SAMOSET SEES A RAY OF HOPE

Manatee's Samoset Community Gets Improvement Plan

MANATEE COUNTY -- Virginia Facundo's predawn walk to work takes her a
mere three blocks through Samoset, a mostly residential neighborhood.
Yet that walk is more dangerous than it sounds.

Crime is a problem here, but the streets themselves are the more
immediate hazard. They are unlighted and too narrow for two-way
traffic. Instead of sidewalks, they are lined by deep ditches often
filled with standing water. Drivers seem oblivious and regularly zoom by.

"My son has to walk me to work because it's not safe for me," said
Facundo, an area day care employee.

The community, which surrounds Samoset Elementary School, has been
pressuring Manatee County for years to pay for improvements. Now, it
looks as if their complaints may soon start to bear fruit.

County planners have drafted a detailed plan to help transform this
200-acre area wedged between U.S. 301 and 38th Avenue East.

It calls for new sidewalks, a better drainage system, more street
lights and clearing out the criminal element. An abandoned Head Start
preschool building would be purchased and turned into a community center.

No one knows how much all the work will cost, but federal grants
could pay for much of it over several years if the County Commission
ultimately signs off on the plan, said Cheri Coryea, interim director
of the county's Neighborhood Services Department. It is enough to
make even frustrated residents sound optimistic.

"This is a marvelous thing that's happening here," said Norma Lloyd,
namesake of an east Bradenton park and a Samoset resident. "We're
trying to make our community the way it used to be."

County planners are only focusing on a small part of Samoset for
their revitalization effort: a triangular area bordered by U.S. 301,
15th Street East and 38th Avenue East.

The goal in this and similar county efforts is to concentrate on
small geographic areas where residents are actively working to turn
things around.

Gregory Estates, a small residential neighborhood off of the Tamiami
Trail, saw a decrease in drugs and prostitution last year after
sheriff's deputies increased patrols, unkempt properties were cleaned
up and drug houses were torn down.

Another effort has been going on for years in the Pride Park area in
south Manatee. But a key piece of that project, a new $6 million
community center, has stalled because of county budget cuts.

The larger Samoset and West Samoset areas are roughly three square
miles of largely residential neighborhoods straddling 15th Street
East just south of the Bradenton city limits.

Drugs, prostitution and violent crime remain among the community's
most prominent problems. Former county employee Daniel Ramsey was
shot and killed outside his Samoset home during a botched Valentine's
Day burglary.

In April, an off-duty Holmes Beach police officer was wounded by a
bullet while chasing burglars who had just left his Samoset home.

While crime remained relatively level in the area between 2002 and
2005, it has increased considerably during the past two years,
Sheriff Brad Steube told area residents during a community meeting
Thursday night.

"The crime in your particular area is rising, just like it is in the
entire Manatee County," Steube said.

Burglaries and scrap metal thefts for drug money have driven much of
the crime increase, he said.

A number of homes, some abandoned, provide cover for many drug sales,
residents say.

Ann Marie Harper, the county's point person for nuisance properties,
has been cataloging and reporting suspicious activity.

Absentee landlords have been put on notice that they are responsible
for criminal activity on their property.

That is welcome news to resident Anna Collins.

"There have been a lot of problems with drugs here," Collins said.
"There's a lot of houses where people are coming at all hours."