BUILDING A PARK TO FIGHT DRUGS

Liberia Ave. Residents See Project As 'First Step'

PALM BAY -- Norm Gleason hopes that city officials and residents of
Powell's Subdivision in northeast Palm Bay know that Saturday's
groundbreaking can't be a one-time event.

Gleason, a minister with Mount Moriah Baptist Church at Florida Avenue
and Adams Street, said the Liberia Park project should be seen as a
first step in revitalizing the community.

"It's been a catalyst for bringing city officials and residents
together," he said. "The city has indicated that this is just a beginning."

The project involves making a park out of portions of Liberia Avenue,
with the intent of disrupting north-south cross traffic to perhaps
slow the motorized drug trade.

Several versions were considered before finally settling on a series
of traffic circles and looped cross streets and recreational
amenities, including a misting fountain for small children.

While local deejay and lifelong resident David Campbell said the park
will do nothing to curb drug dealing and crime in Powell, city
officials stand by the intent of the project.

"I say they should've made a teen center. I don't see (teens) coming
to a park," Campbell said. "They ain't gonna change the ghetto."

It's this struggle within Powell, one of Palm Bay's oldest and long-
neglected communities, that Public Works director Jim Proce confronted
when devising plans for turning a drainage project into the city's
most unusual undertaking in years.

"None of this would have mattered without the community's
involvement," Proce said.

"It got to the point where they trusted us and we built a
relationship."

Proce, city council members and other Brevard County government
officials got together on the corner of Liberia Avenue and Northview
Street to dig a ceremonial shovel of dirt.

Mount Moriah's pastor, Rev. Harvey Riley, scooped a chunk of earth
from the controls of a giant digger with the help of Public Works
employee Ossie Samuel and said this partnership must continue for the
good of the city.

"I hope it's a continuum, where we would improve the total of Palm
Bay," Riley said.

Palm Bay police officer Brian Combs said he suggested the idea of a
park as a long shot to city planners, after a community meeting in
January regarding the drainage project.

"I thought this would be neat. . . I never thought it would happen,"
Combs said. "My initial idea, because I'm a cop, is that it would have
allowed us to curb drug activity. It limits the flow of traffic."

Proce said about $1 million from six funding sources, including
transportation impact fees and state grants, will go toward improving
the drainage and converting Liberia Avenue into a series of traffic
five circles with a winding sidewalk and picnic areas.

As an example of what Liberia would become, Proce's crew built a small
park with benches and grills in an abandoned lot east of Northview
Street and adjacent to the Liberia Avenue project.