S.H.I.P. Shame

FYI: The Senior Home Improvement Program building on Florida Ave., just south of Hillsborough Ave., has taken down its chain link fence. It has been replaced with a black, ornate, steel fence.

Yes, it's still a fence, but at least it's not a chain link one. Kudo's for their first step and efforts toward making their property more aesthetically pleasing AND to helping improve the look of one of the community's major business arteries. It's my hope they will continue to improve their rather large patch of land and building.

5/17 - This compliment has be revoked, based on new info posted (see comments).

Stephanno's is open

I think Bob and I were first in the door on Tuesday when they opened back up. Here's hoping things go more smoothly for them.

mmmm...pizza

Good Service - Chimney Sweep

Today I am off of work so I can be home while we have a couple of things done.

The first is getting the chimney in this our Lutz house checked and cleaned so when it gets cold again we can use the fireplace.

As part of getting our Seminole Heights house ready for sale, we had a chimney sweep come out and check out our non-working fireplace so we knew what it would cost to get it ready in cases the buyers asked.

We called Nick Vollaro who owns Chimney Doctor He originally was from up north somewhere and has a lot of experience with fireplaces where it really gets cold and they use them more.

He checked things out thoroughly, and explained them in terms I could understand. He gave me a couple of choices. One was to rehab the fireplace and not replace the flue or I could go full bore and get a new flue placed in. Of course the first choice was cheaper. The new owners now have that choice.

Today he came out and inspected our fireplace here. He took me with him as he went on the roof and explained to me that what condition the above roof parts of our chimney were in. Basically not bad. We had the best condition chase cover around, from looking onthe roofs of the other houses. No rust and a good pitch so no standing water to cause rust. Seal some joints here. Paint the stucco. Add some chicken wire to the underside of the cap so squirrels won't get in. We had also asked him to sweep the chimney, but after looking at it he said it was clean enough that a sweep would not get very much. He fixed a minor problem with the damper and its handle. He advised me that as my fireplace was small with only an 8 inch pipe, to not overdo it with a fire, or else I would get smoke inside the house. He said maybe in 2 years I might need a cleaning and in 5 years I might need to replace the center cap.

Total cost? Inspection fee of $39 plus the minor repair was $50.

I can't wait till it gets cold and use the fireplace next winter with all of the oak wood from the trees we had trimmed today. (Next post).

Nick can be reached at 957-7615.


Chimney Safety Institute of America

http://www.homesaver.com/content/chimney_safety_maintenance.htm

A Living Hominid is back

One of the earliest blogs from Seminole Heights was a a living hominid. I always enjoyed reading his articles that occasionally included stories about Seminole Heights. He stopped writing for a while. Well he is back.

"The blog is active again but with a slightly different focus. Previously, I started the blog as an MD/PhD student in a unique situation - I'm in medical school at USF but I'm a doctoral candidate in Anthropology at the University of Michigan. The blog was started to help me mesh ideas for my dissertation with my clinical experiences. Life moves on and sometimes away from past goals. My dissertation is on indefinite hiatus but my career as a physician is just beginning and my passion for Emergency Medicine, International Health and Policy grows each day. Still, don't we all need a place to write, to create, and to share our experiences?"

From an email: "Anyway, I've decided to reactivate the old blog - slightly different focus these days with some fiction, photography etc. I figure I have plenty of outlets for the academic stuff, why not use the blog for the other pieces of life? I've got numerous unfinished short stories and manuscripts sitting around on my computer that I can start to hash out. Of course, it's likely some SH material will make it in as well. You can't see something like Roof Dogs and NOT post about it - just impossible!"

Larry Quite Contrary

Nice article in the St. Pete Times about Seminole Heights resident and artist Larry Gagner.

Great opening lines:

Larry Gagner remembers the look on his teammates' faces when he showed up at Pittsburgh Steelers training camp in 1969.

All on account of two 48-inch fern stands.

Gagner, then a 6-foot-2, 255-pound offensive guard for the pro football team, had picked them up at an antique shop somewhere in North Carolina. He'd been driving to camp from Ormond Beach when he discovered the stands.

He just had to have them.

So he strapped them to the roof of his Porsche and continued on his way.

"I'll always remember it," he said. "Like two battering rams coming down the highway. I drive into camp several hours later and "Mean Joe" Greene is the first guy who catches a glimpse of me, and he about laughs me out of camp."

I can just imagine that scene.

Hey What Happened To The Recent Comments?

Beats me. After work I will try to figure it out. Sorry.

Carlton Skewers Seminole Heights

Sue Carlton of Times wrote a column today that skewers Seminole Heights based on the Alex Zayas article.

It's unfortunate that Carlton used as her source only the article and not the various blog articles and comments, so she would have had a more accurate picture of the issue.

This is the neighborhood with the Taco Bus. We take pride in the Taco Bus.

What we want is food. Good food. Good service. Good atmosphere. Okay, Actually we'd settle for adequate food, service and atmosphere. All in the same restaurant. We'd settle for adequate since a lot of times we get get poor. We'd like places wer ca nfeel comfortable. And we'd like some variety. If this neighborhood had an influx of English pubs serving bangers and mash, replacing most of the restaurants, we'd complain.

Another thing is that Seminole Heights is a neighborhood of tensions, where there are many different things pulling different ways. It is a neighborhood in transitions. many transitions. Often a microcosm of what is occurring elsewhere in the City and State. The Creative Loafing just did an article about Bartlett Park and gentrification tensions. The English language thing is is one of those issues/tensions. One thing good is that Seminole Heights is a neighborhood where on a blog some honest conversation (punctuated by trolls) can occur about some issues.

Sometimes the problem with newspapers is that can only give you a partial picture, a limited voice. Hence State of Sunshine opinion that "You see, the power that Kelly, Kate, Robert, and I all have is the one thing the big media companies can not take away. As Big Media chases the almighty dollar, as they cut staff left and right, as their advertising revenue disappears to the Internet (thank you Google). As they fail to understand the changes around them. They will falter.

And people like Kelly, Kate, Robert, and I will be there to take their place. We can and will offer the world more voices, more choices. Big Media may hold tight to the dying media platforms. But technology has advanced to the point that anyone … and I do mean anyone… can join the ranks of the media.

Blogs. Podcasts. Vlogs. YouTube videos. And much more. These are the future of media. And there is virtually nothing that NewsCorp, ClearChannel, Entercom, Disney, NBC-Univesal, Viacom, or AOL Time Warner can do about it."

OSHNA meeting 4/24/2007

What a great OSHNA meeting last night. Many things were mentioned, several people were recognized and honored. Lets see if I wrote it all down right, I'm not as good as Pitra and we didn't have a mic and they moved so fast. If I've forgotten anything or anyone, please correct me in your comments. Good job Randy, I was home in time to watch "House".

The Home Tour is a great way to spend the day and the home owners did an outstanding job as hosts to the more than 900 tourist. Next year is the 10th anniversary and is sure to be a success.

Every year The Home Tour donates some of the proceeds to a worthy recipient. This year, for the second year in a row, Cleveland Elementary located at 723 E. Hamilton, received a check for $500.00. If you've never seen the school this is your chance. They are celebrating their 80th anniversary with a tour of their own this Thursday, April 26th from 9:00 - 12:00.

Mike Merino, owner of Merino's Seminole Heights Deli, is hosting a Blood Drive in his parking lot on May 12th. Stop by, donate, get a shirt, cookie and soft drink.

Tampa Financial Group, Inc, located at 301 E. Sligh Av., invites you to join them Saturday, May 5th, 8 am till noon to clean up Sligh Av. This is the same day we have a city wide clean up. All you have to do is show up with gloves. The city will provide safety vests, bags, pick-up sticks and trash bags we can leave on the side of the road for pick up. Tampa Financial with have coffee and treats to get you started.

Chief Caster gave the 1st Citizen Of The Year Award to Emily Sparr, a 12 year young lady who noticed something wrong at her neighbors house and call 911. The young men were arrested for braking and entering and theft. The neighborhood is so proud of her, she is a great example of the youth we have in our community.

OSHNA honored Capt. John Newman for the Tampa Police Department a Certificate of Appreciation in his work with the home tour. Handling people and traffic isn't an easy thing to do, but he was great.

We had a presentation on Florida Friendly Landscaping. She had a lot to cover so I missed a lot but you can go to http://www.watermaters.org for more information.

The Special Olympics is this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at USF.

We are looking for 4 acres of land for the new Library. I believe the boundaries are west to the river, east to Nebraska, north to the river and south to ML King.

We have 1.5 million dollars for the Seminole Heights Garden Center remodel. They are going to bring it back to it original glory with new wood floors, new windows, get rid of the acoustic tiles, etc.

CRIME PREVENTION WORKSHOP

Everyone is invited.

The Business Guild of Seminole Heights (BGoSH) along with the support of the Tampa Police Department will host a workshop on crime prevention. The workshop will be presented on Monday, April 30 at 6: 30 p.m. at Forever Beautiful Salon and Day Spa located at 5135 N Florida Avenue in Tampa. While this free event is geared toward business owners, residents are welcome.

Chris Cochran and Officer Barrett of Tampa Police Department’s Crime Prevention Team will lead the workshop. A myriad of topics will be covered to include proper lighting and alarms to how to deal with a shoplifter. As part of the lecture, the officers will provide a hands-on demonstration in an effort to target crime-potential concerns. Attendees are encouraged to wear comfortable footwear.

“The workshop will provide business owners the tools and education to better protect themselves, their property, and their employees,” comments Carrie Byrd, Chair of BGoSH’s Information, Resources and Education committee. The Business Guild of Seminole Heights is an association of business owners within the boundaries of the Seminole Heights neighborhood of Tampa who are interested in improving the commercial environment in the neighborhood. Ranging from antique dealers to Real Estate Brokers, BGoSH consist of over one hundred members serving the Seminole Heights community.

Heights Jazz Artists perform @ Friday Extra Concert

Get the kids and a picnic and come out and enjoy some great jazz and support our neighborhood Jazz Artists.

Rose Bilah, of Tampa Heights and Denise Moore and Then Some, of Seminole Heights will perform traditional, latin and swinging @ Friday Extra Concert Series Friday May 4th 7:00pm @ Lowry Park Band Shell .

More info www.denisemoorejazz.com or www.Jazztorian@yahoo.com

Workshop In preparation for FCC Hearing on Media Ownership

Of interest to folks who might be going to the FCC Hearing mentioned earlier in the blog, the Free Press and Tampa Educationtional Cable Consortium are presenting a workshop to help people better understand the issues and prepare their testimonies for the event. It takes place at 703 N. Willow Ave, Thurs. April 26 at 7p.m. Call (813)254-2253 for more info. As a reminder, the FCC Hearing on Media Ownership takes place at The Performing Arts Center, Ferguson Hall, 1010 Nothwest Corner of MacInnes Place from 4-11p.m, Monday, April 30. It is the only presentation in Florida.

Florida Wines

A couple of weeks ago Susan and I were taking a no destination in mind drive, when along State Road 52, I saw a sign for the Florida Estates Winery. Since I was flying down the road, I had slam on my brakes, fishtail into a 180 and drive back in order to really read the sign. (Not really, but since I just watched the entire The Hire series on You Tube, my mind is full of sliding and swerving cars)

So anyways, I never really thought Florida had wineries. Well, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture, I don't know very much.

Thanks to an email from Milton, I was poking around the website and found a lot of interesting things, including this list of Florida wineries and vineyards. Apparently in Tampa area we have several other wineries:
Florida Orange Groves, Inc. and Winery - St. Petersburg
Empire Winery and Distillery - New Port Richey
Murielle Winery - Clearwater
Tarpon Springs Castle Winery
Keel and Curley Winery - Plant City

There were a couple of others places whose names I just liked:
Henscratch Farms Vineyards and Winery - Lake Placid
and the
Grapes of Kath Vineyards in Sebring.

As I am poking though some of the websites. I discovered that wine is not just a grape affair.
Aside from various fruits, carrots can be made into a wine. Carrots. Go figure.

Paint Your Heart Out

Emails from Southeast Seminole Heights:

On Saturday, April 21 the 19th Annual Paint Your Heart Out - Tampa was held. On this day, over 100 houses of Tampa 's senior citizens were painted by almost 3,000 volunteers. This year, our association paint team painted the home of Joseph Hershey, on . . . . E. Ellicott. We began painting this house around 8:30 and were finished by 2:00.

Southeast Seminole Heights Civic Association has organized paint teams each year and has now painted 23 homes in our neighborhood. We are one of only two neighborhood associations (along with Old Seminole Heights ) that has been a part of PYHOT every year since 1988. Co-captains, Jon Buhl and Frank Roder have been a part of every paint team since 1988! Once again, SESHCA can be proud of our accomplishment!

If you know of someone who would like to have their house nominated for PYHOT 2008 please call Frank Roder at 238-1772

2007 Paint Team:

Frank Roder, Co-Captain
Jon Buhl, Co-Captain
Robert Buhl
Stephanie Walstrum
Michael Palmer
Scott Krulic
Jeff Glumb
Pat Benjamin
Harry Cardini
Gregg Story
Glenn Cable
Lee Ann Corning
Sherry Simons
Kristina Simons
Diane Collins
David Walker
Beverly Morrow
Jim Schnabel
Mike Ferlita
Joel Mesa
Jason Bresnen
Nicole Marcantoni
Kaylee Bresnen
James Phillips
Delores Melsheimer
Meighan Melsheimer
Justin Fair

and

Once again all your work meant more to the homeowner than you could ever imagine.
From the surprise of finding out he would have his house painted to meeting Mayor Pam at the closing Bar-B-Que, Mr Hershey had an amazing time. The good feelings he received from everyone will last for many years!

Thank You All for what you give to the neighborhood!


As a former neighbor of Mr. Hershey, I appreciate so very much that his house was taken care of. They have lived in the neighborhood for more than 50 years.

"An Unwelcome Reception"

St. Pete Times today....

Some residents feel like they are becoming the outsiders as the Hispanic population increases in their neighborhoods.

TAMPA - The news made neighborhood gossip as soon as it hit the popular Seminole Heights blog:

Viva la Frida, the beloved neighborhood landmark with the outdoor concerts, poetry readings and colorful kitsch, was gone.

Rumor has it it was bought by a clan of Hondurans, a blogger wrote in early February.

For the rest of the article go to:

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/04/23/Hillsborough/An_unwelcome_receptio.shtml

War and Home

I read this story on the St. Pete Times by Alex Zayas about a Seminole Heights family. All I can say is wow.

Growing together

An Iraqi bomb shattered Jace Badia's legs. It also ripped at his marriage, even his bond with his baby girl. Now, the hard part.

What happens if you don't clean the lint from your dryer?

This.

Riverwalk

The Riverwalk has arrived. Except it is not Pam Iorio's Riverwalk. It is the Tampa General Hospital/Davis Island Riverwalk. As part of the deal to build the parking garage, Tampa General agreed to build a linear park. It is very nice. It stretches from the grassy area in the back of rehab center, to the HCC building, all along the waterfront. There are these covered benches every so often to sit on. The only thin missing is some vendors carts to sell food items.

The FCC wants to kill community media...

...and you can do something about it.

What´s going on?

Why is it a big deal?

A handful of media companies dominate what you watch on television, hear on the radio, and read in the newspapers. As thier influence spreads to other outlets, the diversity of what you see diminishes. Corporate media conglomerates are more concerned with profits than programming. If the FCC succeeds in "relaxing" their ownership rules coverage of many important issues will (continue to) be ignored, independent voices will be stifled, and public discourse will be relegated to what THEY deem as newsworthy. This is an important moment for American communities. Let your voice be heard!

Monday April 30th 2007 from 4 to 11pm
Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center
Louise Lykes Ferguson Hall
1010 North W.C. MacInnes Place
Tampa, 33602

(My thoughts from four years ago, the last time they tried this.)

Seminole Heights In The Movies

According to Kathy Steele, a horror film trailer was shot at Tampa Antiquarian Book Store.

"SEMINOLE HEIGHTS - Two tabloid reporters are on the trail of a killer clown armed with a meat cleaver and a lust for revenge.

On the flip side, well, he's a misunderstood soul searching for his girlfriend.

So goes the plot of "100 Tears," a slasher movie that spurts gore all over the screen.

At a Fangoria convention in Chicago and on MySpace.com, the two-minute trailer is getting attention that Seminole Heights filmmakers Joe Davison and Marcus Koch haven't seen before."

and

"Last week, the film's tag shocker was shot at the Tampa Antiquarian Book Co. on Central Avenue. "

The movie has a myspace site. http://www.myspace.com/100tearsmovie

100 Tears Trailer


As the movie trailer flashed by I tried to pick out some of the other locations. Nickos and the airport parking garage top deck were the two I was able to figure out.

Fireworks over Fireworks

The Trib has an article about a new task force set to be approved by the legislature.

"A task force to study fireworks use and sales and to suggest comprehensive changes in state regulations is poised for approval by the Legislature. The idea originated from a fireworks industry lobbyist, and as proposed, the eight-member panel would include three fireworks industry members."

Now of course the fireworkds lobbyist Pete Dunbar "said the task force won't be biased" and "that members outside the fireworks industry may take stances in opposition to those within it."

"Dunbar said discussion has continued for years on giving local government better tools to regulate fireworks and more money to clean up after their use. The bill says training and education are needed on the safe use of fireworks, and clearer standards are needed on temporary retail locations selling fireworks."

I disagree. The standards are clear. You simply need to be a farmer who wants to use them to scare off birds. The problem is wussy local governments ( meaning Hillsborough County) who refuse to take steps to restrict these illegal sales. Pinellas County has taken steps. Pasco plans to take steps."The Pasco Board of County Commissioners in February agreed to pursue an ordinance requiring customers to show identification and a permit to purchase fireworks. The rules, which could go into effect Dec. 1, are similar to those in Pinellas County, where vendors also must keep detailed sales records to encourage compliance. "

This task force will be full of fireworks people and their lackeys. It is going to legitimize these illegal sales.

A Tampa man, Wofford Johnso,n leading the fight against these ilegal fireworks man has website called called www.banillegalfireworks.org that is actually located on www.neighborhoodlink.com/org/baif.

He says on his website : Very Important --- The use of exploding fireworks by the general public is a misdemeanor, subject to up to 1 year in jail and up to a $1000. fine. If ''exploding fireworks'' are being used in your urban neighborhood you have the right to call law enforcement to stop it. To avoid overloading the 911 emergency number we suggest you call the Non Emergency phone number. For the Tampa Police Department the non- emergency number is 231-6130. The Hillsborough County Sheriff Department non emergency number is 247-8200."

He has topics on the subject including:*Florida Statute - Sale of Fireworks *Analysis of the State Statute *Current Status of the *Ordinance to Ban the Sale of Illegal Fireworks *Support for the Ban on Illegal fireworks *Injuries and Fires caused by Fireworks *Is it ''Unpatriotic'' to Ban Fireworks''? *What Can You Do?