ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Residents in one St. Petersburg neighborhood just launched a new community initiative to improve the quality of life in their neighborhood.
“You look at the reality of our neighborhood and it doesn’t reflect our potential,” John Muhammad with Policy Partners said.
Neighbors in Childs Park are discussing the barriers that hold back the community’s quality of life.
“If we don’t care about ourselves, how do we expect others to care for us or about us,” Lolita Dash-Pitts, a long time resident said.
To do so, they’re discussing with old, unresolved challenges, like a foul smell.
“It’s not just isolated to specific areas in the neighborhood — it’s like the entire neighborhood,” Pitts said.
Muhammad is working with the neighborhood to help prioritize their problems. He said the county has taken steps to address the issue, and some progress has been made.
“We created a Google form to fill out their complaints. That temporary process led to an increase in the complaints and then a system change where they added it to the county c-click-fix application,” Muhammad said.
Then, there’s another serious issue: food insecurity.
“They’ve already taken away our small little grocery chains like Save-A-Lot. How are they going to be able to manage within this community?” Dash-Pitts said.
Right now, Muhammad is working to establish a grocery co-op to offer fresh, healthy food.
“If you look at the problem, it just presents an opportunity for us if we’re thinking solutions and not just lamenting the loss. But how can we organize and do something about it?” Muhammad said.
The group said the next step is to prioritize which issues they want to tackle. That discussion will be held at a meeting on Nov. 8.