Westside of University is a third world nation...

[Oldsmobull]

I don't have a problem driving to the Wal-Mart by campus any hour and shopping in the store.  The store is getting fixed up nicely now and most folks are friendly when I stop by--I almost always bump into someone else from school. I'm not going to sit in the parking lot on the hood of my car drinking a pint of whiskey and flashing a lot of cash around though either while I'm over there.

Ideally, someone would wave a magic wand over all of Suitcase City and clean things up, but that isn't going to happen and it would be too big a project for USF to do by itself.  Eliminating poverty and associated problems takes lots of money. Too, I don't think putting more bars and nightclubs on the westside of campus is going to help either, maybe it would be smarter to build more churches on the west side just like on the east side of USF campus to improve things.  It is a blessing for USF that the VA Hospital is a buffer between campus and Suitcase City and if things got really bad in the neighborhood the VA has the US armed forces to back them up--they could have Suitcase City carpet bombed if things got really out of control.

[ForestBull]

where is this army of hookers?

[Oldsmobull]

The newly formed Tampa Innovation Alliance described in the below news story link is a step in the right direction for improving USF's neighborhood.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/economicdevelopment/usf-moffitt-busch-gardens-and-university-community-hospital-form-tampa/1179963

[Fold FB Invest in BB]

Back 10 years ago, that was the best place around to buy cheap bootleg CDs from guys selling the things out of the back of their cars. Never got propositioned by hookers though. :-\

[Paisa el Toro]

The newly formed Tampa Innovation Alliance described in the below news story link is a step in the right direction for improving USF's neighborhood.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/economicdevelopment/usf-moffitt-busch-gardens-and-university-community-hospital-form-tampa/1179963

I hope this alliance turns out to be more than just lip service. I'd love to see some serious redevelopment come to those areas behind the VA. There was a bit going on before the real estate market took a tumble.

[USFishin]

Another article on the alliance:

North Tampa's 'Big Four' brand

Published: July 13, 2011

By JOE O'NEILL

For years the hardscrabble, apartment-dotted area around the University of South Florida has been known as Suitcase City, hardly a flattering connotation and enough to make any chamber of commerce cringe.

Main arteries such as Fowler Avenue and nearby Busch Boulevard are variations on a visual pollution theme. Curb appeal seemingly a North Tampa oxymoron.

And yet this same North Tampa area is home to some of the region's most prominent, economically impacting, cutting-edge entities. The juxtaposition has been glaring.

If USF and three other catalytic partners have anything to say about it, that jarring-context image will soon start to undergo an extreme makeover.

To that end, USF, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, University Community Hospital and Busch Gardens have recently formed the Tampa Innovation Alliance. They want an appropriate brand for the area, one that includes a serious sense of entry into the domain of the Big Four.

First step: the aforementioned Tampa Innovation Alliance. Second step: cooperating in enlightened self-interest and reaching out to the local business community. Third step: setting aside funds and hiring a consultant. Among early priorities: aesthetic improvements in the major gateways that could range from code enforcement to beautification projects. Their turf is certainly not akin to, say, the Research Triangle, but neither will it be Suitcase City, the Sequel.

Many of the jobs of the future that come to Tampa will be coming to North Tampa. It's that important -- that marketable -- and that in need of looking the part.

Among those who are part of the re-imaging conversation: Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn. It hardly hurts that his wife, Dr. Catherine Lynch Buckhorn, is the associate vice president of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the USF Medical School.

In fact, USF could be the model. It was built on old Henderson Air Field and was referred to as "Sand Spur U" in the 1960s. For too long it had all the architectural ambience of a 1970s industrial park. Today it's an economic-impact behemoth, a nationally-recognized research institution and one of the largest universities in the nation. And, no, it no longer looks like an industrial park. Plus, it has an aggressive, economic-development true believer for a president in Judy Genshaft.

With USF -- and its Moffitt Cancer Center campus partner -- as the epicenter of the re-imaging project, Tampa Innovation Alliance already has a leg up.

Link

[Cow Pie]

Man some big wig must be reading TBP...

The best and easiest way to fix the situation would be for the TBA to buy everything residential from Bruce B. Downs Blvd west to 131st street, divide it up between Moffitt, Busch Gardens, and donate the rest to the University as a gift (major tax deduction), and only allow students, USF Staff, USF Faculty to live in this area. As I understand,and have been told by some old timers at USF... back in the 1960's most of these apartments were built just for USF Students... kind of the Campus Lodge of its day... in the 1970's they started to allow low income families to live in the area to get a tax break and the area went down hill shortly after that.

I believe that if you can cleanup a major portion of this area then it will raise property taxes on the other half (131st Street to Nebraska Ave.) and force it to improve... this is what the City of Tampa, University of Tampa, Barnett Bank, and Tampa General did back in the 1970's / 1980's to cleanup the Hyde Park area... they formed some kind of business alliance, bought a huge section of homes, fixed them up and it pushed the ghetto to the other side of Kennedy Blvd... through matriculation the re-development of this area raised property values throughout the 1990's to the point where the ghetto is now pushed all the way back to the other side of 275, and today even that section is being pushed back further.

Hopefully the TBA actually does something, personally the best way to keep this area up for ever would be to make a large section of it into USF Campus property. We are running out of room on main campus and will need more room sooner then later. The new buildings they just constructed has built out what little space is left, between new buildings, new parking lots, and eventually an OCS the campus will have no space left in 15-20 years.

[locus000]

Glad that they are looking into fixing that area. I driven the back routes a few times (to get out on Fowler at the Steak and Shake). That area is pretty bad. Never saw a prostitute though, it was too dark.

Can they use that land to build a Stadium or some sort of entertainment district because there arent any around USF the last time I check. Once we get rid of the homeless first, dont want drunk people mixing with the homeless, receipt for disaster

[mikebeau]

Wait, I sent to USF for 5 years and didn't get propositioned by a hooker ever (alas, can't say the same for drug dealers). Where are these hookers exactly?! LOL

seriously, do you drive through tampa at 10 mph with mopney hanging out the window?