SEMINOLE HEIGHTS SEEKS CLEANUP

TAMPA - City officials promise once again to crack down on drugs and
prostitution in the Seminole Heights area.

Octavia Blunt sweeps the porch of her bungalow on Ida Street every
day.

She wishes the city would sweep up the mess next door, where an
abandoned home has been a haven for cocaine addicts and prostitutes
for years.

Windows of the derelict house are blown out. A musty couch sits in the
front yard, next to a palm tree that's split at the base. Broken beer
bottles ring an orange letter from the city noting the house has been
condemned.

``It's bad,'' said Blunt, 64. ``It makes my house look
bad.''

Southeast Seminole Heights residents say the abandoned houses and
piles of trash in their neighborhood cause a crime problem the city
has failed to solve.

It has been more than a year since Tampa officials promised a
comprehensive crackdown on drug dealing, prostitution and code
violations around Seminole Heights and Belmont Heights - two historic
communities that walk a fine line between renewal and decay.

At a Tampa City Council meeting Thursday, dozens of Southeast Seminole
Heights residents said they are still waiting for some government
action. They said crime will persist until the city lights the streets
and cleans up the neighborhood.

``I'm living in a cesspool of prostitution and crack dealers,'' said
Jose Rivera.

Police and city leaders said they have been working tirelessly to stop
prostitution and drug dealing, and hope to begin new preventative
programs soon.

The initiatives include a ``mapping'' system that allows judges to
revoke the probation of dealers and prostitutes if they loiter in the
area where they were originally arrested.

Councilman Bob Buckhorn has proposed setting up a ``John TV'' station
on government access, which would air photographs of men who solicit
prostitutes.

The city is even pondering whether it can revoke the driver's licenses
of men who pay for sex.

Deputy Chief Ken Taylor of the Tampa Police Department said legal
obstacles have stalled some efforts, but he and Buckhorn noted recent
progress.

A program which makes solicitors pay $500 to get their cars out of a
police impound lot already has netted $280,000 in 14 months. It
appears to be reducing the number of repeat offenders, Buckhorn said.

In 1998, police made more than 1,000 drug-related arrests and nearly
400 prostitution arrests in the Seminole Heights and Jackson Heights
communities.

``Sometimes our system seems to grind very slowly, but it grinds very
fine,'' Taylor said.

Southeast Seminole Heights residents agreed that city police have been
more active in recent months. But several said Tampa's government only
pays attention during election years.

Rivera singled out Councilwoman Gwen Miller, whose district includes
Southeast Seminole Heights.

``Gwen Miller hasn't really done anything until a month ago,'' Rivera
said. ``I'm concerned that the only reason she's returning our phone
calls and coming to our rallies is the election.''

Gregory Colangelo, a member of the Southeast Seminole Heights Civic
Association, pointed out dozens of abandoned homes, piles of rubble,
and apparent code violations Thursday.

The blight attracts criminals, Colangelo said. He and others presented
the city with a plan that includes more community policing, better
street lighting and beefed-up code enforcement.

Last month, city leaders said a new code inspector was being assigned
to Southeast Seminole Heights. But as Colangelo walked through rubble
at the vacant house on Ida Street, he wondered if that would be
enough. He also wondered if the city would allow such a mess to
persist in wealthier areas.

``Would this house sit here for several years looking like this, if it
were in Hyde Park or Palma Ceia or Beach Park?'' Colangelo asked. ``It
wouldn't last three days.''