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

Let us pray midst troubles at home and abroad.

May 14, 2004

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE:
Neighbors and Friends:

CONA set forth a clear agenda at the beginning of the year with the issues revolving around cops and codes. This month's meeting will focus on crime.
This time, we hope to approach this in an entirely different manner. Rather than continue the argument about how many police officers do we have or need and how do we really use community police officers, we want to ask a much better question:
"WHY ARE CRIME RATES LOWER IN MOST CITIES IN AMERICA THAN ST. PETERSBURG?"
Our problems of drugs, poor education, discrimination and poverty are not unique. Crime is falling in all parts of our country. In many, many cities, it has fallen much more than here. Police agencies in other cities are using different methods (broken window, compstat, dispersed policing, community policing, etc.) and getting better results.
We should be asking: ?“What do we need to do to achieve similar results??” It is past time to try to avoid these questions by only comparing St. Pete to the highest crime cities. I hope we can have a rationale discussion that leads to a commitment to learn from our neighbors about fighting crime. Then, the citizens need to decide if we are willing to pay for the changes that other cities have made. As neighborhood leaders, we know that the place you start in trying to improve a neighborhood in St. Petersburg or Baghdad is public safety. All other issues follow. Please come to the meeting and help make a better community.

Sincerely,

Karl Nurse, President CONA


FOCUS OF THE MONTH:

Crime In St. Petersburg

The May CONA Meeting will be a ?“TOWN MEETING?” format similar to our March meeting which focused on codes. This month, the topic is crime.

Karl has assembled an excellent panel that can address the issues before us. The panelists include:

Chief Chuck Harmon, Chief of Police

Mark Deasaro, President, PBA

Darryl Rouson, President, St. Petersburg NAACP

This edition of the CONA Newsletter is focused on aspects of the crime issue. There is an analysis of how St. Petersburg compares to other cities and comments by Chief Harmon, providing Police Department perspective.

Cathy Wilson and Kai Warren have also contributed articles focusing on crime and neighborhoods.

Best Regards,
Steve Plice
CONA 1st Vice President & Newsletter Editor


CRIME IN ST. PETERSBURG: MAKING ST.PETERSBURG
"THE BEST CITY IN AMERICA"
By Steve Plice

Once again, crime issues have risen to the top of the CONA agenda. In January and February, we surveyed CONA members to determine what issues should be highest priorities for CONA during 2004. It came as no surprise that crime issues were top on the list. CONA Representatives are simply reflecting what they hear from residents in their neighborhoods. Virtually every neighborhood survey puts crime as the most important issue facing the neighborhood. Residents well understand that crime is one of the most important factors influencing the "quality of Life".

Mayor Baker, with strong support from CONA, has stated a goal of making St. Petersburg "The Best City in America". This is an ambitious but achievable goal, and we all understand that "quality of life" is the key. We also understand that we cannot get there if we do not resolve the crime issues. To be the best city in America, we need to be among the leaders in the area of public safety, as well as leaders in many other factors that are encompassed by "quality of life". It is necessary, therefore, that we understand how our crime rates compare to the rest of the country.

A Comparative Crime Rate Analysis
According to the FBI?’s Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), the City of St. Petersburg is one of the most crime-ridden cities in the nation. The chances of being murdered, raped, assaulted or robbed are substantially greater in St. Petersburg than they are in New York City. In fact, of the largest cities in the U.S., 86 percent are safer than St. Petersburg. Our crime rate is more than double the national average. If we consider just the mid-sized cities (population 100,000 to 500,000), our crime rate is 37 percent higher than the average.
In announcing their tenth annual ?“Safest (and most dangerous) City Awards?”, Morgan Quinto Press used the FBI?’s Uniform Crime Reports to rank the 350 largest U.S. cities. Ranked number one as the safest city was Amherst, New York. Detroit Michigan was ranked last (most dangerous). St. Petersburg was ranked 302 out of 350. Tampa ranked 342 and Clearwater ranked 212.
While St. Petersburg is one of the 50 most dangerous cities for residents, it is a safe city for criminals. According to FBI statistics, 17 percent of the reported crimes in St. Petersburg are ?“cleared?”. By comparison, The Pinellas County Sheriff?’s Office (PSCO) clears 30 percent of the crimes reported in their jurisdiction. The nation-wide average clearance rate is nearly 21 percent. At nearly 19 percent, even Tampa has a better clearance rate than St. Petersburg. . The average "clearance rate" for mid-sized cities is 18.4 percent. In 1998, the St. Petersburg clearance rate was 21percent, mirroring the national average. Since then, however, our clearance rates have been steadily declining. This is an alarming trend with grave future consequences.

Uniform Crime Reports
Crimes are reported to the FBI by police agencies as part of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. This nationwide effort involves approximately 17,000 city, county and state law enforcement agencies. During 2002, law enforcement agencies active in the UCR program represented 93.4 percent of the total U.S. population.
The crimes tracked by the UCR program include violent crimes of murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, and property crimes of burglary, larceny and theft, and motor vehicle theft. These are also known as ?“Total Index?” offenses.
As with all statistics, there is potential for abuse when analyzing crime rates, and caution should be exercised. Like grades on a report card, however, the UCR is the ?“bottom line?” when determining the level of crime in a city or area. The statistics are widely used by real-estate and investment interests. The City of St. Petersburg also uses comparative crime rates as performance measures. Corporate search committees rely heavily on crime statistics when making site selection decisions. Like it or not, the entire world is using the UCR to evaluate St. Petersburg. With a few clicks of the mouse, anyone can quickly determine that, when compared to everyone else, we are failing in the area of crime and public safety.

National Crime Rate Trends
Over the past decade, St. Petersburg has experienced a happy decline in crime rates. A review of the data clearly reveals the downward trend in crime rates. This has been a national trend mirrored in St. Petersburg. As our rates dropped, so did rates virtually everywhere else. As a result, we are still abnormally high when compared to the rest of Pinellas County, the State of Florida, other cities our size and the entire country.

Complacency, Denial and Low Expectations
Our city?’s crime rate is one of the most important indicators of the quality of life in the city. Crime has an enormous economic and emotional impact on its victims. It also makes our city less attractive to businesses, investors and potential home-buyers. We all pay the price.
We must do better if we are going to achieve our potential as a great place to live.
CONA has, over the past many years, called for better policing and reduced crime rates. These calls have gone largely unheeded. In virtually all respects, the City's response has been that we are making acceptable progress toward reducing crime in St. Petersburg. This attitude of complacency is pervasive and may, in fact, be one of the reasons we have abnormally high crime rates.

To his great credit, Mayor Baker has created "Performance Measures" for policing and many other departments throughout the City. The stated goal is to make St. Petersburg the best city in America. The management strategy is to measure "our rate of success in addressing defined problem areas". The problem, in the case of policing, is that the Mayor's management strategy works. For measuring our success, we have chosen to compare ourselves to the cities with the absolute worst crime rates in Florida. By setting the absolute worst as our standard, we should not be surprised when our results are consistent with the standard we set.

Examples of Success
Some U.S. Cities have enjoyed remarkable success in addressing their crime rates. It might be useful to better understand what those cities are doing right. Many large cities, such as New York, El Paso, San Jose and San Diego have crime rates less than 1/2 of the St. Petersburg crime rate. There are also examples of cities close to the size of St. Petersburg with impressive crime rates. Newark, New Jersey, (population 279.000) for example, has a crime rate of 6.4 compared to the St. Petersburg rate of 8.3.

It is difficult to compare "policing strategies" between cities. These issues are not often discussed in public and when they are, they are most often discussions of why one city's strategies would be inappropriate for the "unique circumstances" of a second city. Often, the discussion is about whether policing strategies or "other factors" account for a city's crime rate.

On May 6, 1996, however, we had a rare opportunity to see a discussion of St. Petersburg's policing strategies contrasted to the strategies of New York City. The "PBS NEWSHOUR" interviewed Darrel Stevens (St. Pete Police Chief at the time) and Howard Safir, New Your City's Police Commissioner. The subject was different policing strategies and their affects on Crime Rates. St. Petersburg's policing strategies may have changed since 1996, or maybe not. Darrel Stevens' comments in 1996 sound remarkably similar to comments we hear today.

Since 1996, NYC has enjoyed a 37% decrease in their crime rate. During the same period, St. Petersburg's crime rate decreased by 16%. The National crime rate decreased by 19% and the Florida crime rate decreased by 27%.
Today, St. Petersburg has a crime rate of 8.3 compared to New York City's crime rate of 3.1.

A transcript of the entire PBS interview can be found online at:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/may96/crime_stats_5-6.html


Here are some exerts:
Howard Safir, NYC Police Commissioner, said:
"The whole idea is based on the broken windows theory, which is that a society that lets people break windows is going to be faced with more serious crime. We have spent a lot of time paying attention to routine street crime like squeegee crime, panhandlers, vandals, squeegee crime, and giving the message that no crime is acceptable in this city. So there really is an effect when you have police out on the street,
enforcing the law and sending the signal that crime won't be tolerated."

Darrel Stephens, St. Petersburg Police Chief said:
"I think it's a combination of a number of things that crime is way too complex a phenomenon to lay it at the doorstep of the police. What we have tended to do is emphasize the role of the police in the criminal justice system and not take into account all of the other factors that contribute to crime.
I think if, we follow the line of thinking that the police will be able through aggressive tactics, be able to influence the amount of crimes that are committed by these young people, I think we're making a serious mistake.
For us to believe that more police engaged in more aggressive tactics is going to be the solution for whatever crime problems that we might have in the future I think puts us in a situation where five or ten years from now we'll be trying to explain why crime went up and why it's not something that is the fault of the police."

It is clear from the comments of the "Top Cops" from St. Petersburg and NYC that there are different opinions concerning what the police should be doing and what impact they can have on crime rates.

Strategies for the Future
In the context of becoming "The Best City in America", we clearly have much work to do. A typical process for causing change would be to set a goal, develop a plan, and monitor the results over time. That is easy to say and difficult to do. What crime rate should we set as a goal? Should we have a goal of being like Tampa or Miami, or are there other cities with records we would like to emulate? What have successful cities done to reduce crime? What steps could St. Petersburg take to be more like these cities? Since 86 percent of all U.S. cities have better crime rates than St. Petersburg, there can be no doubt that there are tried and proven crime reduction strategies that could work for us.


CHIEF HARMON'S RESPONSE TO STEVE PLICE'S NEWSLETTER ARTICLE-
For publication in the May, 2004 CONA Newsletter

I would like to thank Steve Plice for sharing his article with us to review and for the opportunity to provide this response. Steve?’s article, Crime in St. Petersburg: Making St. Petersburg ?“The Best City in America,?” is very interesting and provocative. It is also very misleading. In fact, it is precisely the kind of simplistic analysis that the FBI cautions against in its report, Crime in the United States 2002.

According to the FBI?’s report, ?“Some factors that are known to affect the volume and type of crime occurring from place to place are:

?· Population density and degree of urbanization.
?· Variations in composition of the population, particularly youth concentration.
?· Stability of population with respect to residents?’ mobility, commuting patterns, and transient factors.
?· Modes of transportation and highway system.
?· Economic conditions, including median income, poverty level, and job availability.
?· Cultural factors and educational, recreational, and religious characteristics.
?· Family conditions with respect to divorce and family cohesiveness.
?· Climate.
?· Effective strength of law enforcement agencies.
?· Administrative and investigative emphases of law enforcement.
?· Policies of other components of the criminal justice system (i.e., prosecutorial, judicial, correctional, and probational).
?· Citizens?’ attitudes toward crime.
?· Crime reporting practices of the citizenry.?”

As you can see, in his interview with PBS, former St. Petersburg Police Chief Darrel Stevens was right. Crime is a very complex phenomenon.

According to Mr. Plice?’s article, with a similar sized population, Newark, New Jersey?’s crime rate in 2002 was lower than St. Petersburg?’s. However, with 65 reported murders (compared with St. Petersburg?’s 23) and 6,345 reported auto thefts (compared with St. Petersburg?’s 2,313), Newark?’s murder and auto theft rates per population were more than 150% greater than St. Petersburg?’s.

Of the UCR index offenses, murder and auto theft are probably the most consistently reported. If citizens lack confidence in their police department, it is believed that they are less inclined to report certain assaults, or burglaries or larcenies. Newark?’s numbers in these categories were surprisingly very low, lower than St. Petersburg?’s, thus their lower overall crime rate. In short, we think St. Petersburg is safer than Newark and a lot of other cities with seemingly lower crime rates.

As referenced in the article, Morgan Quinto Press, after some peculiar analysis of its own list of 350 cities with populations of more than 75,000, named the town of Amherst, New York as America?’s ?“Safest City?” for the fourth year in a row. We should understand that the town of Amherst is a somewhat affluent suburb of Buffalo, with an annual average of more than seven feet of snow.

While the town of Amherst is buried in snow, the city of St. Petersburg, with its idyllic weather, is host to many tens of thousands of visitors, whose numbers are not counted in the Census Bureau?’s resident population estimates that the FBI uses to calculate crime rates per population.

In its report, the FBI suggests that the kinds of lists and rankings developed by Morgan Quinto Press ?“provide no insight into the many variables that mold the crime in a particular town, city, county, state, or region. Consequently, these rankings lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analysis that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting cities and counties, along with their residents.?”

Fairly comparing clearance rates between police departments also requires caution and the consideration of a similar host of variables. According to the latest published data, St. Petersburg?’s overall clearance rate is very close to the national average for cities our size, and exceeds those averages for the index offenses of murder, rape, burglary and auto theft. Nonetheless, it is our goal to improve our clearance rates in all offense categories.

Just as the city?’s budget and finance departments find it helpful to compare our ad valorem tax revenues, millage rates or non-self-supported debt per capita with Tampa, Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale and Miami, the police department also finds it useful to compare our crime data with Florida cities of similar size.

These cities share Florida?’s sunshine and good weather and have similar characteristics in terms of government, policing standards, funding mechanisms, judicial systems, etc. Although such comparisons give us some valuable perspectives, I also understand that St. Petersburg is unique, and that it is even more useful to compare St. Petersburg with St. Petersburg. That is done on a monthly basis, and the results of our analyses are publicly available (www.stpete.org/police/public-crime_stats.htm).

I understand that crime is often on the top of CONA?’s agenda. It is always on the top of ours. The UCR program measures crime that is reported to the police. Through our many crime prevention programs, we encourage citizens to report crime. I believe that St. Petersburg?’s neighborhoods are intolerant of crime and that our residents have confidence in their police department.

Not all communities enjoy the strength of St. Petersburg?’s neighborhoods. The effective strength of police departments also varies. A police department?’s strength can be enhanced or diminished by the agency?’s philosophy of policing. I believe that the strength of our department is enhanced by its commitment to improving the quality of life for the citizens of St. Petersburg through its adherence to a community-policing model.

Crime, as reflected in the Uniform Crime Report (UCR), is only one measure. A more important indicator of our performance is the high level of citizen satisfaction that is expressed by our residents and visitors to our elected officials and city staff, including our many community police officers, who, working in partnership with the community, make up our first line of defense against crime and disorder.

In closing, I know the city of St. Petersburg is committed to improving the quality of life for its residents, businesses and visitors. The St. Petersburg Police Department is always striving to exceed expectations in the service we provide through continuous improvement at all levels within the department. We are most effective when we work together in partnership with our community.

I would like to thank Lt. Maurice McGough, who administers our UCR program, for his assistance in providing this response.


PARTNERSHIP NOTES-
Neighborhood Partnership Office
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

Neighborhood Partnership Awards
The deadline for the Neighborhood Partnership Awards has been extended until May 28, 2004. Please contact Regenia Wade for more information at 893-7885.

Neighborhood Partnership Matching Grants
Don't forget to submit your Neighborhood Partnership Matching Grant applications early for bonus points!
2 months prior to deadline (20 points):
by July 2, 20041 month prior to deadline (10 points):
by August 6, 2004 2 weeks prior to deadline (2 points):
by August 20, 2004

Deadline for the application submittal is Friday, September 3, 2004, no later than 5:00 p.m.

Jacksonville Bound - Florida Neighborhood Conference 2004
The Neighborhood Partnership Department is interested in determining the level of interest for bus transportation to the Florida Neighborhoods Conference in Jacksonville, September 16 - 18, 2004. There will be a nominal fee (TBD) per person to help defray bus rental costs. Please contact the Neighborhood Partnership Department at 892-5141 to indicate your interest by July 16th.


62nd STREET VACATION REQUEST WITHDRAWN

At our April meeting, CONA voted to oppose a request to vacate 62nd Street between Central Avenue and First Avenue South.

As a result of petitions, phone calls and discussions with the Development Services Department, the applicant withdrew his street vacation application and the hearing scheduled with the EDC was cancelled.

Currently, the applicant is meeting with residents in the area to discuss his proposed site plan.


WHY?
By Cathy Wilson

That was then:
It was one of those eye-opening experiences, it was?… that first phone call from a resident, angry about becoming a crime victim. I had been president of Greater Woodlawn for exactly four days.
His car had been burglarized and he wanted to know what I was gonna do about it. As I listened to his story, I found out that he?’d reported the crime to the police but that they hadn?’t taken any fingerprints or other evidence. They also didn?’t hold out much hope that his things would be recovered or that the criminal would be arrested. The detective in charge of his case implied that HE was in some way responsible for this outrage because he hadn?’t properly locked the vehicle (he swore that it HAD been locked). Since the SPPD didn?’t seem interested in solving the crime, he insisted that I do something. To this day, I?’m still not sure WHAT he wanted me to do but he was sure that I could and should do SOMETHING! To my knowledge, his case was never solved.

This is now:
Three years later, the situation in my neighborhood hasn?’t changed much. I still get those calls and the story is still the same - I can?’t do much but listen as my residents burn off steam. It?’s really kind of embarrassing to keep pushing my residents to call the police to report crime when the SPPD just seems bored when they do. Just so you don?’t think the picture is completely bleak, I have found a few allies in my quest for crime control ?– the District II CPO squad. They listen, investigate and make arrests when they can. In fact, all of the burglars I can recall being arrested in my area have been caught by the CPO squad. Unfortunately, they aren?’t always available and I?’ve also discovered just how miserably low our closure rate for burglaries and other ?“quality of life?” crimes really is here in such a ?“livable city?”. To sum it up, I find that I have six key questions that I?’d like to hear answered at the CONA SPPD Town Meeting (oddly enough, they all begin with the word ?“why?”);

?· Why isn?’t more effort made to recover forensic evidence at burglaries?
?· Why does the Burglary Squad play ?“blame the victim?” when all that does is make citizens angry and less likely to call the police the next time?
?· Why are the CPO Squads so much more effective in arresting the burglars than the Burglary Squad is?
?· Why, since they?’re the only law enforcement that seems to work for us, are CPO Squads pulled time and again for other duties?
?· Why are car thefts, home and car burglaries, vandalism and the like treated like annoying nuisance crimes when they have such a dramatic effect on my resident?’s peace of mind?
?· Why have I asked these same sort of questions for the past three years with no answers I could understand and with no change at all in the situation?

Cathy Wilson
Greater Woodlawn Neighborhood Association


THE BROKEN WINDOW CRIME
By Kai Warren

In the March 1982 Atlantic Monthly magazine, James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling wrote an article titled Broken Windows. In it they reported on how untended property (the "broken window") symbolizes the lowering of societal standards that attracts criminals. In the CONA Codes Committee this problem has great relevance to our goals.

Neighborhoods make the transition from stability to instability step by step. The broken window represents the beginning of these steps. In many neighborhoods an unrepaired broken window invites more stone throwing and more broken windows making the house uninhabitable. The windows get boarded up and a chain reaction sets in. As an obviously vacant structure it becomes an attraction to drug users, prostitutes, and anyone else who might want to escape detection. These individuals are intimidating and are the cause for other residents to lock their doors, hide inside, or move out, which only acerbates the problem by creating more vacant structures ?– and more broken windows.

Our committee is investigating ways to encourage neighborhood associations to effect positive changes on their own, and how the Codes Department may become more efficient. And we are also looking at ways to crack down on the individuals who take advantage of the system and propagate the "broken window" problem. In many cases these individuals own multiple properties and take advantage of extensions to postpone the work that they do with a minimum of effort. The result of this minimum effort is they get cited again and the cycle starts all over. They become repeat offenders, or recidivist, and this puts a stress on the Codes department and the communities that bear the burden of having these run down structures and the crime they attract in their neighborhoods.

It would be unreasonable for us to think that repairing broken windows alone would reduce crime. But by putting greater pressure on codes abuses these communities will have greater appeal to new homeowners who can contribute their part to taking back or repossessing a neighborhood.

Since the article was published in 1982 there has been much progress, especially in recent years, to make our communities more livable and safe. Strengthening the value and voice of the neighborhood, as the Neighborhood Partnership and CONA provide, has helped the average citizen to organize, contribute fresh perspectives, and improve their quality of life. Many "broken windows" have been repaired. If our committee is successful we will fix many more and our efforts will contribute to the reduction of an environment for crime.


CONA BOARD OF DIRECTOR?’S MEETING MINUTES

The Sunshine Multi Service Center April 22, 2004

President Karl Nurse called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. leading us in the pledge of allegiance to our flag.
?˜ He then introduced Mr. Bill Duval of the Tampa Council of Neighborhoods who spoke of their ?“Paint Your Heart Out Program?” comparing their operating procedures with some of our in St. Petersburg.
?˜ Libby Steele then gave her Treasurer?’s Report reflecting a current balance of $3,705.00 not including the funding for our CONA Leadership Class.
?˜ We then met Mr. Ray Niemi, President of the Lealeman Community Association who leads the newly formed United Community Associations of Pinellas, (UCAP), an umbrella organization embracing the neighborhood associations of unincorporated areas of Pinellas County. He briefly explained that his organization is modeled after CONA.
?˜ Circuit Judge candidate Cynthia Wade was introduced and offered a brief background of her qualifications for election. at the polls on August 31st.
?˜ Regina Wade, Coordinator from the Neighborhood Partnership Office reminded us of several upcoming calendar events/deadlines:
> The deadline for nominations for city neighborhood awards is June 30th.
> Postcard invitations to the August ?“Neighborhood Social?” will be mailed shortly.
> The Neighborhood Matching Grant Applications must be received by September 5th. [Regina noted, with concern, that no completed grant applications have been received as yet.]
> Stickers will be distributed shortly intended to be affixed to Sanitation Department Dumpsters that list the city numbers to call to report illegal trash dumping.
X Moved, (Steele), to accept the March CONA Minutes as published. [Approved]
?˜ Our President then opened the discussion to the theme of Codes Enforcement citing some historical statistics about cars parked on lawns.
> Kai Warren, (Historic Roser Park), spoke of the work of the CONA Codes Committee that has been meeting with city staff to consider improved codes ordinances. He spoke of forming codes committees with neighborhood associations. We also heard of hi-tech communications equipment being added to the codes inspection vehicles to improve their efficiency.
> Kai also reminded us of the earlier success of our Codes Committee in pressing for improved inspection access to rental properties with records of violations.
> We learned that the Development Services area of our city web page, (www.stpete.org) includes much information on codes violations and maps.
> Development Services headed by Bob Jeffries has drafted a complete new set of codes ordinances that will soon be sent to City Council for approval.
?˜ President Karl Nurse then offered a preview of our May CONA meeting which, (in conjunction with our May CONA Newsletter), will focus on crime and public safety.
> Police Chief Chuck Harmon will appear in a panel discussion at our May meeting and has offered to prepare a statement for our Newsletter.
> Steve Plice, (Jungle Terrace), our Newsletter Editor reported on some statistical research he has been pursuing comparing our crime rates with other cities in the state and country.
> Steve described the important factor of ?“Clearance Rates?” with respect to the response of public safety officers in response to reported crime incidents.
?˜ The President announced that our June CONA meeting would focus on the theme of Transportation.
> Karl will report on his appointment to the P.S.T.A. Board.
> County Commissioner Ken Welch will participate in our program.
?˜ Our meeting then turned to the subject of the proposed Wal-Mart expansion on Tyrone Boulevard.
> -Steve Plice explained that Jungle Terrace opposes the Wal-Mart project that seeks to annex an adjoining county MHP property to merge with its city property and then to rezone the annexed property from residential to retail/commercial status. His city neighborhood opposes this project because of the traffic problems that will ensue, highway congestion for which there is no remedy at this fully developed (i.e. built-out), location.
> At their request an MPO survey was conducted comparing traffic at a conventional Wal-Mart with the auto traffic at the Pinellas Park SuperStore. The larger store creates handles an average10,000 more cars daily.
> The city sponsored Tyrone Traffic Task Force found the Wal-Mart intersection is already at 90% of capacity on the three connecting city streets.
> The Jungle Terrace Neighborhood Association voted 59 to 1 to oppose the Wal-Mart Project in their community.
> The county seeks to address the zone change issue prior to the question of annexation. Wal-Mart tactically solicits the reverse sequence. [The MPO Comprehensive Plan can only be amended at two times each year.]
X Moved, (Wilson), CONA supports the efforts of Jungle Terrace Neighborhood Association to oppose the annexation/expansion of the Tyrone Boulevard Wal-Mart Store. [Approved]
> CONA member associations were encouraged to discuss this issue and convey their consensus to city and county governments.
> Betty Potter, (representing the Colony Park MHP threatened by the Wal-Mart expansion), circulated a petition supporting their fight against the Wal-Mart Project.
?˜ Barbara Magada, (Americana Cove), spoke of the significance of the telephone Crime Stats that the Police Department previously provided.
?˜ Roberta Yancey, (Lake Pasadena), objected to the proposed city vacancy of 62nd. Street between Central and First Avenue South.
X Moved, (Plice), CONA opposes the ?“Give away?” of city streets as in the vacancy of 62nd. Street between Central and First Avenue South. [Approved]
> John Romeo, (North East Park), urged that CONA attend the May 5th E.D.C. meeting acknowledging that allows little time to study our position.
> Mr. Duval, (Tampa Neighborhood Council), noted that their city government provides a full 30 day advance notice to impacted neighborhood presidents for all such deliberative boards and council meetings.
> Karl Nurse again urged all interested neighborhood leaders to apply for city and county deliberative board vacancies. [See notices in our CONA Newsletters.]. CONA will support their applications.

Our meeting closed at 9 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Conrad Weiser, Secretary