Residents of West Tampa find it difficult to walk in their neighborhood, where there are few sidewalks, and those that exist are not in good repair. This forces people to walk in the street, creating a safety hazard, but that could be set to change.
The Super Bowl will be played in Tampa in 2021, and the anticipated influx of thousands of visitors to the city has brought the sidewalk issue to the city's attention. Neighborhood residents hope this will mean improvements in their area.
According to Tampa's Jean Duncan, it comes down to priorities and funding, adding that building new sidewalks isn't as simple as people believe. West Tampa is particularly challenging because the streets and rights-of-way are narrow, there are many large trees, and the city does not own much of the property. The annual budget for sidewalks is about $500,000, but there have not been any funds allocated to sidewalk building for the last two years.
The situation and lack of response is why West Tampa resident Elaine Prieto Sumner has started a petition, getting her neighbors to sign. She hopes that local action on her part and that of her neighbors, coupled with the momentum generated by the upcoming Super Bowl, will put the sidewalks to the top of the city's ‘to do’ list.
Organizers of this kind of effort might consider using Presentation Folders to organize and distribute materials about the issue, making it easy for officials to study.
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