SE Seminole Heights Awards

Tuesday night, the Southeast Seminole Heights Civic Association gave out certificates of appreciation to various people, including City Council member Linda Saul-Sena, Assistant Chief of Police Jane Castor, Major George McNamara, and Tampa City Council Legal Counsel Martin Shelby

Outgoing president Beverly Morrow read the following:

Major George McNamara, Division Commander of the Criminal Investigation Division
Our first recipient has been very supportive of our Neighborhood Watch and Mobile Patrol programs. He has walked many miles along side us in our drug marches and continues to serve on our Hillsborough County Prostitution Task Force. He is one of the most dedicated officers I have ever known and a very good friend to Southeast Seminole Heights.

During the time he served as Commander of TPD’s District III, crime statistics within our neighborhood plummeted, especially our long term problems with street level crime.

Most recently, he has assumed a new position with TPD as the Division Commander of the Criminal Investigation Division. These are just some of the high points of his long and successful career with the Tampa Police Department, as his achievements are just too many to list in a limited time frame.

Thank you, Major George McNamara, for all you have done to elevate our quality of life and to make our neighborhood a safer place to live, work and play. It is our great pleasure to honor you with this Certificate of Appreciation.

Rich Guagliardo
He moved to Southeast Seminole Heights about a year ago and began attending Porch Parties and immediately became a member of our association.

As a very successful realtor, he works hard to help neighbors when they are ready to sell their home and he finds just the right home for those new neighbors wishing to join our community. Then, he goes one step further. He gives each of those new homeowners a special gift: membership in our Southeast Seminole Heights Civic Association. He has gifted memberships to over 20 new members.

He is also a major supporter of and contributor to our fundraising efforts for Giddens Park renovations, which include Dog Day in the Park and the new Dog Day in the Park calendar.

Rich Guagliardo, in appreciation for all the many ways you support and promote our community, please accept this Certificate of Appreciation.

Andrew Baker
Long term service. That is what comes to mind when I think of this next recipient of our Certificate of Appreciation. Some of that long term service to our community includes:
- Served on our Board of Directors for over seven years
- Walked for 2 years with our “Exercise Club” – the forerunner of our Mobile Patrol
- Member of our Neighborhood Watch and our Mobile Patrol
- Wrote grants and secured funds for our Neighborhood Watch, in addition to other projects
- Chair of our Green Printing Committee for Giddens Park and
- Fellow traveler with board members to the Neighborhoods USA Conference in Chattanooga in 2003. He was a co-presenter of our Award Winning Project: The Home Improvement Team (H.I.T.) Program. We were awarded First Place and the distinction of being named the National Neighborhood of the Year 2003. The H.I.T. Program, brain-child of board member Maria Garcia, is still going strong and helping neighbors to tackle home projects that they could not accomplish alone.

Andrew Baker, I have only touched on some of the many ways you have served our community over the years. We thank you for your many years of dedication to Southeast Seminole Heights, as you continue to serve this community. Please accept our appreciation and our gratitude.

David “Scott” Banghart
You catapulted our association into the “computer age,” as the facilitator of our neighborhood email group, giving us a means of “instant and mass communication.” Next, you created our first website, giving us the broader exposure of the internet. You hold the undisputed title as our “blogmaster,” being recently recognized by the St. Pete Times for your very successful blog site.
As originator and facilitator of the Hillsborough County Prostitution Task Force, you brought many key participants to the table. Among those task force members working with you to find workable solutions to the problems of street level prostitution and the street level crimes it spawns are:
- City Department Heads
- Local and State Officials
- Tampa’s Neighborhood Watch
- The State Attorney’s Office
- Major George McNamara and other TPD representatives and
- Many Neighborhood Leaders throughout the City
You are on a “first name” basis with most of the reporters of local newspapers and TV stations. Because you have successfully brought our community’s issues and our successes
before the media, we have gained both respect and recognition within the City of Tampa, and beyond.

For well over 7 years, you have served your community in many other capacities. Some of those are:
- Board Member
- Home Improvement Team (HIT) member
- Neighborhood Watch, including 2 years of walking with the notorious “Exercise Club”
- Mobile Patrol volunteer
- Dog Day in the Park volunteer
- Home Tour volunteer, including serving as a trolley tour guide and
- Landscaping volunteer for both the Giddens Park and the Kathryn Malone Center projects in recent years

David “Scott” Banghart, thank you for your continuing service and dedication to Southeast Seminole Heights. It is with much gratitude and pleasure that we give you this Certificate of Appreciation.

City Councilwoman, Linda Saul-Sena
The next person we wish to honor is one of our elected officials. She has offered her support to our community on many levels through her interest and her assistance in many of the development programs of Southeast Seminole Heights. She

- Attends our Home Tours and our Dog Day in the Park fundraising events for Giddens Park
- Supports stronger enforcement of the Seminole Heights Residential Overlay District Ordinance - Helps us to coordinate plans between the City Parks and Recreation Department, the Mayor’s Beautification Program, and the Public Works Department, during the continuing renovation of Giddens Park

City Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena, please accept this Certification of Appreciation from a community that is very grateful for your continuing support and interest.

Martin Shelby, Legal Counsel to Tampa’s City Council
Our next recipient serves as the legal counsel to Tampa’s City Council. He attends every City Council meeting and interprets and clarifies ordinances and legal procedures at all their hearings. He has helped educate us on the legal process, as it pertains to our neighborhood issues. He attends our Neighborhood Improvement Code Enforcement City wide meetings and has been very supportive of the changes and improvements we are seeking in the areas of neighborhood improvement.

Martin Shelby, you have been a communication liaison between neighborhoods, City Council, and the City Department heads.

Thank you for your support of Tampa’s neighborhoods and especially for all the assistance you have given to Southeast Seminole Heights. We look forward to working with you for many years to come and are very pleased to offer you this Certificate of Appreciation.

Major Jane Castor, Assistant Police Chief
Because Southeast Seminole Heights lies within two Tampa Police Department Districts, we have had the opportunity of working with two previous commanders. One of those has her roots in Seminole Heights.

She is a graduate of Chamberlain High, as well as a graduate of the University of Tampa. While attending the University of Tampa on a full basketball and volleyball scholarship, she received recognition as a real champion. In fact, if the WNBA had existed at the time she graduated, this ex-Spartan may have put her law enforcement career on hold for a while, in favor of a basketball career. She was that good. After graduation, she became a volunteer in the community, serving as a basketball coach for several youth groups.

The former commander of District II has lived in Seminole Heights for many years and shares our goals for this community. She is a dedicated, very professional “can do” leader, who has quickly risen within the ranks of TPD. She continues to support and champion our causes and goals for Southeast Seminole Heights, as we work to improve our quality of life.

As of September 1, 2005, Major Jane Castor assumed her new position: Tampa’s Assistant Police Chief. Jane, we are privileged to also call you “friend.” Please accept this token of our community’s appreciation for all you continue to do for us and for the City of Tampa.

Ellison Smith
This next person we wish to recognize has given new meaning to the phrase, “neighborhood volunteer.” Let me list just a few of her involvements in Southeast Seminole Heights:
- Served on our Board of Directors
- Member of our H.I.T. (Home Improvement Team)
- Member of Neighborhood Watch
- Walked with the “Exercise Club” for 2 years; then
- Volunteered for our Mobile Patrol
- Organized our Court Watch program
- Served as a volunteer on both Holiday Home Tours and organized our first year’s Vender Village
- Serves on the Dog Day in the Park Committee
- Organized neighbors to produce our first Southeast Seminole Heights Cook Book – a fundraising project that benefits both our Membership Committee and Giddens Park
- Assisted in the development of our first Dog Day in the Park Calendar for 2006, yet another fundraising effort for our park.
- Serves as co-organizer for the distribution of Holiday Luminaries
- Past Chair of the Social Committee, on which she continues to serve as a member
- Organizer of the December Holiday Social for our members and
- As a member of the Southeast Seminole Heights Youth Group Committee, she has helped to plan several successful youth projects

She is always there to support and help organize all of our events, giving extra attention to the many special details that make them so successful and memorable. To many of us she is affectionately known as “Martha,” as in “Stewart.” Ellison Smith, your picture is in the dictionary beside the word: “volunteer.” For all you have done and continue to do for Southeast Seminole Heights, we want to say, “Thank you, Ellison.”

Diane Jenkins
When she purchased her home in Southeast Seminole Heights about 7 years ago, she wasted no time in becoming involved in her neighborhood as:
- A member of SESHCA
- A member of our Neighborhood Watch, often walking with the early group, the “Exercise Club”
- As a member of our Mobile Patrol and
- As a volunteer for both of our Holiday Home Tours, serving as a “Trolley Wench”
She accepted the Chair position of several committees, and has served on the Dog Day in the Park Committee for 3 years. She has organized 2 very successful Neighborhood Yard Sales and Child I.D. events.

Even after moving back to our “sister” neighborhood, Old Seminole Heights, she continues to chair her original committees and maintains her SESHCA membership. I just call her “Double Duty Diane.” Diane Jenkins, thank you for your continuing dedication to Southeast Seminole Heights. Please accept this certificate as an expression of our gratitude.