We've been here before

The march and rallies today and 2 weeks ago may mark the beginning of our transformation into a safe peaceful community, the beginning of the end of the "no snitch, code of silence" that has enabled street drug sales to flourish in full view of hundreds of residents. Its up to us to redouble our efforts, bring in new volunteers and make the changes we now realize our community so desperately needs. All of the candidates for mayor came to Bartlett Park to support us.

"No Snitchin" has finally been challenged by a mass movement for peace

Many dismiss today's NAACP march and the SCLC march two weeks ago as merely media events designed to promote the organizers and allow community members to feel as if they "did something". This event can be seen as the end of a community grieving process, helping us cope with a senseless murder but not changing conditions that make these killings inevitable. We've seen this happen before, yet our neighborhood association joined in in the hopes that this would be profoundly different. The "connect the dots" campaign of the SCLC gets to the root of our crime problem, while crime itself is a main cause of poverty, unemployment, school discipline, drop out problems, and the fear residents have to get involved in their community. We can make the difference.

Lets take a look at our history


For thirty years Bartlett Park has been the scene of community rallies, marches, TV news reports and the inevitable call to "have a meeting", "study the issues" and "do something" to make the problem go away. If the problem is defined as streets full of angry citizens demanding an end to crime then our political leaders have been successful. We've returned to our homes and TV sets, having settled for vague promises to "do something" without a specific plan of action that has any possible chance of success.

The Module 16 Advisory Committee was empowered to study and prepare a master plan for the old neighborhood bounded by I-275 and 22nd Ave South. Under President Carter "Citizen Participation" became an important HUD policy. All of a sudden the city found itself in need of Mod 16 support for federal funding to demolish the historic Gas Plant neighborhood for the baseball stadium (then called an industrial park and affordable homes). Many promises of better days were made to residents.

Roser Park and Bartlett Park were given the highest city burglary rates in a police department report released in June of 1979. This was a relatively peaceful and hopeful time but we were sliding into a decade of chaos. The city, public institutions and the federal government were busy demolishing black owned homes and businesses, moving thousands to clear the way for I-275, the Dome, hospitals, the university and whats now called Bay Walk. White senior citizens were included in this forced relocation program. How many were displaced? (I've seen an estimate of 25,000, or about 10% of the cities population. If any reader has seen another number documented please share it with us.) Segregation created an unusually strong, stable self sufficient community where professionals and unskilled workers lived close together and helped each other. Children were raised by extended families with lots of help from neighbors who knew each other as if they were small town residents. Redevelopment put its costs on those least able to pay, the fragile social safety net of the poor was torn to shreds. Homeowners were making plans and fixing up their homes unaware of city plans to demolish the entire section south of downtown.

On April 19, 1980 Rev. Cornelius Bryant led an anti-crime rally in Bartlett Park. Even before crack cocaine devastated the southside things were getting rough. 7th Street was frequently shut down by parked cars and turned into a place for public drinking, drug sales and prostitution. The ministers had a simple and solid plan to turn this around. The plan was for "Law Enforcement Sundays" at churches each month, mentoring troubled youth, and having services in the worst trouble spots to displace crime and reassure neighbors. Youth watched the rally from a distance while police officers prepared a solution to the growing problem. Black officers met with Chief Mack Vines to come up with an action plan. No drinking and no parking signs were installed in the park while officers patrolled the park and warned of a May 12th crackdown on these activities. A few weeks later an Evening Independent headline read "The Children Have Retaken Bartlett Park With Police Help". Had it not been for the introduction of crack perhaps this could have been all we needed. Extra patrols made an immediate but not lasting change.

By 1986 crack had brought a level of violence people could not imagine. Drive by shootings were now common. Back then we were shocked by each shooting of a teen age boy. After a few years we accepted this epidemic of homicide as normal. Blacks Against Dangerous Drugs (BADD) emerged as residents organized and took to marching in the streets but the city didn't listen. Our neighborhood continued to decline.

Crackdown 89 swept drug users out of vacant buildings in Roser Park giving the residents a chance to retake the streets. The Homeowners Association was joined by a new group that also organized the tenants who made up a majority of residents. Organized and United for Residential Stability (OURS) patrolled the known drug houses and made constant calls for police. OURS took a militant approach to city officials who weren't helping, calling on the Sheriff and the Guardian Angels to do what SPPD could not do. Sometimes the police response was "why don't you move to a better neighborhood" but we didn't give up. OURS canvassed the area north of 13th Avenue to the hospital and made plans to extend down to 22nd Ave.

Neighborhood planning and community policing came to Roser and Bartlett Park in the wake of the October 1991 take down of the Ronald "Romeo" Mathis and his gang. With 50 gang members on 24/7 shifts he owned this neighborhood and influenced a generation coming up. Marching today with Mayoral candidate Kathleen Ford we spoke of her concern for our neighborhood while on council. She had designed neighborhood planning to empower southside residents to change our neighborhood. The Bartlett Park Neighborhood Association was organized during this process.

Community policing, the Wrice Process

We know what works. In the early '90s community policing started to build lasting partnerships with southside residents. Street crime was under sustained pressure and neighborhoods were coming back. One tool brought to us was the famous Wrice march, an instant method of stopping street drug sales by bringing people to physically occupy street corners used to sell. The sellers don't give up easily but the buyers turn around at the first sight of us in our yellow shirts. No buyers means no transactions, no profits to buy guns and build a crime organization. Often sellers gave up and moved with anti-drug marchers following them to new locations. This community renaissance was stopped in its tracks by the October/November '96 riots. In the aftermath many business reported sales declines of 50% because few would venture down here to spend money. Thirteen years later we still suffer an economic depression. Construction jobs that were here during the real estate bubble are gone. We let fear of crime chase away investors who might transform the vast empty lots that mark south St. Pete.

Green Jobs Now!

For two years the Bartlett Park Neighborhood Association has been advocating a transformation into a sustainable community. A model "Green Neighborhood" that can show every neighborhood how to help its residents and save the planet. Our support for our community garden has helped build a model for us and other neighborhoods where residents can generate income growing food and help the city and utilities by conserving water and energy and reducing solid waste. Our current door to door campaign is asking resident homeowners to take advantage of tax credits, rebates and a special $150,000 neighborhood grant to make their homes more comfortable and energy efficient. Please take advantage of this money!

The Future is up to us

Please get involved in your neighborhood association and crime watch. The next few months will be a critical time to either seize the moment and build on this momentum or let it slip away. What are you going to do?