Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood News - June 2009

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Published Quarterly Old Northeast Neighborhood News Historic St. Pete’s Jewel on Tampa Bay Volume 36 Issue 2 www.honna.org June2009 Mark your calendar! July 4th Children’s Parade .................... 5 Web Site Changes ............................ 5-6 Historic Neighborhood Landmarks ...... 8-9 Pythons in the Park ............................ 13 Money-Saving Garden Tips ................ 26 IN THIS ISSUE Ducks, squirrels, an over-sized bunny and Mayor Rick Baker were on hand to greet a hundred or so eager children at the annual Easter Egg Hunt sponsored by The Historic Old North- east Neighborhood Association (HONNA) on Saturday morning, April 11 th , at Coffee Pot Park. With guidance and encouragement from a couple hundred parents and grandparents, a swarm of babies, tod- dlers and kids scoured the bushes, trees, playground equipment and other hiding places for al- most 1,300 candy-filled plastic eggs, “special” eggs and packaged treats. Two dozen stuffed animals were the prizes awarded in various categories – like “most found eggs” and “best dressed” – based on two boy/girl age groupings. Organized and funded by the Platinum Group of Smith & Associates Real Estate – Cynthia Serra, Connie Lancaster, Bob Riner and Ed Sandford – this was the seventh year Cynthia, an Old NE resident and driving force behind the annual Halloween decorating contest, has made this event possible. She is conspiring to put together an afternoon “grown-ups” version of an Easter egg hunt for neighbor- hood adults next year once the kids have had their fun. Any ideas on what shape this might take are welcomed (contact her at [email protected] or 580-3335). HONNA thanks the Platinum Group for its continued generosity, the many volunteers who prepped the park June 15 th Neighborhood Potluck Dinner/ Neighborhood Plan Vote July 20 th Tampa Bay Regional Transportation No August Meeting HONNA Neighborhood Meetings are held the third Monday of each month (except August and December) at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 126 11 th Avenue NE Social: 6:45pm • Business: 7pm Our June Monthly Neighborhood Meeting is a POT LUCK An Informal Opportunity to Enjoy Good Food and the Company of Neighbors and Friends, Both Old and New Come to the second of what is becoming a fun tradition in the neighborhood. Our March monthly neighborhood meet- ing was a pot luck, our first of three planned for the year. It was a big success with over 50 folks joining in the fun and bringing deli- cious foods to share. So the June meeting will be our second pot luck, to be held on Monday, June 15 th , at our regular gathering place, Westminster Presbyterian Church at 126 11 th Avenue NE. HONNA will provide the main entrée (meat and meatless), bever- Another Eggcellent Neighborhood Eggtivitiy continued on page 24 continued on page 2 UPCOMING MEETINGS

description

Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood Newsletter published by the Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood Association (HONNA).

Transcript of Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood News - June 2009

Page 1: Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood News - June 2009

Page 1HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

Published Quarterly

Old NortheastNeighborhood News

Historic St. Pete’s Jewel on Tampa Bay

Volume 36 Issue 2 www.honna.org June2009

Mark yourcalendar!July 4th Children’s Parade .................... 5

Web Site Changes ............................ 5-6

Historic Neighborhood Landmarks ...... 8-9

Pythons in the Park ............................ 13

Money-Saving Garden Tips ................ 26

IN THIS ISSUE

Ducks, squirrels, an over-sizedbunny and Mayor Rick Baker were onhand to greet a hundred or so eagerchildren at the annual Easter Egg Huntsponsored by The Historic Old North-east Neighborhood Association(HONNA) on Saturday morning, April11th, at Coffee Pot Park.

With guidance and encouragementfrom a couple hundred parents andgrandparents, a swarm of babies, tod-dlers and kids scoured the bushes, trees,playground equipment and other hiding

places for al-most 1,300candy-filledplastic eggs,“special” eggs and packaged treats. Two dozen stuffedanimals were the prizes awarded in various categories –like “most found eggs” and “best dressed” – based ontwo boy/girl age groupings.

Organized and funded by the Platinum Group of Smith& Associates Real Estate – Cynthia Serra, Connie Lancaster,Bob Riner and Ed Sandford – this was the seventh yearCynthia, an Old NE resident and driving force behind theannual Halloween decorating contest, has made this eventpossible. She is conspiring to put together an afternoon“grown-ups” version of an Easter egg hunt for neighbor-hood adults next year once the kids have had their fun. Anyideas on what shape this might take are welcomed (contacther at [email protected] or 580-3335).

HONNA thanks the Platinum Group for its continuedgenerosity, the many volunteers who prepped the park

June 15th

NeighborhoodPotluck Dinner/Neighborhood

Plan Vote

July 20th

Tampa Bay RegionalTransportation

NoAugustMeeting

HONNA Neighborhood Meetings are held the third Monday of each month (except Augustand December) at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 126 11th Avenue NE

Social: 6:45pm • Business: 7pm

Our June Monthly NeighborhoodMeeting is aPOT LUCKAn Informal Opportunity to Enjoy GoodFood and the Company of Neighborsand Friends, Both Old and New

Come to the second of what is becominga fun tradition in the neighborhood.

Our March monthly neighborhood meet-ing was a pot luck, our first of three plannedfor the year. It was a big success with over50 folks joining in the fun and bringing deli-cious foods to share. So the June meetingwill be our second pot luck, to be held onMonday, June 15th, at our regular gatheringplace, Westminster Presbyterian Church at126 11th Avenue NE. HONNA will providethe main entrée (meat and meatless), bever-

Another Eggcellent NeighborhoodEggtivitiy

continued on page 24

continued on page 2

UPCOMING MEETINGS

Page 2: Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood News - June 2009

Page 2 HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

*Preprinted inserts that you provide are delivered within the newsletter.Due to delivery restrictions, inserts are available on a limited basis.

The newsletter quarterly publication dates are March, June, September,and December. The deadline for accepting new ads and ad changes is threeweeks prior to the publication month. The next deadline is August 7th.Payment for new ads should be submitted at the same time that the ad layoutis provided and should be addressed to “HONNA Advertising.”

The newsletter is distributed by mail to all homes in The Old Northeast(boundaries are 5th Ave N to 30th Ave N, and 4th St N to North Shore Dr/Coffee PotBayou Blvd). There are approximately 2,800 active home mailing addresses.

Contact Rachel Sartain: [email protected] space is limited so please make arrangements early.

AD SIZE 1Qtr 2 Qtrs 3 Qtrs 1 YearBusiness card 50 93 128 1601/4 page (H 4.9" x w 3.7") 100 186 256 3201/2 page (H 4.9" x w 7.8") 200 372 512 640Full page 400 744 1024 1280Single page insert* 400 700 1000 1300

AD RATES

Published quarterly – March, June, September and Decemberand mailed to all households in The Old Northeast

P.O. Box 76324, St. Petersburg, FL 33734e-mail [email protected]

The Newsletter of the Historic OldNortheast Neighborhood Association

Editor Rick CarsonColumnists and Reporters

Peter StanhopeMike PanettaJohn GeeChuck Lindeen

Keaton GreenBarbara RhodeAmy LabieJill McGrath

Circulation Cathy Leonard and Joe O’ConnorContributors All our Old Northeast neighborsNewsletter Layout & Design Sharon Bond: [email protected] Information Rachel Sartain: [email protected]

Mike DaileyDavid FormanYvonne SwansonLinda Dobbs

The President’s PerspectiveMaureen StaffordAssociation President

I would like to welcome all our new resi-dents who have just moved here. Whether youown or rent, we are glad to share the neigh-borhood with you. To the rest of us “timers,”it is lovely to meet you out walking or in thestore or just enjoying your porch.

We, your Board members and lots of volun-teers, have been working for you, mostly be-hind the scenes, finding ways we can continueto make The Historic Old Northeast neighbor-hood an even better place to live. A big THANKYOU to all of you for giving so freely, and ingood spirit, of your time.

The March potluck meeting was a huge suc-cess. The turnout was terrific, and we lovedmingling and getting to know you all. The food was a big hit alongwith the stories you all had to tell about what brought you to theneighborhood. It was an equal pleasure to learn about your fami-lies. Thank you all for sharing. This is what makes our neighbor-hood so wonderful — good neighbors.

The neighborhood-wide yard sale is over and with some 50homes participating, with cars and people all over the neighbor-hood shopping. It’s kudos to Tracey Locke and her team, alongwith Barbara Marshall.

Due to an unavoidable delay, the general membership vote to ap-prove the new Neighborhood Plan is now on the June meeting schedule.We will have the Plan available for you to view at this meeting andyou can ask any questions you might have prior to the voting. If youwere not able to be at the April meeting to review the Plan, you canview a copy on the HONNA web site (honna.org). This is an impor-tant document for the future of your community. Your participationin this process is what will help keep our neighborhood strong.

We have been so blessed with the weather continuing for so longin the year with quite bearable humidity. However, it is not hard tonotice that we have not had rain in a very long period. At this time itis important to keep reminding ourselves that water conservation isvery necessary. The fines for watering out of your designated timezone and against restrictions are severe so I urge you to be sure you

know what these restrictions are. If you have any questions aboutwater usage, please check our web site for links to important info.

Watch for HONNA’s new web site. The web site steering com-mittee has been working very hard and maintain-ing a rigorous schedule to pull together the detailsto make this an even greater tool for us. We areoffering an exciting opportunity for someone whowould like to take over maintenance of the newsite. Nona Peebles, who has been working qui-etly and diligently behind the scenes for a verylong time as its administrator, is passing on theweb site maintenance baton. If this is somethingthat interests you, please e-mail Joe O’Connor [email protected]. This position could be agratifying challenge for you, if you like to be cre-ative and want to give back to your neighborhood(and could be an impressive addition to your re-sume!). We are grateful to Nona for her excellentwork in keeping us current on all the wonderfuldetails of life in The Historic Old Northeast.

We will look for you at the June 15th potluck din-ner meeting!!! And don’t forget the 4th of July Children’s Parade.

Potluck from page 1ages and you can bring a favorite dish to dazzle our taste buds.

Here’s our request. Depending on where you reside, here’swhat you can bring:

Between 5th-9th: bread or appetizer10th-14th: a salad of some sort (examples: greens, pasta or Jell-O)15th-22nd: a dessert23rd-30th: vegetable dishMake enough to serve 6-8, depending on what it is you’re

bringing (of course, you get to take home any leftovers).If you are kitchen-challenged – or even if you’re not – we

encourage you to bring a can or package of non-perishable foodwhich we’ll donate to the church’s food pantry to pass along tothose in need.

Plan to arrive between 6:45-7pm so we can lay out all the foodand begin dining by 7 or so. There will be no formal program –just neighborly conversation at tables over dinner. If you can’tarrive by 7, come when you can as the food should hold out untilwe start to close down around 8pm. Have children? They arewelcome, too, though you’ll know if you have to bring specialfood for them. Not a HONNA member? You’re definitely invitedanyway. And if you decide to join, we won’t stop you.

Barbara Marshall, DonnaGuillaume and Maureen Staffordgreet yard-salers

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Page 3HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

Association News & Activities

The March monthly meeting was the first of this year’s plannedPot Luck suppers – an opportunity to socialize, enjoying the com-pany of new and old friends and a variety of foods without thetypical “business” aspects of the usual monthly meetings. Over50 residents participated in this experiment, which seemed to bewell-received. The next pot luck will be on June 15th (see p. 1).

April’s neighborhood meeting focused on the draft Neighbor-hood Plan (see Planning/Historic Preservation report below). Inaddition, there was a report by one of our Community Police Of-ficers. Our CPOs regularly update us at our monthly meetings onrecent criminal activity in the neighborhood. In this instance, arumor of a sexual assault in the area was discovered to be un-founded. Also, residents are advised to exercise care when dealingwith people coming to their doors seek-ing work or selling goods/services; askto see the person’s required city or countypermit. Adding to the evening’s enjoy-ment was an array of foods, compli-ments of Chipotle’s at 780 4th Street N.

Nona Peebles, our web site administrator for the past coupleyears and the person most responsible for its new “look” andhaving brought it to where it is today, has decided to step downfrom the post due to other commitments and obligations. A com-mittee has been meeting over the past couple months to considerhow to take the web site to a new level [see “Web Site” reportbelow]. We thank Nona for a job very well done.

Mary Alice Lange, Board member and recent past Associa-tion president, was a finalist for the St. Petersburg Area Chamberof Commerce Women’s Symposium’s Community ServiceWoman of the Year award. While Mary Alice did not win (thehonor went, deservedly, to Barbara Heck, the president of theCouncil of Neighborhood Associations), Mary Alice’s commit-ment to serving The Old Northeast and the City has been extraor-dinary.

Planning/Historic PreservationCommitteeRobin Reed, ChairHISTORIC PRESERVATION

Members of the Historic Preservation Committee have beenexceptionally busy this past quarter. Those working on the up-date of the Neighborhood Plan met every other week for several

Committee Reports

months to get the Plan ready for pre-sentation to the HONNA membershipat the April monthly meeting. At thattime, pages of the Plan were on displayand residents were asked to reviewthem. Consultants Bob Jeffrey and MikeDove were on hand to discuss the pur-pose and layout of the Plan, while MaryAlice Lange explained the process whichbegan in 2002 with the NeighborhoodProfile and Pictorial Survey. In addition,our City Council representative, LeslieCurran, was in the audience and ex-pressed her enthusiasm for the Plan. At

the June 15th monthly membership meeting/pot luck supper, thePlan will bepresentedto residentsfor ap-p r o v a l .Once ap-proved, itwill go be-fore theCity’s Plan-ning and Vi-s i o n i n gC o m m i s -sion for itsreview, and then to City Council for final approval. For thosewho would like to read more about this “roadmap” for theneighborhood’s future, it can be found on HONNA’s web site atwww.honna.org.

Those working on the Children’s Education Project (ourneighborhood’s book, Souvenir of St. Petersburg, Views from theVinoy) joined our Education Partners, Sunken Gardens and thePinellas County School System to host in April a Teacher Work-shop for all elementary social studies teachers in the St. Peters-burg elementary schools. Author Robin Gonzalez taught the work-shop, while committee members made tea sandwiches and cook-ies for the reception following a tour led by Bill O’Grady of SunkenGardens. The Gardens will be offering field trips for schools whosestudents are using the book in their studies. Sunken Gardens pro-vided the beautiful setting and drinks for the occasion, ElaineNormile and Robin Reed made sandwiches, and delicious cook-ies were provided by Jeanne Hunter, Carol Kline, Suzanne

L a u r e n c e l l ,Cynthia Silvestriand Nancy Tait.Burt Kline pro-vided his assis-tance in getting 32boxes of books toSunken Gardens tobe donated to thep a r t i c i p a t i n gschools. Over thepast severalmonths, Pinellas

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Page 4 HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

JOIN OUR COMMITTEES

Candlelight Tour of Homes: Chair, Julia Brazier, 895-4443

C.O.N.A. Rep: Bob Watts, 821-8997

Crime & Safety: Ron Magray, 502-9065

Bob Hunter, 898-7987

Planning & Historic Preservation: Robin Reed, 825-0480

Membership: Barbara Marshall, 385-4746

Neighborhood Design Review: Mary Alice Lange, 251-2034

Newsletter: Rick Carson, 898-7834

Programs and Publicity: Tracey Locke, 475-0287

Traffic: Bob Watts, 821-8997

Web Site: Joe O’Connor (interim) 894-6786

Your volunteer involvement in one of our com-mittees will help enhance your neighborhood andour association.

Please contact any committee chair for infor-mation.

Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood AssociationOFFICERS and BOARD

HONNA Board meetings are held the second Monday of each monthat 6:30pm and are open to the public. Check with HONNA for the location.

PresidentMaureen Stafford 488-8154 [email protected] PresidentBob Watts 821-8997 [email protected] Stanhope 896-6272 [email protected] Haan 488-5514 [email protected] Brazier 895-4443 [email protected] Carson 898-7834 [email protected] Hunter 898-7987 [email protected] Alice Lange 251-2034 [email protected] Locke 475-0287 [email protected] Magray 502-9065 [email protected] Marshall 385-4746 [email protected] Reed 825-0480 [email protected]

Crime Watch Fact SheetName_____________________________________

Address ___________________________________

City/State: St. Petersburg, FL Zip: _____________

Home Phone: ______________________________

Office Phone: ______________________________

Cell Phone: ________________________________

E-mail: ____________________________________

Emergency Contact Person ___________________

Contact’s Phone #___________________________

HONNA Member: Yes____ No____

Would like more info on membership Yes___ No___

Signed: ___________________________________

HONNA PO Box 76324, St. Petersburg, FL 33734

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Like our neighborhood?Want to make it even better?

Volunteer with one of our committees!

CLIP AND MAIL

NewMembers

Haike and George Abraham ................................................ 9th Avenue NDuane Aylsworth ............................................................ 17th Avenue NEMarleen Basile and Will Nelson .................................... 11th Avenue NERobert and Trisha Birkenstock ......................................... 6th Avenue NEGeorge Calamari and Karen Dienesch-Calamari ................. 7th Avenue NNathalie and Franck Carlier ........................................... 18th Avenue NEChristine Cass and Colin Fiske ......................................... 9th Avenue NETom Cooper and James Kelley ......................................... 29th Avenue NJeff Craft ......................................................................... 12th Avenue NEJennifer Diedrich ................................................................. Beach Dr NEMichael Finch and Lora Smeltzly Finch ......................... 15th Avenue NECharlotte and Michael Gilbert .......................................... 14th Avenue NDebbie Harrell ................................................................ 22nd Avenue NEMaria Herrera-Turner and Thomas Turner ........................ 8th Avenue NAlbert and Marilyn Lewis ................................................ 17th Avenue NMichelle and Matthew Litsky ....................................... 17th Avenue NECharleen McGrath and Bob Young ................................. 18th Avenue NEJohn and Carol Olt ............................................................ 12th Avenue NDebbie Pendergrass ......................................................... 14th Avenue NECliff and Rebecca Purington ........................................... 16th Avenue NEJerry and MJ Robinson .................................................. 18th Avenue NEKen and Rochelle Ryan ...................................................... 8th Avenue NChip and Grace Smoley ....................................... North Shore Drive NELynne and Charles Stamey ............................................... Oak Street NELeslie and Brian Waechter ............................................... 14th Avenue NEFriedel Wolk ....................................................................... 31st Avenue N

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Page 5HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

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County’s Director of Social Studies, Linda Whitley, enthusiasti-cally promoted the workshop to teachers and attended the event.In the coming weeks, books destined for the remaining local el-ementary schools will be delivered.

And speaking of our Vinoy book, it received an “outstandingachievement” award in the Preservation Education/Media categoryfrom the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation, which recog-nizes significant contributions of individuals, societies, businessesor government entities that have demonstrated outstandingachievement in the field of historic preservation. Quite an honorfor all who were involved in the production of this publication.Congratulations to all!

The Spring Walking Tour on April 26th led by Rob Wertz andMike Dailey was a great success. A beautiful day greeted tour-goers who were treated to some of the neighborhood’s more un-usual history [see “Preserving the Character of Old NortheastHouses” in this issue], including a case of spontaneous combus-tion that remains unsolved to this day! Rob and Mike also pointedout unusual bay window configurations, different types of brickused in early Old Northeast construction and multi-family hous-ing units built to look like single-family homes. We encourageresidents who have an interest in the neighborhood’s history orarchitecture to join us for these most interesting tours whichHONNA sponsors twice a year.

HONNA will be part of the 10th FloridaNeighborhood Conference being heldin St. Petersburg. HONNA will be orga-nizing a walking tour of The Historic OldNE for conference attendees on Friday,July 10th. The tour — which will featurelandmarks such as Sunken Gardens,Granada Terrace, the Vinoy Resort andour waterfront parks – will also includea light supper for over 40 expectedguests. Our own “walking tour” impre-sarios, Rob Wertz and Mike Dailey, willlead the tour.

Programs and Publicity CommitteeTracey Locke, Chair

I write this a day after our 3rd annual community yard sale andam thrilled that we can park at least one car in our garage again.Nearly 50 homeowners signed up with HONNA to participate onSaturday, May 2nd. We appeared to have hundreds of visitors to the

neighborhood. Some heard about the sale from the continuouslyimproving www.honna.org web site. Web site volunteer JoeO’Connor used Google Earth to create a detailed listing of salesand an on-line map. Go Joe! It looked great and was a very helpfultool for shoppers. Homeowners were asked to donate a portion oftheir sales to HONNA toward the repair and landscaping of ourneighborhood monuments. After the sale, we filled a Goodwill truckto capacity in an hour with items that didn’t sell. Maybe a fewpeople will be able to park in their garages again! Thanks to ourfriends at Westminster Presbyterian Church for being “yardsale central” and the starting line for all the bargain hunters.

For our monthly HONNA meeting on May 18th we had sched-uled a panel discussion on the future of The Pier. USF HistoryProfessor and Old NE resident Gary Mormino was to discussthe landmark’s historical significance while City Council memberLeslie Curran was to update us on the City’s task force recom-mendations and findings. We also planned to hear from The Pier’smarketing director, Susan Robertson, about what merchants aredoing to make The Pier a viable destination.

Any idea what TBARTA stands for? What is the timeline forgetting light rail in the Tampa Bay area and, more importantly,how much will it cost you? Those are some of the questions thatwill be answered at our July 20th monthly neighborhood meeting.We will hearfrom the TampaBay Area Re-gional Trans-portation Au-thority about itsrecently un-veiled masterplan for trans-portation inPinellas County.

Also, we areagain holdingthe 4th of JulyChildren’s Pa-rade on Satur-day, July 4th,from 9am-noonat Coffee PotPark (30th Avenue and 1st Street N). If you have kids, this is amust-attend holiday event. The American Spirit Fife & Drum Corpswill be back this year to enthusiastically lead the parade. Hugethanks to neighbor Donna Fudge and her law firm, Buckely &Fudge, for again sponsoring the fife and drum corps! The cel-ebration will be held at Coffee Pot Park at 30th and 1st Avenue Nwith the parade beginning at 10am – parking will be tight so ex-pect to park on side streets. We do need some volunteers for thisso please contact me if you can lend a hand. Details can be foundat the HONNA web site.

To volunteer for an upcoming event or to provide feedback abouthow we can improve events like the community neighborhood-wide yard sale, please e-mail me at [email protected].

Web SiteMarion Arnold, Web Site Committee Member

HONNA Web Site 3.0: More collaboration and more informa-tion. HONNA will unveil its updated web site this coming fall withthe goal of bringing you more: more interaction between our neigh-bors and more resources about our neighborhood. Your sugges-tions will help achieve these goals.

Not to bemissed!

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Page 6 HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

After two years of designing and maintaining the web site, NonaPeebles has announced that she is ready to pass the baton. TheBoard appointed a steering committee to find a new web site admin-istrator volunteer and to review potential enhancements to the site.

Some enhancements under consideration are:• A newsroom page covering relevant neighborhood events• Members-only resource pages• A mom’s page for forming play groups, etc.• Pages for committees to exchange information with volun-

teers for special events, such as the Candlelight Tour and more• E-mail alerts for topics that concern you• Selling tour tickets and other HONNA merchandiseTwo new important features recently added to the web site

include online payment of membership dues and membership reg-istration/renewals.

The web site also supported the recent neighborhood-wide yardsale held on May 2nd. Participants could go to the web site toregister for the yard sale, all yard sales were listed and describedand an interactive map displayed yard sale locations. These fea-tures attracted almost 400 visitors to the web site in just a coupleof days — about ten times the usual traffic.

The HONNA web site steering committee is eager to hear yourideas for our neighborhood web site. And if you have web siteskills and can volunteer any amount of time, you can have a di-rect impact on the web site’s success. To share your ideas andinterests, please visit the web site (honna.org), take the surveyand add your suggestion and comments.

TAKE the SURVEYTAKE the SURVEYTAKE the SURVEYTAKE the SURVEYTAKE the SURVEYAbout HONNA’s changing web siteAbout HONNA’s changing web siteAbout HONNA’s changing web siteAbout HONNA’s changing web siteAbout HONNA’s changing web site

Go to honna.orgGo to honna.orgGo to honna.orgGo to honna.orgGo to honna.org

Got web siteskills?

Got some free time toshare your talents?Please contact JoeO’Connor to learnhow you can helpthe neighborhood

association…[email protected]

or894-6786

continued on page 20

MembershipBarbara Marshall, Chair

Thanks to you our HONNA membership to date totals 274.I’m happy to report that we’ve had 38 new members sign up in2009 as of early May. And we thank those 50+ members whorenewed this year (through early May), as well. The HONNABoard thanks you for your support! RENTERS: HONNA alsowelcomes you to join our neighborhood association. Go towww.honna.org to fill out the new membership application orlook for it in this issue of the newsletter.

Cathy Leonard continues to manage all aspects of the mem-bership database and all related historical membership recordsthat go back several years; she and Anne Shumate take on thelarge task in the fall to send out reminders to renew membershipsexpiring this year. Renewal reminders are also sent to those neigh-bors whose memberships have expired during the past two years.We want you back! Please let us know how we can make thathappen. Can’t thank Cathy and Anne enough for their on-goingsupport.

“Meet and Greet” led by Cynthia Sylvestri continues to be animportant part of welcoming new residents to our neighborhood.She and husband Don and Robin and Joe Reed drop off “Meetand Greet” packets quarterly to new neighbors learned aboutthrough real estate sales. And since we have a number of renterswho are HONNA members, we want to be sure to include thoseneighbors. Since we don’t have a way to know what renters arenew to the area, as we do with home purchasers, renters areencouraged to contact Cynthia to receive a “Meet and Greet”packet. Any questions about “Meet and Greet” can be directed toCynthia at [email protected]. We are also looking foranother couple to support Cynthia and Don. All that’s required isa Saturday morning once monthly for a couple of hours to dropoff packets to a small handful of new residents assembled byCynthia.

You’ll see included for the first time in this issue of the news-letter an enhanced “new membership application” form as well asthe renewal form for those who know it’s time to renew theirmembership. If you’re not sure of your renewal date, send an e-mail to [email protected] and she’ll let you know. We’realways looking for new residents to give membership ideas andto help with the work that’s involved. Again, we are looking foranother couple to help deliver “Meet and Greet” packets. Anyquestions or interests, don’t hesitate to contact me [email protected] & Safety CommitteeRon Magray, Chair

Crime Watch will meet the third Monday of every month at6pm, just prior to the regularly scheduled HONNA membershipmeeting at Westminster Presbyterian Church.

We are all proud of our community. Being close to downtownand other commercial areas has its rewards, but unfortunatelywith the good comes the bad. To maintain our neighborhoods assafe desirable areas during these tough economic times we allneed to be involved! Allowing unknown individuals who canvassthe neighborhoods looking for work to come into or work aroundyour home is dangerous. Report suspicious persons by callingthe police non-emergency number, 893-7780.

More membership in Crime Watch is needed for our programto work effectively. Go to the HONNA website and join or con-

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Historic Old Northeast

Neighborhood Association P.O. Box 76324, St. Petersburg, Florida 33734, www.honna.org

New Membership Application

Please check this box if you DO NOT want your name, address or email published in a neighborhood directory (distributed to members only):

New Memberships: Thirty dollars ($30.00) annually per family/residence. Payable to HONNA. Annual renewal notices will be sent to your address. Send check along with this form to above address or pay via PayPal at www.honna.org. Or join HONNA on line at www.honna.org. Membership questions: Barbara Marshall, Membership Chair at 727-385-4746.

Print Clearly (Thanks!)

Member Name:

First name Last name Spouse/Partner Name:

First name Last name Children and ages (optional):

Contact information:

Mailing address (street and/or box number): -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tel (best to reach at—note whether home/office/cell): --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Email addresses:

Member:

Partner/Spouse:

Old Northeast Neighborhood Interests/Comments: * see “Other” below

CIRCLE below those HONNA activities of interest to learn more about and/or participate:

Community outreach: schools, business, civic/community groups

Crime Watch

Planning/Historic Preservation

Membership Meet and Greet Beautification/landscaping Home/garden tours Porch party committee Newsletter

Website Events Other (provide above*)

When did you move into the neighborhood? (Month and year)

Neighborhood Renters can join as members, too!

Page 8: Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood News - June 2009

Page 8 HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

Historic Neighborhood Landmarksby Robin Reed, Chair, Planning and Historic Preservation Committee

Did you ever walk up to an interesting looking old house and notice a beautifulbronze plaque near the door that said “historic?” What did you think? Perhapsyou wondered if someone famous had lived there. Or if there is something

special about the architecture of the building. Or if something important happened thereyears ago. Well, any or all of these things could be the reason the house has been“landmarked” or specially designated as “historic.” The owners of these buildings knowthey live in a special place. Probably they have spent time researching the history of theirhouse and are proud to share its past with others by placing a plaque on their home.

You may not know that St. Petersburg has a landmarking program called the LocalRegister of Historic Places, an official listing of neighborhoods, properties, sites and build-ings throughout the City that are architecturally and historically important to the commu-nity. To join this illustrious group, an owner must contact the City’s Historic PreservationOffice to see if his or her property qualifies and, if so, make application to the City forlandmark status.

In addition to “pride of place,” there are other benefits of this program, including advalorem tax relief. It entitles owners of eligible properties to a freeze on City and Countyproperty taxes incurred from rehabilitating a historic property for a period of 10 years.Designated properties are also exempt from meeting the literal application of certain partsof the Florida Building Code.

In order to ensure that the property maintains its historic character, there are also someobligations to the homeowner. Exterior alterations (other than routine maintenance) requirereview and approval by the City though the Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) process. Itmay be of interest to note that since the historic preservation program began in 1987, 97%of all COA applications have been approved. Interior changes are NOT reviewed unless theyare part of an application for the City’s ad valorem tax relief program as noted above.

In The Old Northeast, there are currently four homes that have the unique distinction ofbeing “landmarked.” They are: the Whitted House at 656 1st Street N; the Robert WestHouse (“Pineapple House”) at 101 6th Avenue NE; the Boyce Guest House (Sunset BayInn) at, 635 Bay Street NE; and the Monticello Apartments at 750 3rd Street N. Ourneighborhood has many other homes that would undoubtedly qualify for “landmark” sta-tus. If you would like to have your home considered for listing on this prestigious Registeror would like more information, please contact Robin Reed at 825-0480 [email protected].

A Long History of Hospitalityby Jill McGrath

The Boyce Guest House (now namedthe Sunset Bay Inn) sits on the corner of6th Avenue and Bay Street NE in the His-toric Old Northeast section of St. Peters-burg. The majestic cream-colored house,with red accents façade, is the first “land-mark” house to be presented in a plannedseries for this newsletter. Landmark sta-tus, of a building with a “prominent ordistinguishing feature” in the neighbor-hood, is never awarded without closescrutiny of the history, design and ele-ments of historical significance in thedevelopment of a neighborhood.

When the house was built, the devel-opment era of C. Perry Snell was in fullswing. What is now called the NorthShore subdivision is one of the earliestresidential neighborhoods in St. Peters-burg. The house was one of the estimated109 buildings recorded as dating between1914-1918 in the North Shore area; how-ever, no architect or builder is known. In1916 a “C. Booth” is listed as a resident.According to the prior Historic PlanningCommittee’s documents, the house wasdescribed as a “2 and ½ story balloonframed house, a vernacular form of aneclectic mixture of house styles so popu-lar during the years of 1890-1915.”

Vernacular (non standard) architecturalstyles were very popular and the com-bined Craftsman and Prairie “high-style”elements are clearly exhibited in the guesthouse’s design. “During the land boomof the 1920’s, the house changed occu-pants frequently” and according to theCity Directory was vacant from 1929-1935. In 1947, a golfing vacationer, Rob-ert Boyce, happened to see the house witha sale sign attached. He “submitted a verylow offer and was surprised that it wasaccepted.” He returned to his home inConnecticut, gathered his wife, Barbara,and his two step-daughters, Barbara andMartha, and opened the Boyce GuestHouse. For 20 years, they rented roomsduring the seasonal months of Novem-ber through April. Air conditioning wasnon-existent for most dwellings so sum-

First in a Series

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mer months did not lure visitors to Florida. In 1967, the Boycessold the house and the new owner continued the guest housetradition. The house went back on the real estate market in 1995.

Until 1996 there were “no major alterations to the main struc-ture” though the house was described as being in “fair condi-tion.” The lack of alterations helped to preserve the importantelements of design through the years. After the house came onthe market, Mrs. Boyce’s daughter, the former Martha Williams,accompanied by her mother, Barbara Boyce, and her husband,Bob Bruce — vacation visitors from Atlanta — saw the housewith a for sale sign, and the Bruces made the purchase. Marthahad come full circle back to her Florida childhood home. Marthahas many happy memories of living in the neighborhood and re-members that the period “during the late ‘40s to early ‘60s, theneighborhood was as it is today.” Among the guest house visitorswere major baseball heroes such as the NY Giants Bobby Th-ompson.

In 1997, when the Boyce Guest House renovation applicationfor historic designation was made to the City of St. Petersburg,Neighborhood Design Review had already approved the renova-tion plans. During the St. Petersburg City Council meeting ofMarch 6, 1997, the Boyce Guest House (application HPC #96-03), was awarded the designation as a Local Historic Landmark,as found in City Code, Chapter 16 and marked with the Seal ofSt. Petersburg. During thetwo monthly hearings ofthe Historic PreservationCommission (currentlynamed the CommunityPreservation Commission)on this designation, andwith no opposition, therenovation proceeded.

Among the documentsoffered for renovation ap-proval were the plat map,an aerial photo, a photo ofthe original structureshowing “Typical PrairieStylistic Elements” and an-other photo examining“Typical Craftsman Stylis-tic Elements” and the prop-erty survey. Tim Rhode,the project’s architect, in-cluded extensive architec-tural drawings of elevations and structural view drawings. Thenew owners, Martha and Bob Bruce, could now begin the pro-cess which would restore the house to its previous glory.

Along both the Bay Street and 6th Avenue sides of the house,the original brick paving and granite curbing survived, as well asthe hexagonal block sidewalks which frame the property. Ac-cording to the 1994 Northshore Survey, the Boyce Guest Househas been “a contributing element in an historical district,” nowspanning almost 100 years.

For a landmark designation, a statement of significance mustbe addressed and the Bruces began the complex process of reha-bilitation with the declaration to return the house to its formerhistorical importance. Vernacular examples of the Prairie styleexhibited in the Boyce Guest House are porches subordinate tothe principal two-story mass, hipped roofs. Multiple hipped dor-mers, upper sashes of wooden-muntin double-hung windows and

wide eave overhangs which are boxed in or enclosed, are othercharacteristics of Prairie style. Other elements, also included inthe style of the house, are masonry pillars supporting porch roofsand horizontal siding. These features are easily identified in theenclosed photographs of “before” and “after” the 1996-97 — andonly — renovation in the history of the house.

Characteristics of the Craftsman style found in the façade ofthe house include wide-eave overhangs, wood clapboard siding,large exterior masonry chimneys and decorative, carved brack-ets. The Vernacular, high-style elements of both the Prairie andCraftsman styles are complementary, as is evident in the archi-tecture of the Boyce Guest House.

On the first floor, there is an entrance foyer which faces ahallway leading directly to the staircase. From the foyer, to theright are a living room and a library/sunroom. To the left of thefoyer is the dining room and kitchen, with the master suite tuckedin behind. The kitchen pantry area opens onto a sitting porch andstone terrace, the terrace connecting the main house to the formergarage apartment which now houses two suites and the laundryfor the inn. The second floor of the main house has a balustradeand is “four square in plan” and there are four luxurious bed-rooms, each with its own bathroom. On the third floor there aretwo bedrooms and baths.

Martha Bruce recalls that the one year renovation project was“ c h a l l e n g i n g … t omaintain all the char-acteristics of the homeexternally and inter-nally, as much aspossible…including allnew plumbing andelectrical compo-nents.” The house re-flects all the hardwork and carefulthought to preservetheir historical gem.Martha and Bob, andBarbara Boyce, re-named their homeSunset Bay Inn, and ithas earned covetedhospitality awards in-cluding AAA’s FourDiamond rating.

In 2005, after al-most ten years as innkeepers, the Bruces sold the Boyce GuestHouse/Sunset Bay Inn with the new owners, Linda Collette andRich Klimek, continuing the hospitality. It is only fitting that theold Boyce Guest House has been awarded both the City’s HistoricPreservation Award and a Beautification Award. Today, it remainsa beautiful example of extraordinary efforts to preserve the uniquehistorical architecture of The Historic Old Northeast.

Resources and quotes by Martha Williams Bruce as well as quotedexcerpts from St. Petersburg City Records of HPC #96-03

Jill and Ed McGrath (who grew up together in the HudsonRiver Valley of New York) are restoring a 1910 cottage on thecorner of Bay Street and 6th Avenue NE. This is Jill’s fifth (Ed’sthird) complete house restoration project and they have promisedeach other that it will be their last.

Boyce Guest House circa 1950

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Over The Back Fence…is a collection of what we’ve heard exchanged in the aisles of the supermarkets,

shared waiting in line to pick up the kids from school, read in the papers, overheard in thepew behind us in church and, yes, even passed over the back fence. If you have somethingyou’d like to share about a special recognition, award received, birth, graduation, good-deed-done or observation around the neighborhood please pass it along to the Editor.“Over the Back Fence” is only going to be interesting if we hear from you!

S Sandby

R E S P E C T

4th Street: Interior DesignRow?...Being, an upscale furnitureand home accessories store that alsospecializes in interior design and re-design, has moved into The OldNortheast from BayWalk. The neigh-borhood is excited that owner AmyBromley has relocated closer to ourneighborhood and some of our resi-dents have probably already visited –the Grand Opening party was held onMay 8th. With the addition of Being toother furnishings/design-oriented busi-

nesses like Lasting Impressions and Marion’s, who’s to say ourpiece of 4th Street can’t become a location for similar shops andbusinesses and a destination point for Tampa Bay area residentslooking for one-stop shopping for quality products and services?There’s an entire vacant mall – Cocoanut Grove – at 30th and 4th

Street N that could house numerous such businesses. It’s a blankcanvas waiting to happen. Hey, you entrepreneurs out there, let’smake this happen. Being is located at 1575 4th Street N (cornerof 16th Avenue N and 4th Street); 727/822-6252.

Kudos…Dickens House Bed & Breakfast at 335 8th Avenue NEis celebrating 10 years of hospitality service to St. Pete visitors.Innkeeper Ed Caldwell opened Dickens House in March 2000after the 1912 Arts and Crafts period home underwent a meticu-lous and complete five year restoration. It’s known for extraordi-nary multi-course breakfasts and a classic understated club-likedécor highlighted by the carefully restored wood trimmed win-dows and coffered ceilings. The property was purchased in 1996by Ed, a Rhode Island School of Design graduate and mural art-ist. Over $16,000 in code enforcement liens were in place on theproperty at the time, requiring years of painstaking work to over-come the 20 years of deferred maintenance. Five layers of rolledroofing failed to keep the interior dry and all ceilings and mostwalls were removed. Compete new wiring, plumbing, fire sup-

pression and fire monitor-ing systems and threeHVAC systems were in-stalled. Original heart pinefloors were resurfaced.The interior staircase wassalvaged from the formerChicago Hotel, now thesite of the new AllChildren’s Hospital. Thefireplace was rebuilt andthe porch was reopened.The site required total land-scaping. The investmentof all this time, effort and

money has earned Dickens House Frommer’s highest possiblerating, a St. Petersburg Preservation Award and features in nu-merous newspapers and magazines. For a quick look at this neigh-borhood landmark, go to www.dickenshouse.com.

Pizza!!...A new pizza parlor has opened its doors in the ‘hood.Old Northeast Pizza, owned by the proprietors of the Old North-east Tavern next door, offers pick up at their 718 2nd Street Nlocation or will deliver (209-2550).

Too Tempting…How do you like that new stretch of smooth,black pavement on 22nd Avenue NE between Bay Street and Cof-fee Pot? Pretty nice, huh? Pretty tempting to press the pedal down,too. Just remember: the speed limit is still 30mph.

New High Rise on 1st

Street… There’s a newcondo on the 2700 blockof 1st Street N. Kind of atough climb getting to theunit but the hawk-like resi-dent doesn’t seem to behaving any problems flyingin. Good view, too.

Block Party, Anyone?..Neighbor Gordon Powers(Beach Drive NE) recentlyhosted another of his “verandah” parties fora get-together for nearby neighbors. It wasBYOB and guests were requested to bring anappetizer to share. Easy way to throw an in-expensive party and meet the people aroundthe corner you only know to wave to. How about throwing oneyourself (and tell us how it went)? …If you need more of anincentive, how’s this for a reason to throw a block party? The St.Petersburg Times (4/12) reports that a Tampa woman’s homewas burglarized in the middle of the night while she was sleeping.Her eventual reaction? It’s time to have a block party. She realizedshe had become “the neighbor who waves, says hello, but doesnot engage.” The break-in became a catalyst, opening her eyes tothe fact she had spent too much time minding her own businessand staying out of everybody else’s. Sound familiar? Why notfollow her lead?

FROM OUR READERS: Inquiring Minds Want to Know…+ How long will it take for drivers to learn how to navigate the

roundabout at 30th and 1st? Virtually all drivers on 30th come to acomplete stop and do not venture into the circle even when theyclearly arrived at the roundabout first and have the right-of-way.

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The city might as well put stop signs on 30th since that’s the reality.+ How do you approach a neighbor who has a dog that doesn’t

bark – it roars? It sounds like a lion in a cave.+ I’ve got neighbors who think nothing of sitting in their

back yard gabbing loudly at 2 in the morning. What’s a niceway to tell them to get some manners so we can get some sleep?

+ These new watering restrictions are kind of confusing butI think one of the residents down the block is cheating. ShouldI be a snitch? Who do I call to report them? What if I’m wrong?

If you want the City’s: Water Resources Department: 893-7261; Water Conservation Office, 892-5688 or go towww.stpete.org/water/watering_restrictions.asp (and prepareto become very confused). If you wish to report (anony-mously) someone you believe is watering illegally, phone 892-5020 to leave a voice mail.

+ I’ve got a listof “irritations.” 1)passers-by whopick the flowersalong our sidewalkgarden and, whencaught, shoutexpletives; 2) visi-tors who bring arake and drag Span-ish moss from thelimbs of our liveoak, screaming,“It’s not your tree”;3) Someone who

reached up into our orange tree and attempted to pluck one of ourperfectly ripe oranges before being caught; these people seem tohave a strange sense of entitlement – “what’s yours is mine.”

+ In a letter that appeared in the 4/29 edition of the St. Pete Times“Neighborhood Times” section, a writer opines that “every-one should share the road” and goes on to say: “On more thanone occasion we have also encountered groups of bicyclistson Coffee Pot Boulevard and North Shore Drive that have takenup the entire travel lane plus the bike lane, riding three and fourabreast and very reluctant to allow passage.”

You Know It’s Spring in The Old NE……Our own Soundsof Spring: the rhythmic roar of engines during the GrandPrix…..the loud speakers waking us at 6 in the morning forthe St. Anthony Triathlon. And for those of us in the “lower”part of the ‘hood, street parking is virtually impossible whenany events are going on in the park. Of course, parking is

Test your knowledge of The Historic Old Northeastin a new feature on HONNA’s web site.

Learn trivial factoids to amazeyour friends at social gatherings!Go to honna.org. and click on

“Do You Know…?”

OOOOOvvvvveeeeer Tr Tr Tr Tr The Bhe Bhe Bhe Bhe Baaaaaccccck Fk Fk Fk Fk Fenenenenence is ace is ace is ace is ace is a

SSSSSoooooaaaaapbpbpbpbpbooooox...x...x...x...x...STEP ON UPSTEP ON UPSTEP ON UPSTEP ON UPSTEP ON UP

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e-mail: [email protected]: [email protected]: [email protected]: [email protected]: [email protected]

possible when you ignore the signs and regs. Yes, the policemay have more important things to do than cite illegally parkedcars on such weekends, but think of all the fines that willpour in as a result (and perhaps educate drivers as to theparking laws and make the streets safer at the same time).

Have you been to a

See page 18 for the upcoming schedule

PPPPPorchorchorchorchorch P P P P Partyartyartyartyarty

LLLLL AAAAAT E LT E LT E LT E LT E LY ?Y ?Y ?Y ?Y ?

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As The Pages Turn...

Neighborhood Book Groupby Susan Coffey

Urban EnvironmentsCustom Landscaping – Outdoor Urban Living

Craig S. HydeCraig S. HydeCraig S. HydeCraig S. HydeCraig S. HydeOwner, Operator, Designer

727 . 418 . 2820727 . 418 . 2820727 . 418 . 2820727 . 418 . 2820727 . 418 . 2820Ask us about our new Do It Yourself program

to help you achieve beauty on a realistic budget.

www.urbanenvironments-stpete.comwww.urbanenvironments-stpete.comwww.urbanenvironments-stpete.comwww.urbanenvironments-stpete.comwww.urbanenvironments-stpete.com

ONE Great Book club continues with one fascinating bookafter the other. For our last book selection Barri Boudreaux,who lives in Whispering Waters, selected a play. The play shechose was The Crucible by Arthur Miller which is based on theSalem witch hunts during February 1692 and May1693. Hundreds of people, mostly women, werefalsely accused and executed as dealing inwitchcraft. Barri, who is an actor, was heavily in-volved in a production of this play in Washington,D.C.

Arthur Miller wrote this play in the early 1950sin response to McCarthyism when the governmentblacklisted anyone thought to be connected withCommunism, especially those in Hollywood. Thesimilarities between McCarthyism and the witchhunt are eerily familiar.

The play is in four acts and Barri, being theactor she is, had each of us take on a characterand read lines, which made the play really comealive. The time is of course puritanical New En-gland and anything done for pleasure is consid-ered satanic and against the church. A group of young girls arecaught dancing in the forest, which sets the whole play and theaccusations of witchcraft. The girls are not accused — rather

they accuse others of making them act in such a way. This setsoff a panic throughout the town and anyone and almost everyoneis accused of witchcraft. Trials are held and one must prove theirinnocence, since they are guilty before being proven innocent.Some are let go but others are found guilty and hung.

This led us to quite an in-depth conversation notonly about Salem but of McCarthyism, the Japaneseduring WWII and other groups wrongly accused ofa crime because of mass hysteria.

Arthur Miller does take some poetic license andchanges ages of characters and uses the charactersto fit his play, but he stays true to the events andthis makes for interesting reading. The play hassince been made into a movie twice, once in1957 and again in 1996.

ONE Great Book Club gives this a thumbsup.

We continue to have a waiting list forthe book club; however, a “sister”/”brother” book club has started. Youmay contact me at [email protected] or for our related book

club contact Colleen Grant [email protected].

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Ponderings

Pythons inthe Parkby John Gee

John and his wife Kathy moved to St. Pete from New Mexicosix years ago, and he currently teaches history at a Sarasotahigh school. He has served on the HONNA Board where he co-chaired its Historic Preservation Committee. You can also readmore from John in the Northeast Journal.

A few days ago, there was a photograph in the newspaper ofwater buffaloes wallowing around in the Everglades. I know littleabout these creatures but was sure that these animals were notnative to our state and someone, for whatever reason, found itappropriate to allow these animals into our ecosystem. So therethey were, rooting around in our swamp, looking quite happy tobe swimming around in a place that was certainly not their own.This didn’t seem like an appropriate thing to be doing in Florida,but I soon discovered that water buffaloes are the least of ourproblems.

The same day I saw this photo, I read an article about all theweird, strange and downright scary plants and animals that haveimmigrated to Florida and taken up residence. The authors ex-plained how, during Hurricane Andrew, things were so blown upthat creatures from zoos and private collections in the Miami areawere strewn all over south Florida. Monkeys, birds, lions, tigersand bears were suddenly set free and, like Oz, were sucked upand deposited in a wonderful land where they could survive andthrive with little if any human intervention. But it wasn’t just ahurricane that was scattering all these creatures around. It ap-pears that people who buy imported animals sometimes get wearyof (or inattentive with) these beasts, and any number of exoticcreatures are let into the wild to take up residence in a place thatoffers many of the same comforts of their natural abode.

I also read an article about a woman who was an expert inspiders. Why anyone would dedicate a life to looking at thesecreatures is incomprehensible to me, but nevertheless this womanspent her time poking around in dark cellars looking to see whatkind of these scary things are appearing in our country. What shediscovered will keep me out of our house’s crawl space foreverbecause now we share space with creepy-crawlies from all partsof the world. Some are relatively benign but others really don’tlike us at all and can do all sorts of horrible things to show theirdispleasure.

But of all the creatures great or small that can scare the day-lights of us…the granddaddy of them all is the Burmese Python.Most of us have heard about one of these snakes whose eyeswere bigger than his stomach and, while consuming a way toobig alligator, literally blew himself up. He was just one of thou-sands of the new Florida version of the Burmese Python and theyare spreading like Kudzu all over Florida. A few years ago a dia-mondback rattler was found in North Shore Park and peoplewent nuts, but those guys are natives and have every right to behere. What’s going to happen when a 16 foot python shows up at

the Blues Fest and starts to squeeze the life out of the personsitting next you?

The problem with these pythons (and all the other ani-mals) is that they are just like many of us. They, too,

ended up living in a state with an environment de-signed to make all animals, human and other-

wise, as comfortable as possible in verypleasant surroundings. Once settled, our

slithery friends found other transplanted for-eigners with similar backgrounds in which to

share space and learn how to adapt and flourish.Although they didn’t come to play golf and enjoy the

weather, they did discover golf courses as a great placeto find food and the weather was pleasant enough where

they had little trouble settling down and raising a family. So, inmany ways we are just like them although we have been infi-nitely more destructive.

I not really sure about those buffaloes, but let’s give someof these imported creatures some credit. Unlike us, they didn’tcome here to build gated communities, shaky banks, fast foodjoints, highways and strip malls. They just found themselves areally nice place to settle down, raise a family and swallowsome of the environment. I wonder if I can still be so blaséabout a python on the day I find one with my dog in its mouth.

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Preserving the Character of Old Northeast HousesTwo New Online Historical Resources:

Sanborn Maps and Google News Archives

by Mike Daily

My partner Rob and I lead walking tours twice ayear (sometimes more often) through differentroutes in The Old Northeast. In our most recent

tour, “Old Northeast Curiosities,” we had to do more researchthan usual to find stories about the people and places alongthe tour route. Two very valuable tools we used in our re-search were the Google News Archives and online versionsof the Sanborn maps. We talked about these resources dur-ing the tour.

Google News Archives (http://news.google.com/archivesearch) is a godsend for re-searchers. It searches digitized cop-ies of old newspapers to find storiesyou would formerly have to slogthrough deteriorating microfilm anduse a printed index to locate.

One of the topics we covered dur-ing the recent walking tour was thecase of Mary Hardy Reeser, an ap-parent victim of spontaneous humancombustion in 1951. I read about thiscase in “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” way back in the 1970sbut couldn’t remember the particulars. Neighborhood wagstold me that her residence was at 12th and Cherry Street NEbut I needed more details to fill in the gaps. Google NewsArchives to the rescue! I went to the web site and used the“Advanced Archive Search” button. Under “Source” I se-lected “The Evening Independent”. That dearly-departed St.Pete daily newspaper tended to have more extensive (andsaltier) local coverage. I typed “Mary Reeser” and “sponta-neous human combustion” into the search bar and…presto!Every article that ever appeared in The Evening Independentabout Mary Reeser appeared in the window.

For those who have never heard of this case, Mary Reeserwas an elderly widow who lived in an apartment at 1200Cherry Street NE. Her neighbor brought her some dinner andwas probably the last person to see her alive. In the morning,a telegram delivery boy knocked on the door and found the

doorknob hot to the touch. Firefighters were summoned and gainedentry to a ghastly scene. The apartment had dark smoke stains onthe ceiling and upper part of the walls, but the lower walls andfloor were mostly undamaged. The chair where Mrs. Reeser hadbeen sitting was burned but still intact but Mrs. Reeser had beenreduced to ashes, leaving behind just an unburned foot (completewith shoe still on), a piece of vertebra and a shrunken skull. Thenewspaper followed the frenzy over the next few months as theSt. Petersburg Police Department investigated and the FBI gotinvolved. The case remains unsolved to this day.

The Sanborn maps online can be foundby typing “Sanborn maps online St. Pe-tersburg” into the search bar. There aredigitized versions of the original papermaps that until recently have only beenavailable in libraries and history museums.The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps wereused nationwide from the late 1800s tillthe 1970s to help fire insurance agents de-termine the degree of risk to propertiesand establish premiums. They provided ac-

curate maps showing the outline of every building, its construc-tion type, number of stories and certain features that might im-pact insurance worthiness (fire hydrant locations, chimneys,firewalls, etc.) We used the maps to determine the age of thestructures along the walking tour route and any additions thatwere made along the way. The maps provide a wealth of detailon the built environment of St. Petersburg over 100 years agoand help paint a picture of the lives of its residents.

Mike, an Old Northeast resident since 1996, holds aMaster of Architecture degree from the University ofSouth Florida.

News Archive Search

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Page 16: Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood News - June 2009

Page 16 HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

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The

GGGGGRRRRREEEEEENENENENENPAGE

by Michael Panetta

It was wonderful to see Earth Day with so many engaged ingrass roots activism and promoting green and sustainableliving. I don’t think I’ve seen this much environmental ac-

tivity since the ‘70s. But did anyone notice the marketing blitz? IsEarth Day becoming a Valentine’s Day with green recycle logosand tree silhouettes? Does it all seem like a month-old Christmastoy stuck under the sofa?

As an environmentalist almost since the first Earth Day and anarchitect for almost two decades, I delve into the more technicaland critical perspective of environmentalism. Geeky might be abetter description. I found several really vital discussions veryabsent from the Earth Day chatter and felt compelled to promotethis information somewhere, maybe here on the Green Page.Granted, they aren’t light topics — don’t fit into sound bites eas-ily and aren’t comforting with their outlook…and probably whythey weren’t in the news highlights. Then after writing it — andnot finding a way to make compelling information clear whilefitting the page size — even I was beginning to get depressed.Then inspired simplicity by a friend and a third grader’s bulletedhomework outline: it is all about you …but not the way you think.

There is no being on the fortunate side of the planet, whetherde-forested rainforest, melted icecaps or toxic oceans. We’re allin on this planet together and it will take all of us to get throughour eco-breakdown.

An empowering and depressing perspective that wasn’t wellpunctuated during the eco-days is that we are all “individually”critical parts of a delicately balanced global machine. And it can’t

Green Clippings:www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoRjz8iTVoo: This link is a

video clip of Bill McDonough, an architect and innovator ofthe Cradle2Cradle concept at a “TED” conference. Its mes-sage is humorous, direct and clearly speaks to the worldthat we are facing, an “Inconvenient Truth” meets BillMaher…meander through other great discussions atwww.TED.com.Green Facts :

• One fifth of the population, the richest fifth, consumesby itself 86% of all goods and services.

• The assets of the richest 200 people in the world aregreater than the combined income of the poorest 2.5 bil-

lion people in the world. Of the 1.3 billion people living inextreme poverty today, more than two-thirds are girls andwomen.

• Between 1900 and 1999, the world population qua-drupled. Just between 1960 and 1999 it more than doubled,from three billion to over six billion, and we are currentlygrowing by more than 80 million people every year.

• Almost 40% of the earth’s land surface has been con-verted to cropland or permanent pasture and half theplanet’s tropical forests have been destroyed or degraded.

• The USA has 4.5 % of the world’s population but con-sumes almost 40% of its energy resources to fulfill thosewants and needs.

be “balanced” by government policy, politics or an economy…and,like an addict, fundamental change must come from self-realiza-tions for perpetuating our children, the Earth and the responsibil-ity to live in-bounds of our ecology.

Thinking that government can solve our eco-problems is likestanding a pyramid on its point because “We” are the base, theultimate consumers of everything (I use “We” as in our civiliza-tion). Our governments, businesses and institutions are only rep-resentative and managers of our stuff. Like it or not, We do theconsuming, We are in an ecosystem and the system has rules.And if We don’t understand the rules or our role in the game, thenwe can’t possibly represent it, govern it or put value to it. Buthow do we get to We?

Now the empowering part. A global conversation is happeningnow. Nations are beginning to acknowledge and behave like we havefinite resources on this tiny blue orb. And…We don’t have to under-stand or undo all that is out of synch in the environment to behavelike an eco-citizen. What is that? It’s you, now. You’re the base. Youcan take on how to live within your carbon footprint and then drivethat message up and out. How? You learn! Sound like a great discus-sion at the dinner table and a Green Page? So, it is all about you.How Many?

We think of Earth, our world, as a massive, infinite, unshak-able, eternal thing, but it’s actually continually renewing and bal-ancing itself. While imperceptibly changing all around us, it israpidly becoming far less diverse, fragile and far more suscep-tible to environmental fluctuations. Why? Because the stress ofour growing population and the reckless consumption of our owndelicately balanced global ecology, resources and co-inhabitantsbig and small have finally caused our enormous eco-system tobegin to react to “us.”

The world’s growth is explosive and the resources we con-sume to exist are staggering. Please look at the numbers in the“Green Facts” below, especially the first and last.

We are the conspicuous consumers of the world, and that isn’tthe bad news. China and India, each with 1/5 of the world’s popu-lation (2.5 billion combined) want what we have.

I wanted to bring a positive thought to each item but this isreally tough. The scarcity of basic resources like water, food,andeven air may be extreme by 2050 if We continue our way ofconsuming. But sharing advances in resource management andcarbon neutral, cradle2cradle and renewable protocols with de-veloping countries can buy time to figure out how to balance tenbillion people with Mother Nature. (Please watch the link with BillMcDonough — there is promise.)

Page 17: Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood News - June 2009

Page 17HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

Links in a chain …There was a time when humans used to know how to live with

ecology, not on it.Did you know there are rice paddies in China that have been in

service for over 10,000 years? In our own “Four Corners” states,the Anasazi Indians built amazingly complex organic sustainablestructures with a thriving society for a dozen centuries on desertplateaus (10AD-1300 AD). How? They understood limited resourcesand respected everything in their world as part of themselves.Generationally, they improved their world and passed on their valu-able lessons of how to balance their society and ecology.

These “generational memories” are the “links in a chain” thattie us to each other, nature and time. This is how we learn, adaptand evolve…or not.

My “green mentors” weren’t very distant or even that ancient(they’d be happy to note). They didn’t hug trees, attend Earth Dayfestivals or look for post-consumer recycled content in a super-market aisle. Because it wasn’t “green” — it was just the way theylived. My grandmother and parents had sensibilities of a differentplace (rural Italy) and a different time (NYC in the Depression andWWII) where nothing was wasted, used without purpose or takenfor granted, and I learned like all kids do — I watched.

These influences weren’t unique to my family: they were thevalues of “The Greatest Generation.” Despite the scarcity of the‘30s and ‘40s, there was always the way to live well and withinmeans. There was grounding in the greater good. They grewgardens to eat healthy, made clothes and furniture. Things wererepaired, built and created. They lived it and it shaped them andthe generation never lost the lesson “waste not, want not.”

As children, one daily chore was the trip to the compost after

dinner. Saving the planet? Nooo! We were making food forgrandma’s tomato plants and next year’s sauce. Why? It didn’tmake sense not to. Now, we “kids” rounding 50 have composts(some with better tomatoes than others) and are establishing theroots of the next generation and next set of links..

Somehow within two generations we have evolved into a sea ofunending consumer choices for a disposable, must-have-it-nowsociety and “waste and want” is the new vogue. Bringing us backto “it is about you”, and me and where do We all go from here.Ending with a Forward

Ancient history has great lessons, but we’ve learned once a“technology genie” comes out of a bottle you can’t put him backin. Our future has to begin with today’s world with fixing thebroken links that hold us back and forging new strong ones tocarry us forward.

The notion that we leave the world better than we found itcuts across all peoples, generations and cultures. The “SeventhGeneration” is ancient American Iroquois law stating today’sactions should be principled by what would best serve the nextseven generations to come.

I hope this has been an informative read on a difficult conversa-tion to condense. I encourage everyone to make every day EarthDay and search for your own “environmental” roots, learn just a bitmore about your part in this huge immense ecology and pass it on

Michael Panetta moved to The Old Northeast in 1998 and isPresident of his newly established architectural practice, Panetta+ Associates, Inc. He can be contacted at

[email protected].

Page 18: Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood News - June 2009

Page 18 HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

June 19th

Jim and Cathy Leonard319 10th Avenue N

July 17th

Rich and Marion Arnold1500 1st Street N

PORCH PPORCH PPORCH PPORCH PPORCH PARARARARARTIESTIESTIESTIESTIESPorch Parties are held the third Friday of themonth from 7:30-10pm (except December).Porch Parties are strictly social and provideand informal and fun way to mix and mingle withyour neighbors. Bring your own beverage. Cups, iceand light snacks are provided. Ask a neighbor to ride orwalk over with you. For more info, contact Julie Feeley(822-4969; [email protected]).

Property Transfers

Following is a listing of recent property transfers inour North Shore neighborhood. The individuals listedare new owners of the properties cited but notnecessarily the residents of those properties. Theproperties are listed in chronological avenue andchronological and alphabetical street order. If any of these folks live near you, make sure youwelcome them to the neighborhood.

Source: Compiled from public records by FNBR Inc. andprinted in the St. Petersburg Times.

555 5th Avenue NE #833 ..........Ben and Ruth Friedman255 6th Avenue N #5 .................Helene and Robert Lepkowski202 7th Avenue N ......................Eleni Rakopoulous336 9th Avenue NE ...................Michael and Monica Caputo301 10th Avenue NE .................Scott and Robyn Crennan139 13th Avenue N ....................Kostadino Ibrahim506 14th Avenue NE .................Brian and Leslie Waechter556 15th Avenue NE .................Richard and Kelly Ware816 15th Avenue NE .................Scott and Amy Boggs206 16th Avenue NE .................Jitendra and Virginia Khare225 16th Avenue N ....................Brook Hewitt305 16th Avenue NE .................Paula Albinson727 16th Avenue NE .................Mark Eichenbaum745 16th Avenue NE .................Rebecca and Clifford Purington305 18th Avenue N ....................Catherine Okelley331 18th Avenue NE .................David and Zuzana Blackwood

IFYou May Need To Replace

Your Knob And Tube Wiring

WARNINGKNOB AND TUBE WIRING

COMPLIANCE MAY BE NECESSARY

Call (727) 328-1700 for a FREE written estimate

• Your house is over 60 years old!• You are selling your house!• You are changing your

Homeowners insurance!• You need additional circuits!• You've had past rodent problems!• Your house was renovated!

Established 1985 FL. LIC. #EC0001869

residential division of

See you at theNeighborhood Potluck

on June 15th

You’reInvited

August 21st

Larry and Betty Smith125 13th Avenue N

Page 19: Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood News - June 2009

Page 19HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

Individual and BusinessTax Returns

Small BusinessAccounting &

Consulting

St. Petersburg424 22nd Avenue North, St. Petersburg, FL 33704

Seminole7700 Seminole Blvd, Ste 200, Seminole, FL 33772

(727) 393-1922 office • (727) 392-3266 fax

Monica M. Vernon • Garth A. Vernon

A R C H I T E C TA R C H I T E C TA R C H I T E C TA R C H I T E C TA R C H I T E C TSpecializing in Residential Design

Renovations, Additions and New Homes

Call for a Consultation visit to your home.Call for a Consultation visit to your home.Call for a Consultation visit to your home.Call for a Consultation visit to your home.Call for a Consultation visit to your home.

AR12 1597 2 7 - 8 2 3 - 1 5 6 6Web Site trhode.com

T I M R H O D E

Page 20: Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood News - June 2009

Page 20 HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

Committees from page 6

tact me at [email protected]. [See “Crime Watch FactSheet” on page 4.]

Neighborhood Design ReviewMary Alice Lange, ChairWestminster Palms - Conversion of OvervueCondominiums toWestminster PalmsFacility

100% Completed PermitConstruction Documentsshould be ready as of June 1st.Following submission and re-view by the contractor on theestimated cost to renovate thefacility, then the project willbe submitted for a buildingpermit to the City. After Citystaff reviews and approvesthe site plan and constructiondocuments, then a buildingpermit will be issued for theproject. The HONNA Neigh-borhood Design ReviewCommittee and Board of Di-rectors will have an opportu-nity to review the plans.

Monuments and CornerstonesThe HONNA Board of Directors has received proposals to

perform maintenance on the five monuments and five corner-stones. Each of the monuments will be reviewed for electricalrepair and maintenance while all monuments and cornerstoneswill be re-painted and, where necessary, re-landscaped. If youwould be interested in assisting the Association with these fi-nancial obligations, please feel free to send a tax deductiblecontribution marked for “Monument and Cornerstone Mainte-nance” to HONNA, P.O. Box 76324, St. Petersburg, FL 33734.House Numbers and Parking

House numbers must be display on the front of your housein Arabic numerals (i.e., 1, 2, 3, etc.). Each number must beat least four (4") inches in height, installed in a permanent fashionand easily seen from the front of the structure and the rear ofthe structure, if there is an alley or the rear is on the water-front. If numbers were installed before the current code, thenthree inch high numbers are sufficient. Emergency vehiclesmay not be able to locate your house unless your numbers aredisplayed properly.

Vehicles must be parked in the direction of the traffic flowand beyond the visibility triangle. Drivers in approaching ve-hicles may be unable to see you pulling away from the curb,when you park in the opposite direction. As a courtesy to yourneighbors, please follow the posted speed limit within the neigh-borhood.

Page 21: Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood News - June 2009

Page 21HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

2350 26th St. North • St. Petersburg, FL 33713-4329(727) 327-3366 • FAX (727) 327-9211

[email protected] • www.herrcontracting.comLic. CG-C058023

Kathe B. BierhoffRemodeling • Residential & Commercial Construction

The 4th of July Children's Paradewith The American Spirit Fife & Drum Corps

Saturday, July 4th, 9am-Noon(parade begins at 10am)

Coffee Pot Park30th and 1st Street N

Participate in aWonderful

Old Northeast TraditionAll residents welcomed!

Page 22: Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood News - June 2009

Page 22 HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

Thinking in

by Barbara Rhode, LMFT

Purple

by Barbara Rhode, LMFT

A Silver Lining to TheseChallenging Times

Something very positive can come out of our current economicrecession as far as parenting trends are concerned. Mommies anddaddies, out of necessity, are going to have to say, “no” more totheir little ones, and that is a phenomenon we can all benefit from.

Research shows that a lot of par-ents today have been confusing per-missiveness with love. Most of ustypically consider spoiling to meanshowering young ones with an ava-lanche of stuff, which is not neces-sarily accurate anymore. Today’sspoiling more typically includes ill-defined limits with grey, hazy bound-aries that set the stage for some veryconfused young people who go on toexhibit more narcissistic traits thanany other recent generation. A lot ofthese young people are pretty con-vinced that everything really is all

about them and consequently experience difficulties when facedwith the real world.

According to Jean Twenge, author of Generation Me, research-ers have found that by 2006, two thirds of the 16,000 collegestudents studied had above average scores on narcissistic scales.Being on the receiving end of “yes” to almost any demand orrequest actually lets our children down in some fundamental ways.Left to mature in a world especially designed by parents to bevirtually stress-free, children grow up ill equipped to handle life’snormal disappointments and letdowns. In fact, these pamperedand protected young experience a physiological inability to copewith stress which leaves them feeling inadequate and incompe-tent. If mommy or daddy is doing everything for you or makingsure nothing goes wrong in your young life, how are you going todevelop an inner sense of competency? I don’t know about you,

but some of my biggest life lessonscame with some mud and dirtaround the edges. I had to pick my-self back up and try again, some-times in the face of failure. And thefact that my parents let me do justthat gave me the opportunity to ma-ture and become more responsiblefor myself and my actions.

The hopes and dreams parentshold onto tightly for their children’sfutures often crumble in the face oflimitless privilege and entitlement. Adeveloping self esteem which is built

Page 23: Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood News - June 2009

Page 23HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

Barbara Rhode is a Licensed Marriageand Family Therapist who providestrainings and workshops to corporationsand non-profits on wellness and life bal-ance. She lives in a very purple housein The Old Northeast, a place where shecontemplates in shades of “purple.”

Cell: (727) 480-0916Fax: (727) 895-3242

E-mail: [email protected]

"From the Bay to the Gulf, from listing to closing, I will be there every step of the way to ensure that your buying or selling experience is a great one."

Helen TorresLicensed

Real Estate Broker

GRI-CRS-SRES-LTG

(727) 895-4353

Share yourShare yourShare yourShare yourShare yourSt. Pete stories! St. Pete stories! St. Pete stories! St. Pete stories! St. Pete stories!

on qualities like self control and perseverance in the face of ad-versity instead remains underdeveloped, shallow and pretty frag-ile. This often leads to reduced frustration tolerance and an over-all lack of confidence. As tough as they might be to say, thewords “no” and “not yet” invite children to experience age-ap-propriate stress while glimpsing the adult world of delayed grati-fication. More importantly, it gives their young bodies the chanceto experience the physiological effects of stress. This processallows them to develop the chemical pathways necessary to ef-fectively deal with stress in the future.

No parent would ever intentionally cheat their child out of sucha vital learning and growing process. Yet, we seem to be immersedin a culture that is doing just that. In the name of “love” manyparents are giving in to their child’s every whim, with stuff or withage-inappropriate privileges. The experts repeatedly tell us thatchildren need boundaries in order to develop and mature. In fact,they should all arrive in the world with tags that state, “Handlewith care & be sure to apply age-appropriate limits.” The child’sjob is to push for more of everything — toys, clothes — whenthey are tweens and then freedom as they attempt to individuateand separate. Our job as parents is to push back in age-appropriateways, giving them the resistance they need to grow and mature. Ifeverything is handed to them and every privilege is awarded with-out delay, they enter the adult world with some pretty distortedviews. And we all pay the price for that.

Let’s look at these restrictive economic times as an opportu-nity to change some of these current parentingtrends that have gotten out of hand. Ourchildren will be healthier and wiser for it.And so will we.

You’ll put St. Petersburg onSmithsonian Magazine’s

online map whenyou share a favorite

memory or anecdote. Go to the link below to tell

your story - show thenation how wonderful it is to

live in paradise! www.smithsonianmag.com/

departments/my-kind-of-town/your-town-form/

Page 24: Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood News - June 2009

Page 24 HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

For a current and more detailed listinggo to the City’s website at

www.stpete.org

June 5 Get Downtown Music SeriesCentral b/w 2nd-3rd; 393-3597

June 5, 7 & 9 St. Petersburg Opera Presents:La Traviata The Palladium; 822-3590

June 6 AWAPS Pancake BreakfastAlbert Whitted Airport; 822-1532

June 6 Caring for Cattleya OrchidsSunken Garden; 551-3100

June 7 Sunday Afternoon Fun The Pier; 821-6443June 10 Oldies But Goodies Dance

The Pier; 821-6443June 13-14 Tampa Bay Caribbean Carnival

Vinoy Park; 327-1277 June 13 Young Eagles Free Flights

Albert Whitted Airport; 822-1532June 13 Orchid Lei Making Workshop

Sunken Gardens; 551-3100June 13 Drum Circle Facilitation The Pier; 821-6443June 13 Gallery Walk Downtown galleries; 821-6767

JUNE 15NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING

POTLUCK DINNER

JUNE 19 PORCH PARTY(see p. 18)

Source: City of St. Petersburg

June 19-21 Tampa Bay Home Expo The Trop; 893-8523June 20 Daylilies in Florida Sunken Gardens; 551-3100June 20 Family Flicks! Movies on the Waterfront

The Pier; 821-6443June 21 Sunday Afternoon Fun The Pier; 821-6443June 24 Oldies But Goodies Dance The Pier; 821-6443June 27 St. Pete GLBT Pride and Promenade

Grand Central District; www.stpetepride.orgJune 27 All About Bromeliads Sunken Gardens; 551-3100

JULY 4 CHILDREN’S 4th of JULY PARADE(see p. 5)

JULY 17 PORCH PARTY (see p. 18) July 18-19 21st Annual Cool Art Show Coliseum; 892-5202

JULY 20 NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGAugust 1-2 Suncoast Avian Bird Expo Coliseum; 892-5202

AUGUST 21 PORCH PARTY (see p. 18)

ON THE DOCKET: Some Upcoming Events Inand Nearby Our Neighborhood

Another Eggcellent NeighborhoodEggtivitiy from page 1

for the kiddie invasion and our neighbors who supportedthe event with their presence and enthusiasm.

Check page 5 of this issue and honna.org for infor-mation about the next all-neighborhood family event, thethird annual 4th of July Children’s Parade. And don’t for-get the other regular HONNA activities to which all OldNE residents are invited – monthly neighborhood meet-ings, a potluck dinner in June and informal Porch Partysocials the third Friday of each month (check the website for locationand other details).

Be part of thefun and helpingmake your neigh-borhood “neigh-borly.”

A version ofthis article ap-peared in the May2009 issue of TheNortheast Jour-nal.

Page 25: Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood News - June 2009

Page 25HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

Nature’s BroomBetter For You Better For You And Your Home Your Home

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We use only environmentally, We use only environmentally,people friendly products and vapor steam.

Call today for your free consultation.Call today for your free consultation.727.643.7121 or 727.599.8102

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GRADYThe

Historic HomeHandyman

This award-winning book ($16 including tax) can be pur-

chased at the following locations:

Davis Anthony Home and Garden, 300 Beach Drive NE

Haslam’s Book Store, 2025 Central Avenue

Interior Motives, 110 Central Avenue

Museum of Fine Arts, 255 Beach Drive NE

Renaissance Vinoy Resort gift shop, 501 5th Avenue NE

Sunken Gardens, 1825 4th Street N

Page 26: Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood News - June 2009

Page 26 HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Cost-cuttingin the

Garden

Garden hobbyists know it’s easy to blow your budget whenspring arrives. Like kids in a candy shop, a trip to the gardencenter is filled with one temptation after another. Colorful plants,bright-colored pots, decorative garden accessories … they’re al-most impossible to resist!

But economic times have changed and many homeowners arecutting costs. While it’s important to continue supporting ourlocal garden retailers, you can jump into spring gardening with-out much expense if you use these thrifty ideas:Make your own plants

It’s easy to create new plants from established ones. The easi-est way is placing cuttings in a container of water in a bright areabut not in direct sunlight. This method works with plants such ascoleus, ornamental sweet potato, pothos, African violet, begonia

and philodendron. When roots form,transplant to pots or garden beds.Another option is placing cuttings insmall containers filled with equalparts peat moss and coarse builder’ssand or perlite. Don’t buy new con-tainers — just make drainage holesin recycled plastic food containers,disposable cups and nursery pots tohold cuttings. Make a hole in the soilusing a pencil and insert the cuttingso that it stays upright. Place thecutting in a protected area out of di-rect sunlight and keep the soil moist.In a few weeks you should have a new plant that can be trans-ferred to a larger container or placed in the ground.Trade plants with neighbors

You have just the daylily your neighbor loves and she’s gotloads of liriope. Simply dig up clumps of plants grown from bulbsand tubers, divide them and share. Most gardeners are happy toshare plants…all you have to do is ask.Use free mulch

Leaves make great organic mulch, they’re plentiful and they’refree. Add them to garden beds, containers, vegetable gardens andthe compost pile. As leaves decompose, they build rich topsoil orhumus – a natural fertilizer that will enrich the soil. Or get all thefree mulch you can use from one of several Pinellas County recy-cling centers. Made from recycled yard waste, the mulch is heatedover time to kill any weeds or pathogens.Shop at neighborhood yard sales

You’ll find great deals on pots, tools, garden décor and evenplants. Check the weekend newspaper for yard sale locations andtimes, or look for signs posted on street corners.Find great deals, ideas on the Internet

At Craig’s List (www.craigslist.com), you’ll find plenty of adsfor low-cost plants, supplies, equipment and services in the TampaBay area. At www.frugalgardening.com there are cost-cuttingideas and tips to help you save even more.

by Yvonne Swanson -- Master Gardener

Yvonne Swanson is a Master Gardener for Pinellas County. Shealso writes a garden column for the St. Petersburg Times.

Consumer TipWhen contractingservices from anybusiness it’s always agood idea to check withthe Better BusinessBureau for priorcomplaints. Ask forreferences and confirmthat your contractor islicensed.

Page 27: Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood News - June 2009

Page 27HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

WorshipService:Sundays10:30am

This ad courtesy of HONNA in appreciation of Westminster’sgenerous support of the Association

Street Light Out?Do yourself and your neighbors a favor

and phone Progress Energy at 800/228-8485 to report it (provide them the

location and the ID number on thepole’s base). Don’t make things easy

for the burglars and car thieves.1954 - 2004

Home Improvements -- Odd Jobs

General Repairs, Yard Projects

“Let me help you get things done” ………………………………......................................

Local resident * * REASONABLE Doug DeJohn (727)417-8977

HANDYMAN

126 11th Avenue NESt. Petersburg, FL33701727-822-5906

Ages 2 - VPKState ApprovedLIC. #C610108

APPLE ACCREDITED

Too Late for Free Samples!Old Northeast Pizza provided

complimentary pizza slices for thoseresidents attending the May

neighborhood association meeting.But you can still check it out for yourself...

718 2nd Street N(next to The Old Northeast Tavern)

209-2550

Page 28: Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood News - June 2009

Page 28 HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood AssociationP.O. Box 76324St. Petersburg, FL 33734www.honna.org

PRSRT STDU.S. POSTAGE PAIDST. PETERSBURG FL

PERMIT #1020

Next Neighborhood Meeting: Monday, June15th, at 7pmAll Neighborhood Potluck (see p.1)

All neighborhood residents invited

IN THIS ISSUE

• All Neighborhood

Potluck

• Neighborly Venting

• Green With Envy

• Easter Fun

• Porch Parties

...and much more