There have been a lot of changes in Seminole Heights since we moved into Southeast Seminole Heights in June 2000.
Often times people don't notice the changes due to the frog in boiling water principle. It happens slowly and escapes their notice.
I think SESH has changed the most. There have been many people stuck with old ideas about SESH and they don't update them to reflect current realities. We would see this a lot over the years. People who never traveled south of Hillsborough or west of I-275 would come into SESH for some event or activity and tell us they were surprised as to how much it changed. We were at an early BGOSH meeting and some small business owner was saying that she could never see anyone shopping on Nebraska Avenue south of Hillsborough. This was ironic because the meeting was being held in A.W Windhorst Hall on Nebraska Avenue south of Hillsborough.
There has been a bunch of new office spaces made available. A lawyer just moved into the renovated 2 story bungalow on Nebraska north of North Bay (formerly Casa Dominciana). Tintera Electric building was renovated and has some office in it. A new office building is going up at New Orleans. There are several other renovated places. Rose Ferlita filled one of her spaces with a CPA. A Metro PCS cell phone store moved in a mini strip mall south of Chelsea.
Houses that were homes for drug dealers, prostitutes and other shiftless characters have been sold and renovated. There used to be a very bad one at 800 block Curtis or Cayuga behind a church. Hirem Patel bought it and fixed it up and it looks great. More and more chain link fencing is coming down. On my block there used to be chain link fence on every house. No more, except for two strips running down the side of one house.
Even the "Beirut" area has improved. (SE part of SE Sem Hts, on and off one block of 15th street, south of Osborne. ) Just ask Queen Barbee.
We used to have multiple drug dealers at every corner on 15th street. Wendy was a fast food drug spot. Get a cheeseburger and crack at the same time.
The boarding house has settled down considerably.
The topless joint has been bulldozed. More restaurants slowly moving in.
We still have areas to improve. Ghost Town for example. (Fortunately Ybor Pizza has sold and that area has cleaned up. Still needs a lot of work) The apartments on Osborne.
It's slow, and has some fits and stops, but is it is improving.
Your insight is specific to SESH but I think that the same thing can be said of SH as a whole especially along Nebraska. We still have the motels that will be here for quite a while but they are now toeing the line and the police doing raids and stings out of their parking lots make a difference.
ReplyDeleteThe concerted efforts of many to make a difference is really beginning to show - I think the prostitution task force was the first step in empowering the neighborhood to realize as an individual and then as a group we can make positive changes to our neighborhood - even the evil code is making a positive difference!
All that being said - I can't wait to wake up and have the water boiling!
Hi
ReplyDeleteThank you for the information about this area .
Would you be so kind and tell me what the "Giddeon" place is off of FLorida ave n Hillsbo.
Hey, you raise a great point about the chain link fences. I got to ask for anyone that has one and does NOT have a dog...why do you have a damn chain link fence? I see some folks around my vicinity who have one and do not have dogs...its the funniest thing, you see them pull up to their driveway, get out of their car, unlock the fence, pull the car in, then go back and lock the fence. I wonder how much of their life do they waste going back and forth locking and unlocking the thing. And for what? Let's be honest, a 4 ft high chain link fence isn't going to keep anyone out. Its not even a deterrent, you can just as easily hop over the fence as you could walk into a yard without one. Plus, they look nasty. So they look nasty and serve no purpose. So why do people keep them up????
ReplyDeleteThey're dropping like flies. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI must say I am a little confused about the Ybor pizza and subs being "fortunetly" sold. Has Ybor Pizza and subs really been sold??? This was and is my favorite pizza spot? Could it be true? Could the snobbery of Seminole Heights really have forced out such a land mark? If so....you WILL be sorry. I've had pizza from all over the country and Ybor was as close to authentic as it got.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is true, and yes we are thankful that Ybor has been sold. The new owners have wasted no time in cleaning the place up. Now if we can convince him to bring down the chainlink, what a difference that strip will make. This has nothing to do with snobery. This has to do with respecting the neighborhood and respecting the neighbors that live around the building. The previous owners were filthy pigs and took advantage of the neighborhood for many years. IF you want much better pizza, head to Cappys. If you want better subs go to ABC. If you want better wings, hit hooters!
ReplyDeleteCould you define "took advantage of the neighborhood for many years"?
ReplyDeleteI also think they "took advantage" they let the place look horrible, unsafe, etc. Took money from neighbors, yet did nothing to better their business. Then, after the neighbors worked their butts off, he sells, cashing out and making a fist full of money. I agree, so long, farwell. Glad to have others take an interest in the neighborhood. Hopefully, when my kids are grown, this will be the best, cleanest and safest neighborhood in Tampa. As I am old and retired, I can say I live in the best in town (Not that it is not getting better and already the best!)
ReplyDeletePlaces that are gone that used to make this area interesting, that many of you would want to run out on a rail:
ReplyDeleteScratch and Dent Grocery
Howard and Dot's
Whaley's
Ybor Pizza and Subs
Anon 9:05:
ReplyDeleteThis is just another of the same line of arguments where businesses fail not because of who owns and manages them but because neighbors don't "support" them. It's a load of hooey.
If the neighborhood was capable of running any legal business out on a rail, do you think we'd all be complaining about junky car lots and sleazy motels? No, because they'd be gone already.
As a side note, Cappy's greek salad has got to be one of the very best I've eaten in Tampa to date. That and a small cheeze pizza--yummy!
Pretty abstract jump from "you would want to" to "did" or "could" or "neighbors don't support them".
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I find it interesting that after all the pissing and moaning about Ybor being nasty and should go away, when they did go away ya'll are bitching about how they "took advantage" of the neighborhood.
They're gone. You got what you wanted. You're still not happy. Should they have just given the place away? How many ways do you want your cake and still eat it?
Wait. Is there really a place in this area where one could say....drive up and get some weed delivered ?
ReplyDeletethanks
great " hood"