TAMPA, Fla. — After years of neglect, Tampa’s Palmetto Beach is finally getting much-needed funding for revitalization. A $30 million investment is being made in the “Pathways to Palmetto Project.”
For more than five generations, the Reynolds family has been a vital part of the DeSoto Park community.
“My great-grandparents were here,” said Thomas Reynolds. “They did some work in cigar factories and also my grandmother with her floral business, my parents’ construction business. I’ve had a business in the neighborhood. So has my sister. Now, my niece and nephew live in Palmetto Beach.”
Reynolds is a member of the Palmetto Beach Community Association, which has worked to preserve its rich history.
“Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders were involved in this area,” he said.
Throughout the years, they applied for several grants but were unsuccessful in securing funding to repair the streets, improve water quality and fix a deteriorating sea wall.
“The infrastructure is literally deteriorating from the inside out,” said Reynolds. “And when this is replaced, it’ll provide better safety for the roads as they currently get flooded, because there is no seawall in some areas where there’s no top, no fascia, and the water will go four or five feet into the street.”
The city of Tampa has announced that the Palmetto Beach area is now the focus of a new revitalization plan. Out of $30 million being invested, $24.7 million of that funding was secured by U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor through the bipartisan infrastructure deal.
“I think the most exciting part of it is something new, and that is to direct dollars to neighborhoods that haven’t had the investment over the years,” said Castor.
Tampa has pledged $6.1 million for the project which will help reduce flooding on Bermuda Boulevard, a two-lane roadway along McKay Bay, by reconstructing the seawall.
“To have this done within the next five years is an amazing thing. As hurricane seasons get worse and this is going to be a rough year. This is desperately needed,” said Reynolds.
After waiting for over 30 years, Reynolds said it’s a really sweet victory for this community.
“Yeah, I think if you believe in something and you have a passion for it, it will happen,” said Reynolds. “So this has been a long time coming. This has been 35 years that, one way or another, I’ve been involved in trying to get this, you know, worked on with our community.”
He’s glad he persevered in securing the infrastructure for future generations by ensuring the memory of generations past won’t be washed away.
The Palmetto Beach Restoration Project in Tampa recently sought a $1 million grant for shoreline revitalization, but it was vetoed from Florida’s budget.
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