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Waiting On Park Improvements

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By KATHY STEELE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 10, 2008

SEMINOLE HEIGHTS - City signs from 2004 tout coming improvements to Giddens Park. Completion was expected in March 2005.

An idealized rendering, on a now-faded sign, sketches an interactive water fountain, a picnic area, a playground with rubber pads, a sand volleyball court, a shuffleboard court and something called a "peace garden."

Phase two held the promise of a 3,500-square-foot community center, tennis courts and another playground.

Into that mix in 2006 a gazebo was added.

It was all part of an ambitious partnership of the city, the nonprofit Mayor's Beautification Program and the F.E. Lykes Foundation to upgrade 10 city parks at the rate of one a year. The foundation offered $75,000 for each park in the "greenprinting initiative."

Giddens, 5202 N. 12th St., was first up, but neighbors - some of whom donated to the project - are still waiting.

"It's been a long, tough road, and we don't believe anything anymore," said Sherry Simons-Genovar, president of the Southeast Seminole Heights Civic Association.

Last week, workers were patching cracks in the fountain's concrete pad. City officials say the water system is ready to go. The next step is installing a splash pad of green, yellow and blue.

As recently as June, residents were told to expect completion this summer. Plans for a neighborhood ice cream social were on hold pending the fountain but now have been canceled.

"It's functional," Debra Evenson, the beautification program's executive director, said of the fountain. "But it can't be turned on until final inspection."

That, hopefully, will be within a couple of weeks.

There is no sign of the gazebo; Evenson said it is a special order and the delay is not unusual.

"When I see it standing there, I'll believe it," Simons-Genovar said.

The Giddens project started with much hope and excitement but quickly ran into trouble.

The fountain, initially envisioned as a public art project, was scratched when residents and New York artists clashed on the design. The artists dropped out, citing higher-than-expected costs, and the city found a company to build the fountain without the art.

"That delayed this tremendously," said city parks and recreation director Karen Palus. "We came up with a compromise."

More than $300,000 has been spent on park improvements, with about $90,000 for the fountain.

Among the upgrades were fencing and a masonry enclosure for a trash container. In 2006, the East Tampa Community Revitalization Partnership recommended giving $25,000 to buy the gazebo, with the civic association raising additional money.

Palus said the gazebo's cost is closer to $50,000, and about $16,000 has been donated by Leadership Tampa Alumni, Class of 2003, which will volunteer to do some of the landscaping when the gazebo arrives.

There were misunderstandings about the project, said Candy Olson, board president for the beautification program.

"This was never meant to be, 'We swoop in and give this money to you,'" she said. The initiative was aimed at giving communities seed money and fundraising support.

But Simons-Genovar said after three years of waiting it was harder and harder to tap people for money. About $3,600 was raised from the group's Dog Days in the Park event and private donations that went to the beautification program.

There were good intentions, she said, but "I feel like from the very beginning that obviously the plans were too unrealistic. .... We had expectations built up."

Now the greenprinting initiative is all but over.

Robles Park in Tampa Heights was second on the park improvement list, with plans calling for an interactive fountain, a garden, entry plazas and a bridge across the retention pond. Evenson said the design is in the works and the project will be done.

The third and possibly last park to benefit from the initiative will be downtown's Curtis Hixon Park. Last week, the city council approved an agreement with the Lykes foundation to accept $1 million for the design and installation of fountains with public art.

Councilwoman Mary Mulhern thanked Norma Gene Lykes and the foundation for "sticking with us through all the bureaucracy it takes to get through these things."

It's not 10 parks in 10 years, but Evenson said, "We've done a lot more than we expected to do. Curtis Hixon is the final end of the foundation's commitment."

Reporter Kathy Steele can be reached at (813) 259-7652 or ksteele@tampatrib.com.

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