C.O.N.A. of South Pinellas County

THINK ABOUT LEADERSHIP

Oct 08, 2003

CONA OCTOBER 2003 NEWSLETTER

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Dear Neighbors,

This year continues to be positive with lots of involvement from all of the CONA neighborhoods. As neighborhood leaders, we continue to become involved with issues that impact all of us, such as Albert Whitted Airport. One of the many strengths of CONA is how our representation and decisions can, and will, help make a difference in our City and County?’s future.

At this month?’s meeting, we have County Commissioner Ken Welch to speak about the proposed $.06 increase in the gas tax and what that will mean to all of us. Also, a representative from the Boy Scouts of America and David Hirsch, Director of Business Development, from the Boley Centers for Behavioral Health Care will update us about some of their programs and how they impact our City and County.

The Nominating Committee is currently preparing the slate of officers for next year?’s CONA Board of Directors. If you are interested in running for any of the positions, please contact one of the members of the Nominating Committee. These members are listed on page 7 of this newsletter.
CONA Leadership will start again in January of next year. Those of you who have participated in the program understand how enriching it is, and that it can help open up other doors of the City to you. Encourage members of your neighborhoods to enroll and grow on a personal basis.
We have a compiled a resource list of speakers and topics for your association meetings and are publishing it in this newsletter (page 2) and continuing it next month.

The importance of what we do in CONA is to help make St. Petersburg a better place to live and work. Stay involved and you, too, can help make a difference. I look forward to seeing you at the October meeting.
Your Neighbor,
Brent Fisher
CONA President


OCTOBER 15th MEETING AGENDA

Pledge
Approval of Minutes
Treasurer?’s Report
Guest Speakers:
Ken Welch, County Commissioner
David Hirsch, Boley Centers
Boy Scouts of America
Committee Reports:
Neighborhood Partnership Office
Old Business
New Business
Announcements

Next CONA Meeting:
Wednesday, October 15th
The Sunshine Center
330 5th Street N., St. Petersburg
Doors open at 6:00 p.m. ?— Meeting starts at 7:00 p.m.


PARTNERSHIP NOTES
City of St. Petersburg
Neighborhood Partnership Office

Florida Neighborhoods Conference 2003
St. Petersburg was represented by 100 participants from various neighborhoods, city departments and other agencies. There were 1,200 conferees overall touring Sarasota's neighborhoods, participating in workshops and networking. Several St. Petersburg residents even entertained the attendees through dance and music. Next year's conference will be September 16-18, 2004, in Jacksonville, Florida.

Neighborhoods USA 2004
Hollywood, Florida, will be the host city for the annual Neighborhoods USA conference. An estimated 1,500 participants from throughout the country will meet at the annual conference. The conference will be May 26-29, 2004. More information will be provided early in 2004.

Neighborhoods and the Rays
On September 20, 2003, nearly 600 neighborhood residents joined together to cheer the Rays in the 2nd Annual Neighborhood Day at the Trop. Broadwater brought 105 residents and threw out the first pitch.

Carefest 2003
Nearly 500 representatives from 18 houses of worship worked on 29 projects in various neighborhoods throughout the City of St. Petersburg. It was a day of giving, sharing and praise. Carefest is an annual event that is held the last Saturday of September to provide an opportunity for houses of worship and neighborhoods to come together and enhance the community.

Neighborhood Partnership Grants FY ?‘04
Nineteen (19) applications were submitted and reviewed by a Review Team made up of representatives from five neighborhoods (CONA/Old Southeast, Riviera Bay, Mobel Americana, Cromwell Heights and FICO) and various city departments. Sixteen applications were recommended for City Council review and approval. The recommendations will be reviewed by the City Council Policy & Planning Committee on October 9, then the full City Council on November 18, 2003. Applicants will receive their preliminary award notification after the October 9, 2003, meeting.

Neighborhood Topic Speakers Wanted
Interested in sharing your successes and tips with other neighborhoods? Contact Susie Ajoc (e.g. fundraising, newsletters, getting volunteers, increasing membership, etc). The Neighborhood Partnership Department is beginning preliminary preparations for a one day neighborhood conference and would like to determine level of interest from potential neighborhood speakers.

Susan P. Ajoc, AICP, Director
Neighborhood Partnership Program
City of St. Petersburg
P.O. Box 2842 St. Petersburg, FL 33731-2842
Phone: (727) 892-5141 Fax: (727) 893-5323
Email: Susan.Ajoc@stpete.org


SPEAKER IDEAS FOR YOUR ASSOCIATION MEETINGS

Keep this handy reference list of speaker sources. Invite them to your association meetings to inform you of their respective programs:

CONA Leadership Program:
Cathy Wilson, Program Chair - 823-0863;
Tom Killian, Planning Chair - 343-2041;
Ingrid Comberg, Recruitment Chair - 821-2192

Amber Alert Program:
Capt. Ron Russell -345-7000 or
rrmediates@aol.com

Boley Centers?’ YOUR Neighborhood Store
& Drive Thru Donation Center:
Dave Hirsch -224-8303 or 821-4819, ext. 5720.


CASA (Community Action Stops Abuse):
Cory Adler - 895-4912, ext. 101

Doctors' Speakers Bureau (A free service to educate and support as many people possible in their quest for health):
Dr. Bond Thomas, Chairperson - 822-3694

Fire & Home Safety:
Capt. Ron Russell - 345-7000 or
rrmediates@aol.com

Florida Bar Speakers Bureau (will provide a lawyer to address any community or civic organization at no fee):
Gail Grimes (for information or to
schedule a speaker) - 850/561-5767 or
ggrimes@flabar.org
The Florida Bar, 650 Apalachee Parkway,
Tallahassee, FL 32399-2300

St. Anthony?’s (The ?“new?” St. Anthony?’s Health Care
Program): a new state-of-the-art critical cardiac care unit with two cardiac catheterization labs, a dedicated women?’s unit, community education rooms, plus the Carillon Outpatient Center in North Pinellas County:
Tammy Weber - 820-7772

St. Petersburg Audubon Society:
Barbara Zias - 521-4997 or
Bill Bilodeau - 322-9695

St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce has a compiled a group of speakers that can discuss a variety of topics ranging from legal advice to marketing techniques. These speakers are available (with advance notice) at no charge - 821-4069.

Sunshine State One Call of Florida, Inc.:
Jerry Novak - 520-8159 424-7778;
(provides slide show, brochures, and
souvenirs)

Veterans Administration: VA benefits, Tri-Care, Disabilities, Pension, Rights of a Veteran, their spouses and families, and the new Veterans Party and what it means to all Americans, Phillip Meskin, 13th St. N/A President - 822-8387

Coming Next Month?….more listings plus
City of St. Petersburg Speakers & Topics


NEIGHBORHOOD BRIEFS
Yard Sales and a Home Tour!

The North Kenwood and Historic Kenwood Neighborhoods are having their first Annual Yard Sale on October 18th from 8 a.m. until ?. Maps will be distributed at Sylvia Boring Park (29th St. N and 13th Ave.) at 7:30 a.m. the morning of the sale. The boundaries for this sale are from 1st Ave. N to 22nd Ave. N and from I-275 to 34th St. N (US 19). There will be a large advertisement in the St. Petersburg Times. This will probably be the biggest yard sale in the history of St. Petersburg.
?—?—?—?—?—?—?—?–
The Bi-Annual Riviera Bay Civic Association Yard Sale is set for the weekend of Oct 24th, 25th & 26th. Our boundaries are South to 78th Ave. N, North to 98th Ave. N, East of 4th Street. There will be signs directing you to the individual sales throughout the entire neighborhood. Maps will be attached to the signs and available at each sale location. This is a very popular, long-standing tradition in Riviera Bay.
_______________

2nd Annual Azalea Park Festival?—October 18th.
_______________

Causeway Isles 5th Annual Neighborhood Garage Sale is also being held Friday and Saturday, October 24th & 25th from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. Over 30 homes will participate. Take Central Ave. West (cross Park St.) to 79th St. South. Follow signs.
________________

Greater Woodlawn Neighborhood Garage Sale?—October 25th.
________________

The Sixth Annual Historic Old Northeast Candlelight Tour of Homes: The public is
invited to tour eight beautifully decorated private residences at the Historic Old Northeast Candlelight Tour of Homes Sunday, December 14, 2003, from 3 ?– 9 p.m. HONNA is located in Northeast St. Petersburg from 4th Street N. to Tampa Bay and from 5th Avenue N. to 30th Ave. N.
This is the 6th year HONNA has opened its doors for the festive fundraising event. A portion of ticket proceeds will benefit a local charity.
The tour is self-guided. Guests with tickets receive a program with renditions of each home and a descriptive narrative.
Advance tickets will be available for sale in early December. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 the day of the tour. Rest rooms and refreshments will be available at five hospitality houses located throughout the neighborhood. For more information please call tour co-chairs Suzanne Kelley, or Wendy Wesley, at 641-6575 and leave a message, or visit http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/stpetersburg/northshore and look for the Tour link.


QUOTE OF THE MONTH

?“It?’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood?…?”
- Fred M. Rogers (1928?—2003)


CONA LEADERSHIP 2004
by Cathy Wilson, Chair, CONA Leadership 2004

Yes, it?’s that time of year again?…..CONA Leadership kicks off our 12th year of operation this month!!! We have another exciting schedule packed with informative and entertaining speakers, programs and tours. If you?’re already a graduate, you know how much you learned, how many contacts you made and how much FUN you had. If you haven?’t taken the course yet, we have a great one lined up for you this year!

Tom Killian from Jungle Terrace will give a presentation on our program at the October CONA meeting, and we?’ll have applications and brochures available. We?’d like to ask each of your associations to let us visit either your October or November meetings to show your residents our program and distribute our brochures and applications.

The cost for the program this year will be $60.00. We?’ve had to increase our tuition fee slightly because the cost of putting on the program has gone up. Just so you know, CONA does not profit from the tuition raised - all of it goes to fund program expenses and we must break even. We?’ll be accepting 40 students this year and there is no limit on the number of students who may apply from an individual neighborhood association. An application is included in this issue of the CONA newsletter and more will be available at the October meeting. Slots fill up quickly, so please send in your application today!

If you have any questions, please call me at 823-0863 or E-Mail me at catgwna@tampabay.rr.com.


VOLUNTEER for a 2004 CONA Board or Committee Position: Nominees Wanted!
Contact a member listed below to be nominated for a position in CONA in 2004.

Nominating Committee members are:

Barbara Heck bheck@techdata.com 894-6020
Jeffrey Phillips jdphillips@prodigy.net 347-6045
Eileen O'Sullivan eikonow@aol.com 821-2140
Jean Hammond Plantham@aol.com 327-6315
Ann Drakeford 823-7973

City Of St. Petersburg
Board & Commission Vacancies
(effective 10/7/03)

Board of Adjustment: 2 Alternate Members
(Terms expire 6/30/04 & 6/30/05)

City Beautiful Commission: 1 Regular Member
(Term expires 12/31/03)

Code Enforcement Board: 1 Regular -
Sub-contractor category (Term expires 12/31/04)

Commission on Aging: 1 Regular Member
(Term expires 12/31/04)

Committee to Advocate for Persons with
Impairments (CAPI): 3 Alternate Members
(Terms expire 12/31/04 & 12/31/05)

Housing Roundtable: 7 Regular Members - 1 Homebuild/Developer;
1?—Affordable Housing; 1?—Low Income Housing; 1?— Labor Trade; 3?—At Large Categories
(Terms expire 12/31/04 and 12/31/03)

Investment Oversight Committee: 1 Regular member
(Term expires 3/31/05)

Planning/Historic Preservation Commission:
1 Regular, General Public Category (Term expires 6/30/06)

Social Services Allocations Committee:
2 Regular Members (Term expires 9/30/06)


LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
If you have comments, ideas or articles for the CONA newsletter, please call Paula Engel at 347-6889 or 642-3134; e-mail her at pkengel1@aol.com; or fax her at 345-2804.


CONA MAILING LIST UPDATE! Please Help Us!
Due to some recent computer problems with our CONA
Mailing list, we once again need your additions and corrections to our mailing list. Please E-Mail any changes you may have to Conrad Weiser, CONA Secretary, at MAOA1999@aol.com.


CONA BOARD OF DIRECTOR?’S MEETING MINUTES
The Sunshine Center September 17, 2003

President Brent Fisher called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m., leading us in the pledge of allegiance to our flag.

> Brent called for additions or corrections to our August Minutes. None heard, the Minutes were approved as published in our Newsletter.
> Libby Steele gave the Treasurer's Report of a balance of $2,267.93. She plans to mail invoices for our 2004 dues in the near future.
> Steve Plice, (Jungle Terrace), requested a status report on our Newsletter.
-Our Editor Paula Engel, (Causeway Isles), will
retire that post in December.
-We have only two (2) advertisers with no
commitments for 2004.
-A single page, full-size newsprint edition has
been considered.
-Wider circulation might make it possible to
subsidize our production with government legal
notices.
-August production costs were: printing -
$204.00; mailing - $105.00; seals - $25.00.
-E-mail delivery (perhaps in PDF or MS Publisher
format) was considered.
-Steve Plice was asked to chair a committee to
study the publishing options.
> Larry Dosh, (City Beautification Committee), distributed brochures explaining the project to sell bricks, ($50.00), inscribed with their donors?’ names, for footpaths in a new expansion of the Palm Arboretum adjacent to the North Shore Pool.
> Karl Nurse, (Old Southeast), announced that he had been asked by City Council to serve on the Board of Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA).
> Spokesmen for the upcoming power boat races did not appear as scheduled.
> The scheduled representative of the Grand Prix Racing Program was absent.
> Elean Cushnie, (Neighborhood Partnership Office), offered several updates:
-Over 100 St. Petersburg neighborhood
representatives attended the state conference
in Sarasota.
-Nineteen (19) Neighborhood Partnership matching
grant applications were submitted this year.
Total grant money to be divided is $200,000.00.
-Broadwater C/A won the Block Party Prize by
selling 105 tickets (out of nearly 600 local
sales) for the September 20th Devil Rays vs.
Yankees game.

OLD BUSINESS:
>Karl Nurse again urged residents who have an interest and the time available to apply for appointment to the many City Boards and Committees. Resumes should be submitted to the Mayor's Office and copied to CONA. We are anxious to support and promote more neighborhood representation on these appointive Boards.
>Brent Fisher reported receiving two data packages from City Council regarding studies of possible Albert Whitted Airport developments.
>We heard that a 1 p.m. Workshop to discuss the airport issue will be held tomorrow (9/18/03) at City Hall prior to the 6 p.m. Council Meeting to establish the ballot format for the November voting.
>Many opinions were offered from the floor in our discussion of the airport issues.
>Moved, (Danner/Plice), CONA supports the concept of a single issue for the November ballot that solicits approval of the petition by
?“Citizens For A Waterfront Park?” to replace the current airport facilities. [Approved] [Brent agreed to present our motion to City Council.]


NEW BUSINESS:
>All were invited to attend the 2nd Azalea Park Festival October 18th.
>Historic Kenwood and North Kenwood will host the "Biggest Yard Sale Ever" beginning 8 a.m. Saturday, October 18th.
>Steve Plice reported that the only scheduled local hearing on the proposed county gasoline tax will be at Boca Ciega High School, October 9th at 6:30 p.m. He urged us to hear Commissioner Ken Welch speak on this proposed tax.
>Jeff Danner, (Historic Kenwood), reported that his research of the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) website revealed there are no construction plans to widen any streets within the City.
>Tom Killian, (Jungle Terrace), invited all to their neighborhood "Pets In The Park Festival?” on October 4th suggesting other neighborhoods hold similar events.
>Tom also urged member neighborhoods to invite our speakers to tell their residents about the 2004 CONA Leadership Classes.
>Cathy Wilson, (Greater Woodlawn), invited all to their Neighborhood Garage Sale, October 25th.

Our meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted, Conrad Weiser, Secretary


2003 CONA OFFICERS

President
Brent Fisher
Greater Pinellas Point
867-2026
Fax: 867-6665
Cell: 504-5180
abf@verizon.net

First Vice President
Karl Nurse
Old Southeast
572-9311 Ext. 24
karl@baytechlabel.com

Second Vice President
Theresa McEachern
Harbordale
823-6390
terre66@aol.com

Secretary
Conrad Weiser
Edgemoor
522-5008
MAOA1999@aol.com

Treasurer
Libby Steele
Lakewood Estates
867-6916
MPH56@aol.com


FREQUENTLY CALLED NUMBERS
Neighborhood Partnership Office:
892-5141
Mayor?’s Action Line: 893-7111
Codes Office: 893-7373


CONA NEWSLETTER DEADLINES
Copy Deadline: 30th of each month.
Publication: 2nd Wednesday of month.
Mailing: the 2nd Friday of month.

Editor: Paula Engel 347-6889