Friday, March 13, 2015

Decades Later, Still Hard Feelings From Trop Neighbors

My WTSP colleague Eric Glasser takes a deep look at much of the bitterness, resentment, and distrust that exists in Midtown St. Pete 30 years after the city used eminent domain to drop Tropicana Field into the middle of a historic minority community.

When the promised jobs and economic development failed to come, residents grew distrustful of the city...and now that we're talking about an economic boom downtown from the possible departure of the Rays, those residents (and their descendants) wonder where their share of the profits are:
Hundreds of people lost their homes and livelihood as the City used its power of eminent domain to make room for what would eventually be called Tropicana Field.

It would sure be nice, says Grayson, if they'd consider sharing some of the wealth it created with the decedents of the displaced.

"But you think they'd do that?" she laughs, "No."
...
"It was a whole community. We had stores, they had restaurants and all of that. It was just gone. They just took it," says Grayson. "It's over now. But I just wish you could've been different."
It's a good story - check out the short article and video here.

8 comments:

  1. appy11March 13, 2015 at 10:33 AM

    Wait, were they not compensated back then? Did the city take their land and give them nothing in return?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DavidMarch 13, 2015 at 11:11 AM

      of course not. they were compensated at market value. Noah's just complaining about stadiums again, and paints his narrative accordingly.

      Delete
    2. AnonymousMarch 13, 2015 at 11:16 AM

      So the displaced residents getting compensated at market value makes this just?

      Easy to say that when it's not your own property being dispossessed.

      Delete
    3. DavidMarch 13, 2015 at 9:28 PM

      yeah, its a city, that's what you expect to happen when they do projects.

      I just hope Tampa gets it right when/if they build a stadium. I know Noah thinks no stadium project can ever do good. But that's actually not the reality. There have been cases of stadiums becoming features in areas. I'm sure those residents are just mad they are stuck looking at the trop day in and day out instead of PNC, Pac Bell, or Petco.

      Delete
    4. UnknownMarch 14, 2015 at 12:49 PM

      Your right David, I been saying it for years on "Negative Noah"'s blog here. You have to look at the whole picture, not just the painted person in it. Ask the biz arounf the Trop, and they'll all tell you they make a lot more on game days, which is 81 days+ a year unlike football w/ just 10. The Trop draws a lot of visitors that won't come spend their around town there if there wasn't MLB. Ask the Sunco gas station, Furgs, Subway, the new condos, PSTA, ect. how much more they make on game days...

      Delete
    5. DavidMarch 14, 2015 at 1:35 PM

      Yeah, Noah has slowly but surely morphed his Ray's stadium blog into a government spend watch-dog blog, he just forgot to update to his site banner.

      Delete
    6. AnonymousMarch 16, 2015 at 4:10 PM

      Yes, ask the sunco gas station and the subway and the bus station about their uptick in business over the last 30 years. Neat. Also, the parking sold on adjacent empty lots is a gamechanger. Really, the phrase "redevelopment" doesn't do this remarkable economic growth justice.

      If you build it, one gas station and one deli will come.

      David and rr car salesman, make a case that isn't built on anecdotal bull ****, and people might be convinced.

      Delete
  2. JSMarch 13, 2015 at 11:11 AM

    Eminent Domain requires "Just Compensation". Doesn't compensate for intrinsic value, though...

    ReplyDelete

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