West Tampa voters want to preserve history, culture as neighborhood grows

TAMPA, Fla. — Driving through West Tampa, locals and visitors will see signs of the area’s past, like old cigar factories and historic buildings. They will also see the contrast between old and new — old homes in the shadow of new ones, driving up the cost of living. ABC Action News spoke with voters about the desire to preserve what makes the neighborhood special while welcoming growth.

You probably recognize the water tower, have driven the brick streets or have even caught a game at Raymond James Stadium. But for Missy Martin, West Tampa is about family — not just about football.

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ABC Action News met Martin, a West Tampa Chamber of Commerce Board Member, outside of her family’s business, Roche Surety and Casualty Co., across the street from the Bucs’ stadium. She brought I-Team Investigator Kylie McGivern from the business’s front door — to the front porch of her home, minutes away.

“I grew up on Main Street, I’ve lived here 52 years, never on another street,” Martin said.

It’s a part of West Tampa where she and her neighbors have a long history.

“The big white house, that is my aunt’s house, which we still have in the family, next door is my sister’s home, she no longer lives there but she’s held onto it, and two houses down from that is the house I actually grew up in,” Martin said.

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Preserving that history, is proving to be more and more difficult.

“I know all of us would love to hold onto our houses and that’s the plan, but the increasing cost of insurance, taxes, just the cost of living going up, period, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to try to hold onto things,” Martin said.

Thinking about the rich history and uncertainty looking to the future, Martin told ABC Action News it can be painful to think about.

“We all came from a working class immigrant family, who worked very hard to own their home and build the homes here on Main Street,” Martin said.

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She said even in the last year, she’s noticed changes in the aggressiveness of people offering to buy her home.

“They used to be offers of purchase and now they’re offers and they blatantly say, we would like to purchase your property to knock it down and redevelop it,” Martin said. “I find that offensive.”

Martin said as longtime residents have been force to relocate, “West Tampa is kind of suffering through an identity crisis right now. What we’ve always known, if you’re in West Tampa, is that we are in the perfect spot of Tampa. Just far enough from downtown, just close enough to everywhere we need to go, and I think because of development and people realizing that we are probably in the best location you can be in, in Tampa, I think we are losing our identity through all of that.”

Martin said West Tampa is not Midtown.

“Don’t tell anyone from West Tampa or that lives here that we’re Midtown. We love the Midtown development itself, the retail, the mixed use, we love that, we frequent there and we go there, but our neighborhood is not called Midtown, we are West Tampa,” Martin said.

ABC Action News met Martin, a West Tampa Chamber of Commerce Board Member, outside of her family’s business, Roche Surety and Casualty Co., across the street from the Bucs’ stadium. She brought I-Team Investigator Kylie McGivern from the business’s front door — to the front porch of her home

Tampa City Coucil Chairman Guido Maniscalco hears the same concerns.

“I’ve heard more than once, from my own family, from neighbors, you know, don’t let this become Midtown. We have to maintain that this is West Tampa. So I don’t want us to lose our identity,” he said.

Maniscalco grew up in West Tampa. ABC Action News met him at the gazebo in Macfarlane Park, where he said, “Everybody has a memory, from when they were kids to adults, it’s a place for everyone.”

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“I’m the son of an immigrant, my mom is from Cuba, my dad is from Sicily,” he said.

Maniscalso said he was interested in city government because of the impact that can be made.

“What happens at the local level I think affects us more than anything,” Maniscalco said. “If your street is flooding, if your trash isn’t picked up, if your recycling isn’t picked up, if you need a road repaired, if there’s an issue with the sidewalk — those are local issues that will affect you immediately.”

Maniscalco said Tampa is a city for everyone.

“We want people to come here, we welcome them, because that is who we are. The foundation of Tampa is built by immigrants, people coming here that have lifted this community up,” he said.

Maniscalco said it’s about welcoming the people who come and embracing the longtime residents, like Helen Thompson, who told ABC Action News she walks in Macfarlane Park every day.

“I care about this whole area, ‘cause I’ve been in it all my life,” Thompson said. “I want to keep this park here and other things here so I vote, yeah.”

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“You want to lift up and develop and invest in communities, but you don’t want to overdevelop it where it’s not recognizable anymore,” Maniscaldo said.

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“I want their plans, especially the comprehensive plans for Tampa, to include heritage neighborhoods, like this one. And not forget us,” Martin said.