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Tear Down This Wall, Petitioners Say

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By JOSE PATINO GIRONA

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 3, 2008

WEST TAMPA - Residents on Palmetto Street and Fremont Avenue look at a 21/2-foot-tall wall as a cul-de-sac of problems.

They say the concrete wall, which blocks east-west traffic on Palmetto at Fremont, creates a gathering place for teenagers and young adults who use alcohol and drugs and gamble. The gatherings get loud, and discussions are laced with profanities. Graffiti is drawn on the wall, and it's the neighbors who clean it.

"I don't like the wall," said Sarah Bell, who has lived onPalmetto for 20 years. "I think it needs to come down. Let it be a through-street called Palmetto."

Bell and 21 neighbors signed a petition asking Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio to tear down the wall. They want speed bumps installed on Palmetto to control traffic.

Iorio has asked the city's transportation and police departments to review the issue.

It's unclear exactly when the wall was built, and opinions differ as to why it was erected. Similar walls along Fremont block east-west traffic on Cherry, Pine and Walnut streets.

A city park was dedicated along Fremont between Beach and Spruce streets in the 1970s, said Linda Carlo, a parks department spokeswoman. The 1.5-acre Fremont Linear Park has a paved path and a children's playground adjacent to Cherry, but there are no park signs.

The parks department believes the walls were constructed about the time the park was dedicated. Parks officials want to see the residents' petition and offer input on their proposal, which may have "an effect on the park," Carlo said.

Ron Pressley, 60, who has lived on Palmetto since he was 9, said the city created the park to appease residents of the predominately black neighborhood following race riots in the late 1960s.

He said he doesn't care whether the wall is removed. But if it is, he warned that traffic will increase and may endanger children.

"You can stop one thing and create another problem," Pressley said.
George Campbell has lived off and on at his mother's home on Palmetto for the past 25 years. He said the wall is a safety hazard. Emergency vehicles and garbage trucks have to reverse to get out.

Calvin Thornton, the transportation department's chief planning engineer, said the area long has had a drug problem, and his understanding is that the wall was a way to help police fight crime.

Thornton, who has been with the transportation department for 23 years, said the wall prevents easy exits by people driving into the neighborhood to buy drugs.

"This was the solution to solve the problem," he said. "The problem was drugs."

Police records show there were four drug-related calls for service at Palmetto and Fremont from January 2006 to April 21.

Police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said she hasn't seen the residents' petition.

"We are going to be able to do our job with or without the wall," Davis said.

Mary Dunn, 72, lives on Palmetto in a house owned by her family since 1951. Removing the wall may prevent youngsters from loitering, she said.

"The street would be cleaner," Dunn said. "Maybe the kids would use the recreation center across Rome Avenue and get involved in something constructive."

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

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