olga Gonzalez, executive director of the Grassroots Connections Group, discussed the research that went into helping identify issues that need to be addressed, such as gun violence, housing improvements, support services and business. In a survey of 470 residents ages 18 to 84, 56 percent said they wanted to move to another community for five reasons: high rent, bad influences on their children, lack of quality shopping, poor schools, and racial and ethnic tensions.

"It's nice to see that problems are being addressed through science and practice. We're using data in combination with practice. Through that, there's a better chance of solving problems," Gibson said. The conference ended with a discussion on ways for residents and businesses to get involved with reshaping the community for the better and how to keep in touch with officials.

Anna Robinson Lindsey, the development corporation's director of grants and programs, said she was encouraged by the turnout. A similar two-day conference is planned for 2009, which Edwards saw as a good idea for encouraging participation. "That needs to be done. If you don't get involved, you can't gripe," he said.

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