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New Leader Wants To Spread Word

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By JOSE PATINO GIRONA, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 16, 2008

TAMPA HEIGHTS - Fran Roy is growing green thumbs.

As newly elected president of the Tampa Heights Civic Association, he wants to share his conversion.

One of his plans is to offer community programs that help residents learn how they can recycle, conserve water and use landscaping alternatives, especially during drought conditions.

Roy said only three households recycle on his block of North Central Avenue between Columbus Drive and Floribraska Avenue.

"There is a lot of great opportunity for people to take advantage of all these conservation programs," Roy said.

He decided to run for president when no one else showed interest. He said holding the one-year position is a good way to give back.

"I figure it is a great investment in the neighborhood," said Roy, 45, who has served as northeast neighborhood representative and secretary of the civic group, which has about 60 members.

He discovered Tampa Heights 13 years ago when he was looking for a central place to live. As a Macy's employee, he wanted to live in a neighborhood that had easy access to the company's department stores. Roy is an assistant manager of Macy's in Port Richey.

On his first visit, he fell in love with the neighborhood and a home on Ross Avenue.

When he moved in, people stopped by to introduce themselves. Today, he knows the names of his neighbors and their pets on Central, where he has lived since 1999.

He said he is encouraged by the investment and interest in residential and commercial development in Tampa Heights.

There is the planned $500 million development project, The Heights, with town homes, condominiums, stores and offices. Another developer plans to rehabilitate a 1927 theater on Franklin Street to open a members club.

Recently, the Cafe Hey coffeehouse and sandwich shop and the Bush Ross law firm opened in the neighborhood. The new home of the Hillsborough County Bar Association and its nonprofit foundation is almost complete.

Founded in the 1890s, Tampa Heights is considered Tampa's first suburb. Some of its Victorian homes have been rehabilitated, and new developments have a historical design. Part of the neighborhood has been recognized as a local historic district.

It remains a community in transition.

Roy supports the proposal to turn one-way Florida Avenue and Tampa Street into two-way roads, saying it would bring businesses and add pedestrians.

He sees the association as a vehicle for letting the neighborhood know what's happening.

"I am very proud of my neighborhood," Roy said. "It is a good place to live."

NEED TO KNOW

WHAT: Tampa Heights Civic Association
MEETINGS: 7 p.m. on the fourth Thursday monthly at Stetson University College of Law, 1700 N. Tampa St.

ANNUAL DUES: $12 a person, $24 a household, $25 a business and $100 for sponsors

INFORMATION: www.tampa heights.org

Reporter Jose Patino Girona can be reached at (813) 835-2110 or jpatino@tampatrib.com.

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