RIVERSIDE HEIGHTS IN THE NEWS!!!

Riverside Heights Prepares For Change

Riverside Heights Prepares For Change

By JOSE PATINO GIRONA The Tampa Tribune
Published: Aug 3, 2006

RIVERSIDE HEIGHTS - The area adjacent to Riverside Heights is changing, spurring the civic association to become more active.

This summer, Desiree Valdes was elected to a two-year term as the group's president and has set monthly meetings for an organization that in recent years met when issues surfaced.

"It is needed to unify us," Valdes said. "There are a lot of issues that are surrounding us that will affect our neighborhood."

The association plans socials, held a community yard sale and participated in this week's National Night Out crime-awareness event.

The neighborhood is bordered by Columbus Drive, North Boulevard, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and the Hillsborough River, and many of its 1,400 homes are more than 50 years old.

In nearby Tampa Heights, a developer plans a $500 million project that includes 1,900 condominiums and town houses, shops, restaurants and a river walk.

The Heights of Tampa development will increase traffic and raise interest in the area, and Riverside Heights residents want to preserve their neighborhood as the city grows and changes, Valdes said. They fear town houses, condominiums and more commercial property along North Boulevard.

Last year, residents were divided over a development that rehabilitated an old neighborhood church but added three town houses to the property. The project was approved by the city council.

A Tampa native, Valdes, 36, has lived in the neighborhood for three years. She was drawn to its history, brick streets, neighborhood charm, parks and proximity to downtown. Her two-bedroom home was built in 1950, and she has neighbors who have lived in the area for decades.

She doesn't support designating the neighborhood a historical district but does support creating a neighborhood plan to allow residents to help determine the area's future.

Valdes is legislative aide to city Councilwoman Mary Alvarez. She said the city's personnel department and the city attorney have no objection to her civic group role. She is secretary-elect of the West Tampa Chamber of Commerce, an Ybor City Museum Society director and the city council representative of the Hillsborough County Affordable Housing Task Force.

"I really care about what happens here," Valdes said.

The association's vice president, Patti Schweers, said raising two children in the neighborhood encouraged her to get involved.

"I want my children to have a great neighborhood to grow up in," Schweers said.

"The association binds the neighborhood and helps everybody to get on the same page," said Schweers, who grew up in Spring Hill.

When she was looking for a home five years ago, Tracy Turbeville told her real estate agent she wanted a safe and affordable neighborhood with character.

Since she moved to Riverside Heights, property prices have increased, homes are being remodeled and houses are being built, she said.

Turbeville, the association's secretary, hopes the civic group can bring together longtime residents and newcomers.

"It's my neighborhood," said Turbeville, a graduate student in medical science at the University of South Florida. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm the type of person who likes to get involved."

The civic association meets at 7 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month at the Franciscan Center, 3010 N. Perry Ave.

For information, e-mail Valdes at desireerhna @aol.com or go to www.neighborhoodlink.com/tampa/rhna.

Reporter Jose Patino Girona can be reached at (813) 835-2110 or jpatino@tampatrib.com.

She wanted to save one bridge; she might save six

She wanted to save one bridge; she might save six
Thanks to a Riverside Heights resident, the structures could become historic landmarks.
By MICHAEL CANNING
Published August 4, 2006

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sharon Keene wanted to save one bridge, but she might have ended up protecting six.

When a Hillsborough County engineer showed up at a neighborhood meeting a couple of years ago, Keene and others were surprised to hear that the aging Columbus Drive bridge might be torn down and replaced.

"That sounded pretty drastic," said Keene, who's lived nearby in Riverside Heights for 42 years. "I was surprised at how emotionally people responded in this community. They were very upset."

Keene drummed up community support and asked the city if the 1927 bridge could become a historic landmark.

Yes, replied the city's Historic Preservation Commission. It and five other bridges.

Now the commission has completed a study that recommends the bridges spanning the Hillsborough River at Platt, Cass and Laurel streets, Kennedy Boulevard, Hillsborough Avenue and Columbus Drive be designated local historic landmarks.

The Tampa City Council is scheduled to take up the issue Aug. 17 and 31. "There seems to be a lot of support for it at this time," said Dennis Fernandez, the city's historic preservation manager.

The six bridges meet the National Park Service's historic criteria, Fernandez said. They are more than 50 years old, they have some architectural significance, they have contributed to the city's patterns of development and they are connected to a historically significant person.

The current incarnation of the Kennedy Boulevard bridge was completed in 1913, followed by the Platt Street and Cass Street bridges in 1926, the Laurel Street and Columbus Drive bridges in 1927, and the Hillsborough Avenue bridge - officially the T.N. Henderson Bridge - in 1939.

All the bridges created vital links between burgeoning development on the east and west sides of the Hillsborough River, especially before and during the 1920s land boom.

Historic landmark designation won't preclude improvements to the bridges, Fernandez said. "It just means that those changes are looked at in a way so that the historic characteristics are not impacted."

For example, the bridges' aesthetic hallmarks - the approaches, railings and tender houses - would be protected, but the internal mechanisms could be updated as needed, Fernandez said.

Keene, who moved to Tampa when she was 15, has fond memories of the Columbus Drive bridge. Anglers and cast netters used the bridge to pull mullet from the river, which ended up in neighborhood smokers and fish fries.

In those days the bridge had a full-time bridge tender. "A lot of people knew him by name," Keene recalled. "He was kind of a fixture in the neighborhood. He used to keep watch in the community."

And now Keene has kept watch for the bridge. "As a community, we'll take an immense satisfaction" if the bridge gets its historic designation, she said. "It's a gateway to our community, and it's a gateway to neighboring communities."

The Sun Never Sets On This Bright House

The Sun Never Sets On This Bright House
By JOSE PATINO GIRONA The Tampa Tribune

Published: Sep 16, 2006


RIVERSIDE HEIGHTS - Some people are inspired to use earth tones to decorate the exterior of their homes.

Agustin LLombart took it a step further.

The side of his house is painted with a scene of a river, palm trees and sunset. The mural wraps around to portions of the front of the home and carries over to the wood fence in the back yard, where the images are of more palm trees, banana trees and a river.

LLombart said he was inspired by the Hillsborough River near his home, 1009 W. Columbus Drive, and the view of the setting sun at the Columbus Drive Bridge.

"The sun illuminates the river in a manner that doesn't occur anywhere else," he said. "It's a mirror between the river and the sun."

LLombart encouraged his artist friend, Moises Rodrigo of Tampa, to paint the mural. He said he spent $600 on acrylic enamel sign paint.

LLombart hopes the mural brings joy and moves people to decorate and improve their homes. It also may help Tampa grow into a hip, happening city like Miami, he said.

LLombart, 53, was born in Guantanamo, Cuba, where he helped his family farm, planting palm trees, tobacco, corn and sweet potato, and gaining an early appreciation for nature.

At age 16, LLombart and his family moved to Miami. Off and on, he has lived in Tampa for 18 years. Almost three years ago, he returned to Tampa and opened a rim and tire business on Nebraska Avenue.

A year ago, he and his wife, Yudelka Castillo, bought their house and one next door, which they rent out. The houses were in bad shape, LLombart said. He painted them purple, then had the mural done in June.

He said people stop by to take photographs.

He also had a visit from city code enforcement officers. Curtis Lane, the code enforcement director, said the department received one or two complaints. It checked with the zoning department and found there was no violation.

Gloria Moreda, the city's manager of land development coordination, said LLombart's house is not in a historic or overlay district where there are restrictions on how homes are painted.

"I had no issue with it, and he did a nice job," Moreda said.

Desiree Valdes, president of the Riverside Heights Civic Association, said she received two or three complaints when the mural was painted but none since.

"It looks like he is opening up a spa," Valdez said. "It's very island-like.

"I don't have a problem. He is not in any violation," she said.

Neighbors Vernada and Lester Ransom said the mural is a great landmark when giving directions. They say it also enhances the neighborhood.

"It gives me the impression they are peaceful people who care about the planet and are beautifying the neighborhood," Vernada Ransom said.

Reporter Jose Patino Girona can be reached at (813) 835-2110 or jpatino@tampatrib.com.