Parks Infrastructure Neglect

Summary

Citizens regularly complain about deteriorating park conditions, particularly in non-CRA areas, citing safety hazards, ADA non-compliance, flooding, and lack of maintenance. Parks like Gadsden are described as having tremendous potential but suffering from years of neglect.

Timeline

2025-12-18 — [[Tampa/Meetings/2025-12-18-2650.md|Meeting 2650]]

Speakers: Elizabeth Thomas, Tarah Bluma

Multiple speakers highlighted severe neglect of parks outside CRA areas, particularly Gadsden Park which lacks ADA accessibility, has flooding issues, and deteriorated conditions after being used for hurricane debris storage. Citizens requesting comprehensive rehabilitation.

“This park should be a destination. It could be a community anchor, but right now it’s not because of neglect, not lack of opportunity” “While most other areas of this city have benefited from CRA funding to build and improve parks, ours, obviously has not and they have deteriorated”

Sentiment: demanding action