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The LAKER EAST PASCO EDITION
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Downtown Dade City to get flood relief By Kathy Steele ksteele@lakerlutznews.com
Signs of a heart attack are rarely this obvious.
Puddle jumping in downtown Dade City is often a rainy day sport especially along Seventh Street, the spine of downtown’s business district. Sidewalks can quickly overflow, forcing pedestrians to hunt for spots less than ankle deep to cross from one side of the street to the other. Other downtown streets, includ-
ing Meridian, Pasco and Live Oak avenues, also see the waters rise. But, $1.4 million embedded in the state’s 2018 budget could go a long way toward easing the chronic flooding.The funds are among local requests that survived the budget veto pen of Gov. Rick Scott. The money will pay to retrofit Dade City’s stormwater system by expanding a retention pond and installing a larger culvert system to drain off the rainfall.
According to the application presented to the state legislature, the project will “improve safety, attract new businesses and improve the local economy.” It is something area business owners have wanted for a long while. They worry that the flooding keeps some customers from venturing downtown. “We hope it will make an economic imSee FLOOD, page 11A
During a heart attack, every minute matters. So, know the warning signs. If you experience them, call 911. And count on Bayfront Health Dade City for emergency heart care. We are the only hospital in Pasco County nationally accredited as a Chest Pain Center with Primary PCI and Resuscitation.
13100 Fort King Road, Dade City • BayfrontDadeCity.com
KATHY STEELE
Volunteers and board members of the nonprofit Moore-Mickens Education Center and Vocational Center Inc., are working to reopen the historical school in Dade City. From left, Rev. Jesse McClendon Sr., Saundra Coward, Londa Edwards, Levater Holt, Marilyn Hunter and Margarita Romo.
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By Kathy Steele ksteele@lakerlutznews.com
The Pasco County School District handed over the keys to the new tenants of the Moore-Mickens Education Center effective July 1. The lease is for 30 years at $10 a year. So, now the school’s future is in the hands of a coalition of community activists who founded the nonprofit Moore-Mickens Education Center and Vocational Center Inc. Its legacy already is in place. Moore-Mickens is rooted in Pasco’s history as the first public school for blacks. It began as Moore Academy and later operated under the Moore and Mickens’ names as elementary, middle and high schools, and finally, as the education center. The school’s name honors the accomplishments of two Pasco educators, Rev. Junias D. Moore and Odell Kingston Mickens. Though the nonprofit plans to be patient
and move ahead one program at a time, there are ambitious plans in store for Moore-Mickens, which sprawls across a campus of 14 buildings at the end of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Dade City. Empowering children is a priority. The first goal is to open a volunteer In April, vandals broke several doors and 100 prekindergarten school that will give windows at the Moore-Mickens Education Center children a foundation for educational in Dade City. success. “I want to see kids open doors for them- Dade City City Commission once held meetselves,” said Marilyn Hunter, president of the ings. nonprofit. In April, vandals broke about 100 winMargarita Romo echoes those thoughts. dows and several doors in several buildings. “It can be the lighthouse for people who The school district boarded up the winneed to believe in themselves, said Romo, dows and doors. founder of Farmworkers Self-Help. Repair costs are left for the nonprofit. There are challenges ahead. Romo can tick off a laundry list of items The first step is to organize a volunteer the school needs. cleanup to get buildings ready to open. A church donated about 100 chairs, but Plans are to use the administrative building, more are needed, she said.Tables, commerthe building that housed the Cyesis teen See MOORE-MICKENS, page 11A parent program, and a building where the
Opening doors of hope for the homeless By Kathy Steele ksteele@lakerlutznews.com
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Activists bring new life to Moore-Mickens
The Pasco County Commission has approved funding to renovate a former Boys & Girls Club, and reopen the campus as a navigation center for the county’s homeless population. An administrative building and a teen center, at 8239 Youth Lane in Port Richey, will be refurbished with about $600,000 in federal and state money. The goal is to open the navigation center by mid-2018. The center will serve as a “low-barrier” homeless shelter. Its larger purpose, however, is to find housing for homeless men and women, and deliver support services for job searches, job training, education and health care. It will be the first time the county has opened a homeless shelter, and embarked on such a major initiative. The center is modeled after one in San Francisco. “Navigation centers work,” Pasco County Commission Chairman Mike Moore said. “This is a community effort. This is a people’s building.This is a citizen’s building. I need everybody to come together. Let’s pool resources together and get something done.” Moore is chairman of the Homeless Advisory Board. Commissioners heard from about a dozen people during public comment. Speakers were passionate, with most of them supporting the navigation center. Suzanne Chicon has volunteered for the annual count of homeless people in Pasco. Among the people she met was a man who lost a good-paying job for health reasons,
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Pasco County will dedicate about $600,000 in federal and state grants to rehabilitate the former campus of the Boys & Girls Club on Youth Lane in Port Richey. It will be the site for a navigation center to help homeless people restart their lives.
and a young woman who had aged out of the foster care program. “Some of the things I witnessed horrified me,” Chicon said.“We need the (navigation) center as a focused area to help these people.” But, the location of the center is raising alarm bells for some residents who live in the nearby subdivision of Crane’s Roost. Valerie Schaefer told commissioners she had spoken with all but a handful of residents in the 89-home neighborhood. Most are worried about increasing crime, solicitations and lower property values, she said. “No one in the neighborhood is against the humanitarian (purpose) of the navigation center,” Schaefer said. “But, they are concerned. They are very scared. They are very angry over this proposal…We have skin in the game.We live here.” Pasco County Commissioner Kathryn Starkey supports the navigation center but
said, “I need a report in a year or two on how it’s going.” Only Pasco County Commissioner Jack Mariano voted against the navigation center. He supports the concept, but not the location. “I just don’t like the setup,” he said. Pasco has more than 3,000 homeless people based on an annual count. About 500 are considered chronically homeless. Many of the homeless individuals live in about 100 camps identified by the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office countywide. Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco supports the center. “The sheriff’s office cannot solve this problem,” he said. “It’s a health care issue, but unfortunately it falls on the shoulders of law enforcement.What the (homeless) coalition wants, we’re going to go with. I think See HOMELESS, page 11A