Urban Study

Tampa's future, something each resident of Tampa and its sprawl should care about. The Tampa Planning Commission offered a chance to residents to come up with ideas, over looked problems, and solutions to be considered and added to Tampa's Plan. The planning Commission held five meetings that consisted of the resident "study circle" and Tampa planners together they hoped to move forward in a progressive and positive way.

Session One

10-1-04

Session one was held at New Tampa Library and its topic was "How is change or the lack of change affecting our community?" I walked into the meeting and immediately I was out of place. In fact I was asked if I was there for the story time across the hall. It was strange to see what I think is the future of Tampa not represented. It was obvious by the story time remark that these people were not expecting my age range to be represented either. Our topic came with a couple of reports for our review and for us to add personal perspective to. The first meeting explained how we were to interact with each other and that it was just a big conversation.

The meeting started with introductions, and Tampa was well represented and most people there have lived in more than one part of Tampa. The meeting started with a question to get the conversation started and the Planning Commission members took notes to pull out the major concerns and ideas of what we were saying. The facilitator asked "Is the character of Tampa's neighborhoods better than eight years ago?" This got the circle to talk about the individual neighborhoods that make up Tampa. One point realized in examining our neighborhoods is that change is not consistent or even. One problem mentioned was an increase in traffic and its effects on residential areas. Back roads are no longer safe for residents or bikes. One solution to this problem was the widening of I-275. On the other hand, what will this new construction do to one of Tampa's oldest and most history holding communities of Tampa Heights. The solutions are turning into more effects and impacts. This made me realize that there is still a divide even among one city. Person A who needs to get to his high paying job from far away in sprawl doesn't care about person B's semi lower-income neighborhood or the people or history that make it up. Other points made were that transportation doesn't improve but housing costs go up, long drives and congestion on back streets doesn't build neighborhoods, unequal distribution of institutions have impact on family, the need for public transportation is urgent, we need to cut down on cars and growth. Most of my life was in outer sprawl, traffic and commuting are part of my life, and I actually consider driving my hobby. This made me realize life is not supposed to be lived this way and I envy people who can remember, "How it used to be." As the meeting went on I realized these ties in with my inner fire causing subject, of social conditions of neighborhoods and youth life. Some other changes had to deal with these issues and economic impact. We all realized for the most part we do not know our neighbors and we questioned a part of ourselves "do we want to?" "Do we have time to?" Mostly the answers were NO. We thought putting at least one parent back in the homes and institutions near by our neighborhoods would improve family, education, and community.

Other issues raised were concerns about housing, land cost, funding, sprawl, the expense of development, the trade offs we have made (family vs. convenience) and Tampa's history. After the discussion Mr. Cullen pasted out those reports. They were about issues raised by the public in county meetings, and a report on static and dynamic data about the city and asked us to review them for next week. This was when I offered my comments and was asked to remain in the study circle.

Session 2

10-11-04

This session was held at Seminole Heights Garden Center, its topic was "Why is our community experiencing these changes?" In the session we had to choose one most important issue or problem that we felt needed the most attention. The issue that won by one vote was education.

Our conversation focused on the importance for education and how good education can help the other issues listed. We listed that lifestyle loss, fear, and unfriendliness all were a part of what needs to be changed along with education. In this meeting we discussed the responsibility of many parts of the community including government in making Tampa a better place to live. Some people were confused on why education won but I feel that education is the single most important building block to dealing with urban problems and for planning for the future. We realized that home, neighborhood, and community are the building blocks of the city, and good education is key to having all of those.

Our ideas about what we needed to accomplish these and have in our city started to flow, some ideas were: We need friendlier neighborhoods, with pedestrian features that foster community. Our neighborhood has sidewalks that bring people out of their

homes, while adjacent neighborhoods lack sidewalks. Sidewalks are not always a sure thing. In a small neighborhood of 63 homes with sidewalks my neighbors and I do not know each other. The problem is bigger than that; we live in an era of fear.

Society no longer believes it is possible to collectively build our community. We lack urban enclaves with people who look after each other. If you had a tool to work your garden and then one day you didn't have that tool, would you get in your car and drive to the nearest hardware store OR ask your neighbor? We live in an era of fear Ð'- youth is my greatest concern. We are now seeing the effects of the first day-cared generation.

Friendly neighborhoods start at home. We need afternoon gathering places that are preferably home-based. If not, at least give our kids alternatives. Everything revolves around community Ð'- it takes a village to raise a child. Every spreads out from the community, and everything comes back to the community. Yes, if we get community right, then everything else takes care of itself. Everything is possible, if we know our neighbors Ð'- nothing is possible if we don't. It was easy to see that even the simplest things in life like talking to our neighbors has become obsolete in this money hungry age. Other concerns about Parenting and children arose. Our graduation levels, teen pregnancy,

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