Hi, neighb's:
I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record as far as pleading with y'all to participate in the weekly citywide Wrice anti-drug marches. I've appealed to your ''better angels'', as they say, by pointing out that citizens from other neighborhoods marched with us way back when, when the Wrice marches were held weekly in our neighborhood. Thanks to them as much as to the regular marchers from our own 'hood (and of course due to other factors besides just the Wrice drug marches--but make no mistake, their effect was significant), we have drastically curtailed the drug activity in Historic Kenwood. I?’m careful not to say ''eliminated'', as in any neighborhood, problems do crop up, however, the Wrice process was a huge factor in making our streets safe, our crime rate drop, and our quality of life and property values go up. So it is only right that we should extend the helping hand to those neighborhoods still fighting the scourge of the drug trade. There but for the grace of God go we. But all of this I've said before, and the result, frankly, has been disappointing to me as a Kenwoodian who fancies my fellow Kenwoodians as being civic-minded, caring, and somewhat idealistic about improving ALL the neighborhoods of St. Pete, not just our own. So, what?’s new that I have to say today?
Only this: Last night we marched somewhere I just couldn't believe the virulence of the drug problem. There was an amazing amount of traffic on a tiny residential street late at night...gee, I wonder what they were there for? Well, they weren't able to buy or sell any drugs while we were there. We disrupted their illegal business, which is one of the main strategies and points of the marches. Yu wouldn't believe how bad the situation was. And where was this taking place? Was it in a galaxy, or even a neighborhood far, far away? No. Guess what? It was right in our own backyard, in the neighborhood just to our south, Palmetto Park. Specifically, we were at 28th Street and Fairfield. Did that get your attention? Kind of wakes ya up, doesn't it? Kind of too close for comfort, huh? Forget about the ''better angels of our nature''. Forget about helping others, what about not losing any of the hard-fought ground we have gained? How about turning out to keep the dealers out of our very own backyard, because let me tell you: THEY ARE THERE.
Every Wednesday. Six O'Clock. City Hall parking lot (2nd Ave N, just off of 5th St. N). Be there or be square.
I can't get over a comment that was made quite a while back at a general association meeting. The president announced that the marches would be starting back up citywide. ?“Oh, we don't want them HERE?”, piped up this one person. Well, if one is needed in HK, we'll have one, if not, it will be elsewhere, hence the concept ''citywide'', was the response. Well, good, said the person, because ''I think we're a little beyond the yellow shirts and silly hats.''
I couldn't believe the utter disdain in this person's tone and comment! If we are ''beyond'' the marches, it is in very large part due TO the marches. We shouldn't forget that, or become suddenly smug and think that we are now somehow inoculated and immune to future incursions by the drug trade. In a long ago newsletter article I wrote, I used the metaphor of community being like a garden: One is never ''done'' tending it.
I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record as far as pleading with y'all to participate in the weekly citywide Wrice anti-drug marches. I've appealed to your ''better angels'', as they say, by pointing out that citizens from other neighborhoods marched with us way back when, when the Wrice marches were held weekly in our neighborhood. Thanks to them as much as to the regular marchers from our own 'hood (and of course due to other factors besides just the Wrice drug marches--but make no mistake, their effect was significant), we have drastically curtailed the drug activity in Historic Kenwood. I?’m careful not to say ''eliminated'', as in any neighborhood, problems do crop up, however, the Wrice process was a huge factor in making our streets safe, our crime rate drop, and our quality of life and property values go up. So it is only right that we should extend the helping hand to those neighborhoods still fighting the scourge of the drug trade. There but for the grace of God go we. But all of this I've said before, and the result, frankly, has been disappointing to me as a Kenwoodian who fancies my fellow Kenwoodians as being civic-minded, caring, and somewhat idealistic about improving ALL the neighborhoods of St. Pete, not just our own. So, what?’s new that I have to say today?
Only this: Last night we marched somewhere I just couldn't believe the virulence of the drug problem. There was an amazing amount of traffic on a tiny residential street late at night...gee, I wonder what they were there for? Well, they weren't able to buy or sell any drugs while we were there. We disrupted their illegal business, which is one of the main strategies and points of the marches. Yu wouldn't believe how bad the situation was. And where was this taking place? Was it in a galaxy, or even a neighborhood far, far away? No. Guess what? It was right in our own backyard, in the neighborhood just to our south, Palmetto Park. Specifically, we were at 28th Street and Fairfield. Did that get your attention? Kind of wakes ya up, doesn't it? Kind of too close for comfort, huh? Forget about the ''better angels of our nature''. Forget about helping others, what about not losing any of the hard-fought ground we have gained? How about turning out to keep the dealers out of our very own backyard, because let me tell you: THEY ARE THERE.
Every Wednesday. Six O'Clock. City Hall parking lot (2nd Ave N, just off of 5th St. N). Be there or be square.
I can't get over a comment that was made quite a while back at a general association meeting. The president announced that the marches would be starting back up citywide. ?“Oh, we don't want them HERE?”, piped up this one person. Well, if one is needed in HK, we'll have one, if not, it will be elsewhere, hence the concept ''citywide'', was the response. Well, good, said the person, because ''I think we're a little beyond the yellow shirts and silly hats.''
I couldn't believe the utter disdain in this person's tone and comment! If we are ''beyond'' the marches, it is in very large part due TO the marches. We shouldn't forget that, or become suddenly smug and think that we are now somehow inoculated and immune to future incursions by the drug trade. In a long ago newsletter article I wrote, I used the metaphor of community being like a garden: One is never ''done'' tending it.
