History Matters

By James Schnur

Articles in the March 16 and March 23 issues of The Gabber Newspaper profiled “sundown towns” in lower Pinellas County. This article describes a Black community that disappeared a century ago, when Pass-a-Grille also became a “sundown town.”

William Bradley moved to Passa-Grille around 1900. At that time, the sparsely settled island had a few wooden homes, plenty of undeveloped land, flocks of free-roaming chickens, millions of sand fleas, and countless mosquitoes. Bradley married, started a family, built a rooming house for visitors from the mainland, and became an expert at crabbing and fishing.

Bradley and his neighbors lived near present-day Pass-a-Grille Way and 20th Avenue. Decades before dredges sculpted Mud Key into Vina del Mar, those who settled in that area fished along Boca Ciega Bay and its many keys. They welcomed large weekend gatherings of people who visited from St. Petersburg, and worked in the growing number of hotels and restaurants that opened south of 13th Avenue.

Leaving a Growing Community

A few of Bradley’s neighbors returned to the mainland after William D. “Bill” McAdoo opened the first bridge that connected the island with the mainland in February 1919. This narrow, wooden toll bridge spanned from Villa Grande Avenue to 87th Avenue, near Blind Pass. More of Bradley’s neighbors departed after an October 1921 hurricane ravaged the coastline.

Bradley sold his home and business in 1923. He moved his family continued on page 7

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St. Pete Beach City Manager

I would like to offer my opinion of Mr. Rey and his performance during his four-plus years at St. Pete Beach. Mr. Rey arrived in early 2019 taking the helm of a city that in the midst of badly needed major infrastructure improvements. Using his decades of experience as a city manager, he successfully managed these projects to completion and now has SPB in the position of maintaining facilities, not improving/modifying them. This was all done without raising the property tax millage rate. I expect that, with most of the major work completed, a reduction of that millage is in the near future.

As mayor, I worked closely with him and observed his open style of management where he encouraged cooperation between departments and direct communication between employees to the benefit of the City. He recognized talented, hard-working employees and identified advancement opportunities to retain them. The feedback I received when talking with employees was overwhelmingly positive. They were taking ownership of their responsibilities and not being micromanaged.

Mr. Rey also advanced the City through the use of services and technology.

route termination could be forced by SPB as the system operates only on state roads. Visitors now can come to SPB via public transit and traverse our island using our free micro transit service.

In summary, I would like to say that Mr. Rey has effectively managed what he inherited and advanced the City’s operations to the envy of our neighboring municipalities — he should get applauded, not vilified based on the negative opinions of a few. –Al Johnson, former mayor, St. Pete Beach

WinWay

Reading about WinWay is so frustrating. The company “AllState” has been building here in Gulfport for a few years. After completing the last six homes it led to building nine homes in St. Petersburg. During COVID-19, the building of new homes never slowed down. Although building codes have tightened, they are necessary. Now the biggest problem is getting all the materials needed. Patience is the name of the game! —Jerri Tate, 12year resident, Gulfport Editor’s note: According to Mike Taylor with Gulfport Community Development, “Allstate has done limited work in the City but not since 2021.”

The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers, advertisers, or employees of the Gabber. The Gabber is not liable for any errors in advertising beyond the cost of the first printing of any advertisement. Contents of this publication may not be reproduced or copied without permission of the publisher.

The addition of the FreeBee micro transit service has been incredibly successful and appreciated by residents and visitors alike. It has had a very positive effect on our traffic and parking resources. Parking has been digitally overhauled using cashless systems, license plate readers for our enforcement personnel, and even an app-based monitoring system for identifying available parking locations. He successfully negotiated changes to the SunRunner bus rapid transit design to make it more compatible with the City. In reality, none of these changes in bus size, number of stops and

The Gabber Newspaper encourages letters (one per person, per month). Include your real name and city, and please keep it short – <250 words. We may edit letters for content, clarity, and length. We don’t print letters that incite violence, include attacks on private citizens, or that intentionally mislead people. Letters may appear online and/or in print. Comments on The Gabber’s website and social media may get printed. Opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views of The Gabber owners, advertisers, or staff. Send letters to news@thegabber.com or 2908-B Beach Blvd. S., Gulfport, FL, 33707.

Council Corner: South Pasadena My City: I’m Part of It, I’m Proud of It

By Arthur Penny

My City: I’m Part of It, I’m Proud of It

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Like and Follow the City’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ CityofSouthPasadenaFL. You can find updates on the new Fire Station 20, the dolphin statue, the mural project, and more here. Please let your neighbors know.

City Hall will be closed on Tuesday, July 4th in observance of Independence Day.

Dolphin Statue Design Selection

South Pasadena recently joined Amplify Clearwater’s Dolphin Trail and a 6-foot dolphin statue was installed at City Hall. Design options were solicited from artists experienced with the statues and two renders where shared online for the community to choose from. Votes were accepted until July 3rd. Check out the winning design on the City’s Facebook page!

Pasadena Avenue Murals

Murals are coming to Pasadena Avenue! The City contracted with Creative Pinellas to launch the South Pasadena Mural Project and the initiative is in full swing. Community meetings were held in June to provide information and receive feedback from the public on what you would like to see in the community. If you did not attend either of the meetings, an online survey can be found at www.creativepinellas. org/opportunity/south-pasadena-mural-project/

Potential business participants are being vetted, and Leverock’s Great Seafood, Florida Orange Groves Winery, and Pasadena Liquors have tentatively agreed to participate in the project. The artist selection pro- cess will occur throughout the summer, with the painting of the first round of murals expected to occur in the fall.

Fire Department Activities

The Public Safety Department received several complaints regarding the pedestrian crosswalk signal at Pasadena Avenue South and Majestic Way. Local businesses noticed that some walkers were only making it approximately 75% across Pasadena Avenue South before the traffic signal would turn green for automobile traffic. With help from Public Works Director Shawn Shimko, fifteen (15) seconds were added to the crosswalk timer. Local businesses in the area report that this was a huge success and has solved the issue.

New Fire Station 20 Update

Work continues rapidly at 1477 Pasadena Avenue South, our new Fire Station 20 site. Biltmore Constructions Senior Superintendent has reported that, while minor adjustments to the daily schedule have been necessary, we remain on schedule for final project completion in May of 2024.

New Businesses:

• Green Dragon - 1271 Pasadena Ave S

• Rejuvenate with Joy - 728 Pasadena Ave S

• WN Body Sculpting - 933 Oleander Way S

• Moonstone Myo + Medicupping –933 Oleander Way S

Sincerely,

Mayor Arthur Penny