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'Monument' To Activism

Tribune photo by KATHY STEELE

The enterprise center, 1907 E. Hillsborough Ave., offers a place for job searches and business development. It replaces nightclubs.

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By KATHY STEELE

ksteele@tampatrib.com

Published: March 25, 2009

EAST TAMPA - It was a ribbon-cutting ceremony with a revivalist spirit.

About 200 people gathered last week to dedicate the Chloe Coney Urban Enterprise Center and honor the woman for whom the center is named.

The crowd included Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, city council Chairman Tom Scott, University of South Florida President Judy Genshaft, developer Ed Turanchik, Hillsborough schools Superintendent MaryEllen Elia, and philanthropists John and Susan Sykes.

"It's our way of giving you some kind of monument," said Albert Lee Jr., board chairman of Corporation to Develop Communities of Tampa. "It's a testament to who you are - a connection to the community."

Nearly two decades ago, Coney and other community activists took to the streets in anti-drug marches, crusading against the drugs, prostitution and blight that were damaging their East Tampa neighborhood.

In 1992, Coney launched the CDC with a small grant from the Children's Board of Hillsborough County. The agency had a telephone, a word processor, one employee and a mission to create jobs, affordable housing, businesses and youth programs.

Coney resigned in 2006 after 14 years as chief officer and now is district director for U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa. Toni Watts, the agency's first employee, put on Coney's leadership shoes though not the more than 300 hats that have become Coney's signature fashion statement.

Through the years, the nonprofit, with a donation from the Sykes family, turned the notorious Rabbit's Foot Bar off East Lake Avenue into the Audrey L. Spotford Youth & Family Center. It also opened Nehemiah Laundromat and ice cream shop, supported six small businesses at a strip mall on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, built 39 affordable houses and offered job training, homeownership classes and business counseling.

The 10,000-square-foot enterprise center has been a long-range goal, offering a one-stop place for job searches, business development and homeownership. It replaces a series of nightclubs including Cristals and The Wild Cherry.

The $2.5 million construction cost was covered by federal, city and county dollars as well as contributions from NeighborWorks America.

"You just don't know how excited I am to see what God has done," Coney said. She quoted educator Booker T. Washington, who said success is measured by the obstacles overcome while trying to succeed.

"We're going to keep community building, brick by brick, person by person, building by building," she said. "The people have said we've done it ourselves."

The agency bought the defunct nightclub in 2003, held a groundbreaking in 2005, and worked through federal regulations blocking construction in 2007. Last year the agency also dealt with the aftermath of a partnership with Renaissance Technologies that potentially left the CDC on the hook for $500,000 of a federal grant aimed at creating jobs.

The CDC has filed a breach of contract suit against the defunct steel manufacturing company. The city, which provided a $250,000 federal grant, holds a lien on the site in the event of default.

"This project has had more than its share of stumbling blocks," Watts said. But the building's grand opening is an accomplishment, she said.

"It feels exciting, energizing," Watts said. "All the work we've done over 16 years is a catalyst. We can begin to see that now."

The 26-year-old project manager for the building's construction, Bobby Priester, said he "matriculated" through the CDC. He was mentored, took jobs cutting grass, walked in anti-drug marches on 29th Street and Lake Avenue, and was encouraged to attend college. "I was pointed in the direction of success," he said. "I am living proof of Chloe Coney and the CDC of Tampa."

And 29th and Lake, he said, is "100 percent better from when I was growing up."

Iorio recalled a cleanup day after the CDC bought the property. Volunteers wore masks and gloves as they checked out the shuttered Wild Cherry nightclub.

They found a building that had not much lighting but plenty of small rooms and a pole in the bar. "When they sold the items, Chloe said the pole went first," Iorio said.

The mayor debunked being "gloomy and doomy" about the economy. "We have to believe in the great entrepreneurial spirit of this country, and East Tampa is an example of that," Iorio said. "It's been one success story after another. Let today be a sign of hope for the future."

Reporter Kathy Steele can be reached at (813) 259-7652.

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